 |
SEARCH
Search Sponsored
|
|
|
|
| 1/19/2009 1:23:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
|
| Mike Eastman, left, director of the Jennings County Veterans Service Office, voices his concerns on veterans issues with State Rep. Dave Cheatham. |
|
Legislator pushes for job creation
Cheatham criticizes governor on several issues during Chamber’s public forum
Bryce Mayer
State Rep. Dave Cheatham (D-North Vernon) criticized Gov. Mitch Daniels on several issues during the Jennings County Chamber of Commerce's Third House public forum Friday.
Cheatham spoke and answered questions before those gathered at FPBH in North Vernon for the first of his semi-monthly town meeting-style sessions this year. He leveled his sharpest barb at the governor, a Republican, for not including a job creation program in the state budget Daniels has proposed.
"We are losing jobs faster than most other states," Cheatham said, noting a recent statistic of 87,000 jobs lost from layoffs and company closings during 2008. "Yet there is no meaningful job creation program in the governor's proposed budget. This is too important of an issue to ignore. I am working with other House Democrats to develop a plan for a job creation program that we hope to pass this session. Doing nothing is unacceptable."
In a related matter, the lawmaker disagrees with the governor's plan to cut the life sciences initiative.
"Now is not a good time to cut the state's investment in bringing life sciences and other high tech jobs to Indiana," Cheatham said.
Job prospects are particularly dire locally. Cheatham said something similar to the Work Projects Administration of the 1930s and '40s in which unemployed people are put to work building infrastructure such as roads and bridges could be a solution.
"What about older men and women who are laid off and not able to work construction jobs?" asked John Haselden, a retiree from Hayden.
Cheatham said the WPA-type jobs would produce a ripple effect where other jobs are created.
"We have a lot of (military) veterans coming back home from deployment every day who want to know where they can get a job," said Dick McQuade, transportation coordinator with the Jennings County Veterans Service office.
Jim Goen of the Muscatatuck Center for Complex Operations at Camp Atterbury said several construction projects are on the horizon at the Muscatatuck Urban Training Center in Butlerville that could boost local jobs. The projects will be done by construction contractors from the area, he said, with several already underway. (See adjoining story.)
Cheatham also made clear his differences with Daniels on local government reform, an issue the legislator says is growing in controversy.
"The governor is really pushing for local government reform. He's attaching his own name to it and banking his future on it," Cheatham said. "This issue has become very political."
The proposed reform is based on recommendations made by the Kernan-Shepard Commission calling for the elimination of township government and streamlining of county government throughout Indiana.
Cheatham said township trustees play an extremely important role in the 69th District he represents, which includes all of Jennings County except Marion Township, and that their elimination would neither save money nor improve services for his constituents.
Likewise, the legislator said he opposes the idea of replacing three county commissioners with one county executive and appointing county officers of recorder, treasurer, assessor, coroner and surveyor instead of letting voters elect them.
"As I've said before, one size doesn't fit all," noted Cheatham, referring to his contention that such changes might be beneficial in urban counties but not in rural counties. "I know the people I have talked to in my district are against it. Most of the people on that commission are from urban areas and don't realize how the proposal would impact us here."
A battle looms as well over whether or not to tap Indiana's so-called rainy day fund, which totals $1.7 billion. Daniels opposes dipping into the $1 billion account while Cheatham and others believe that's what the money is there for.
"The question is, 'Is it raining or not?'" Cheatham said. "This is the worst economic time in my life. If we don't use the rainy day fund for the essentials we need during a severe financial crisis like this one, why have the fund in the first place?"
The state's unemployment insurance fund has already had to borrow from the federal government as Indiana's unemployment rate climbed to 7.2 percent in November, the latest time period from which statistics are available. In Jennings County, the rate for that month was 8.5 percent.
"We've got to help those people survive," Cheatham said. "We can't just cut them off."
Education, property taxes, Medicaid and prisons were other issues discussed.
The next Third House session will be Friday, Feb. 6, at 3 p.m. at FPBH, 72 Henry St., North Vernon. No admission is charged and the public is welcome to attend.
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
