Mitch Daniels' Farewell Gift

The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones;
Term limited out of the governorship and declining to exert himself to run for the presidency Governor Mitch Daniels is casting about for a piece of landmark legislation that will be his endearing legacy, to carve his initials in the edifice of Hoosier history as it were his personal sycamore tree. Unlike Evan Bayh who was personally popular when he was governor, Daniels was admired for his administrative abilities in the same fashion clever tax accountants are admired by their clients. One suspects Hoosiers envisioned Daniels wearing a green visor, hovering over a long hand accounting journal of state accounts into the wee hours of the morning and squealing in orgasmic glee when a department's budget balanced. Nerdy dwarfs of Syrian decent have a limited charismatic allurement even if they do ride Harley Davidson's but Hoosier voters do respect competence and Mitch Daniels was competent with a vengeance. He cut Indiana's state workforce by 18 percent during his first administration and in 2005 signed the voter photo ID law long before it was even politically chic in Democratic circles to oppose it. Last year after a bloody legislative battle that sent Democrats fleeing to Illinois he signed a school voucher plan and other educational reforms that other states will dream of duplicating.

So what will be Daniel's going away gift to Hoosier's? How about a statewide smoking ban? Wow! I gave up hacking years ago but still look askance at such bans as an infringement on everyone's freedom. One particular aspect of all bans are the carve outs for special groups or institutions. If, for example taverns are exempt and one choose to dine where one can smoke one is forced to dine at a tavern. Not that there is anything wrong with dining at a tavern but it gives the tavern operator an unfair advantage over its non tavern competitors. A private club should certainly be exempted but suppose that a private club has only nominal requirements for membership and serves only as a ruse to circumvent the law to the disadvantage of non club eating establishments. More than the exempt issue is the what's next issue. Will french fries be the next controlled substance? Will the next governor (probably Mike Pence) want to protect Hoosiers from monosodium glutamate and ban most Chinese foods? Well not Mike Pence but he will only last eight years. So Daniels wants to be remembered as the governor who protected Hoosiers from themselves. I prefer to remember Bobby Knight.