Lawsuits filed over highway

State Budget Director Chuck Schalliol signed a 75-year, $3.8-billion agreement Wednesday that leased the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium while a handful of Indiana residents filed two lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of House Bill 1008, commonly known as "Major Moves." \nSteve Bonney, a farmer from West Lafayette, was one of a group of six Citizens Action Coalition members who filed the first suit between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. at the St. Joseph County Superior Court. \nGreen Party 2006 Secretary of State hopeful Bill Stant of Nashville, Ind. filed a second lawsuit against the legislation two hours later in Brown County Circuit Court.\nResidents were given a 15-day period to file suit after the initial passage of the legislation. While both suits fell within this period, those who filed them are unsure how the lease signing will affect their lawsuits.\n"Our lawsuit was timely and so was Stant's," Bonney said. "We filed within the 15 days that we were required to file. Our lawsuits enjoined the governor and state of Indiana from signing the lease but that's obviously not going to stick. As far as I know we should be considered, but the government is going to play warrior games. That whole strategy is something they had in mind. It's up to the court now."\nBonney's group had a legal analysis of the legislation performed and found that seven or eight aspects of the bill were in violation of the state constitution, Bonney said. All of these aspects are included in the lawsuit, but Bonney said the fact that Martinsville residents would be exempted from paying tolls yet Bloomington residents would still have to pay them is particularly unfair.\n"It's against the constitution to apply laws to one part of the state but not the other," he said. "It gives a certain class of people special favors and the constitution says you can't do that."\nDaniels' office reacted to the group's suit by rejecting the idea that the legislation was unconstitutional.\n"The group claims it is trying to uphold a Constitutional principle," Daniels' Press Secretary Jane Jankowski said in an e-mail statement. "But what it is really attempting to do is block Indiana from putting thousands of Hoosiers to work to build the roads and bridges we need. It's sad for all of us that one group of Hoosiers would file a lawsuit that would try to deprive their neighbors of job opportunities and the\neconomic development opportunities that 'Major Moves' will provide. We'll do all we can to make sure there is no delay to 'Major Moves.'"\nBonney, however, said that the group had no political agenda. \n"It's not a political issue and we don't have an axe to grind with the government," he said. "We just think it's unconstitutional. There's no angle, it's just the right thing to do," \nStant is also arguing that the legislation violates the state constitution, primarily because it enables the state to use the proceeds to fund construction projects.\n"The procedure was profoundly undemocratic and it has to be stopped," Stant said. "My complaint focuses strictly on the constitutionality of using revenues from public works for anything other than paying down the public debt."\nThe fact that only residents of northern Indiana could bring suit led Stant to file his own suit, separate from Bonney's group, provided his suit wouldn't interfere with the theirs. He did this because he \nbelieves that the legislation will affect people in the southern part of the state, too, and thinks everyone should have the right to fight the bill.\n"According to my attorneys, there's ample precedent for anyone who pays taxes to have the standing to sue," he said.\nStant was also frustrated by another barrier that Bonney's group had to overcome in order to file suit -- the $40,000 it had to pay as a retainer to its lawyer, Arend Abel, of the Indianapolis firm Cohen & Malad. Stant was able to get Bloomington lawyer Rudolph Savich to accept his suit pro bono and cited the cost of a lawsuit as an "unjust obstacle to participation in public life."\nBonney's group, however, surpassed its goal by raising $65,000 in about five days, Bonney said. He said he went on three XM radio trucking shows and received a lot of donations from truckers who feared that other states would privatize highways if "Major Moves" passed, thus creating higher operating costs for trucking companies. The group members hope the support continues because they expect that the suit will eventually be appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court and cost at least $200,000, so they will have to raise about $135,000 more. But Bonney isn't worried about the cost. \n"A lot of people didn't even think we'd be able to afford the lawsuit," he said. "Now I think people believe we can so we'll raise a lot of money."\nStant encouraged others to file suit as well if they're opposed to the legislation.\n"My message as a secretary of state candidate is use your rights or lose them," he said. "I'd like to see everyone who's a resident of Indiana and who pays taxes to go find an attorney who will work pro bono and file a suit in their counties. Get off your butts and start acting like you live in a democracy"