While I Was Out
It’s amazing what happens when you take a few days off. I was going to try to blog about a couple recent news items, but the Lovely Mrs. Shabazz only allowed me to have twitter and Facebook privileges. But I did make it a point to keep up on the news and here are my thoughts on a few items of note. As well as a couple bits of gossip as well.
The Lincoln Plowman indictment does not surprise me. If you read my post from March 9, I gave you most of the details. Marion County Democrats are already have the web ads up and running. If I were them, I wouldn’t get too excited, because there’s word on the street that one of their own elected officials has some of their own trouble on the way.
Speaking of words, I’m told the Mayor’s meeting with the Indianapolis clergy was pretty interesting. Not so much because of the Mayor and Clergy, but some very public infighting that took place while they were all gathered there. Apparently the battle over who speaks for whom is continuing to rage and the Mayor was kind of put in the middle of all that. The Baptist Ministers Alliance of Indianapolis put out a statement criticizing the meeting, but I have to see one where they announced the job they helped Brandon Johnson’s mother get.
Oh and despite the big flair up this past week over satellite voting, am I the only who is wondering why Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy sent an attempted murderer to work the polls in 2008 at a satellite vote center. The record of former poll worker Charles Hayes became a point of contention in last week’s back and forth between Marion County Clerk Beth White and GOP Chairman Tom John. White said the poll worker in question was sent by the Democratic party, which makes me wonder is any over there doing background checks on these guys.
And since we’re on the subject of ex-offenders, the guys over at Indianapolis Political Stock Exchange have hypothesizes that John is trying to take over the “ex-offender” world by having his wife who serves as deputy director of the agency. Full disclosure, I serve on the PACE Board, as well as do a lot of other people from different backgrounds. Nobody has the time to engineer this master takeover plan, because we’re all too busy trying to put people to work. And shameless plug time, the agency just got a $268,000 federal grant from the Obama administration to help in those efforts. Who knew Republicans had that much pull?
As the city wants to figure out what to do about it’s proposed parking deal, a recent petition taken out showed several downtown business owners were in opposition to it. Something that didn’t get a lot of press was that the petition called for the city to “every effort to effective public transportation.” I’m trying to figure out what that means.
Contrary to popular opinion City Controller David Reynolds is not deserting a sinking ship. Reynolds is leaving the city to go work for the State Senate as Chief Fiscal Analyst November 1. I know it’s a position Reynolds has always wanted and the Senate figured out if he can turn around Indianapolis’ fiscal crisis and turn a projected $200 million deficit into a $55 million rainy day fund, he can probably help Indiana navigate its waters too.
And speaking of Legislature, my very reliable sources are telling me Indiana House Democrats are looking at taking a thumping this upcoming election season. If that happens don’t be surprised if you see State Representative Chet Dobis of Merryville take over as Minority Leader. He’s reportedly been making calls to members of the caucus lobbying for the position.
Although things look very good poll wise for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dan Coats, I’m hearing Democrat Brad Ellsworth may get the last shot, pardon the expression, with an endorsement from the National Rifle Association, because of his record on guns. Stay tuned to that one.
I’m still trying to get my arms around the whole Capital Improvement Board, Indiana Convention and Visitors Association, property tax issue. Give me a day or two to make some calls. I’ll have a separate post this week.
That’s all for now. It’s nice to be back but we have a ton of laundry to do. So, time to get cleaning!
