Over the weekend it was announced that Democrats had chosen District 7 City-County Councilor Maggie Lewis as President for next year. Brian Mahern was chosen to fill the Vice-President slot and Vernon Brown will be the majority leader. A couple of things. First, if you subscribed to my political cheat sheet you already knew the […]
The usual problem with zealotry is its inability to compromise, especially when it is getting 90-percent of what it wants. Most reasonable people understand that in politics, when you are working toward a goal there comes a point where what you get is as good as it will get so you take it and move […]
Now that the election is over we move into the speculative phase of what’s next for the Indianapolis City-County Council. Democrats are getting ready to assume control of the body come January 1, and while they have a 16-13 majority, they do not control the Mayor’s office which will make their agenda tough to push […]
Now that Democrats are getting ready to assume control of the Indianapolis City-County Council one of their tops priorities will be a “stronger” smoking ban. Note the language; they say they want a “stronger” ban as opposed to a “total” or “comprehensive” ban. Part of the logic for this is that there is absolutely no […]
So how did Marion County Democrats manage to lose the highest office a county where they have an inherent 10-point advantage over Republicans? That question is being asked in today Democratic circles and there apparently is a lot of blame being passed around and not a lot of responsibility being picked up. Their candidate, Melina […]
When Greg Ballard first got elected Mayor of Indianapolis in 2007 he was dubbed by one of my media colleagues as “the accidental mayor.” The logic behind the name was that Ballard only beat incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson because of high property taxes, crime and a 65-percent County Option income tax increase. Fast forward four […]
With about 24 hours to go before the polls open, I’m going to take a pass on commenting on the candidates for Mayor and instead let two other people do it. One is a Melina Kennedy supporter and the other a Greg Ballard supporter, both are good friends. I think the race is close and […]
I expected the first independent poll of the Indianapolis Mayor’s race would create quite a bit of spin, however I did think I’d end up paying a visit to the Duncan Yo-Yo factory. In an e-mail sent out by Melina Kennedy campaign manager Nick Buis they downplay the WISH-TV poll… In 2007, in the final […]
As you know I write monthly for the Indianapolis Star. The paper and I talked about getting a column in before Election Day. I was more than happy to get that done. As you might guess, it’s on the Mayor’s race between Republican Greg Ballard and Democrat Melina Kennedy, with a focus on the recent […]
The first independent poll of the 2011 Mayor’s race shows Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard with an 11-point lead over Democratic Challenger Melina Kennedy, but a significant number of voters are still undecided. The poll of 400 likely voters conducted for WISH-TV by the polling firm of EPIC·MRA, shows Ballard with 44% of the vote and […]
