The Life of Brian
I have been covering the Indianapolis City-County Council for six years now. I have seen the Council do some really smart things, and have some not so brilliant moments. For the most part, I tend to respect the lot of them, even the ones I don’t agree with. It’s a job that requires a lot of work and the pay isn’t that great. However, there is one Councilor who has been talking a lot lately, but saying nothing. That is Brian Mahern.
I’ve always considered Brian average at best. On the Democratic side Joanne Sanders is the leader and Jackie Nytes and Mary Moriarty Adams are the ones who know what’s going on with the budget and do most of the work. However, Brian has never really contributed anything to the body.
His Council webpage says his priorities were dealing with abandoned homes, public safety and infrastructure. But when I did some checking for original council proposals that Brian has offered only found three. One was a resolution recognizing a citizen, one asked the Indiana General Assembly to give the Council more direct control over the Metropolitan Development Commission, and the third was last night’s posturing over the Metropolitan Police Department.
Mahern offered up a proposal creating an investigative committee into recent actions of IMPD and wanted to move it forward with a full Council vote without going through committee to discuss the details of the proposal, solicit public commentary and fully vet the ordinance. But I guess when you’re posturing, those details can go by the wayside.
I don’t know what it’s been lately with Brian, but he sure has been talking a lot lately, without saying anything of substance. It started around the time the Council was considering taking up the smoking ban. I would like to get to the bottom of all this. Maybe we can talk soon and with a little bit of luck maybe he’ll say something meaningful.
