What’s Going On?
I took a little break from blogging because I’ve been following up on something that just didn’t seem to make a lot of sense to me. And the more I chased down the information, the more bizarre stuff I discovered. Let me know what you think.
We all know the big news of this week was the release of the new legislative maps. Republicans have the majority in both chambers and so they drew the maps that will likely pass, with some tinkering around the edges.
A lot of us in the Indianapolis area have been looking at the new shape of the 7th Congressional District and the consensus is that is a lot more competitive than it used to be and under the right circumstances a Republican could have a decent shot at capturing the seat sense it includes the southern portions of Marion County that used to be in other Congressional districts and takes out the northern 25% of the County which was trending Democratic. This assessment was also originally shared by Adam Kirsch, the Executive Director of the Marion County Democratic Party.
What left me scratching my head though, was the recent statement Kirsch and the Democrats put out saying the new 7th Congressional District is now even more Democratic than it used to be. If everything is fine, why put out a statement? If you’re not concerned about the new maps, why go out of your way to say you’re not? Even Carson’s political hanger-on Wilson Allen, admitted the District is somewhat more competitive. There’s a Shakespeare line in here somewhere about someone protesting too much.
Like I said, I’ve been spending time trying to get a read on Kirsch’s thought process, since I am not one of his favorite people, and as crazy as this sounds this is what it keeps coming back to, Chairman Ed Treacy and Andre Carson hate each other and Treacy would like to see nothing more than Carson gone and someone he picks occupy that chair. I know, it sounds crazy. But from the Democrats I’ve spoken to (and quite a few of them speak with me) Treacy’s logic is that saying the 7th will be a cakewalk, Andre and his supporters won’t work as hard and an energized GOP with new maps will sweep him out and then two years later, he will take the seat back.
Hey, I wasn’t ready to buy this one either. But I did confirm the lack of love between these two individuals to the point where my very reliable sources have told me Treacy has referred to Carson with some not so nice epiteths that I won’t print on a family blog and Carson is just waiting to find someone with the political acumen to replace Treacy.
I know this all sounds totally insane. And to my detractors, I can hear you right now “Abdul is just making stuff again”. And I would be more than willing to agree with you. However, I wasn’t expecting the Marion County Democrats to put out a news release stating the obvious unless there wasn’t something going on. And I really wasn’t expecting to find out just how deep-seated the hatred and distrust is reportedly between the Marion County Democratic Chairman and the Congressman from the 7th Congressional District. Of course if that fight ever went public, I’m putting my money on Andre to win that one.
Enjoy your weekend.
