WHAT THE DEFEAT OF 30 GOVERNORS MEANS

INDIANAPOLIS -- This year, at least 30 incumbent mayors were defeated in
re-election.

The first wave came in the May primaries, where mayors in Jeffersonville,
Terre Haute, Seymour, Loogootee, New Castle and Hartford City were upset.

Last Tuesday, at least 23 more joined the swelling ranks of the unemployed.
Republican incumbents lost in Charlestown, Columbia City, Crawfordsville,
Elwood, Evansville, Greensburg, Hammond, Lawrence, Lawrenceburg, New
Albany, Noblesville, Richmond, and Winchester. Democratic mayors lost in
Beech Grove, Butler, Frankfort, Kendallville, LaPorte, Marion, Shelbyville,
Valparaiso, Wabash, and Washington.

The reasons vary. In the case of Terre Haute's Judy Anderson, New Albany's
Regina Overton and Jeffersonville's Tom Galligan, these mayors were
perceived as confrontational and missed opportunities to develop consensus.

In Lawrence and Noblesville, legal troubles and sleazy politics doomed Tom
Schneider (who lost a race for Marion County sheriff he ran in the gutter
last year with the same tactics this fall) and Dennis Redick, who was
arrested for domestic battery at a Jimmy Buffet concert after drinking and
while wearing a parrothead shirt.

In Evansville, Mayor Russell Lloyd Jr., was deemed not up to the task after
he terminated a baseball stadium project and appeared on Comedy Central's
Daily Show who spoofed him over attending a Cher concert. The other major
trend is that in a year after Indiana Democrats saw their ex-party chairman
Peter Manous indicted, its Lake County bulwark under federal investigation,
its lieutenant governor opt of the 2004 governor's race, and Gov. Frank
O'Bannon's death, the party ended up controlling the seven most populous
cities. There are now Democratic mayors in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne,
Evansville, South Bend, Gary, Terre Haute, and Lafayette. In Fort Wayne, a
race many expected to be close, Mayor Graham Richard annihilated Republican
Linda Buskirk by 7,500 votes after she tried to use the abortion issue to
woo back GOP voters turned off by negative advertising. In Hammond, 2,000
supporters of Mayor Duane Dedelow Jr., simply didn't vote. In Hammond, New
Albany and Evansville, united parties saw voters turning their City Halls
back to their Democratic tradition.

It is the first time since 1959 that Democrat mayors have occupied the
seven most populous cities, and 20 of the 30 with a population of more than
25,000. In 1960, after being out of power for eight years (and 12 of the
previous 16), Democrat Matt Welsh went on to win the governorship. But the
other unmistakable trend that every mayor, every legislator and every
candidate for governor now realizes is that Hoosier voters are frustrated.
They've sent a vivid message of their anxiety, not so much over just
property taxes -- not a single loss could be solely blamed on that -- but
over the loss of jobs, as was the case in places like Marion and Kendallville.

The voter ire that some GOP operatives had felt evaporate following the
sickness and death of Gov. Frank O'Bannon swept in silently like a plague
of Moses.

The day after this incumbent mayoral blood-letting, an amazing event happened.

Gov. Joe Kernan (who announced his re-entry into the governor's race last
Friday), Senate President Pro Tempore Robert Garton, House Speaker B.
Patrick Bauer, and Chief Justice Randall Shephard toured two severely
overcrowded prisons at Rockville and Putnamville. It was an unprecedented
journey. Indiana has room to house 16,000 prisoners, but is actually
holding 23,000. It has two new prisons at Miami and New Castle that it
can't afford to open at an additional cost of $37 million. Indiana's
Department Corrections already has a $1 billion biennial budget. A billion!

Bauer blamed it on "rampant drug use" and mandatory sentences (ask your
local judge at church or Rotary what he or she thinks of mandatory
sentencing). Sen. Garton told the Louisville Courier-Journal, "It's time to
review determinant-sentence provisions. They came about because of public
attitudes and public pressures."

We've handled the drug war in a three-decade long fit of lunacy, not unlike
how we dealt with the mentally ill a century ago.

The fact is, Hoosier voters are scared, they sense something is terribly
wrong, and they are now seeking out leaders -- true statesmen -- who can
cut through the ideological slogans, get to work, restructure government,
prioritize education over incarceration, and create a functional 21st
Century style of government.

They are looking for upcoming leaders to identify their fears and
articulate comprehensive solutions.

Ask one of your current leaders, who might have said they want to "run
government like a business" this question:

What business or corporation runs itself on an 1851 structure?

On Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, from the voters, to a new crop of
mayors, to our new governor and leaders from the legislative and judicial
branches, there are indications that these folks are finally getting the
picture.

God save Indiana? Perhaps we ought to try it ourselves first.