Published: December 17, 2007 05:17 pm            

Letter to the editor - Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2007

Gov. Daniels, DST, economic expansion

During the campaign period leading up to the last gubernatorial election, Gov. Daniels “promised” that, if elected, he would do whatever necessary to bring Indiana into the daylight-saving-time fold. I believed him. I voted for Joe Kernan.

Kernan lost; Daniels won. Soon thereafter, Gov. Daniels made good on his promise. Not by placing the DST measure on the ballot so that the people could voice their opinion, but by “persuading” the legislators to vote it into law. Since then we keep hearing about how beneficial DST has been for the Hoosier economy in terms of overall development. Really? I wonder.

Fast forward to the Dec. 9 Public Eye column on Page C1 where there appeared a piece subtitled “Poverty level wages.” According to the piece, during a 2005 visit to Kokomo, Gov. Daniels stated that there were many people in Howard County that would be happy to have a $9 per hour job.

Democrat Jim Schellinger, who is seeking his party’s nomination for governor in the next election, rightly pointed out that that was only $18,000 per year, or $2,000 below the poverty level for a family of four. Schellinger then pointed out that Indiana was one of only three states that lost jobs in 2006. So who is to blame for that job loss, Gov. Daniels or DST?

Kenneth Crockett

Kokomo

        

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