Crime Has Been Politicized
I knew crime was going to a hot-button political issue this year in the Marion County Prosecutor’s race. I’ve seen little items pop up on my advanced radar screen that showed me this year was going to be something to remember; announcements regarding crime where key individuals in the chain were left off the invitation list, meaningless proposals being offered as crucial to public safety, etc. But night last at the City-County building between 5:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., I finally got my proof.
As you know I am not a partisan. I do not believe in right and left, I believe in right and wrong. Am also not prone to hyperbole when it comes to issues of public safety. But last night the Democrats on the Public Safety committee politically gang-banged the Marion County Prosecutor all to enhance the stature of his opponent. Allow me to explain.
One of the reasons for the rising crime rate has been jail overcrowding. After a period of time that could be described as denial, Mayor Bart Peterson acknowledged crime was off the hook. To date there have been more homicides in Marion County than any other time in the past 8 years. The number of aggravated assaults are also up, which if you think about it had their aim been a little better, the murder rate would be even worse. Burglary is up, robbery is up, and larceny is up. To deal with that rise in crime local officials stepped up their efforts to fix the criminal justice system.
The plans, usually spearheaded by the Marion County Criminal Justice Planning Council, included more jail space, more prosecutors, more defense attorneys, more courtrooms and doing whatever it took to get more criminals through the system and off to prison. Sheriff Frank Anderson, with assist from former Deputy Mayor Melina Kennedy came with a plan to move female inmates from the jail to Liberty Hall to free up bed space at the County jail. A good idea, no doubt. The plan was met with open arms and got through the system with no issue and very little debate.
And then there were the Hamilton Avenue murders in June.
It was later discovered that one of the defendants in the case did not spend time in jail due to overcrowding. So Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi offered a plan to move some inmates to the Indiana Department of Corrections facility in New Castle. Instead of giving that proposal the same weight and deference that the other proposal did, Democrats played politics. Council President Monroe Gray originally didn’t even allow it on the agenda when it was first introduced. Later after being embarrassed and called on the carpet by the press, the measure did get a hearing and then a gang-bang.
First the proposal was put on the agenda after a report from the CJPC, which took almost three hours. The Committee addressed each member of the CJOC in courteous and sometimes spirited manner, but people were polite over all, until Brizzi got up to testify. If I may use a dated reference, the Democrats went after him like an Ethiopian at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Vernon Brown asked for examples of individuals who committed crimes after being released early from the jail. Brizzi cited several who had been released early and went on to commit murder. Mary Moriarty Adams tried to argue that James Stewart, one of the defendants in the Hamilton Avenue murder case was not on early release. It turns out he was since he did not have to serve time in the jail on a prior DUI charge and based on his past record.
But perhaps the most egregious questions came from Democrat Greg Bowes. Bowes’ line of questioning was that the prosecutor should look at whom they charge to eliminate the jail-overcrowding problem. I read it to mean the prosecutor is charging too many people.
There was also the issue of funding; the only legitimate one in my opinion. The money to fund the plan would come from the County’s consolidated fund, a collection of money from different sources. Some of it is statutorily earmarked for certain line items and can’t be touched, but there’s a significant amount that isn’t. When Democrats suggested that money for the plan would be an issue, I had to laugh because these were the same people who wanted to raise taxes for the Library and Indy Go and recently spent more than a million dollars on arts programs.
I guess when someone is shot the kids can draw a chalk outline around him.
Democrats did offer, and pass, and amendment to Brizzi’s plan that calls for any new plan to ease jail overcrowding be approved by the Sheriff and the CJPC. Please note, that the CPJC rarely takes a vote on any plan, there’s just a general agreement and they move on. The Democrats never raised a fuss over the Sheriff’s Liberty Hall plan, nor when the Mayor went to the group asking for money to avoid laying of police officers. It seems ironic that when the Republican Prosecutor asks for something, people decide to exercise “oversight” Where were they when the Sheriff got a $50,000 raise, that public pressure later made him give back.
Now some people will read this posting and call me a partisan and say I am defending Brizzi because he is a friend, which he is. But I supported the Democrats on government consolidation, the Human rights ordinance and when they raised the County Option Income Tax to deal with the prison problem. So to call me a partisan is like calling Michael Jackson to baby-sit your kids. It’s not a good idea. I have never been about right and left, but right and wrong. And last night, the Democrats were wrong.
