Archive for October, 2007

For the third time on television, Greg Ballard and Mayor Bart Peterson will square off in the third of four debates. This debate is moderated by WTHR’s “Indiana Insiders” of the Star’s Matt Tully, Democrat activist Robin Winston, Republican Peter Rusthoven, and Kevin Rader of WTHR.

You may submit questions for the candidates HERE. The debate is on Channel 13 at 9:30 on Sunday October 21st, and the fine folks of Hoosier Access have invited me to live blog and provide commentary.

9:28 AM - Just getting ready to live blog this event. I submitted a question criticizing the Mayor on his latest ad where the Mayor claims fixing the schools. I doubt they’ll take my question but you never know.

9:30 AM - Here we go. Oh Mayor Brat has that cheesy grin. And the “usual suspects” of Robin Winston and Peter Rusthoven are not there. Neither is Fred Peterson, the Libertarian. Kevin Rader explained candidates with over 5% of the vote in prior years were invited.

9:31 AM - Question on Lucas Oil Stadium and the problems of the neighborhood surrounding it. Mayor Bart says he’s assigned one of his deputy mayors to work on the problem. Greg Ballard agrees we need to work with the neighborhood.

9:33 AM - They agree on whether the stadium was needed. GREG! Why didn’t you bring up the way Fred Glass gave it all away. Kevin you’re letting Bart have this as his personal platform.

9:34 AM - Greg - you’re getting nervous again. CALM DOWN! BREATHE!

9:35 AM - The Mayor and his cheesy “Joe Isuzu” smile again… talking about parks and adding “greenspace”. He didn’t mention the park removed so a bar in a government building could be built. Now we’re going to commercial.

9:39 AM - OK we’re back. Email questions. “Did you think we could get rid of property taxes”. Mayor Bart says it could be done, but he brings up the talking points of 15% sales tax yadda yadda. Pitches for a hard cap on property taxes (there already is one - 2%). Greg Ballard - He wants to see property taxes gone. Wants a constitutional amendment. Says a 1% cap is OK if we cannot get totally rid of property taxes. Claims correctly that taxes are just a spending problem. Wants to bring non-elected boards into control.

9:42 AM - Question asked “If the police merger saved money, why did our taxes go up?” - Greg says the merger did NOT save money. Brings up how 300 new officers hired will be met with 290 leaving. Mayor Bart claims the mergers are saving money. Now he’s playing the “blame the state” game - “If you only passed my Indianapolis Works” we would save a lot more money by now. Mildly ironic Mayor Bart claims others are lying - and he smiles when he says that. Ummmm… we know who the liar here is Mayor!

Another commercial and it appears Robin Winston and Peter Rusthoven will come onstage now.

9:49 AM - Robin - try again. We’re NOT lowering crime in Indianapolis. Assaults, rapes, robberies, burglaries, auto theft, and carjackings are ALL UP!!!

9:50 AM - The Star’s Matt Tully is asking “How can you hire more police without raising taxes?” - what a stupid question - though it IS Matt Tully! Greg responds by making his case to put IMPD back under the mayor. Mayor Bart talks about “increasing investments” - that’s liberal doublespeak for “raising taxes”.

9:52 AM - Greg Ballard: “The City is going in the Wrong Direction”. Now Mayor Bart claims “we’re making a great city better” and then grins. He claims everything is coming up roses in the neighborhoods. Claims the city is on the “right track”.

9:53 AM - Matt Tully lobs a softball at the Mayor: “Will you raise taxes again?” - The Mayor replies “No”. The Mayor wants to have the city in “strong financial footing” - so why did our bond rating go down?

9:55 AM - WAY TO GO GREG! Finally you reach over and smack the Mayor! “Past performance is an indicator of future and you’ve raised taxes 19 times!”

9:56 AM - Mayor Bart disputes the Indiana DWD figures quoted by Greg Ballard. Greg claims in the past 4 years the city has a net gain of only 147 jobs. Mayor Bart claims over 10,000 jobs were created.

9:58 AM - Peter Rusthoven summarizes by stating “The candidate with the most integrity” and refers to Greg Ballard. Robin Winston rattles off the talking points of taxes, education, public safety, etc. and says that is a case to re-elect Mayor Bart.

The debate is now over. Next debate is Monday night at 7 PM on the radio at WNOU-FM (soon to be WIBC-FM) 93.1. It will be televised on tape delay on Fox 59 next weekend.

It’s a slow news day following the debate last night so I thought I’d post this dimwit…I mean Democrat congressman from California who does more than stick his foot in his mouth.

I’ll admit, I’ve questioned the President’s handling of the War in Iraq many times (what rational person wouldn’t), but this statement from Congressman Stark is going too far.  He owes President Bush an apology.

Study: Private Schools Show More Gains Than Public Schools
Kate Shepherd, Inside INdiana Business
A study to be released this afternoon by the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice finds that students in private schools made better academic gains than students in public schools, even after controlling for race, income, parental education and family composition.

The study uses data from the Education Longitudinal Study, a long-term research project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education that tracks individual data on thousands of students.

The study also finds that private schools improve the academic outcomes of public schools, provide better special education services, do a better job of inculcating civic participation and tolerance for the rights of others and produce large fiscal savings for both state budgets and local public school districts.

Source: Inside INdiana Business

Tonight, WRTV (Channel 6) will be hosting the second televised debate (third debate to date) between Greg Ballard and Bart Peterson (oh yeah, I guess Fred Peterson will be there too) in the race for Mayor of Indianapolis. WRTV’s website says it starts at 7:15pm. Keep an eye on Hoosier Access during the debate as I’ll will be live blogging this debate as well. This post will also be a thread to discuss the debate .

If you want to submit a question to WRTV for tonight’s debate, you can do it here.

7:14 - Looks like we’re about to start, but was Fred Peterson missing before they went to break?

7:15 - Here we go and Fred Peterson is missing. Interesting…not that he added a lot to the debate anyway.

7:17 – Well my computer didn’t want to work during the Mayor’s opening statement, but one thing I noticed was that we kept on a positive note….but he also had that smug look.

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

I’m pretty tired right now, but I’ll say this; Greg improved a lot from his first televised debate to the next. The problem was that Bart left him so many opportunities and Greg didn’t (couldn’t) capitalize on all of them. But in an effort to keep this short, I suggest you read Advance Indiana’s recap of the debate. He leaves no stone unturned.

Bart Lies On Gray Ethics Investigation

It was one of those moments of total disbelief. Mayor Bart Peterson (D) during tonight’s debate with Greg Ballard (R) claimed nothing had been done about Monroe Gray’s ethical violations because no complaints had been filed. He knows damn good and well that an ethics complaint was before his appointed ethics board. The rubber stamp board dismissed the complaint against Gray after he agreed to amend his statement of economic interest. As Councilor Phil Borst would later complain at a city-county council meeting, the ethics board didn’t fully investigate the charges against Gray. That failure prompted Republican councilors to seek an independent investigation of Gray. Democratic council members, including Gray himself, voted to block that investigation.

Read the rest here.

I’m still curious as to why Libertarian, Fred Peterson, wasn’t there.  Was he even invited?

As proof that Jim Schellinger is in an up-hill battle, watch these three videos. It won’t take much of your time.

Thanks to a Democratic mayor, that South Bend couple also has to contend with 1,000 gang members, high property taxes, and terrible roads.

Yeah, it’s hard living paycheck to paycheck, you just wish you could give bigger campaign contributions pay for bills and such.

You would think that some of the big shots in the Democrat party in Indiana would know who their “Chosen” candidate is to take on Governor Daniels….wouldn’t you? Apparently that’s not the case for Jim “The 8 Percent Gorilla” Schellinger.

From Frugal Hoosiers

If you are looking for any more evidence that Jim Schellinger’s campaign is turning out to be a total disaster, look no further than this video. Democrat Pat Shoulders and Republican Les Shively are the hosts of WNIN’s political talk show “Shively & Shoulders” which airs in Evansville. Shoulders, a big shot Democrat is on the left. He’s such a big shot, in fact, that then-Governors Frank O’Bannon and Joe Kernan appointed him to the Indiana University Board of Trustees. Shively is an in-the-know GOPer. The fact that neither one of them even know Jim Schellinger’s name tells you all you need to know about Schellinger’s campaign. Maybe they know him as “the gorilla.”

It’s amazing how a once promising campaign, like Matt Kelty’s, went down into flames. From victory in the primary over the party’s chosen candidate to utter failure and scandal. Now Congressman Mark Souder is pulling his endorsement of Kelty back.

Now I don’t know the entire situation. I know that Mr. Kelty has claimed his innocence the whole time. And until he’s proven guilty, I will believe him. But his campaign has not handled his fires well. It’s too bad. And now Ft. Wayne will likely suffer for it under Tom Henry.

Read about Congressman Souder’s retracting his endorsement in an article from the Indy Star.

Congressman pulls endorsement
Associated Press
October 17, 2007

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — U.S. Rep. Mark Souder has withdrawn his endorsement of the city’s Republican mayoral candidate, citing concerns about the indictment of the nominee and actions by his campaign supporters.

Souder, a Republican who has represented the Fort Wayne area in Congress since 1995, publicly endorsed Matt Kelty three weeks before he was indicted in August on perjury and campaign finance charges.

“My endorsement of Matt Kelty does not stand,” Souder said in a two-page statement released Tuesday night. Souder said he had found the indictments sought by a special prosecutor against Kelty “were substantial, not superficial.”

(Read the rest of the article below the fold) (more…)

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This is post by Robert Bluey of TownHall.com is posted over at Red State.

Mike Pence’s Plan to Kill the Fairness Doctrine
Seeking support from 17 Democrats to bring bill to floor

One day after securing passage of the Free Flow of Information Act to protect the press corps, Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) is turning his attention to political commentators. Later today Pence will attempt to force a floor vote on a measure that prevents the executive branch from instituting the Fairness Doctrine.

While there’s no threat of the Bush Administration’s bringing back the Fairness Doctrine, there’s little Congress could do to stop a future administration from putting it in place, according to Pence. Conservatives fear that if a Democrat is elected president in 2008, a change in commissioners at the Federal Communications Commission, coupled with an executive order, is all that it would take.

(Read more of Robert Bluey’s post below the fold) (more…)

As an individual who frequently travels I-465 on the east site, I can tell you that this relief can not come soon enough:

A redesign of the interchange at I-465 and I-69 and new lanes for both routes are key to an emerging plan to curb traffic congestion in the northeast corridor.

Details of the proposal will be addressed by Indiana Department of Transportation representatives Oct. 24 at a public meeting in Heritage Christian Elementary School, 6401 E. 75th St.

The program begins at 6:30 p.m. Project work could start in 2012.

“The solution that we’re looking at right now is one that best addresses the traffic situation without essentially taking large swaths of land,” said INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield.

According to officials’ current vision, though, the problem has less to do with traffic volume than traffic design. An overhaul of the way the interstates merge and distribute vehicles is expected to move drivers more efficiently.

2012 is a long ways off, relief is needed much sooner. I certainly hope that we are not just fixing today’s problems, but we are planning for the future with these changes to I-465. That interstate is only going to become more congested in the years to come and longer term solutions need to be looked at.

Source: IndyStar

I noticed in the past few days that there have been several new job announcements of companies expanding or moving operations to Indiana. Here are a couple of them:

Amazon.com. New distribution Center in Munster. 100 Full time positions & 100 temporary jobs.

Ice River Springs . New Bottling Plant in Kentland. 100 New Jobs.

Arcadia Health Care. 400 pharmacists, technicians and manager jobs to Indianapolis over 3 years.

I will also note that there has been at least one layoff announcement- Toll Brothers (located in Starke County) let go of 20 production workers.

While in total, these job numbers are not that significant, however the impact on the local communities cannot be underestimated. These jobs are not only coming to larger metropolitian areas, but they are going to smaller cities & towns. For example, Munster has about 23,000 people, and Kentland has around 2,000.

Next week, approximately 55,000 individuals from across the nation will descend upon Indianapolis for the 80th National Future Farmer’s of America Convention. It will be held October 24-27 and will use many of the major venues around Indianapolis (RCA Dome, Fair Grounds, Conseco Fieldhouse, Convention Center).

Indianpolis is scheduled to host the FFA convention through 2012. As an added bonus, it should bring aprox 30 Million dollars into the local economy this year.

So if you are Indianapolis next week, be sure to show some Hoosier Hosipitality to the FFA!

FFA.org