Former Indiana lieutenant governor dies at 89

Yep, the man that gave us the sales tax has died. Indiana Republicans were a different breed back then.

Former Indiana lieutenant governor dies at 89

Leland, MI - Richard O. Ristine, a Republican who served one term as Indiana's lieutenant governor and cast the deciding vote that established the state's sales tax in 1963, has died at age 89.

Ristine died Saturday at his home in Leland, Mich., after a brief illness, U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar, R-Ind., said Monday in a statement that called Ristine "a remarkable Indiana leader."

"The state of Indiana and his many friends will miss him very much, while appreciating his great character and remarkable life of service," Lugar said in his statement.

Ristine earned a law degree from Columbia University before serving with the Army Air Corps during World War II in the Philippines and Japan.

After the war, he began his legal career with the Baker & Daniels law firm in Indianapolis, and then moved his family to Crawfordsville to practice law there.

In 1950, Ristine was elected to the Indiana State Senate, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-great grandfather, who had both served in the General Assembly.

Ristine was elected Indiana's lieutenant governor in 1960, serving from 1961-65 alongside Gov. Matthew E. Welsh, a Democrat. In 1963, Ristine, in the lieutenant governor's dual role as President of the Indiana Senate, cast the deciding vote that established the state's first sales tax.

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=10576788

We should return to the old ways of doing business, including having a part time citizen legislature not the mess we currently have.