Wednesday’s Political Wire
Lots of little interesting tidbits of gossip, rumor and political innuendo to throw out there this morning, so without further adieu…
- Freedom Works continues to sit on the fence when deciding whether to get into the Richard Lugar/Richard Mourdock U.S. Senate Primary, despite what’s said officially, the word is they don’t trust the local tea parties to get the job done and the Lugar organizational juggernaut is running full speed ahead.
- The special prosecutor in the Charlie White voter fraud case says the recent ruling by the Indiana Recount Commission won’t have much impact on the way he plans to proceed with the case. Dan Sigler says he plans to go forward with the indictment and finish the job. White has been criminally charged with seven felony counts regarding voter and mortgage fraud.
- Indiana’s 5th Congressional District might get another contender. Former U.S. Attorney Susan Brooks tells me she’s considering challenging incumbent Dan Burton next year. John McGoff has already entered the race.
- If you live in Hamilton County and volunteered for Barack Obama’s Presidential campaign, the Melina Kennedy folks would like to have a word with you. Apparently Kennedy is having trouble getting volunteers in Marion County and so she’s looking north of 96th Street. Her campaign has sent out some e-mails (the most recent one this past Saturday) asking HC Democrats for help. I’m told by folks who received the e-mails that they were surprised to get them because they didn’t think Kennedy would have any trouble rallying the base in her own county. They’re not alone.
- The racial tension is building somewhat in the Marion County Democratic Party. A lot of African-Americans are upset Chairman Ed Treacy did not hold a special caucus when Joanne Sanders announced she was not running for the Council At-Large seat. They think the position should have gone to an African-American since there’s only one running countywide (Leroy Robinson).
- Speaking of African-Americans expect a lot more people to step up and take up the issue of violence perpetrated in the community by young black males. Things are getting to a point in their minds where the young black male is going from an endangered species to an endangering species.
- It’s no big secret the next city budget will be tight. And some City-County Councilors are going to be looking at the Sheriff’s budget as a way to save money. The word is that the Sheriff’s budget has grown exponentially over the past few years while his law enforcement responsibilities have not. This should be interesting to watch.
- Indianapolis Public Schools are sending mixed messages. The school district which has been losing students and fighting a state takeover has sent out letters to parents who left IPS to bring their kids back to the district. What’s conflicting about this is that Dr. Eugene White has already said if a parent takes a kid out of IPS after the official state attendance count day, they can’t bring them back. Which one is it? By the way, the State Board of Education will have test results back by its August 3 meeting. By then we should have a pretty good idea which schools are ripe for takeover and which ones will be left alone.
- Today is the last day you can legally text and drive in Indiana, so send ‘em while you got ‘em!
That’s all for now.
