Steve Bonney is an independent candidate for governor of Indiana. The following are his comments on the U.S. District Court ruling on the citizens lawsuit against I-69.

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It is clear that the courts are determined to protect the institutions of government. They are able to do so because our laws are increasingly vague on the specifics, thereby allowing court decisions to be vague.

What we now have is an assemblage of vague case law upon which courts can make any decision they wish. We have truly lost the separation of powers that the Constitution mandates, as the executive and legislative branches are given a free rein by the courts.

It is also clear that "one person, one vote" does not pertain to public comments. The entire process is tainted by special interests and their highly paid spin doctors. The selection of route 3C for I-69 -- through karst terrain, bat habitat, and Patoka National Wildlife Refuge -- is an absolute travesty and certainly was arbitrary and capricious. The state never made a case for 3C as the very best choice of the 12 options.

Opposition to 3C by EPA and the Interior Department -- and their preference for U.S. 41/ I-70 -- would seem to indicate an arbitrary and capricious nature of the selection. U.S. Fish and Wildlife and Indiana DNR initially opposed any new-terrain route. In the end, all federal and state agency opposition melted for no apparent cause other than influence by special interests.

The massive destruction of farmland by 3C points to the sham of the Hoosier Farmland Preservation Task Force, chaired by Lt Governor Joe Kernan in 1999.

In the final analysis, government cannot be trusted to serve ordinary citizens. The only logical conclusion I can reach is that government must be neutered.

Steve Bonney can be reached at .