John McGauley has previously said he wants to eliminate the job he is running for, but apparently he also wants to cut the job he already has too.
McGauley, seeking the Republican nomination for Allen County commissioner, released a proposal Monday for restructuring county government that not only includes reducing the number of commissioners, but also merges several other county positions.
His proposal includes merging the county recorder and county clerk into one office.
“The positions are often confused with one another, causing confusion for taxpayers and for those seeking services,” he said.
McGauley speaks with some experience on the issue, as he is the county recorder. He won a second term in 2010.
The plan also calls for Allen County Council to take legislative authority for the commissioners and budgetary authority for the township advisory boards, for a county controller to replace the county auditor and treasurer and for the county sheriff to absorb the role of county coroner and hire a qualified director of medical examination.
McGauley faces Commissioner Nelson Peters and William Phillips in the GOP primary. Gordon Anthony is running as a Democrat.
Friends and politics
It turns out that birds of a feather don’t always flock together on social networking sites, at least when it comes to politics.
A survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project on social networking sites shows that friends often disagree about political issues but let those disagreements slide online.
About 38 percent of users said they are surprised that a friend’s political beliefs are different from what the users thought they were.
In the survey completed in February, the Pew Internet Project found that 80 percent of adults use the Internet and 66 percent of those online Americans use social networking sites. About 75 percent of social network users say their friends post at least some content related to politics, and 37 percent of users post political material at least occasionally.
About 18 percent of social networking site users have blocked, unfriended or hidden someone for at least one of the following reasons: posting too frequently about political subjects; posting something about politics that the person disagreed with or found offensive; or arguing about politics.
When they shun others based on political content, it is most often a distant friend or acquaintance, rather than a close friend or family member. But roughly a third of those who have ended contact on these sites say a family member or close friend was involved.
At the other end of the scale, 16 percent of social networking users have friended or followed someone because that person shared the user’s political views.
A for transparency
Indiana state government has received an A- rating from a leading public interest organization.
The high grade came from PIRG, the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups, a non-profit, non-partisan public interest advocacy organization. Its ratings focus on how well states provide online access to government spending data.
“Once again Indiana is leading the way,” state Auditor Tim Berry declared. “Because of the hard work of my staff and a number of other state agencies, our transparency portal has become a valuable tool for Hoosiers. I agree with PIRG that transparency in government spending promotes fiscal responsibility, checks corruption, and bolsters public confidence.”
The transparency site, launched in August 2010, was recognized for offering a checkbook-level, user-friendly interface and providing information on payments to specific vendors. Additionally, users can customize their search to look for expenses incurred over a particular period of time, in a specific geographic area, by a particular government agency or of a certain dollar amount.
“Making state government more transparent has been one of our priorities for more than seven years. We’ll continue our push to be a national leader in operating an open and honest government,” Gov. Mitch Daniels said.
The transparency portal can be found at www.in.gov/itp.
Richard’s new job
Former Mayor Graham Richard has a new job.
Richard on Friday was announced as the CEO of Advanced Energy Economy, which describes itself as a national business organization promoting U.S. companies as global suppliers of innovative energy technologies and services.
“With Graham Richard, AEE will be in good hands,” said company co-founder Tom Steyer, senior managing member of Farallon Capital Management. “Advanced energy is the global market opportunity of our lifetimes, and with Graham Richard at the helm, AEE will work to ensure that U.S. companies and U.S. workers make the most of that opportunity.”
In an email, Richard told The Journal Gazette he will be traveling a lot with time spent each month in San Francisco and Washington, plus trying to build chapters of the organization in 15 states.
“This growing industry is in need of a unified voice to help the U.S. capitalize on the global transition to a smarter energy future,” Richard said in a statement.
Richard was mayor of Fort Wayne from 2000 to 2008, after serving as principal of Graham Richard & Associates and partner in Ruffolo Richard LLC.
The company highlighted Richard’s efforts as mayor to use business practices, such as Lean Six Sigma, to turn Fort Wayne city government into a “lean, customer-focused organization and saving taxpayers more than $31 million while improving city services.”
In 2007, Richard was named Government Leader of the Year by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
Richard received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from Indiana University and earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. Richard was a founding board member of the Clean Economy Network, which merged with AEE last year.
