Coffee Time

Is it time for a judicial re-do?

2011-05-26T15:14:00Z

By Jim Banks

After a legislative session with its share of landmark policy decisions, I was eager to return home, get back to my family and my regular job and take a break from policy battles.
Unfortunately, the Indiana Supreme Court had other plans.
The outrage rolling across the state against an Indiana Supreme Court ruling has been one of the few things to unite people from different political backgrounds. With just a few simple words, Justice Steven David launched a devastating attack on individual Hoosiers’ liberties:
"We hold that there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers. We believe however that a right to resist unlawful police entry is… incompatible with modern Fourth Amendment jurisprudence."
Contrast Justice David’s words with the actual text of the 4th Amendment:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."
I will not short change the concerns about the specifics of the case that brought this matter to the attention of the Indiana Supreme Court. Domestic violence is a serious matter and law enforcement officials must be free to protect citizens in accordance with the rights and restrictions placed on these officers by the Constitution. Unfortunately, the court’s ruling in this case will do very little to protect citizens from the horrors of domestic violence and might even open the door to abuse by some law enforcement officials.
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller went on the record stating the court has ruled too broadly. Newton County’s Prosecutor Jeff Drinski issued a statement clarifying that random "door-to-door" searches would NOT be permitted in his jurisdiction. Drinski took this action after comments attributed to Newton County Sheriff Don Hartman, Sr. suggested that his officers would do so since it was permitted by this ruling.
It’s hard to believe that the court can simply decide that modern conveniences like bail, prompt arraignment and civil recourse actually trump our Constitutional rights.
The Fourth Amendment wasn’t randomly demanded by the states. Rather, it reflected an outgrowth of protection that then-colonies had already recognized in many instances in their own codes of laws. There are several examples of these colonies adopting laws protecting ordinary citizens from similar illegal incursions by government authorities.
Put yourself in the shoes of an American colonist. At the time, the Common Law guarantees enshrined in the Fourth Amendment were not a given in the colonies. British soldiers did not require justification to enter and search your home. It was just one of many examples of how property rights were not recognized by the Crown in the lead up to the American Revolution.
News articles are already circulating about law enforcement supervisors who are more than ready to flex their muscles under the new-found "freedom" granted by this court ruling.
The nature of our part-time legislature in Indiana has left many citizens feeling powerless. I’ve fielded many calls and emails from constituents who are worried that we can’t stop this dangerous ruling from being implemented. Though we don’t return to the Statehouse until next January, I am already working with other senators on drafting an amendment that will ensure our freedoms can’t be encroached by unelected state Supreme Court justices.
Governors get to select a lawyer from a group vetted by a nominating commission. We citizens get to vote to keep them or throw them out by voting to retain them for another term. How many people will have their rights trampled before then?
While in the short term I’m committed to working with my fellow conservative legislators to restore these Constitutional rights, over the long term it is clear that Indiana needs to open a debate about judicial accountability. There are a number of options on the table—perhaps giving the people a voice on these nominations by requiring the Senate to consent to these appointments is appropriate (similar to Federal judges as well as the states of Delaware and New York). Another solution used in many states might be to elect justices to the bench rather than simple appointments.
The bottom line is that Hoosiers demand greater accountability across all levels and branches of government, and this ruling throws that need into stark relief. Join me and conservative Hoosiers across the state to make your voices heard on this issue, so we can fight back and prevent this attack on our liberties from taking hold in Indiana.

Jim Banks serves as State Senator for District 17, serving much of Whitley County. Banks and his wife, Amanda, live in Columbia City where they're raising their family, active in church and community activities.

An overview of what's ahead

2011-01-20T14:30:40Z

By Jim Banks

Passing a balanced budget and avoiding tax hikes on hardworking Hoosiers should be the top priorities for lawmakers during the 2011 legislative session, which began a little over two weeks ago at the Statehouse.
With the national recession reducing state revenues to 2005 levels, legislators should set and live within tight spending limits, just as Hoosier families, farmers and employers do every day. My goals are to prioritize education and essential services like public safety, while protecting Indiana taxpayers from recovery-killing tax hikes.
Talk among constituents clearly indicates lawmakers should also focus on fostering job creation by private employers, improving schools by putting students first and protecting voters by promoting fair redistricting. Here's a snapshot for some of this year's key issues:

Balancing The Budget, Avoiding Tax Hikes: Legislators will be working to achieve what they hope will be a fourth consecutive balanced budget. Members of the Indiana General Assembly will be starting the budget-writing process with an approximate $500-$700 million gap to fill. This underscores the importance of having protected the $1.3 billion in rainy-day budget reserves during the last budget-writing session in 2009. We are still using those reserves.

Fostering Job Growth, Cutting Red Tape: Indiana's tax structure is the most employer-friendly in the Great Lakes region and among the top 10 nationally. State lawmakers this session must work to preserve and build on this foundation by keeping taxes low, encouraging access to capital and strengthening job-creation rewards for expanding employers. While government doesn't create jobs, government frugality and limited intervention can encourage investment and entrepreneurship. State leaders must remain committed to helping Indiana recover from the national recession faster and better than the competition.

Improving Schools, Putting Students First: Hoosiers have historically supported providing the most funding possible for education, but are today demanding the most education possible for that funding. Concerned lawmakers, parents and educators will recommit this legislative session to further improving our schools by putting students first. Such efforts include ensuring teacher quality, holding schools accountable and providing more options for families - especially those trapped in chronically failing schools.

Protecting Voters, Promoting Fair Redistricting: Indiana's Constitution specifically charges the Indiana General Assembly with drawing new legislative and congressional districts after each national census, so representation is apportioned fairly. Republican senators last year attempted to put into law objective guidelines that would have, whenever practical, preserved traditional neighborhoods and local communities of interest, protected minority voting rights, created simply shaped, compact districts and respected county and precinct lines. We stand publicly committed to following these guiding principles during this year's important redistricting process.
I invite constituents to give feedback on these and other issues by completing this year's legislative survey, now available at www.in.gov/Senator.Banks.
Constitutuents may also keep in touch during the session - which runs through Friday, April 29 - by e-mail at Senator.Banks@iga.in.gov, by toll-free call at 800-382-9467 or by mail at Senator Jim Banks, Indiana State Senate, 200 W. Washington St., Indianapolis, IN 46204.

2010: The Year of the Caucus

2010-09-08T21:19:31Z

By Jim Banks

Recently, we received the second letter in the mail from a candidate announcing their intention to run for the At-Large County Council seat I will be vacating when I begin my service in the Indiana State Senate later this year. A third candidate announced his intention at our August Whitley GOP breakfast. Now that we have passed the deadline for an opponent to file against me in the State Senate race, I can begin to plan with certainty that I will be vacating the County Council position I was elected to in November of 2008.

Since I announced I was running for State Senate exactly a year ago I have had over a dozen Whitley County residents acknowledge to me they will run for my seat on the council if I am successful. In what has already become an interesting season in political caucuses over the past few months, the Whitley County Council caucus will add more intrigue to the system we employ to choose candidates and elected officials due to vacancies.
Our Whitley County Republican precinct committeemen have been busy. They helped choose State Senator Marlin Stutzman as our party’s candidate to become our next Congressman in the Third Congressional District on the ballot in November. When State Representative Matt Bell surprised many this summer announcing that he was moving on to be executive director of the Northeast Indiana Regional Chamber of Commerce, nine of our precinct committeemen helped choose Whitley County resident Kathy Heuer to take his place on the ballot to represent House District 83. In addition, precinct committeemen from Union and Richland Townships gathered after the Primary Election to choose candidates for vacancies on their Townships Advisory Boards.
In just six weeks I will preside over the caucus to replace myself on the County Council. All 34 of our precinct committeemen will have the opportunity to pick my replacement.
Unlike local and national offices, I will become “State Senator” immediately when the votes are cast on Election Night, forcing me to resign from the County Council at that point. With consideration of that and the scheduled Council meeting the morning after Election Night, I have scheduled the caucus for October 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the County Council Chamber in the Whitley County Government Building. For those who have never witnessed a caucus, these events can become good theatre - just ask Kathy Heuer who tied her opponent after several rounds of voting. Our 34 precinct committeemen will vote until a candidate has a majority of the votes cast. With several candidates expected to run for the position, we could potentially vote several times.
My hope is that Whitley County residents will take note and do two things. First, the precinct committeemen system is not perfect but it is the system we use to make important decisions when vacancies arise. Additionally, precinct committeemen choose the party chairmen who largely determine the direction of both of our local parties. On the Primary Election ballot in 2012, voters will have the opportunity to choose their precinct’s committeemen. Whitley County voters should pay more attention to this position. It is often ignored on the ballot and left vacant in many cases. With the attention paid to these caucuses this year I hope that more people will run for these spots and more voters will take an interest in who we choose for these positions. In cases where more than one person runs for precinct committeemen, call these candidates and ask questions about what types of candidates they will choose when given the opportunity.
Secondly, I hope Whitley County residents will pay attention to the cast of candidates who throw their proverbial hat in the ring to run for the Council position and, even though only 34 people get to make this decision, take some interest in who we choose. Call your precinct committeeman and weigh in about your favorite candidate or simply ask questions about who they will choose. Though precinct committeemen lists are not public record (an issue I’d like to change in the legislature next year), I’ve asked Jennifer Romano to post our Republican list in this column and she has agreed to do that.
It has been a privilege to serve on the County Council where I have learned far more than I’ve contributed. I will do my part as one of the 34 to choose a replacement who will dig in on Day 1 to make a difference for the future of Whitley County.
Contact me any time at jim@jimbanks.us.

Put Hoosier students first

2010-02-26T01:14:17Z

Whitley County resident, county councilman and District 17 senate candidate Jim Banks believes it is time to make sure every capable Indiana high school student who wants to attend one of our taxpayer subsidized universities has the opportunity to do so...even if that means capping the numbers of out of state students who seek to attend Hoosier colleges.

Click here to read Banks' editorial on Community Voices.

Making Turkey Sausage: Balancing the county budget without raising taxes

2009-12-04T14:34:50Z

I admit I was a bit embarrassed when a friend confronted me that I had not updated “Coffee Time” recently. In fact, I haven’t really updated it at all. My time for writing or even enjoying coffee has been limited with other things in life but with the day after Thanksgiving off from work here I am at the Brew Ha writing a quick update on county government.

I am mostly proud to announce that after four months of deliberations, we passed a county budget that cut spending without raising our taxes. It wasn’t easy. We started back in August by taking an initial comb through the proposed 2010 county general budget to identify the obvious areas to cut. We cut nearly $3 million from the initial proposed budget to arrive at the final product we passed last month.

The first victim was the proposed annual pay raises for county employees. Next we invited department heads to propose cuts of their own. We asked each to propose 10 percent cuts to their budgets. Some department heads were better at this than others. I gained an appreciation for those who in the name of fiscal responsibility cooperated with this request at the same time as wondering if they’d be better off if they ignored us.

As members of the council we scrutinize department budgets line by line through each of their budget line items. I have wondered throughout this process why we simply can’t appropriate a certain amount of money to a department and require department heads to make the cuts themselves. Instead, we ask department heads to propose cuts of their own. Some take it seriously, others don’t. We essentially penalize the departments who cut their proposed budgets while other departments continue at current levels of spending despite our requests. I’d rather take a different approach and appropriate certain amounts of money to each department and allow department heads to use their best judgment of where they cut without having the option of ignoring our requests. Allen County has successfully adopted a similar model. When they have to cut spending, department heads are given an amount they will have to spend in their budget and they make it work.

The reason this matters most is that the 2011 budget must be even leaner than our budget for 2010 with the full impact of the State Legislature’s 1-2-3 property tax caps limiting tax revenue for local governments.

You should be proud to know that most of our department heads seriously considered the fiscal state of the county and admitted where they found waste in their budgets. Some proposed cuts to programs, others proposed eliminating unnecessary employee positions. These were not easy decisions.

While this entire situation is one that local government is suffering through, as a taxpayer I am thankful to see government growth limited and even shrinking a bit.

Stay tuned for more “Coffee Time” updates as we approach the end of the year. I hope to work on an update soon that includes some of the accomplishments I’ve seen on the county council since I took office last January.

Happy Holidays!

Balancing the Budget: an exercise in evaluating the role of county government

2009-08-28T17:22:34Z

The past several weeks have been very interesting and active for the Whitley County Council. We have met many times outside of our regularly-scheduled council meetings to discuss the 2010 budget and to meet with department heads to determine where to reduce spending. While some bemoan this exercise as difficult and unfair to local government, I am pleased to have the opportunity to examine where our tax dollars are spent and therefore examine the proper role of government in our county. This exercise has led to many painful, yet well thought out, researched and necessary decisions to cut spending.

I’m proud to report that the most recent version of the proposed 2010 county general budget shows that the council has effectively eliminated $2 million in spending. However, we still have difficult work to do as we search for another $1 million to cut to reach our goal of a $8.2 million budget. We meet again on Wednesday, September 9 at 8 a.m. to continue our deliberations with the hope to approve the 2010 budget at our October council meeting. I hope that you will consider attending these council meetings to give us input and to learn more about this very interesting process.

On another note, I have been pleased by the public input I’ve received on the health insurance issue for County Council members. Like the Humane Society issue previously covered in this column, in the grand scheme of things, the health insurance topic is relatively insignificant in dollars but substantial in principle. There is a clear disagreement on council as to whether members deserve taxpayer-funded health insurance. My motion to eliminate the insurance perk was not meant in disrespect to those members who take it, but rather as a necessary consideration given our task to eliminate $3 million in the budget. I believe that because none of us work full-time as council members, we do not deserve free health care funded by taxpayers. While disappointed in the 3-4 failing vote, I am glad the council took up the issue and can have civil discussions on issues like this. I expect we will hear more on this topic as one of the four members who voted against my motion is interested in a compromise.

I’m curious to hear what you think. Please contact me at any time by email at jbanks@hagermangc.com.

What is the Proper Role of Government in Supporting Local Non-Profit Organizations?

2009-05-29T02:58:03Z

Perhaps some of the best advice I've received as a newly elected official came from a predictable source, Fort Wayne City Councilman Mitch Harper, who long ago served several years in the Indiana General Assembly. Harper, like myself, is very much a student and admirer of one of Indiana's finest public servants - Governor Otis Bowen. So his advice, as you can imagine, would make Doc Bowen proud. Harper's advice was simply that when it comes to opposing a program or idea, "do it thoughtfully". So as I deal with perhaps the first controversial issue in the four months I've served on County Council, let me "thoughtfully" explain my opposition to continued taxpayer funding of the Whitley County Humane Society.

I understand this is an emotional issue for many pet owners and animal lovers in our community and therefore want to do my best to explain my logic in voting against further funding. The Council has dealt with Humane Shelter funding issues in two of our four meetings so far this year. A few months ago we declined the request to appropriate an additional $36,000 to the Humane Society. At our meeting last week, we declined a request for a smaller amount. After the first meeting involving the Humane Society, I toured their facility and enjoyed the opportunity to meet with board members and staff to learn more about their important operation. Let me be very clear, the Whitley County Humane Society is a very important organization and cause in our county. I support their mission 100%. My issue is not with the Humane Society but rather with the appropriate use of taxpayer dollars.

I do not believe that taxpayer funds should be used to bolster or sustain non-profit organizations. There are many non-profit organizations currently struggling in these tough economic times as they serve the public. Whether the Humane Society, the local food bank, or any other local non-profit, it is not proper for the County Council to dedicate your tax dollars to help fund these organizations. Rather, in my opinion, it is up to each individual tax payer and citizen to determine which non-profits he or she wishes to support.

There are times, however, when an organization like the Humane Society can be contracted to perform a certain service that the county can't perform itself. The contract that the Humane Shelter had with the county has recently expired. Before voting for further funding, I've asked to review a contract that spells out the exact services that will be performed by the Humane Society on behalf of the county. I've also encouraged those involved to examine ways this contract can be more of a fee for service arrangement instead of the county giving an annual block amount of taxpayer funds to the organization, which, in my opinion, is nothing more than giving a taxpayer funded contribution to a non-profit organization. Without a contract, I can't in good conscience vote to give the organization more funding.

Another similar issue and request was brought before the Council at last week's meeting involving a local businessman who was asking for a grant to improve his business. As a county, we have several tools available to assist our local businesses, and in these tough times we need to be creative in finding ways that local government can support local businesses. However, I simply don't believe that giving away your hard earned dollars to a business is an appropriate act of government. It might be legal and it may have been done before, but that doesn't make it right. I think most of you would agree that giving taxpayer funds to one business means we'll have a line a mile long of other business people who want their share too. That's a dangerous precedent. In the age of government bailouts, bloated budgets and higher deficits, I can't in good conscience vote to prop up local businesses with your tax dollars. Tax abatements, improving infrastructure and sustaining a strong economic development effort for Whitley County are all important but giving money away is not fundamentally what I believe government is intended to do.

I'm continuing to learn a great deal in my role as County Councilman and want to hear more about what you think. Please never hesitate to email me your thoughts at jbanks@whitleynet.org. As a side note, if you enjoy reading about county government, I highly recommend you subscribe to the Churubusco News to read Commissioner Don Amber’s column. Commissioner Amber’s column is informative and honest. I continue to respect him more as I work with him to improve county government and represent the taxpayers.

New technology connects constituents with information, provides greater transparency

2009-04-18T14:16:01Z

Thank you to Jennifer and Talk of the Town for giving me an opportunity to ramble a bit about my experiences as an elected official and a student of local, state and national government. I’ve waited far too long to take this opportunity despite the gentle prodding from Jennifer to get on the ball. Though I’ll be surprised that anyone more than my grandma will take the time to read this, I will do my best to regularly update you at Talk of the Town about some local issues and other musings along the way.

At every Whitley County Council meeting, I learn a great deal more about how our county government works. I appreciate the patience and respect that my colleagues have shown so far in helping me to understand the ins and outs of our roles.

At a meeting in February, we approved funding for a new refrigerator for the jail, a new computer for our county engineer, new trash receptacles for our only county park located at Tri-Lakes, and approved the annual request of support for the Whitley County Transit program administered by the Whitley County Council on Aging. During the meeting I used my Blackberry to “tweet” a few updates about what we were up to, becoming the first elected official in Indiana that I’m aware of to use Twitter to update the public during a council meeting. Many of you might have noticed a number of congressmen typing away at their Blackberries during President Obama’s State of the Union speech employing the same technologies.

My hope is that through this one small step I can help educate the public more about the important decisions made in county government that affect us on a daily basis. Simple tools like these can bring more transparency and accountability to government and hopefully encourage folks to get more involved and active in the political process.

I hope that by employing tools like Facebook, Twitter and writing this column for Talk of the Town that more local residents might become more aware of what is going on in local government. Decisions are made daily that affect us in big and small ways. While sometimes intimidating to test new technologies like the before mentioned, most friends I talk to have come to appreciate how simple and easy it is. However, my grandma did tell me how frustrated she became trying to set up a Twitter page.

I’d like to write more about building better “transparency and accountability” in local government, but I’ll save that for another day. Be sure to follow me at Twitter and Facebook and please don’t hesitate to let me know how county government is doing to serve you. I am available any time via email at jbanks@hagermangc.com or by phone at 248.8406. Thank you & God Bless.