When the Indiana General Assembly is in session, lobbying season is in high gear. Now that we're between the regular session and the special session, political posturing is popular.

Watch not just what the groups are saying, but especially what they're not saying.

David Bottorff, executive director of the Association of Indiana Counties, is crowing about a survey his organization commissioned that he says indicates voters want to retain their right to elect local leaders.

"The results of the telephone survey clearly indicate people trust an elected official to do what is in their best interest over an appointed person," Bottorff said in releasing the results.

But the questions themselves show a bit of bias.

Bottorff's organization is fighting for the protection of the status quo for the elected officials who support it. No surprise there.

So instead of explaining that the bipartisan Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform, headed by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard, recommends combining some offices for streamlining and increased accountability, the Association of Indiana Counties questions simply ask whether each county official should be elected or appointed.

Did the 800 people surveyed realize that nearly all Indiana counties have failed to get property tax bills out on time, costing taxpayers across the state millions of dollars in interest on borrowed money?

Each officeholder points the blame elsewhere. Most recently, Lake County Treasurer John Petalas blamed the assessors for not getting their work done on time.

If voters realized this system of diluted accountability is costing them so much not just for the operation of those offices but also in interest on money borrowed to keep government in business while the tardy taxes are calculated, would they still support the status quo?

Or would they rather have those financial offices -- which implement policy rather than set it -- be combined and report to a county executive with the power to hire and fire at will?

Why wait four years for the voters to get rid of someone who is incompetent rather than let a county executive do that?

I wish Bottorff's survey had asked, "Would you rather have the county treasurer, auditor and assessor offices combined, or should they remain separate?"

I wish it had asked, "What do you think of each of the following recommendations for local government reform?"

"Voters want to see an efficient, cost-effective local government, but they do not equate giving up their power to elect their local leaders with 'reform,'" Bottorff said.

From the vantage point of the Kernan-Shepard Commission -- which received about 1,500 comments, observations and submissions, plus held listening sessions around the state -- Indiana's local government isn't efficient and cost-effective in its current state.

If you want to read the results of the survey Bottorff's agency commissioned, go to http://www.indianacounties.org and look under press releases.

If you want to read the Indiana Commission on Local Government Reform report, go to http://tinyurl.com/yq3e8f.

Then tell me which results you trust most.

Editorial Page Editor Doug Ross can be reached at (219) 548-4360 or (219) 933-3357 or Doug.Ross@nwi.com. The opinion expressed in this column is the writer's and not necessarily that of The Times.