210 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(09/22/04 4:37am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Joe Kernan stepped up criticism of Republican opponent Mitch Daniels on Tuesday for backing the sale of Indianapolis utility IPALCO Enterprises to a Virginia-based company in 2001.\nThe Daniels campaign said there was widespread agreement before the sale that it was in the best interest of shareholders and accused Kernan of making a personal attack.\nKernan said the deal resulted in the loss of 400 Indiana jobs and a stock plummet that cost many IPALCO workers, retirees and shareholders tens of millions of dollars. Daniels, who was a member of IPALCO's board, has defended the deal, saying he did nothing wrong in selling his company stock before the sale to AES Corp. closed.\nKernan said Tuesday that Daniels has for months been attacking him and the state government in television commercials and in campaign speeches and that he felt compelled to respond.\n"I'm not saying he is a bad person," Kernan said. "I'm just saying he made bad judgments along the way."\nHe indicated that a television commercial on the issue would begin airing in the coming days.\nDaniels was among several IPALCO board members who sold their stock in the months before the sale. AES shares fell from $49.60 after the merger closed in March 2001 to 92 cents in October 2002.\nDaniels has said he backed the sale in the best interests of the utility and its shareholders and sold his stock to meet federal conflict-of-interest guidelines after he was appointed White House budget director by President Bush in early 2001.\nSecretary of State Todd Rokita, a Republican, has cleared Daniels and five other former IPALCO board members of wrongdoing in selling their stock in company. The deal is still the subject of two federal lawsuits.\n"At the time of that transaction, everyone felt it was in the best interest of shareholders," Daniels campaign manager Bill Oesterle said. They included board members, shareholders who voted for the sale and numerous industry analysts, he said.\nOesterle said Kernan, who was lieutenant governor and headed the state's economic development efforts when the IPALCO sale was completed, "never said anything about this transaction before it happened." \nHe said Indiana lost more than 100,000 jobs under Kernan's watch, however.
(09/20/04 5:22am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Joe Kernan released his state and federal income tax returns for the past four years on Friday and challenged Republican opponent Mitch Daniels to do the same. The governor said the public "has a right to know" about their financial histories.\nUnlike Kernan, Daniels is a multimillionaire.\nThe Daniels campaign disclosed his federal income tax returns for 2002 and 2003 and immediately provided the media with summary pages.\nCampaign manager Bill Oesterle said Daniels was happy to disclose the full state returns for all four years and the other federal returns covering 2000 and 2001. He said they were trying to obtain them from an accountant, and because Kernan's "challenge" came late Friday afternoon, it likely would be Monday before they would be available.\nOesterle did provide total income figures for Daniels and his wife, Cheri, in 2000 and 2001, however. Total income in 2000, when Daniels was an executive at pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., was $1,929,018. Oesterle said total income in 2001 was $27,211,018.\nOesterle said more than 90 percent of that $27 million resulted from Daniels liquidating his stock holdings, a move Daniels says he made to meet federal conflict-of-interest standards when he became White House budget director under President Bush. Mrs. Daniels does not work outside the home.\nJoint federal returns for the Daniels' showed total income of $696,317 in 2002 and $1,017,813 in 2003. Daniels stepped down as budget director in June 2003 so he could run for governor.\nJoint returns for Kernan and his wife Maggie showed total income of $182,002 in the year 2000, $210,008 in 2001, $181,702 in 2002 and $110,558 last year. The vast majority of that was in wages.\nKernan was lieutenant governor from 2000 through September 2003, when he was sworn into office following Gov. Frank O'Bannon's death. His wages over the four years ranged from $79,811 to $90,056.\nMrs. Kernan has worked as a marketing specialist at 1st Source Bank. Her wages over the four years ranged from a high of $104,441 in 2001 to a low of $46,604 in 2003, when she became Indiana's first lady.\nThe Kernan campaign said there had been media interest in seeing the returns.\n"The public has a right to know about candidates' financial histories and what may or may not be influencing the way we view certain issues," Kernan said in a news release from his campaign. "That's why we're willing to release this information.\n"This time period of four years will give voters an accurate picture of our financial affairs, as well as those of my opponent," Kernan said. "I am hopeful he is willing to share the same documents with the public."\nIn an e-mail pitch for campaign cash earlier this year, Kernan told thousands of supporters that Daniels might spend millions "of his own personal fortune in an effort to try and buy this election." The Daniels campaign said that was a personal attack and cheap ploy to raise money.\nDaniels, a former executive for pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co., listed his net worth a few years ago at $15.7 million. He disclosed the figure as part of confirmation proceedings he went through in becoming White House budget director in 2001.\nOf the total, $8.8 million was in stocks, almost $5.4 million was in retirement plans and the rest was from real estate and other assets.
(09/01/04 5:15am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan is standing behind his plan to provide property tax relief to some homeowners, mostly in Lake County, despite an analysis by a nonpartisan agency that suggests it may not be legal.\n"We wouldn't have moved forward with this if we didn't think we had the legal authority to do it," said Jonathan Swain, Kernan's press secretary.\nThe Kernan plan, authorized July 26, allowed the state to advance about $20 million overall to counties so they could offer a "circuit breaker" to homeowners whose payable 2003 tax bills were more than 2 percent of their homes' assessed value.\nCounties could provide the relief through credits on 2004 bills or through refunds and would have to pay back the state money over five years with interest.\nThe analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency sought by Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said it was reasonable to ask the Property Tax Replacement Board, which rubber-stamped Kernan's proposal, to provide "additional legal justification" for some provisions. The provisions in question include one giving relief to some homeowners but not others.\nThe analysis also questioned the authority of counties to carry out such a plan by offering a so-called "circuit breaker."\n"The existence of a detailed legislative scheme governing property tax exemptions, deductions and credits strongly suggests that no general power has been granted to counties to fashion a homestead credit similar to the one proposed in the Governor's 2 percent Circuit Breaker Plan," the analysis said.\nIt was prepared by an attorney for the Legislative Services Agency, the nonpartisan research arm of the General Assembly, and dated Aug. 2. Espich said he shared it with reporters Monday because the legality and other aspects of the plan had bothered him for some time.\nEspich said from the start that Kernan -- a Democrat seeking a full term this year -- was trying to shore up support in Lake County, a Democratic stronghold. Of about 35,000 homeowners who would be eligible for the tax credits, more than 31,000 live in Lake County.\nHe said the LSA analysis confirmed his suspicions that the plan probably was not legal.\nThe analysis did not definitively say that the administration lacked authority to carry out the plan. But it said the General Assembly had not specifically spelled out such authority, either.\nAbsent that, it questioned provisions giving additional relief to some homeowners but not others; making the credits contingent upon local government approval; and structuring the credits as a repayable advance. It also said tax laws did "not justify" imposition of a county option circuit breaker.\nEspich said the analysis was the "best legal advice I can get from an independent source."\n"We get a pretty good idea of what the law does and does not permit," he said.\nKernan has said that data -- not politics -- was behind the proposal. Many Lake County homeowners were hit with huge tax increases because of court-ordered changes in assessments and other factors, including spending increases by local governments.\nKernan spokesman Jonathan Swain said Lake County must pay back any additional property tax relief provided by the state, and the plan was legal.\nRep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said the plan provided "desperately needed relief" to many homeowners hit hardest by higher tax bills, and he accused Espich of trying to politicize it.\n"It's strictly political, instead of looking at these people who are suffering," Brown said.
(08/31/04 5:19am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- An analysis by a nonpartisan agency casts doubt on the legality of Gov. Joe Kernan's plan to provide tax relief to some homeowners, mostly in Lake County, a Republican lawmaker said Monday.\nHowever, the Democratic Kernan administration and a Democratic legislator from Lake County defended the plan, which the governor announced July 26.\nThe plan authorized the state to advance about $20 million overall to counties so they could offer a "circuit breaker" to homeowners whose payable 2003 tax bills were more than 2 percent of their homes' assessed value.\nCounties could provide the relief through credits on 2004 bills or through refunds and would have to pay back the state money over five years with interest.\nThe analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency sought by Rep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, Ind., said it was reasonable to ask the Property Tax Replacement Board, which rubber-stamped Kernan's proposal to provide "additional legal justification" for some provisions. The provisions in question include one giving relief to some homeowners but not others.\nThe analysis also questioned the authority of counties to carry out such a plan by offering a so-called "circuit breaker."\n"The existence of a detailed legislative scheme governing property tax exemptions, deductions and credits strongly suggests that no general power has been granted to counties to fashion a homestead credit similar to the one proposed in the Governor's 2 percent Circuit Breaker Plan," the analysis said.\nIt was prepared by an attorney for the Legislative Services Agency, the nonpartisan research arm of the General Assembly, and dated Aug. 2. Espich said he shared it with reporters Monday because the legality and other aspects of the plan had bothered him for some time.\nEspich said from the start that Kernan -- a Democrat seeking a full term this year -- was trying to shore up support in Lake County, a Democratic stronghold. Of about 35,000 homeowners who would be eligible for the tax credits, more than 31,000 live in Lake County.\nHe said the LSA analysis confirmed his suspicions that the plan probably was not legal.\nThe analysis did not definitively say the administration lacked authority to carry out the plan. But it said the General Assembly had not specifically spelled out such authority, either.\nAbsent that, it questioned provisions giving additional relief to some homeowners but not others; making the credits contingent upon local government approval; and structuring the credits as a repayable advance. It also said tax laws did "not justify" imposition of a county option circuit breaker.\nEspich said the analysis was the "best legal advice I can get from an independent source."\n"We get a pretty good idea of what the law does and does not permit," he said.\nKernan has said that data -- not politics -- was behind the proposal. Many Lake County homeowners were hit with huge tax increases because of court-ordered changes in assessments and other factors, including spending increases by local governments.\nKernan spokesman Jonathan Swain said Lake County must pay back any additional property tax relief provided by the state, and the plan was legal.\n"We wouldn't have moved forward with this if we didn't think we had the legal authority to do it," Swain said.\nRep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, said the plan provided "desperately needed relief" to many homeowners hit hardest by higher tax bills, and he accused Espich of trying to politicize it.\n"It's strictly political, instead of looking at these people who are suffering," Brown said.
(06/14/04 1:02am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Hundreds of Democrats gathered for their state convention Saturday to celebrate their fall ticket with rally cries from their two top generals, Gov. Joe Kernan and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh.\nThey also planned to formally nominate Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis as Kernan's running mate, state party Chairman Joe Hogsett as their candidate for attorney general, and former Indianapolis City-County Councilwoman Susan Williams as their choice for state school chief.\nWilliams is running for superintendent of public instruction saying that she might resign if elected so the winner of the governor's race -- even if it is Republican Mitch Daniels instead of Kernan -- can appoint someone else if he wants.\nKernan and Williams say the post should be an appointed position so the governor and top school official can work off the same page in directing education policy.\nAs Republicans did earlier this week at their state convention, Democrats avoided having any contested nominations, so Saturday's event was primarily a pep rally heading into the November election.\nAlthough Bayh is a huge favorite to win a second term in the Senate, the governor's race between Kernan and Daniels is already contentious and is expected to end up as the most expensive political race in state history.\nThe previous record was set in 2000, when the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon and Republican David McIntosh combined to spend more than $19 million.\nBayh faces Republican Marvin Scott, a sociology professor at Butler University who has run unsuccessfully for the congressional seat covering most of Indianapolis.\nWhen Bayh ended his second term as governor in early 1997, his public approval rating was 79 percent, and two years later he trounced Republican Paul Helmke to win the U.S. Senate seat once held by his father, Birch Bayh. There has been little to suggest that Bayh's popularity has waned.\nDelegates also were to hear Saturday from Indiana House Speaker Patrick Bauer, who has delivered some of the most fiery speeches in the chamber over the past several years.\nHe was sure to encourage Democrats to get fully behind the party's House candidates, since Democrats have only a 51-49 advantage heading into November. Democrats have controlled the House for all but two years since late 1990.\nBut they lost two seats in 2002, even though they tried to redraw district maps to their advantage. And they kept control only by virtue of a 37-vote victory in a district covering parts of Hamilton and Marion counties.
(06/10/04 1:30am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Conservative activist Eric Miller told delegates at the Republican State Convention that with hard work and the right stand on issues, they could guarantee that Mitch Daniels is elected governor in November.\nMiller, who lost to Daniels in the May 4 primary, had billed Tuesday's speech as a public endorsement and afterward said it was one.\nMiller never said directly during his speech before hundreds of delegates at the Indiana Convention Center that he was endorsing Daniels, nor did he specifically urge his followers to do the same. He seemed to imply the endorsement, instead.\n"As I've said many times in the course of this campaign, Mitch, it's time for a Republican governor in the state of Indiana," Miller said, pointing to Daniels from the podium.\nDaniels called it a great endorsement and said Miller had "picked a good moment of high impact" to give it.\nThe primary race between Daniels and Miller was mostly cordial and Miller was gracious in loss, but he had not endorsed Daniels since the election. Daniels extended an invitation to Miller last week to speak at the convention, and Miller accepted it last Friday.\nGOP delegates closed their convention Tuesday after formally nominating state Sen. Becky Skillman as Daniels' running mate for lieutenant governor. They also nominated Suellen Reed for a fourth term as superintendent of public instruction, and Steve Carter for a second term as attorney general.\nNone faced party opposition, so the two-day convention was primarily a pep rally heading into the November election, when Daniels faces Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan.\nState Democrats are scheduled to hold their convention Saturday. They have yet to name candidates to take on Reed and Carter.\nWith no nominations to fight over and sensing their best chance in years for winning back the governor's office, Republicans spent much of their convention reveling in optimism.\n"This is the most unified I have seen the party at a convention," said Fayette County GOP chairman David Cox. "We're just bringing what we're feeling in the counties."\nSeveral Republican speakers took swipes at state Democrats, blaming them for the state's budget deficits and job losses in recent years, among other things. Democrats have controlled the governor's office for 16 years.\n"The problems we face aren't Indiana's fault," Skillman said in accepting her nomination for lieutenant governor. "Those in charge just haven't gotten the job done."\nMiller tried to distinguish himself as the more conservative candidate on fiscal and moral issues during the primary race with Daniels, and he touched on some of his campaign stands during Tuesday's speech. They included his support for a state constitutional ban on gay marriage.\n"When we support the traditional definition of marriage, Hoosier families will stand with us," Miller said. "We must amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions."\nDaniels has said he supports the traditional definition of marriage, and would back a state constitutional ban if it was needed to uphold a state law already on the books.\nMiller told reporters after Tuesday's convention that he would continue to talk issues with Daniels, including a gay-marriage amendment. He noted that all 49 members of the Indiana House favor one, as does Carter, the attorney general.\n"We trust that Mitch will make that commitment as well," Miller said.
(05/07/04 5:01am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Former White House budget director Mitch Daniels drew on support from President Bush to easily win Indiana's GOP nomination for governor in the first gubernatorial primary of the year.\nDaniels, who left the Bush administration to run in Indiana, now faces Gov. Joe Kernan, a Democrat who took office in September after the death of Gov. Frank O'Bannon, and is seeking a full term in the November election. Kernan ran unopposed in Tuesday's primary.\nIn a rousing victory speech Tuesday night, Daniels said Indiana deserves better leadership than they are getting from Kernan.\n"To the customers of state government and to state employees laboring under bloated, unimaginative leadership, we say, help is on the way," Daniels said to a cheering crowd in Bloomington.\nWith 99 percent of precincts reporting, Daniels had 334,741 votes, or 66 percent, against 169,639 votes, or 34 percent, for activist lawyer Eric Miller.\nMiller had been counting on backing from Advance America, the organization he founded in 1980 that has lobbied state government on what it calls pro-Christian issues.\nEarlier in the day, Kernan said the two major party candidates should detail how any policy proposals would be funded and should negotiate a fair campaign pledge.\n"I'm hopeful the Republican nominee will consider and agree to these fair-minded proposals," Kernan said.\nDaniels has given many Republicans hope that their party can finally win back the top job in Indiana, a state that has voted Republican in presidential elections since 1968 but has picked Democratic governors for 16 years.\nBush stopped in South Bend on Monday for an appearance with Daniels. The president called Daniels smart and capable and said Indiana "will love this guy as their governor"
(05/07/04 4:23am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Eligible low-income seniors will receive bigger discounts on individual prescription drug purchases under changes made to the state's HoosierRx program, Gov. Joe Kernan announced Thursday.\nThe changes are designed to dovetail Indiana's program with the new Medicare-approved discount cards, allowing qualified seniors to receive benefits from both programs.\nFor the majority of qualified, low-income seniors, the combination of the programs will mean additional savings, both on individual prescriptions and total discounts through 2005. For a few of the lowest-income participants, total benefits could be slightly less.\n"Mounting prescription drug costs are a reality that too many of our seniors face and we remain committed to providing some help," Kernan said.\nKernan, a Democrat who is seeking a full term this year, announced the changes at a senior center in Lafayette. He faces Republican Mitch Daniels in November.\nStarting June 1, seniors qualified for HoosierRx will receive 75-percent discounts on the cost of medications, up from 50 percent. Over the next 19 months, through December 2005, they could receive a maximum of $1,200 in state discounts.\nThose who qualify for the new Medicare-approved discount cards also could get up to $600 in federal government aid to buy prescription medicines through the end of this calendar year, and another $600 in 2005.\nThe maximum income for participants of both programs is 135 percent of the federal poverty level. That is $1,068 per month for someone aged 65 or older who is single, and $1,426 a month in combined income for married applicants.\nBefore the changes, annual benefits in HoosierRx were capped at either $500, $750 or $1,000, depending on income. Starting June 1, all qualified participants could receive up to $1,200 in state discounts over the next 19 months.\nThe switch from annual benefits to a 19-month time frame is designed to mesh the state's changes to new federal Medicare benefits, which also take effect June 1.\nThe goal was to let low-income seniors receive benefits from both programs, which not all programs in other states allow, said Kernan spokesman Jonathan Swain.\n"That is where seniors are really going to see the savings," Swain said.\nThere are about 18,500 seniors enrolled in HoosierRx, a number the Kernan administration would like to expand to 30,000 in the coming months. The state is projected to spend $8 million on HoosierRx this fiscal year.\nThe General Assembly also allocated $8 million for the fiscal year that begins July 1, and another $14.2 million in carry-over funds would be available. That would be enough to pay for 30,000 people enrolled under the new changes, Swain said.\nEllen Whitt, deputy campaign manager for Daniels, said it appeared that changes in Indiana's program were made possible by the new Medicare benefits pushed by President Bush. Daniels was a former White House budget director under Bush, and has been endorsed by the president.\nWhitt also noted that the state has been trying for some time to get more seniors enrolled in HoosierRx.\n"It's about half of what they say they would like enrollment to be, so maybe in part they are going to have to improve the marketing of it," she said.
(04/28/04 4:28am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Joe Kernan announced several new state ethics policies Tuesday, including reporting requirements for those who lobby the executive branch, ethics training for all state workers and a chief investigator to oversee it all.\nKernan said Indiana residents deserve a state government that follows the highest ethical standards and that he and Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis were drawing some clear lines that would make a difference.\n"An organization, in order to be effective, must have the trust of its customers," Kernan said during a Statehouse news conference.\nRepublicans have accused Kernan and his predecessor, the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon, of running a lax administration marked by mismanagement and cases of alleged criminal wrongdoing in several agencies, including the Bureau of Motor Vehicles and the Family and Social Services Administration.\nAmong other things, four men, including a former FSSA manager, have been charged with scheming to set up a phony job-training program that cost the state $455,000.\nAt least 27 people, including four BMV employees accused of taking bribes, have been arrested since November in connection with a scam in which people used fake documents to get driver's licenses.\nKernan, a Democrat who is seeking a full term this year, said he would impose the new policies by executive order July 5, although some of the lobbying reporting requirements would take several months to become official as state rules.\nThey will require those who lobby the executive branch and state agencies to register and report their activities, similar to existing requirements for those who lobby the General Assembly.\nA new "chief investigator" post will be created, with that person developing and implementing ways to prevent fraud in state agencies. The official is to work for the governor's office and coordinate efforts with internal investigators in agencies.\nEllen Whitt, deputy campaign manager for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels, noted Daniels proposed many of the same ideas several weeks ago. And some of them would be more stringent, she said.\n"It's obvious to me that Mitch is already having a positive effect on the operation of state government before he gets elected," Whitt said.\nDaniels faces conservative activist Eric Miller in the May 4 primary, with the winner taking on Kernan in November.\nMiller said some steps Kernan was taking should have been put in place long ago. Kernan became governor in September when O'Bannon died of a stroke. He served as lieutenant governor under O'Bannon for nearly seven years prior to his death.\n"If things occurred that he thinks were wrong, he needs to admit that to the taxpayers, say they were wrong and change them," Miller said.
(04/20/04 6:27am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Mitch Daniels, in television commercials he has aired since January, has been delivering consistent themes to living rooms all across Indiana.\nThe ads are polished, in a pleasant kind of way. They cast the state's economic problems in terms of comeback, not crisis, and the Republican candidate for governor as more caring than critical.\nFar from "talking down Indiana," as Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan's campaign likes to accuse Daniels of doing, the ads are primarily positive and play up Hoosier pride.\n"Ours is a great state, full of potential," Daniels said in a spot woven around the 1954 Milan "miracle" high school basketball championship. "A little business sense, a little leadership and a new team in state government, we'll be right back in the game."\nRobert Dion, a professor of American politics at the University of Evansville, says viewers in that city have seen more Daniels ads than commercials for any other political candidate this year. And they seem to be scoring points.\n"The ads for the Daniels campaign have done an admirable job so far of presenting Mitch Daniels in a very appealing way to Indiana voters," Dion said. "The ads are decidedly low-key and easygoing. They seem much less likely to cause someone to reach for the remote control."\nThe ads portray Daniels as a former businessman and top aide to two presidents (Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush), but a first-time candidate who feels compelled to turn Indiana's struggling economy around. His family comes first, one ad says, and "his old friends are still his friends."\nSeveral spots feature shots of Daniels traveling the state in his donated recreational vehicle, taking the time to meet with Hoosiers and listen to their concerns and hopes. Some have lost their jobs, but so many have "dusted themselves off" in a determination to keep going.\nAn overriding theme is change, something the ads play on without being overly harsh. He criticizes Democrats without being mean-spirited.\n"The people who have been in power now for so long aren't bad people," he says in one ad. "I know they're not hard-hearted.\n"I just think they have been in Indianapolis so long that they have lost touch with the severity of our problems," he says. "And I know they have lost sight of our potential for greatness. And I just think that it's one of those moments in our state's history that calls for a fresh start with a new crew that want to aim higher."\nDion said the ads do a remarkable job of calling attention to things that cause anxiety in the minds of Hoosiers -- like the faltering economy, for example -- without coming off as negative or harshly critical of Kernan.\n"Whoever is writing his scripts has really earned their commission on that one, because they are an excellent example of conveying a strong message without appearing overly aggressive or negative," Dion said.\nIn some ways, Dion said, the Daniels seen in the ads is a bit different from the longtime political activist and Washington insider known to most politically-aware people.\n"These ads are not necessarily untrue, but they go out of their way to downplay some of the aspects of the Daniels campaign that make it so formidable: He's got a long and impressive political background, access to big donors and support from prominent party leaders"
(03/12/04 4:16am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Former Gov. Robert D. Orr was remembered Thursday as a gentleman governor who led Indiana to education reform and economic revival after the 1980s recession and never lost his passion for public service or politics.\n"He thought the state needed a great leap forward in education and pressed us to confront the challenge of a globalizing economy," said Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, an appointee and longtime friend of Orr's. "It's hard to imagine where Indiana would be today if he hadn't spurred the state into action on both fronts."\nOrr died Wednesday night at the IU Medical Center in Indianapolis, said Mark Lubbers, a former press secretary and top aide to the former Republican governor. He was 86.\nOrr had been admitted to the hospital earlier in the day and was being treated for an apparent blockage in his kidney, but his condition worsened, Lubbers said. The cause of death was believed to be heart arrhythmia, he said.\nService arrangements were pending Thursday.\nOrr spent 16 years in the state's top two offices, with two terms as lieutenant governor beginning in 1973 and then as governor from 1981 to 1989. He was barred from a third term.\n"Being governor is the best elective office you can have in this country," Orr said in 1995, six years after leaving office. "It's better than being president. When you're governor, you don't become a prisoner of the job. You can do the work and still have a life."\nAfter leaving office in 1989, he was named U.S. ambassador to Singapore.\nHe later returned to Indiana and, even as he became frail, remained an avid supporter of the GOP who loved to attend big political events, including State of the State speeches given by the Democratic governors who followed him.\nOrr built his political name as a state senator from Evansville and then as lieutenant governor under Gov. Otis "Doc" Bowen. In 1973, Orr presided over the state Senate and cast a tie-breaking vote to push a controversial package of tax increases and property tax cuts to passage.\nBowen said Thursday that vote showed courage and loyalty, since it could have ruined Orr's political future had the tax package proven unpopular with voters.\n"He was with me on every tough issue," Bowen said.\nThe public largely embraced the tax reforms, boosting Bowen's popularity and helping Orr win his first term by a landslide over Democratic nominee John Hillenbrand.\nIn mid-1982, Orr brushed aside warnings by two Democratic lawmakers that the recession was drying up state revenues and a tax increase would be needed to keep Indiana afloat. Orr called the lawmakers "the doom-and-gloom twins."\nBut later that year -- after the November election -- Orr called a special session and the GOP-controlled Legislature increased sales and income taxes. Still, he won a second term in 1984 by defeating Democratic state Sen. Wayne Townsend.\nOrr led efforts to pull Indiana out of the recession, including economic incentives such as property tax abatement and active recruitment of foreign industries. He also aggressively promoted the export of Indiana products -- a crusade he maintained long after leaving office.\nHe oversaw the removal of the state license branch system from political control and appointed a career educator to fill a vacancy as the state's school chief, even though both moves rubbed some Republicans the wrong way.\nBut many in both parties say his biggest achievement was passage of a sweeping educational reform package in 1987. The "A-Plus" program required student achievement exams, a new school accreditation system based on performance and rewards for schools that showed improvement.\nOrr pushed through a major tax increase to pay for the program, in part by throwing pork and perks into the mix. Former Democratic Rep. Louis Mahern said the reforms charted a new course in Indiana education.\nHe said Orr broke an impasse between teachers unions whose mantra was "always more money" and business lobbies whose cry was "We don't need more money, we need more accountability."\n"Bob Orr was the one who broke through all that and said, 'How about more money and more accountability,'" Mahern said. "I think he was able to bridge that gap."\nOrr married Joanne "Josie" Wallace in 1940, and they had three children. They divorced in 2000, and Orr married his second wife, Mary K. Davis, in January 2001. She was at his side when he died.
(03/05/04 5:52am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- As the 2004 session neared a midnight Thursday deadline for adjournment, lawmakers were prepared to pass several bills with bipartisan support and send them to Gov. Joe Kernan.\nAmong other things, the bills would impose new restrictions on some repeat drunk drivers, open some child abuse records to the public and increase penalties for using electronic devices to change traffic lights from red to green.\nLawmakers also reached a tentative compromise Thursday on legislation that would create a commission to recommend pay increases for legislators, judges and prosecutors. Unlike an earlier version of the bill, the increases would not take effect without lawmakers voting to approve them.\nBut even with hours left in the session, some lawmakers in both parties were calling it a disappointment. It appeared there would be no major proposals to create jobs or provide property tax relief for those hit hard by reassessment.\nPartisan, election-year tensions already ran high in the closely divided House when lawmakers convened in early January. Two months later, they were even more intense as the deadline for ending the session closed in.\n"The issues of power and control of this chamber have literally dampened any opportunity to do positive things, and that is maybe the most unfortunate circumstance we have," said Rep. Robert Alderman, R-Fort Wayne.\nLawmakers met into the evening Wednesday, some scrambling to salvage legislation that seemed doomed days or weeks ago, or even from the start.\nHouse Republicans, still seething at Democrats for denying their attempts to debate and advance a proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage, said they were shut out this session and ready to seek revenge on the campaign trail.\nDemocrats control the chamber by only 51-49, and all 100 seats will be on the ballot in November.\n"It's time to look for a new coach, it's time to shake up the starting lineup," said Republican Minority Leader Brian Bosma. "This season is over, the next season will start before we know it."\nHouse Democrats shrugged off Bosma's comments.\n"I guess there is only one group of people who can make a determination as to whether they are correct or not, and that is individual voters in each of the 100 districts," said Speaker Pro Tem Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, IND.\nThe House did pass some bills Wednesday, including one that would require children up to age eight to ride in booster seats while traveling in vehicles.\n"No matter how you vote, I hope no one will question your interest in children, your commitment to children and their protection," said Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington. "But we believe strongly that this will save lives."\nThe House approved the bill 68-26 and sent it to Gov. Joe Kernan for consideration.\nBut it seemed doubtful many of the session's other major proposals would be resurrected in last-minute negotiations and pass the Democrat-led House and Republican-ruled Senate.\nRepublicans were still frowning on Kernan's top priority, saying a state facing a $1 billion deficit could not afford to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten.\nBut Democrats still were pushing variations of the proposal, saying its early learning benefits to children were worth the costs.\n"We cannot afford not to do it," said Rep. Gregory Porter, D-Indianapolis.\nDozens of other Senate bills were derailed last week when a partisan dispute over a gay marriage ban proposal virtually paralyzed the House. Tensions subsided on Tuesday and with bipartisan backing, the chamber sent several bills to the governor's desk.\nHouse Republicans said Wednesday that there was not enough time left to advance gay marriage legislation. They accused Democrats of blocking other proposals, too, including those to create jobs and rid state government of "scandal."\nThey displayed a mock scoreboard at a Statehouse news conference to illustrate their point. It showed Republicans being shut out 6-0.\nDemocrats say the House GOP push for a constitutional ban on gay marriage is election-year grandstanding. And they have accused Republicans in both chambers of rejecting full-day kindergarten simply because it was proposed by Kernan, a Democrat seeking a full term as governor this year.
(03/03/04 6:03am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Partisan tensions over a proposed gay-marriage ban subsided in the House on Tuesday, and both parties went to work on other legislation, sending several bills to Gov. Joe Kernan's desk.\n"We're back here doing the work of the people," said Republican Minority Leader Brian Bosma of Indianapolis. He said it was still possible, however, Republicans would try again to raise floor debate on a proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage.\nLegislative leaders have set a midnight Thursday deadline to adjourn the session, but a partisan fight over the proposal and procedural matters in the House prevented or severely curtailed action on other legislation for several days.\nAfter Republicans met privately Tuesday afternoon, they returned to the floor, and with bipartisan support, the chamber gave final legislative approval to several bills.\nThey dealt with such things as combatting the use and manufacture of methamphetamine and increasing penalties for neglect resulting in the death of young children. Other bills pending approval would change the state's curfew law in order to meet a federal court ruling and toughen drunk driving penalties.\nRep. Matt Whetstone, R-Brownsburg, said Republicans had made their support for a constitutional gay-marriage ban clear and were ready to work on other matters.\nBut he said many still believe Democratic Speaker Patrick Bauer ran roughshod over House rules and the state constitution in turning back every attempt they made to advance or debate the proposal.\n"I don't think there is any remedy he can take in the next three days to convince us that what he has done is not terribly important," Whetstone said.\nBauer has said a state law banning gay marriage is sufficient and accused Republicans of election-year grandstanding. He also says he has acted within his authority as speaker in running the chamber and denying a vote on the issue.\nRepublicans walked out several times last week after Bauer turned back every attempt they made to advance or debate a constitutional ban on gay marriage. At times, Bauer refused to even acknowledge the presence of GOP lawmakers.\nInstead of walking out Monday, Republicans objected when Democrats adjourned the House for the evening. While most Democrats left, Republicans stayed, speaking in favor of the proposal and accusing Democrats of stifling their rights as elected representatives.\nTalking about the issue openly on the House floor was therapeutic to some of his caucus members, Bosma said.\n"Even though there were only four or five Democrats on the floor, it made me feel better," Bosma said.
(03/02/04 5:43am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- A proposal that sought to move most of Indiana to the Central time zone and have it observe daylight-saving time appears dead this legislative session.\nDemocratic Rep. Chet Dobis of Merrillville said Monday he would not offer his resolution for consideration by the House this week. That all but dooms its chances, since lawmakers are scheduled to end the session by midnight Thursday.\nOver the past three decades, at least two dozen attempts to impose daylight-saving time have failed in the General Assembly.\nDobis said a few weeks ago he wanted the House to vote on a resolution asking the federal government to shift most of Indiana to the Central time zone. He said he believed such a move automatically would mean observance of daylight-saving time.\nBut Dobis said Monday that not enough time remained to get the proposal through both chambers before Thursday. He also said a partisan dispute over a proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage is another obstacle that would be hard to overcome.\nThe dispute kept the House in virtual gridlock last week, and although the chamber conducted some business Monday, it did not involve substantive decisions on legislation.\n"With all the consternation in this chamber, I think it's better that we wait on this until things are more collegial," Dobis said.\nA few weeks ago, Dobis said he sensed a lot of momentum behind the resolution and believed it would pass the House.\nBut House Speaker Patrick Bauer strongly suggested that such a vote might not happen because lawmakers already had a lot on their plate. He said he was surprised the divisive issue had arisen.\n"I don't see advantages or disadvantages, and I think that's the problem," Bauer said. "Some people are so convinced that a time change is going to bring in jobs and things like that, and other people believe time change will ruin their life."\nLawmakers say their constituents are almost evenly divided over the issue.\nCurrently, 82 counties in Indiana are in the Eastern time zone, but 77 do not observe daylight-saving time. Five counties in southeastern Indiana are in the Eastern time zone and do observe daylight time. Five counties in the northwest corner and five in the southwestern corner are in the Central time zone and observe daylight time.\nDobis' resolution would have asked the U.S. Department of Transportation, which regulates time zones, to move all but five counties in southeastern Indiana to Central Time.
(02/27/04 4:19am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Dispute over a proposed state constitutional ban on gay marriage spilled into a third day in the Indiana House, with Democrats and Republicans showing no early signs of ending the stalemate.\nRepublicans want a chance to advance the proposal, saying the sanctity of traditional marriage is at stake. Democratic leaders have blocked their efforts, claiming a state law banning gay marriage is sufficient.\nDemocrats arranged to have a gay minister give the opening prayer in the chamber Thursday morning, and as he spoke, a few Republicans raised their heads and their eyebrows.\n"Help these distinguished leaders, these patriots, these good people, these statesmen and stateswomen here today find the right balance between representing the will of the majority and protecting unpopular minorities from the tyranny of the masses," said the Rev. Jeff Miner, pastor of Jesus Metropolitan Community Church of Indianapolis.\nMiner told reporters afterward that the church has the largest predominantly gay and lesbian congregation in the Midwest and performs same-sex marriages even though the state does not legally recognize them.\nMonday, when the standoff began, an evangelist from northwest Indiana said during the opening prayer according to God's word, marriage is between a man and a woman.\nA few minutes after the House convened Thursday, Republicans asked for a recess so they could meet privately to discuss matters.\nMeanwhile, a group of gay activist Democrats planned a friendly demonstration in opposition to the Republican stand outside of a Kittles Furniture store in Indianapolis. It is owned by state GOP Chairman Jim Kittle.\n"We need to place the punch where it hurts Republicans most -- in their bottom line," the Indiana Stonewall Democrats said in a news release announcing the planned protest. They asked members to be there at noon, 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. -- all times when local network affiliates have live news shows.\nMark Lotter, communications director for the state Republican Party, said Kittle is a "champion of diversity," and he has neither made public statements about gay marriage nor lobbied lawmakers on the subject.\n"It is disgraceful that Democrats are willing to spread completely inaccurate information about Chairman Kittle," Lotter said.\nThe dispute kept the House in virtual gridlock Wednesday, when events seemed only to widen the rift.\nRepublicans walked off the floor three times after Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer denied them a chance to advance the gay marriage proposal or bring it up for debate. Little was accomplished in the short periods both parties were in the chamber Wednesday.\nRepublicans accused Bauer of arrogance, but the speaker defended his actions, saying floor debate over gay marriage could last for hours and turn ugly.\nGov. Joe Kernan backed his Democratic colleagues in the House, saying state law already bans gay marriage, and he accused Republicans of stalling action on other matters.\n"If the plan is for them to stay out for the next eight days, between now and the scheduled end of the session, then they ought to quit wasting taxpayers' money and just go home tonight," Kernan said Wednesday.\nDemocrats claimed dozens of bills were derailed since Wednesday was the deadline for House and Senate to amend bills from the other chamber. But Republicans said they considered the bills alive because Bauer could simply move back the deadline.\nIt was arguable how much was really at stake, since several major proposals passed by each chamber already have been rejected in the other. Technically, any bill that passes one house can be revived in conference committee negotiations next week.\nAfter the third walkout Wednesday evening, the House adjourned until 10 a.m. EST Thursday.\nThe House, which Democrats control 51-49, came to a standstill Monday as Republicans sought a vote to override Bauer's decision to shelve the proposed amendment. It had passed with bipartisan support in the GOP-controlled Senate.
(02/24/04 4:35am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- House Republicans said Monday they would try a little-used procedure in hopes of forcing the full House to hear and perhaps vote on a proposal amending the Indiana Constitution to ban gay marriage.\nChances of such a "blast motion" succeeding seemed slim, since Democrats control the chamber 51-49. It would take 51 votes to override the wishes of Democratic House Speaker Patrick Bauer.\nBauer has repeatedly turned down requests from Republicans to send the proposal to committee, which would give it a chance to make it to the House floor.\nA handful of Democrats and all 49 Republicans have signed a petition in support of amending the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage, but it seemed unlikely any Democrat would defy his or her leader on a procedural vote to override his authority.\nBauer has called the proposal -- which passed the Republican-controlled Senate -- a diversion from other pressing matters and says it is unnecessary because Indiana already has a statute banning gay marriage. That law is being challenged in a case now before the Indiana Court of Appeals.\nThe blast-motion maneuvering delayed action on other House matters Monday. House Republicans met privately to discuss the issue, preventing a quorum needed to proceed.\nHouse Minority Leader Brian Bosma said he told Bauer of the plans and said the speaker expressed "grave concerns that the institution is under attack."\nBosma said House Republicans responded that "there is a greater institution under attack in our state today -- the institution of marriage."\nThe blast motion, according to House rules, allows any representative to call legislation stuck in a committee to the full House for consideration if a majority of the representatives agree to it.\nIt was unclear when the last attempt at a blast motion was tried and it may have been decades since one succeeded.
(02/05/04 4:26am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Even though expectations were lowered, state tax collections in January still came in $21.5 million below target.\n"The bottom line is, it continues to reflect the sick economy in the state of Indiana," state Rep. Jeff Espich of Uniondale, the fiscal leader for House Republicans, said Wednesday.\nJust last month, a group of economists and budget analysts lowered the amount of tax revenue it expected Indiana to take in during the current, two-year budget cycle ending July 2005.\nThat new forecast projected the state would take in $321 million less in tax revenue than lawmakers had initially counted on when they enacted the budget. It took effect July 1.\nEven if revenues ultimately meet the updated projections, Indiana would end the budget cycle with only $65 million left in readily available cash to pay its bills. Espich said that figure would now be about $14 million because of January's lower-than-expected revenue and other factors.\nState budget officials said at least $300 million is needed to meet monthly cash-flow obligations.\nIndiana faces a deficit of around $1 billion, meaning spending in the two-year budget exceeds expected revenue by $1 billion. Lawmakers tapped more than $500 million from teacher pension savings and other dedicated accounts last year to help pay for the spending they approved.\nThe state also owes about $720 million in back-payments to schools, universities and local governments.\nDespite such financial problems, Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan said in his State of the State speech last month he would not ask lawmakers to open up the current budget this session and cut spending. He said he would take any needed steps to manage the budget himself without raising taxes.\nMany Republicans scoffed at his plan to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten, saying a state in such financial straits should not be starting a program that could eventually cost about $150 million a year.\nKernan's would be funded initially through a mix of loans, diversions in revenue and money from a fund providing low-interest loans to schools. He has said his proposal is fiscally sound and a needed investment in Indiana's children and future.\nState Budget Director Marilyn Schultz called the January revenue figures disappointing, but said the revised fiscal forecast projects the economy will begin to strengthen in the latter part of this fiscal year.\n"We are hopeful that will be the case, but in the meantime, we will continue to manage a very tight budget," she said.
(02/03/04 5:21am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Four days after Gov. Joe Kernan won a major vote to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten, legislation he sought to make it available statewide in 2007 stalled in the democrat-controlled House on Monday.\nDemocrats have a 51-49 majority in the House, and it takes 51 votes to pass legislation in that chamber. But four democrats were absent, and none of 48 republicans present voted to support a proposed constitutional amendment that was part of Kernan's plan.\nHouse Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, accused republicans of blocking its passage for political reasons and said he was not optimistic it would survive. Kernan is a democrat seeking a full term this year, and control of the House will again be in play in the November election.\n"They certainly indicated today this is their solid political brick wall," Bauer said.\nBut House Minority Leader Brian Bosma, R-Indianapolis, noted that most republicans have opposed Kernan's overall plan from the beginning. Among other things, they say a state facing a $1 billion deficit and other money problems should not be starting an expensive new program.\nEight republicans joined all democrats present last Thursday in passing a bill that would expand full-day kindergarten to 20,000 more children beginning this fall. Jump-starting the program over the first three years would cost about $90 million, with the money coming from a variety of sources.\nBut taking full-day kindergarten statewide counted on the passing of a constitutional amendment allowing money to be appropriated directly from the Common School Fund, and not one republican backed that part of the plan Monday in a 46-49 vote. One democrat voted "no" to preserve the right to ask for another vote.\nThe fund, created in 1851, provides low-interest loans to schools for building construction and technology improvements. There is about $200 million in the fund now, plus about $300 million in outstanding loans.\nAmending the constitution requires approval of a resolution by two consecutive General Assemblies and approval of the public in a statewide vote.\nThe legislation can be brought down for another vote, but this week is the deadline for measures to clear their house of origin. Bauer said if all 51 House democrats were healthy, they could pass the legislation on their own.\nBut two members are recovering from surgery and might not return this week, and Bauer said he feared republicans were "locked in a political position."\n"It's all about the fall election, no question about it," Bauer said, noting that republicans who voted for part of Kernan's plan last week knew its longterm funding relied on the constitutional amendment, too.\nRep. Vaneta Becker of Evansville, one of the eight republicans who backed the bill to jump-start Kernan's plan, said she was concerned about the long-term funding prospects.\n"You have a lot of these schools, on the basis of bills passing, who will go ahead and build buildings on the hopes that this referendum passes, and it may not pass," Becker said. "I think it's a very shaky funding mechanism from the beginning."\nRep. Jeff Espich of Uniondale, the fiscal leader for House republicans, said the Common School Fund had served a legitimate purpose for 152 years.\n"And now we see an attempt to raid this fund, if you will, to look under another rock to find another pile of money to spend because we have already spent all that is available," he said.\nKernan, meanwhile, noted that the legislation could be called for another vote this week.\n"I hope at that time House members will place the future of Hoosier children and our future work force, first," he said in a written statement.\nEven if it clears the House as the previous part of the proposal did, the chance of either part passing the republican-controlled Senate would appear slim. Senate GOP leaders have said the state was in no financial shape to start a costly new program.
(01/30/04 4:49am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- With help from Republicans on Thursday, the Democrat-controlled Indiana House passed a retooled version of Gov. Joe Kernan's plan to expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten.\nThe House approved the bill 56-40 and sent it to the Republican-controlled Senate, where its prospects seem dim. Among other objections, Senate Republican leaders say a state facing a $1 billion deficit and other money problems should not start an expensive new program.\nBut like the Democratic governor, House Democrats touted full-day kindergarten as a needed investment in the state's children and future and said the plan to jump-start its expansion was affordable.\n"Now is the day, now is the time," House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend, said in urging members to vote yes. All 48 Democrats present and eight Republicans did so.\nKernan, who is running for a full term this year, hailed the House's action while looking toward the Senate.\n"This vote shows a bipartisan commitment to continuing this discussion on providing Hoosier kids with the best opportunities for success," Kernan said.\nThe plan would expand state-funded, full-day kindergarten to 20,000 more students beginning this fall and make it available statewide in 2007. It assumes that through at least 2007 many parents would pay $500 a year to supplement state funding for their children to attend.\nEventually, the state would pick up all the expenses at an annual cost of about $150 million a year.\nTo jump-start the program, Kernan asked lawmakers to divert $30 million in lottery profits and casino taxes each of the next three years from a teacher pension fund and spend it on full-day kindergarten.\nHouse Democrats, citing concerns about diverting money away from teacher pensions, changed that part of the plan. Much of the initial funding to schools would now come via loans from the Common School Fund. The fund now is primarily used to provide low-interest loans for school building and technology projects.\nTaking full-day kindergarten statewide in 2007 relies on passage of a constitutional amendment so lawmakers could appropriate money directly from the fund. Legislation to start the process is expected to pass the House next week.\nMany Republicans have criticized what some of them call the "hodgepodge" funding portion of the plan. They say it is too complex and will fall short of meeting actual costs.\nRep. Sue Scholer of West Lafayette, one of the eight Republicans who voted for the bill, said the early learning benefits of full-day kindergarten were clear. But, she said, "Let's be honest and say we don't have a sustained funding mechanism for this."\nRep. Jeff Espich, R-Uniondale, said the state was broke and it was irresponsible to "spend money you don't have."\n"If you are broke, you don't buy a new car, you don't buy a new house, you don't continue to spend money on your credit card," he said.\nDemocrats describe the funding plan in such terms as innovative and creative. And as Bauer did again Thursday, they note that many Republican leaders have said they support the concept of full-day kindergarten.\n"Leading figures in both parties espouse that they are for full-day kindergarten, and now they can prove it by supporting this bill," Bauer said in obvious reference to Senate Republicans.
(01/09/04 5:50am)
INDIANAPOLIS -- Democratic Gov. Joe Kernan announced a proposal Thursday that would extend full-day kindergarten across Indiana and make it available statewide by 2007.\nKernan outlined a plan to pay for the initiative with a complex mix of money from gambling taxes and other money that has been dedicated to public schools and eventually, from the state's main checking account.\nWhen fully implemented, the proposal would cost about $150 million a year, Kernan said.\nThe proposal, which also would create a pilot program for state-funded preschool classes, was needed because early learning was vital and it would have the most significant long-term impact on the lives of young Hoosiers, he said.\n"Not only is this an investment in our children, it's an investment in our future workforce and economic-development efforts," explained Kernan.\nKernan's program is even more expensive than a similar proposal made by the late Gov. Frank O'Bannon in 1999 that failed to win legislative approval at a time when the state was flush with cash. The state now faces a budget deficit of about $1 billion.\nKernan, who made his announcement at an elementary school surrounded by about 30 giggling kindergartners, said his proposal would allow 20,000 more students a year to attend full-day kindergarten. Currently, only about 6,000 of Indiana's 75,000 kindergartners are in full-day programs.\nKernan said he would ask the General Assembly this session to divert $30 million in lottery profits and casino taxes each of the next three years from a teacher pension fund and spend it on full-day kindergarten.\nRep. Greg Porter of Indianapolis, a fellow Democrat and chairman of the House Education Committee, said he would fully back the proposal.\nO'Bannon made optional full-day kindergarten his top legislative priority in 1999, his third year in office. The cost to implement it statewide then, when the state had a large surplus, was estimated to be $111 million over two years.\nMany lawmakers in both parties supported the concept, as did Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Suellen Reed. They agreed with O'Bannon that full-day kindergarten had a proven track record of giving youngsters an advantage in subsequent grades and improving test scores.\nBut Republicans who controlled the Senate wanted to allow schools to use a proposed $111 million funding increase for full-day kindergarten or other things, such as remediation, summer school or reading initiatives. O'Bannon refused to compromise, saying full-day kindergarten would get lost in the shuffle of available programs.\nThe announcement by Kernan, who is running for a full term a governor, means that both leading gubernatorial candidates will be supporting full-day kindergarten.\nRepublican candidate Mitch Daniels said in December that he would seek an optional full-day kindergarten for all students. He did not say where the money would come from but said he was prepared to take money from other areas to pay for it.\n"It will not be an easy issue," Daniels said at the time.