The News-Dispatch
Reducing the size of Indiana's government was not an issue on anyone's radar leading up to the Nov. 4 election. But Gov. Mitch Daniels' huge victory over Democratic challenger Jill Long Thompson has pushed the issue to center stage.
The Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform, which Daniels appointed in 2007, has made 27 recommendations to reduce the size of local government. Already, most township assessors have been eliminated, which was one of the commission's recommendations.
The commission, headed by former Gov. Joseph Kernan and Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard, proposed eliminating the number of elected officials in Indiana from 11,012 to 5,171. That plan includes eliminating the three-member county commissioners and replacing it with a single appointed county executive, eliminating township trustees, the county sheriff and other administrative positions. The impact would also be felt by tax-funded libraries and would require small school districts to consolidate.
The state is a long way from any of that happening soon, but with Daniels assured of another four years, he has promised to move ahead. "If you want to get property taxes down and keep 'em down, this commission has given us a terrific road map for doing that," Daniels said after the Kernan-Shepard report was released.
While Daniels has enjoyed huge Republican support during his first term, if he moves ahead with the commission's report, the pain of eliminating elected offices will be felt by many of his GOP allies. After all, the jobs to be eliminated aren't held exclusively by Democrats.
The governor has shown he isn't afraid of change. All anyone has to do is look at his controversial lease of the Indiana Toll Road. That, however, was easier to move forward because the political fallout was mostly in the northern part of the state, which isn't Daniels' stronghold.
Local government reform is coming. The only question is when and how far Daniels is willing to go.
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