Stricter Voting Laws Carve Latest Partisan Divide education reform

By JOYCE PURNICK

MESA, Ariz. — Eva Charlene Steele, a recent transplant from Missouri, has no driver’s license or other form of state identification. So after voting all her adult life, Mrs. Steele will not be voting in November because of an Arizona law that requires proof of citizenship to register.

“I have mixed emotions,” said Mrs. Steele, 57, who uses a wheelchair and lives in a small room in an assisted-living center. “I could see where you would want to keep people who don’t belong in the country from voting, but there has to be an easier way.”

Russell K. Pearce, a leading proponent of the new requirement, offers no apologies.

“You have to show ID for almost everything — to rent a Blockbuster movie!” said Mr. Pearce, a Republican in the State House of Representatives. “Nobody has the right to cancel my vote by voting illegally. This is about political corruption.”

Mrs. Steele and Mr. Pearce are two players in a spreading partisan brawl over new and proposed voting requirements around the country. Republicans say the laws are needed to combat fraud, especially among illegal immigrants. Democrats say there is minimal fraud, if any, and accuse Republicans of suppressing the votes of those least likely to have the required documentation — minorities, the poor and the elderly — who tend to vote for Democrats.

In tight races, Democrats say, the loss of votes could matter in November.

In Maricopa County, Arizona’s largest in population, election officials said that 35 percent of new registrations were rejected for insufficient proof of citizenship last year and that 17 percent had been rejected so far this year. It is not known how many of the rejected registrants were not citizens or were unable to prove their citizenship because they had lost or could not locate birth certificates and other documents.

In Indiana, Daniel J. Parker, chairman of the state Democratic Party, said: “Close to 10 percent of registered voters here do not have driver’s licenses. Who does that impact most? Seniors and minorities.”

To read more on this developing issue, check out the New York Times.

9th District candidates stake out positions

By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
lstedman@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

INDIANAPOLIS — In his first TV commercial of this election season, 9th District congressional candidate Baron Hill tells voters he believes "marriage between a man and a woman is sacred."

It's a statement the Seymour Democrat and former congressman thought he needed to make after past Republican attacks that accused him of supporting same-sex marriage.

"I could support a federal law defining marriage as that of a man and a woman," Hill said. "But I don't want to use the Constitution as an instrument to ban gay marriage. That's not what the document is about."

And that's where Hill differs from his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel, who defeated Hill in 2004.

He is co-sponsor of the proposed constitutional amendment introduced in the House.

"The only way to protect traditional marriage from court overturn is to say so in the Constitution," Sodrel said.

Same-sex marriage is among a number of hot-button social issues — including abortion and stem cell research — that could help voters decide whether to stick with Sodrel, send Hill back to Washington or pick Libertarian Eric Schansberg, who opposes same-sex marriage but said the decision should be made at the state rather than federal level.

All three candidates say they oppose abortion, yet there are significant differences.

Sodrel and Schansberg would like to see the newly reconstituted U.S. Supreme Court overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal.

But Hill worries that would lead to unsafe, back-alley abortions.

"I'm not for abortion," Hill said. "But I'm not for repealing Roe v. Wade either."

Instead, Hill supports legislation offered by U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, a member of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, and Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., a member of the Congressional Pro-Choice Caucus.

Their bill aims to reduce the number of abortions in the United States by 95percent in 10 years.

The bill includes initiatives to expand access to birth control for low-income women, increase health-care funding for low-income mothers and children, give grants for creative approaches to reducing teen pregnancy and unintended pregnancy, and provide funding for day-care programs and child-care centers on college campuses.

Read more on the 9th District race at the Courier-Journal.com
Check out Baron Hill's Website at http://www.baron2006.com/

New Albany to start on greenway

By Matt Batcheldor
mbatcheldor@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

Work on New Albany's portion of the $41 million Ohio River Greenway is to begin next month using a $1.2 million state grant the city received yesterday.

It will mark the city's first construction on an eventual seven-mile recreational path extending from New Albany to Jeffersonville.

Mayor James Garner said a contractor for the project will be chosen next week. Garner has spent this week in Indianapolis trying to expedite the grant before a Sept. 30 deadline for federal matching dollars.

If the deadline passed without the grant, the project would be delayed for a year.

"We're really at the wire for getting this done," Garner said. "It's a great feeling to walk away with the check to say the project's going to happen."

With the matching federal money, the first phase of the project will get $2.4 million. New Albany has already spent about $250,000 and the Caesars Foundation contributed $240,000 for engineering and design work.

The first phase of the path will stretch from the riverfront amphitheater to just past 6th Street, chief planner Scott Wood said. The path will run both atop the earthen levee and on both sides of Water Street until the levee ends and a concrete floodwall begins. Then the levee path will head down a ramp to join the Water Street paths.

For more on this story and its positive impact on our community, check out the Courier-Journal.com

Poverty in Indiana hit 12.2% in 2005

The Indianapolis Star

The number of Hoosiers living in poverty grew 13 percent, to more than 740,000, from 2004 to 2005, new census figures show.

More than 260,000 Hoosier children live below the poverty level.

Indiana's poverty rate for 2005 was 12.2 percent, an increase of more than 88,000 people and the third straight annual increase, according to the data released this week.

The state rate for 2005 remained slightly lower than the national average of 12.6 percent. The national rate was unchanged from 2004 to 2005.

Read more on the poverty rate at the Courier - Journal.

9th District debate focuses on war in Iraq, energy

By Ben Zion Hershberg
bhershberg@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. —The candidates in the 9th District congressional race argued about energy policy, immigration and other national issues during a televised debate last night.

Through much of the one-hour session in the studio of WTIU Television, Republican incumbent Mike Sodrel and his Democratic challenger Baron Hill criticized each other's positions over the years.

Libertarian candidate Eric Schansberg often urged the public to vote for him, rather than the major-party candidates. "I hope you will listen and say it's time for a real change," he said.

Last night's debate was an early round in a contest that is drawing national attention as Democrats and Republicans battle for control of the House.

For more on the debate, read the rest of the article at the Courier - Journal.