The Republic
MANY Hoosier taxpayers are experiencing breathing difficulty because of the privatization ventures launched by Gov. Mitch Daniels.
The breathing problem is related in part to the rapid manner in which the ventures have been announced and the realization that if adopted they will dramatically change the way government does business.
But there is also a secondary difficulty in breath-catching. A lot of people are afraid the governor is going too far and could wind up selling the company store.
The most notable of the ventures was the done deal of selling the Indiana Toll Road to a business conglomerate that was controlled by foreign investors.
Hot on the heels of that was the plan to develop another highway loop around Indianapolis and a cooperative toll road venture with the state of Illinois.
Both those projects would be turned over to private concerns that would pay the state and operate the roads on a long-term lease arrangement.
Daniels has not stopped at highways. He is exploring ways the state's welfare system could be turned over to a private contractor and most recently has proposed selling the Hoosier Lottery.
The advantages in these ventures are fairly obvious. The leasing of the northern toll road brought billions of dollars into the state treasury immediately and has cleared the way for scores of major and much-needed highway projects.
The state would still be able to protect users of the road system with an oversight on how much the operators can charge for tolls.
Instant gratification also plays a role in the proposed lottery sale. In this case, the money generated up front would be directed to education - a delicious irony in that when the lottery was first proposed it was pushed as a benefit to education until politicians manipulated it for other purposes.
A secondary consideration - especially in the lottery issue - is the question of whether the state should be in the gambling business.
Although there would obviously be an implicit government approval of gambling, at least the state would be a step removed from actual ownership of the process.
However, there are legitimate concerns about privatization and they should be carefully addressed before any more signatures are put on contracts.
For instance, do we really want to have a for-profit business managing a system that is supposed to protect the most vulnerable Hoosier residents, those at the bottom of the economic step ladder?
Regardless of what it is called and how much money it brings into the state treasury, state government can't simply walk away from its responsibilities.
It's important that we all have a chance to catch our breath and think about all these proposals in depth.