Archive for October, 2007

This debate originally took place Monday night on WIBC, but it was only aired on the radio. WXIN Channel 59 is televising the debate tonight however. Sir Hailstone of the Digital Farmers blog was able to pry himself away from the Colts pre-game show just long enough to live blog the debate as it happened. Here is his commentary from Monday night’s debate. It does start a little late into the debate, but you should be able to follow along if you watch the debate and read the breakdown.

All Three candidates for Mayor are debating.

19:13 - Greg Ballard is giving his response on employment. Greg goes on the Crime angle.

19:14 - Question on police consolidation and whether its a success. Fred Peterson - No. Greg Ballard - Not so far. Greg is coming across well this time. Advocates for the Front Porch Alliance. Mayor Peterson - Yes, of course. “other violent crimes” are down? WRONG MAYOR BART! Claims “early releases” are over - no you’ve lowered bonds to zero. Don’t feed us this bullshit Bart!

19:18 - Homeless help question - Greg Ballard - I gathered lots of information from the homeless. Facilities are there to help the homeless, we need some “tough love” towards the homeless. Get them help to shake the issues causing their homelessness. Mayor Bart Peterson - We have a 10 year plan for homelessness. Addresses the panhandlers downtown. Fred Peterson - A better economy with more jobs would help alleviate homelessness.

19:21 - Personal motive for being a candidate - Mayor Peterson - “I love this city, I want to make it a better place”. Fred Peterson - “Change a direction of local government”. Greg Ballard - “Public Service, I served my country for 23 years”, “I want to change the direction of local government”

(Read the rest of the commentary and leave your comments below the fold) (more…)

I attended the property tax rally held in downtown Indy on the Circle. Attendance could have been better, but the crowd was very supportive of the candidates for office who did show up, Republicans Greg Ballard and Adam Longworth as well as Libertarian Tim Maguire. I was able to take some pictures, plus I taped Greg Ballard’s speech that he gave.

Conveniently, in the middle of his speech, a fire truck/ambulance came through the circle with its sirens blaring, but appeared to be heading no where in particular. After it exited the circle, the sirens stopped, but the truck kept on going. Interesting, no?

Below are some pictures. We plan to have the video in the next few days.

Greg Ballard greeting constituents at the Property Tax Rally

Those in costume were encouraged to attend. Here we have “the Ghost of Monroe Gray’s IFD employment”. Spooky!

(Check below the fold to see more pictures) (more…)

Almost immediately after yesterday’s IndyStar/WTHR poll results were released, there arose controversy as the numbers were questioned, called back and replaced all within an hour. The numbers barely changed at all, but it was enough for Democrats to get all rabble roused, to publicly declare “shenanigans” and say that the numbers don’t truly represent the people.

Marion County Democrat Chairman Mike O’Connor was the first to deflect the sorry state of the Peterson campaign by saying that his numbers don’t jive with the Star’s numbers. Mike refused to turn over his numbers though. Abdul, on the other hand, dissected the number over his blog Indiana Barrister. His breakdown makes sense, but those who commented quickly pointed out that Peterson has never had a real campaign test and that the uber-secretive, but well known “Carson Machine” will pounce to make sure Bart and the Democrats maintain control.

After working elections in Marion County, I’m aware of the Carson Machine and the power it wields. It’s not to be under-estimated. But this election has something going against them. Something completely out of their control. It’s the tax protesters.

(Read more below the fold) (more…)

…so does a headline.

This Saturday Hoosier Access and RepublicansRadio.com will be attending the Tax Scam Saturday rally being put on by the Indiana Voters League. We know that those protesters are in favor of a complete repeal of property taxes, but we still want to get their thoughts on the Governor’s plan.

We also know that Greg Ballard is usually at these rallies so we hope to talk to him and get his thoughts on the Governor’s plan, plus get his reaction to the poll results released yesterday that put him in a dead heat race with Democrat incumbent Bart Peterson.

Here are the details of the rally:

This Saturday October 27th is the last big tax rally before the election. The rally starts at 2pm on Monument Circle. Bring signs, wear costumes, and expect to interact with our politicians who will support tax repeal in the upcoming legislature. We may have inadvertently missed politicians who support repeal on our email list. Please forward this message to any politician you know who backs repeal of property tax. We want to make sure they get (re)elected.

You can get more info the Hoosiers for Fair Taxation website.

Wow, those poll numbers released yesterday are amazing aren’t they? Whoever thought a challenger who was outspent and outraised 30-1 would put the fear of the God into him? Then again, who is Bart more afraid of? Ballard or the voters? On election day, let’s hope both.

But other poll numbers caught my eye too.

If the election for city-county council were held today, would you vote for the Republican candidate, the Democratic candidate or the Libertarian candidate to represent you on the Indianapolis city council?
Republican candidate 40%
Democratic candidate 32%

Pretty impressive that Republicans are favored. The environment in Indianapolis is such that if the Republicans don’t pull out a victory on Nov. 6 (read: the Mayor’s officer or the City-County Council or both) it would have to be a major disappointment, especially in the “Perfect Storm” that is this municipal election cycle. But let’s not dwell on that.

As you the voter go to the voting booth on election day, just remember this little story about a Democrat City Councilor who had a little too much fun one night. Then remember that Bart did nothing to censure this individual nor any of the other Democrat members of the council who have been in hot water for ethics violations the last couple of years. Then remember, that’s how Bart’s Indianapolis works.

Read the story here (doc102307.pdf). Just be warned, it gets a little dicey.

Greg Ballard is within four percentage points!

(If you look hard enough, turns out the results are already available)

From the Indianapolis Star

Poll results
October 25, 2007

Editor’s note: An earlier version of these poll questions and an accompanying story reported different poll results. Those versions have been revised to present results that would more closely reflect voter turnout based on 2004 election results in Indiana.
This Indianapolis Star/WTHR poll of 400 Marion County residents who are likely mayoral voters was done Oct. 21-24, 2007. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

The mayoral race
If the election for mayor were held today and the candidates were Greg Ballard for the Republicans, Bart Peterson for the Democrats and Fred Peterson for the Libertarians, for whom would you vote?
Greg Ballard 39%
Bart Peterson 43%
Fred Peterson 5%
None of these/other 1%
Not sure 12%

When it comes to your support of (the candidate you said you would vote for in the previous question) would you say your mind is made up, or could you still be persuaded to support another candidate as your first choice?
Greg Ballard supporters: 69% mind is made up; 29% could still be persuaded; 2% not sure.
Bart Peterson supporters: 73% mind is made up; 26% could still be persuaded; 1% not sure.

Overall, do you approve or disapprove of the job Bart Peterson is doing as mayor of Indianapolis?
Approve 50%
Disapprove 40%
Not sure 10%

The council race
If the election for city-county council were held today, would you vote for the Republican candidate, the Democratic candidate or the Libertarian candidate to represent you on the Indianapolis city council?
Republican candidate 40%
Democratic candidate 32%
Libertarian candidate 6%
None of these/other 2%
Not sure 20%

(See the rest of the results, including how people feel about Monroe Gray and the direction of Indianapolis below the fold) (more…)

Fort Wayne Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty filed a motion this past Monday to have all indictment charges against him dismissed.  You can view the motion here.  A hat tip to Dan Turkette of Fort Wayne News.

Anybody care to guess what the Indy Star will reveal at 4:00pm?  Make sure to put on your thinking cap for this one.

From the Indy Star

Coming at 4 p.m. today: New poll on mayor’s race

October 25, 2007
Go to IndyStar.com to see how the race for Indianapolis mayor is shaping up, what voters say is their No. 1 issue and which way they are leaning on City-County Council contests.

Ever since Julia Carson fell ill with a “leg infection” that has sidelined her from voting in Congress (mixed blessing really) for a total of 34 days (and counting), matters surrounding her have been handled strangely. Normally I wouldn’t to read too much into this, but her continued absence from Congress in addition to her staff not knowing (or admitting) much of what’s going on with her to reports of city vehicles (wait, I thought those were taken away for personal use!) showing up at her house with evidence here, here and here nothing seems to add up with her. Now, Indy Corrupt is reporting that the Congresswoman has been issued a police radio complete with unit number!

You must make a public records request for police run #I072941470. You see, some of Julia’s political opponents were exercising their own rights lawfully taking photos in a public place when a deputy Center Twp Constable (was it Carl Drummer himself?) said there was “AN EMERGENCY” (notated in the run) and asked for police assistance to Julia’s house on the police radio….

–It gets better!

Did you (or anyone else) know that Julia Carson has a police radio and unit number assigned to her? Can anyone say “tip off the pea shakes”? If you make the public records request you will see that the deputy constable (was it Carl himself) used Julia’s radio. Julia Carson has police car #9740 assigned. The proof is in the public record!!!

Officers arrived and professionally allowed the citizens to continue to exercise their constitutional rights.

What does a Congresswoman who is in a hospital need a police radio for? Despite what some may think, I’m actually open to a real explanation.  Anybody got one?

First off, I’d like to say that this is one Director’s opinion of Governor Daniels property tax plan and does not reflect the other opinions of the Directors of Hoosier Access….unless they email me and inform that that they agree with me.

(Warning - lengthy)

After letting the Governor’s plan percolate with me and reading some other analysis of the Governor’s plan, I thought I’d give my own opinion since anyone with a computer and the internet can do this.

I have to give the Governor credit for using his bully pulpit effectively to announce his plan….to central Indiana. I’m not exactly sure if his plan reached the far grasps of “The Region”, distracted people in the northeast from the Fort Wayne’s mayors debate or if the southern portion of the state even cares. Nevertheless, I know I can’t remember a time when our state’s governor appeared on television to discuss one of the biggest issues heading into the 2008 election cycle…I mean General Assembly. I still give him props on the timing aspect though. He basically controls the agenda for the upcoming session and has plan to top it off. None of the Democrats seem to, so this plan ties their hands.

As for the plan itself, it wasn’t elimination, but I feel it’s as close as you can get. Parts of the plan, I really liked. Some of them I didn’t. Let’s break this down shall we:

(See the breakdown after the fold) (more…)

In today’s editorial, the Indianapolis Star states that “Our position: Governor offers far-reaching yet realistic plan for overhauling property tax system.”

Some Quotes from the article:

None of the tinkering had lasting effect. After brief pauses, the property tax trend line continued its upward trajectory.

Gov. Mitch Daniels on Tuesday proposed a tax plan that could finally end that cycle. Important details, including the language of a proposed constitutional amendment, must still be determined, but Daniels has offered a far-reaching yet realistic framework for overhauling Indiana’s property tax system. The effort deserves bipartisan support.

But the governor’s package moves the property tax debate forward in a promising direction. Lawmakers must give their highest priority to long-lasting property reform in next year’s session. Daniels has provided them with a sound map for beginning that journey.

Source: IndyStar