Published: July 08, 2008 11:07 pm         

Chamber of Commerce begins ‘Letters to Our Leaders’

Program aims to lead to improvements

TERRE HAUTE — In hopes of focusing the gubernatorial campaign on key business issues, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday began a policy campaign that will release a series of letters to Republican candidate Gov. Mitch Daniels and Democrat candidate Jill Long Thompson.

“This is a project that has been a number of months in the making, which is called ‘Letters to Our Leaders.’ The reason we have done this is because we want to be able to take key issues that we feel are important to Indiana, to Hoosiers, to bring these to light to allow for discussion for all of Indiana,” said Mark Lawrence, senior vice president of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, in an announcement at the Greater Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce at 630 Wabash Ave.

The letters will be sent weekly through Aug. 26, with specific calls for action on issues such as local government reform, environment and energy, labor environment, work-force development and health care. The letters can be found at www.indianachamber.com/letters.

“Over the past few years, the state has made tremendous progress on a number of recent things for the business community and also the citizens of our state. We have to maintain being a low-cost state and also a welcoming environment where a business can start and operate,” Lawrence said.

The state chamber represents 4,800 member companies that employ 800,000 Hoosier workers.

The first letter targets local government reform, citing the need to implement recommendations of the Kernan-Shepard Commission made earlier this year.

“With property tax reform, there is less money available. What I hear from groups is how are we going to make up that shortfall, where is the money going to come from, not conversations about how do we use what we are going to receive more efficiently,” said Gary Morris, president and chief operating officer of Clabber Girl in Terre Haute. Morris is also chairman of the Greater Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce’s board of directors.

“Our current system of local government in Indiana was created in 1851. I work for Clabber Girl Corporation that was founded in 1850. If we were doing business today the same way we were in 1850, I would not be standing here talking, yet we still continue to do that with our state government,” Morris said.

“We have a system that does not foster efficiencies, it doesn’t promote teamwork and doesn’t provide for effective decision making; nobody knows who is in charge, always passing the buck,” Morris said.

James A. McCann, professor of political science at Purdue University, said it is very common for professional organizations to express their interests, as that is what elections are all about, yet pressure tactics such as the “Letters to Our Leaders” may not be effective in this election.

“Candidates in general stake out positions in a proactive way, so that if one of the candidates is taking a position and these letters fit with that position, almost certainly the candidate will point to these efforts to rationalize his or her position,” McCann said.

“If this were a local race, or we had two novice candidates, there might be some cue-taking going on among fundraisers about whom to support, but obviously Governor Daniels is extremely well-positioned and well-resourced, so it is hard to imagine that his fundraising base would be affected one way or the other by what these business folks are saying,” McCann said.

“In general, endorsements by key interest groups, if they matter, tend to matter at the margins. With an incumbent governor running for re-election, it is not going to be nearly as competitive as if there were two fresh candidates running,” McCann said.

Lawrence said the state Chamber of Commerce conducted a similar election policy campaign in the 1996 election, which included issues such as enhanced K-12 education standards and accountability and tax restructuring, which Lawrence said eventually happened.

That election did not have an incumbent governor. The 1996 election involved Lt. Gov. Frank O’Bannon seeking his first term as governor against former Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. O’Bannon won that election and was re-elected governor in 2000.

Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.