Governor Mitch Daniels is now facing a second mistake in his attempt to foster a “Republican/Democratic” NWI that he hopes will support him in the next election. He believes that this will allow him to repeat the achievement of Senator Bayh – two terms as governor and then overwhelming support for Senator – probably to replace Senator Lugar.
In NWI, the Governor has already made the mistake of creating the RDA because local Democratic operatives told him they wanted it. The biggest public works project in NWI since Robert Pastrick left office has never made any economic development sense, except to Democrats who are always on the look out for mass transit projects to spend money on to “save the day”. These projects have no economic value and the RDA is virtually worthless for economic development except that now we have the McDermott family, with Dean White in the supporting role, and as always Bobby Cantrell, Mr. Political Sleaze Extraordinaire. The RDA is such a fake placed on the citizens of NWI that it is pitiful. The Governor is going to allow NWI to spend its own money; but, now his man and he will be in charge of the process. In reality this is going to be a big transportation boondoggle enriching contractors but having citizens to go nowhere. This has always been true on NWI spend huge sums of money and go nowhere. Is that not what we have done with the gambling revenues? Everyone knows this and cannot refer to one idea that the RDA has shown to have any redeeming value for NWI economic development.
All the belief in economic development is based on assumption and guess work performed by interested contractors or interest groups, e.g. the Indiana Airport Association. There is not one independent study to show that there is any value to any of the projects that the RDA is considering. Therefore the members of the RDA are nothing more than cheap hacks – useless “boy-toys”, leading to the further problem that the RDA itself is bereft of any talent that anyone outside of the group itself would recognize. Has anyone on the RDA done anything in particularly outstanding for NWI or anywhere else? No. They have all been treading water.
Now the Governor faces his second mistake, probably the most egregious one, because it involves conflict of interest, complete lack of ethics, and possible illegality (at least anywhere else in the world except NWI). His mistake would be if his administration involved themselves in any way in the Cabala’s thievery that is occurring in Hammond. The Cabela’s takeover of Woodmar Country Club was engineered as an unethical political act to benefit the economic future of the McDermott family with no consideration for its value to the people of Hammond or NWI.
Cabelas’ is NOT economic development. Only morons or thieves would consider retail development economic development. Minimum wage jobs are not what will keep or attract people to NWI. The purpose of this plan is to make money for the McDermott family and Dean White’s family collection. These are people with the same scruples as the low-lifes of East Chicago that sucked the existence out of it, called Pastrick, Tom Cappas, and Mike Pannos. Anyone associated with any of these people lacks any sense of morality or civic duty. As we naturally know, they are all Democrats including a former head if the Indiana Democratic Party, the one not in jail (yet), and all are good friends of Senator Bayh. The Senator who wines NWI but has never done anything for it.
Now Governor Daniels is faced with the decision about State Tax Increment Financing (STIF’s) for Cabalas’. This would be added thievery of Hoosier taxpayers’ hard earned funds to support corporations and individuals in their private business dealings.
Either Cabelas’ is a good business decision or it is not. This is not a question anyone seems to want to ask because they want to justify corporate welfare. STIF’s are intended, and are used in all states including Illinois, to solely develop economically depressed real estate. There neither is or was anything economically depressed about Woodmar Country Club, except that the McDermotts and Whites wanted to get their hands on it.
There is therefore no justification for the Governor allowing the use of STIF’s in this situation. To have the taxpayers of Indiana underwrite the private gain of individuals is to put Governor Daniels in the same racket as Cappas and Pannos are with East Chicago. If that is the kind of Republican he wants to be then he becomes an embarrassment to the Republican Party and its heritage.
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