MARK KIESLING: Don't worry, be happy over finding state money

I think we've all experienced the unexpected joy of finding unexpected money.

Maybe you're putting on a pair of pants you haven't worn in a while or getting the winter coat out for the season.

You stick your hands into the pockets and there it is. Maybe it's just a buck, or maybe five. or if you're really lucky a $10 or $20 bill.

It's really been yours all along, but you feel like you came into a windfall, albeit a minor one.

At least minor compared with what Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels found when he reached into the figurative state coat pocket and found $320 million in misplaced tax revenue.

Now I know that Indiana is one of the few states, particularly in the Midwest, that is running in the black, but it's still hard for me to imagine missing $320 million and not wondering where it had gone.

It turns out a computer glitch kept it out of the general fund and put it into another fund that continued to draw interest.

"Christmas came early, or maybe Hoosiers just got a Christmas bonus," said Daniels, who said the extra cash could mean as much as a $50 refund on an individual's 2013 taxes.

Sure, it was a goof-up of fairly substantial proportions but it was found when someone in the Indiana Department of Revenue became concerned about being unable to trace a $25,200 corporate income tax payment.

Somewhat predictably, and somewhat irrationally, state Democrats were quick to jump on Republican Daniels for failing to get a handle on the situation earlier.

Nothing like a Grinch to put a damper on finding that $20 in your old coat pocket, is there?

"This is not like finding change behind the couch cushion," said state Rep. Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City. "This is a very serious error ... and if necessary heads need to roll."

What is this, the French Revolution? Pelath was critical that school funding and other state services have been cut over the past few years, and called it unnecessary.

He apparently is blissfully unaware of the fact that Indiana has a reserve surplus of $1.3 billion, and that $320 million is really loose change under the couch cushion compared with that.

No one has suffered for lack of money. Cuts were made to continue to keep the state one of the few to operate on the plus side of the ledger, not because no one could come up with the cash.

So stop the political posturing. State Sen. Vi Simpson, D-Ellettsville, the Democratic leader who has called for an investigation, also is taking this too seriously.

Sure, it never should have happened, and Daniels has said as much himself.

But to look at the unexpected discovery of $320 million as anything but a holiday miracle is Grinch-like political posturing and it needs to stop.

The opinions are those of the writer. He can be reached at mark.kiesling@nwi.com or (219) 933-4170.