Football, Basketball and the Legislature
This is January 2003: The season for contests, competition, and victory. While the NFL football playoffs continue to entertain fans around the state, basketball season has commenced in full swing. Biting their fingernails and gripping their chairs, Indiana sports enthusiasts follow every high school, college, and professional game with extreme energy and high emotion.
Meanwhile,
amongst all the
basketball and
football frenzy, the Indiana General Assembly has also convened in the annual contest to address the needs and requests of the citizens of Indiana.
While this contest may lack an obvious strategy and the physical contact, it certainly generates tremendous emotion from the citizens of the state. Just as athletic contests expect to have a winner, the residents of Indiana expect a winner too, (and they want it to be everyone living here).
They look forward to a fair tax policy, reasonable regulation, and an environment that fosters growth and prosperity in the private sector. This will eventually create more jobs for Hoosiers and allow small businesses to be profitable. Although comparing the Indiana General Assembly to sports competitions may not be the perfect analogy, it seems appropriate given the economic situation this year.
We need a policy that helps to create employment and attract economic development. Our economy must grow to increase revenues to provide government services.
We cannot tax ourselves out of our problems. Some legislators have even suggested we delay the changes to the tax policy implemented in June, though I believe this would be a mistake because it would destroy the consistency that is necessary for business development. Therefore, it is my goal to help promote responsible policy to ensure the success of Indiana citizens and businesses.
On December 2, I was elected by the caucus to serve as Republican Floor Leader. This significant leadership position is a high honor for me, giving me the opportunity to embrace additional responsibilities. These duties will include communicating the Republican position on a variety of issues, as well as assisting each member to get his or her individual position moved forward for consideration.
In addition, I will also be required to work with Democrat leadership to forge compromises that can bring us to a conclusion. I believe that this position will be very beneficial for our district because of the direction I can offer. With my newly elected position, I will no longer serve on the Ways and Means committee, but I will remain on the Agriculture and Natural Resources committee.
Due to the redistricting, I am an unfamiliar representative for many of you in District 23. It has been customary for 10 years to write a weekly column during the session, and I plan to continue writing and providing the column to the district media for this session. I hope that you find it informative and useful.
It is a great opportunity to be able to serve the public, and I take it very seriously. Please continue to communicate with me about your issues. It is your government; please participate in it.
More later,
Bill
(Representative Bill Friend has served the citizens of House District 23, which includes portions of Marshall (including all of Bremen and Bourbon), Miami, Kosciusko, Fulton, and Elkhart counties since 1992. He may be contacted via email at [email protected], phone (800) 382-9841, extension 9619, or his Statehouse office at 200 West Washington Street, 401-7, Indianapolis, IN 46204. )
|
|
| Community Calendar |
|
No events listed.
|
|
Interactive Calendar
|
