Faulkner Strategies of Granger has been awarded a Reed Award by Campaigns & Elections’ Politics magazine for political professionals in the category of “Republican State Legislative Candidate.” Faulkner Strategies is the best political mail vendor in the Midwest and is a growing Indiana company with a talented staff. IBRG has hired Faulkner Strategies on several races in the last few elections to handle direct mail for our endorsed candidates in competitive races and is a company we have an excellent relationship with.

The mailing that earned Faulkner Strategies this award was for Rep. Dan Leonard’s primary election. This is a race where IBRG was heavily involved and Chase Downham, Indiana Chamber’s manager of political affairs, spent considerable time on the ground running Rep. Leonard’s competitive primary race. Rep. Leonard was a terrific candidate who has done great work for the people he represents and the mail program designed by Faulkner Strategies was effective in telling this story. It played a major role in helping Rep. Leonard win re-election.

Congratulations to Chris, Angela, Jared and the great staff at Faulkner Strategies for this well-deserved award and thank you for being an Indiana Chamber member.

Click here to see the award-winning mail piece.

You’ve undoubtedly seen their ads. You’ve heard the name. But what you didn’t know about Red Gold, the Elwood-based tomato product producer, may surprise you. So here are some fun facts about Red Gold, a company we’re proud to say is part of the Indiana Chamber member family:

• The company has over 1,100 employees, who work at facilities in four small Indiana towns – Orestes, Geneva, Alexandria and Elwood.
• Red Gold began in 1942 when Grover Hutcherson and his daughter, Fran, rebuilt a Midwest cannery to provide fresh-tasting canned food products for the war effort. (The company remains a family-owned business.)
• In Chicago, New York and 36 other major U.S. markets, Red Gold sells more canned tomato products than any other manufacturer.
• Nearly one-third of all canned tomato products purchased in the U.S. are made by Red Gold.
• Three out of every four consumers of retailer brand tomato juice drink Red Gold produced tomato juice.
• The company attracts creative minds to develop some of the industry’s most advanced tomato growing and processing technology – although the Midwestern climate helps quite a bit, too.
• Red Gold is the nation’s largest provider of retail private label tomato products (with ketchup leading the way).
• Personal testimony: Their ketchup is really freaking good.

And just think, Super Bowl Sunday is only two days away. Salsa, anyone?

The words that are uttered in State of the State addresses do not always become reality, but it was hard to ignore the "call for a longer school year" this week from Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland.

School reform measures are popular in discussion, although many don’t receive the implementation they deserve. Charter schools, vouchers, scholarship tax credits and performance pay for teachers do, at least, get to the table in the talks. But what about spending more time at task? Hardly, if ever mentioned.

Indiana (and most of the rest of the country’s) school day was set up at about the same time as our state’s local government structure. The 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. school day — allowing students to work on the farm both before and after classes, as well as during the summer months — was fine when agriculture was king. Today, science and math are among the keys to a productive future and young people from other countries are eating our proverbial school lunch when it comes to those subjects.

The 180 days that Indiana students are required to attend school is among the lowest in the country and pales in comparison to many around the world. A longer school day? Maybe. A traditional school year that doesn’t end in late May or early June? Why not? It’s at least time to explore the ideas.

For more on Strickland’s education plans in Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer offers a summary.

President Obama put forth an $819 billion economic stimulus package that passed the House by a vote of 244-188 Wednesday night. No Republicans supported the package, and most votes were along party lines. Inside Indiana Business also notes Indiana Congressman Brad Ellsworth was one of 11 Democrats to cross party lines to oppose the measure, however.

Here’s what legislators from each side are saying:

Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) – House Republican Conference Chair
“Our nation is in recession and millions of American families are hurting. Many have lost their jobs, many now worry that they’ll be next and it is absolutely right that this Congress is taking decisive action in the early days of 2009. But the bill that House Democrats have brought to the floor is not about stimulating the economy. The only thing this Democrat bill will stimulate is more government and more debt."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-FL)
"(Republicans) repeatedly are slapping the outreached hand of Democrats who are attempting to work in a bipartisan way. We have given the Republicans every opportunity to have input and help shape this."

Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN)
"It’s going to provide a lot of new jobs."

The Indianapolis Star article also notes where the money would go in the Hoosier State:

But the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, estimates that Indiana would get more than $11 billion in spending and tax benefits from the House version. That would include:

• $3.7 billion in tax cuts.

• $1.4 billion for Medicaid.

• $1.3 billion in state budget aid.

• $1.3 billion for elementary, secondary and higher education.

• $1.3 billion in unemployment benefits.

• $795 million for roads and other transportation projects.

• $164 million in water and sewer funds.

While it looks as though the stimulus plan will pass in some form, the Indiana Chamber stresses that the money allocated to states be used properly. It may seem obvious, but funds received from the one-time bill should not be put into programs that will require ongoing funding.

We published a post last June about Utah’s public employees moving to a four-day work week in an effort to save on energy costs. At the time, gas prices had peaked and it seemed interesting – a possible archetype for similar moves across the nation. So far, however, the results have not been as pronounced as they hoped:

Several unforeseen issues, such as extreme temperatures, employee habits and workers coming in on the occasional Friday, made such a large amount of savings an impossibility this year, she said.

Michael Hansen, strategic planning manager for the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget, calls the lower savings "lessons learned."

"We made all these estimates and assumptions, and it looks like we were optimistic," he said. "We thought it would be easier, but there were all these weird little things."

He said he has a draft report prepared with actual figures showing how much the state has saved thus far, but it has not yet been approved for release.

The initiative was implemented with little to no input from state employees, lawmakers or residents, but (Gov. Jon) Huntsman has worked to make the environment a top priority, even though many in the Legislature look at global warming as a farce.

The initiative moved 17,000 of the state’s 24,000 employees from working five, eight-hour days to four, 10-hour days.

You can visit the Indiana Chamber web site to learn all about the programs and benefits of Chamber membership. But what do members say when asked, and they are asked on a continuing basis, about why they join or remain members?

Before getting to the list, do note that membership has increased to nearly 5,000 companies (and many more individuals within those organizations). The growth continues despite the economic times that have forced a number of businesses to close and others to cut back. New companies are coming on board every day, complementing the nearly 300 that have been members continuously for more than 50 years.

The top reasons:

• Advocacy: companies want to support the Chamber role of improving the state’s business climate through lobbying efforts at the state and federal levels
• Discounted health insurance: companies with 99 or fewer employees take advantage of the ChamberCare program presented in partnership with Anthem. The savings generated here typically more than pay for the Chamber membership
• Information and assistance: this includes free Business Research Center leads and helpine guidance, as well as significant discounts on regulatory compliance publications and employee training seminars

That’s what the members who are surveyed on a rotating basis have to say. How about you? Let us know what you think.

These days there are plenty of reminders of the economic downturn. This past weekend, while driving through Pendleton, I saw this sign in a small shop advertising its going-out-of-business sale:  “We fought the economy, and the economy won.”

Thankfully, that’s not the whole story in Indiana. Plenty of Hoosier businesses continue to grow and prosper. I offer the story of FINCH Constructors, an Indianapolis-based company that without any magic anti-recession potion (no, I don’t know where you can buy such a concoction) is experiencing positive growth.

“We stayed the course by taking care of our core customer base and understanding what our job is and what our goal is,” explains president and CEO Robert Finch. Top projects for FINCH Constructors right now include work at Eli Lilly (a FINCH customer since 1993) and at the downtown JW Marriott, which will open in 2011.

Finch says the family-owned and operated company continuously adds talent and technology so it can keep up with the clients it serves. Still, Finch goes back to the backbone of the company: strong relationships with core customers. 

“They believe in us and they’ve given us the opportunity to serve them. Since we understand their facilities and the systems, we owe it to them to be around at the end of today and tomorrow and the next day,” Finch shares.

So here’s to one of many Indiana companies that took on the economy and won.