Archive for December, 2007

Politically connected Indianapolis law firm John Lewis and Wilkins LLP has landed a new client with sights set on an Indy 500 victory in 2008.  Press release below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 Contact: Fred Azbell III

 D.B. Mann, Azbell in final stages of forming IndyCar team

 INDIANAPOLIS (Dec. 14, 2007)  -Former Indianapolis 500 car owner Dave Mann and partner Fred Azbell III, a former Indy Pro Series car owner, are finalizing plans to run a one-car team for the IndyCar season in 2008 featuring the Indianapolis 500.

“We are very close to completing our sponsorship arrangements and we have spoken to several top-notch IndyCar drivers,” Azbell said.  “We hope to be able to announce our sponsor/driver package soon and to have our team operational and ready for pre-season testing.

“We believe by combining our knowledge from years of racing involvement, we have the experience necessary to be competitive on the track delivering value to our sponsors while helping them to better promote their companies and their products”.

The Indianapolis based law firm of John Lewis and Wilkins LLP has been secured to facilitate all legal financial aspects, as well as sponsorship obligations of the teams operations.  Managing partner John Lewis states, “we are very honored to become a part of the D.B. Mann Motorsports team.  When people talk about the history of Indiana sports, Indycar racing and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway easily come to mind first.  Our firm offers a vast array of support services and vehicles to maximize both on and off track performance.  We look forward to working with Mann and Azbell to establish a win win for everyone associated with the team”.

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I couldn’t resist.

According to the Muncie Star-Press, Republican Sharon McShurley has won a recount battle based on the fact that 20 absentee votes for Democrat Jim Mansfield lacked the initials of precinct workers and therefore could not be counted.  You can read the whole story here.  The saga may not be over though if the Democrats are able to find a technicality somewhere to prevent the election from going to McShurley.

Some of you in the central Indiana area may remember a story in the Indianapolis Star about the Phoneix Apartments. Star Reporter Matthew Tully’s special report is here. Carl Brizzi wants to open a office within the apartments.

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said today that he plans to open a satellite office at the crime-ridden Phoenix Apartments beginning in January.

Brizzi said a 500-square-foot portable office will be installed in the middle of the complex, taking his office’s community prosecution unit to the micro-level. Prosecutors, investigators and staff members will take turns working at the Phoenix on cases including child support, domestic violence and the screening of criminal charges.

Its most important function will be to serve as a law enforcement presence, Brizzi said.

Source: IndyStar

What do you think? Will it work? Is it the best option/solution given the circumstances? Is it the prosecutors responsibility? What should be done in situations like this?

WTHR-TV is reporting the mayoral recount is complete and Sharon McShurley (R) has emerged victorious by 13 votes.

It turns out a precinct of absentee votes in favor of the Democrat, votes for Jim Mansfield (D) were disallowed because the ballot envelopes were not signed as required by law. This swung the pendulum to Ms. McShurley and continues a tradition of GOP mayoral leadership in Muncie since 1987.

So says Congressman Joe Donnelly….apparently.

“I feel we’ve made progress, and the other part is I feel we can see an end game in sight,” Donnelly, D-Ind., told reporters on a conference call Tuesday from Washington. “It isn’t we just keep plugging away in the hopes something will turn out right. Gen. (David) Petraeus is working a plan and we seem to be heading toward a place where the Iraqis can be self-sustaining and we’ll have a smaller presence in the background.”

That message seems completely counter to the Joe we recall back in January of this year. Remember when he voted to condemn the troop increase (a.k.a., “The Surge”) in Iraq that President Bush called for in the beginning of the year? To paraphrase 2004 presidential loser John F. Kerry, “Joe Donnelly was against the surge before he was for it.” But apparently, that’s just par for the course now with Democrats.

See the thing is, Joe isn’t the only Democrat to start singing a happy tune about Iraq. He’s just following the chain of command that started with Dingy Hairy Reid in changing the Democrats message on Iraq.

The again, we’ve been seeing clearer signs of success in Iraq since the surge started, but it’s not been news until the Democrats felt like they needed a piece of victory pie to shore up their lousy congressional approval ratings. And let’s not forget that their ratings are lower than the president’s. I know Joe and the rest of the Democrats hate to say it, but it looks like the President knew what he was doing with the troop insurgence after all.

Remember the poll done by the Star about a month back on Governor Daniels? It said his disapproval rating was at 50%. We should also remember that that poll was done by the same company that did the poll before the mayor’s race that had Greg Ballard within the margin of error (he was within two points), but the poll numbers were changed after it was released increasing Bart Peterson’s lead causing everybody to question it’s validity.

Well this poll was done by the Republican Governor’s Association. Here are some tidbits (with the rest to follow):

The Republican Governors Association (RGA) today released details of a poll done December 10th through 15th. The poll was a statewide survey of 1009 registered voters in Indiana and has a margin of error of + 3.0%. It is the largest poll done in the state in thirty years. It was conducted by Bellwether Research & Consulting (Christine Matthews) who has polled Indiana gubernatorial campaigns accurately for several election cycles.

Results from the RGA poll show a majority (51%) of the state’s voters approve of the job Governor Mitch Daniels is doing in office. In ballot match-ups, he leads both of his potential Democratic opponents by double-digits (+13 and +15).

An Indianapolis Star poll published in November suggested that Governor Daniels would be facing a tough election. Their poll sample was 449 and reported the party split at +2 Dem. RGA’s poll of 1009 showed quite the opposite with the party split at +12 Rep (36% R, 24% D) in line with other public polls and trends since 2000.

Governor Daniels enjoys a positive net favorable rating (48% versus 38%) and strong ballot positions against potential opponents as he heads into 2008. A majority of voters had not heard of any of the potential challengers. This overwhelming advantage combined with his record of solid accomplishments and leadership places Governor Daniels in an excellent position for re-election.

“Governor Daniels is in a much stronger position than some would lead you to believe,” said Nick Ayers, Executive Director of the RGA. “Indiana has the lowest unemployment rate in six years. Governor Daniels has successfully attracted major companies like Toyota and Honda to his state, and he balanced the state budget for the first time in years without raising taxes or taking funds away from education like past Democratic administrations have done before him. Governor Daniels has also proposed cutting property taxes by over 30% and capping residential assessments at 1%.”

Ayers continued, “We are encouraged by these early results and have confidence in Governor Daniels’ re-election because he will campaign through Election Day as if he was ten points down.”

Read the executive summary of the poll below the fold. (more…)

Instead of just hearing about the Kernan-Shepard Commission’s report on how to reform local government, you may want to check it out.  Click here to read the 46 page report.

Over the holidays I hope to post some thoughts about this report and if you read the report I welcome your informed commenting.

Let the debate begin.

Last week the Kernan-Shepard Commission released its report on the state of local government and proposed several reforms to streamline the functions and activities local government. One of the proposals that the Commission made was that the current county commissioner body be changed from a 3 member executive board to a single member executive branch. While some of the Commission’s proposals need to be very carefully investigated in order to make sure we don’t lose the accountability factor in local government, the Commissioner change appears to be one of the better proposals that they offered.

Predictably, some are not excited about the idea of erasing two of the three county executive spots. LaPorte County Commissioner Bill Hagar (D) had some particularly interesting views on subject of a single county executive. In an article in the LaPorte Herald Argus, Hagar was quoted as saying:

“You put one person in charge, you could have a dictatorship,” the longtime commissioner said. “Whoever you put in would be solely a one-party system.”

Dictatorship, one-party system? Two thoughts about that. Thought Number One is that it is odd that some should express concern over a one-party system if we move to a single executive when the LaPorte County Board of Commissioners is made up of three Democrats. Thought Number Two is that it’s hard to conceive of a single executive making up a dictatorship. Under the Commission’s proposal, all legislative functions would be vested in the County Council, so you would still end up having a legislative check on the executive branch of county government.

We do need to be careful, however, that we don’t reform local government to the point of reducing accountability. Having a single county official appoint such individuals as assessors, sheriffs, and other formerly elected positions would provide another layer of red-tape and finger-pointing that the Kernan-Shepard Commission was supposed to look for ways to eliminate.

As Rep. Tom Dermody said in the same Herald-Argus interview:

“We can’t lose the customer service to Hoosiers,” State Rep. Tom Dermody, R-La Porte, told The Herald-Argus last week. “With that said, we have to ask the question of how would you improve the cost to taxpayers?”

From Jim Shella’s blog:

The long list of politicians considering a run to fill the vacancy in the 7th Congressional District created by Julia Carson’s death are all silent during this period of mourning.

Bart Peterson is not.

Peterson ruled out a 7th District candidacy in an interview with News 8’s Eric Halvorson today.  “That’s not something I wanna do,” said the outgoing Mayor, “That’s not a job I’ve had a real strong passion to do.”

Peterson added that no one could ever twist his arm to get him to run for the office.  You can catch his comments tonight on 24 Hour News 8 at 11.

Jim Tomes with the 2nd Amendment Patriots in southwest Indiana sent the following email today regarding legislation to watch in the upcoming session of the Indiana General Assembly. Gun owners should pay attention and communicate with their legislators often about the below bills and issues.

The proposed bills in this Indiana General Assembly are starting to stack up.

It’s going to be a short session and after talking with several of our legislators it’s a sure bet that property tax reform is going to be the dominating issue.

Reading the news reports it also looks like it’s going to be very contentious. But, that’s still not stopping from legislators filing bills for a whole spectrum of issues.

I keep getting asked if we have a chance of getting any of our pro gun bills to the Governor’s desk. Well the answer is yes, but, it all depends if we can get enough gun owners in this state to come alive to make it happen.

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Congressional leadership is ready to wrap it up for the year, but business isn’t finished and that’s causing something of a stir on Capitol Hill. On December 17th the House voted on a resolution to adjourn the session before Christmas. However, the unfinished business of AMT relief is holding things up. The Senate and House have passed bills that would keep middle class families from getting hit by the Alternative Minimum Tax next year, but the Senate version doesn’t include a way to offset the predicted loss of revenue.

The attempt to pass a resolution adjourning for the year failed because some House Democrats voted against their leadership and voted to stay and finish the job.

The gripe that some House Democrats have is that if they vote on and pass a Senate version of the AMT relief bill, they will break the pay-as-you-go rules instituted by the new majority at the start of the session. By not offsetting the tax relief with either new taxes (as Blue Dog Democrats want) or spending cuts (which would be the wiser course of action), the Democrats will break a promise that they made to the American people: we will be fiscally responsible by instituting a rule that requires us to pay for what we are buying.

All three of Indiana’s Blue Dog Democrats voted in favor of adjourning before Christmas even if it means not covering the cost of AMT relief either through tax increases or spending decreases. Baron Hill, Joe Donnelly, and Brad Ellsworth voted in lockstep with Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer to violate their promises to constituents. That’s the same kind of rubber stamping each of these congressmen accused their opponents of doing.

In 2006 the American people elected a Democratic majority that promised to be fiscally responsible. Now the Democratic Congress is proving that they can’t control spending. Middle class families need to be protected from the AMT, and Congress needs to take a long hard look at its spending priorities.