Republican candidate for governor David McIntosh's campaign is looking a little silly to me these days.

And some of his campaign staff are looking like a character from Saturday Night Live years ago.

You remember. That "Emily" person played by Gilda Radner. She would always misunderstand something and go off on a tangent.

When informed that she was completely out in left field, she would say in a whiny, nasally tone, "Ooooh, ... never mind."

At issue is a TV campaign ad that McIntosh is running all over the state.

It shows this average Hoosier, Bill Statom, of Muncie.

He's looking kind of bummed out in the ad. He says taxes have doubled on his house over the past 10 years.

Well it seems taxes haven't doubled on his house. Taxes are up around 40 percent on all his properties, which include an adjacent lot and four other buildings he rents.

When confronted with this 10 or 12 days ago, McIntosh campaign staffers could have done the right thing.

They could have said:

"You know, you're right. We should have researched that ad a little better. We'll pull it right away."

But here's what they said:

"I think we talked about property tax bills going up. ... In Statom's mind, he believes they have doubled."

Or:

"In his mind, they have doubled. Conceptually, the ad is correct. He, in his own mind, feels his property taxes have doubled."

Or:

"I think in his mind he thinks that they're pretty close to double, if not double."

And as recently as last Thursday, I saw the ad still running on TV.

So they know the ad is false and they keep running it.

That's just wrong.

And it also insults the intelligence of millions of Hoosiers. Apparently he thinks that none of us watch the news or read the newspaper.

Another thing that made McIntosh look silly to me - and a little desperate, too - is dragging the class basketball issue into the governor's race.

McIntosh vowed, if elected as governor, to do what he could to restore one-class basketball to Indiana.

Of course, I'm sure it would get him some votes. Lots of people in Indiana would like to see a return to one-class basketball.

But really, is that an election issue? I don't think so.

I generally like McIntosh's message of smaller government, lower taxes, better education, tougher sentences for criminals and more pay for state troopers.

It's too bad had to come up with these campaign flubs and make us question his integrity.

Of course Gov. Frank O'Bannon's campaign is making a bunch of political hay over all this.

O'Bannon's camp has been drilling McIntosh and the tax ad.

And O'Bannon came out immediately to say that basketball has no place in politics.

I agree.

But I'm not so sure O'Bannon really thinks that way.

After all, he is the governor who signed into law a bill creating an independent review panel that can overturn Indiana High School Athletic Association rulings.

State lawmakers claimed that the IHSAA had become arrogant and unaccountable. The bill to create the review panel was one of the first sent to the governor during the last session.

At the time, political analysts throughout Indiana were speculating - and quite accurately, in my view - that this was the legislature's way of punishing the IHSAA for the decision to go to multi-class basketball.

O'Bannon happily signed the bill into law.

So on the one hand, the governor says politics must be kept out of the IHSAA, and on the other, he signs legislation to create an advisory panel to oversee the IHSAA.

Seems to me if he really believed politics and high school athletics don't mix, he would have vetoed that bill and stood on that principle.

But I suppose it's just too much to ask to have politicians that aren't disingenuous.

*****

I must admit I got a chuckle out of another story last week related to the Indiana legislature.

This one was about hypnotists.

About three years ago a bill was passed that required hypnotists to be licensed before they could ply their trade in Indiana.

Doesn't sound too bad on the face of it, does it?

I remember at the time thinking that it was a bit bizarre and wondering if it was really necessary.

I mean, after all, if you go in to be hypnotized, it seems as if it should be pretty easy to tell if the hypnotist knows what he or she is doing.

When the bill came up in the legislator, lawmakers really whooped it up. The bill was met with laughter. One member even walked around the chamber with his arms outstretched as if in a trance.

But the law passed and I remember thinking that a little protection for consumers of hypnotism couldn't really harm anything.

So now in Indiana if you pass yourself off as a hypnotist without a license, you could get six months and jail and be fined $1,000 dollars.

Of course, I failed to consider the dreaded unintended consequence of the legislation.

You see, Indiana is the only state in the union to offer a certification for hypnotists.

Of more than 1,000 applications for certification, only 150 are from Indiana.

What we have done, basically, is offered up a way for hypnotists all over the country to get credentials and say that they are "state certified" even if they don't practice here.

You gotta love that Hoosier hospitality. [[In-content Ad]]