Archive for February, 2008

We just can’t seem to stop ourselves. Hoosier Access Radio is returning to the podcast waves as we meet at the South Bend Chocolate Company tomorrow, March 1st, from 3:00 to 5:00. Tomorrow’s guests include:

• Candidate in the 5th CD, John McGoff
• State Representative in HD 87, Cindy Noe
• Chief of Staff to Congressman Dan Burton, Rick Wilson
• Campaign manager to 2nd CD candidate Luke Puckett, Kyle Bailey
• Any more guests? Maybe.

Talk about a full lineup! The individual podcasts will start airing here on Hoosier Access beginning Saturday night. They will also be available on iTunes for downloading.

The White House is facing more scrutiny lately because of plagiarism charges, and it’s all thanks to Timothy Goeglein who wrote a column for the Fort Wayne News-Sentinal. Turns out Timothy Goeglein’s column sounded an awful lot like a something written for a Dartmouth publication. The drunk Ivy League jokes about Dartmouth aside, this is a very serious issue. The response from the White House included:

White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore says his behavior is “not acceptable” and that the White House is disappointed in his actions. She said officials were looking into allegations of other instances of plagiarism by Goeglein.

Maybe they should have responded with, “they’re just words“.

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And for additional plagiarism goodness…

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And of course, there’s this beauty, taken from a former competitor.

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(H/T - Fort Wayne Observed)

It was Brian Howey’s line “If the Republicans aren’t careful, they are going to become the Whigs of the 21st Century” that caught my eye yesterday and was probably the final nail that is inspiring this post. Now Brian’s opinion piece was on the immigration issue, but it’s been posts by Joel Harris at Circle City Pundit and “Inquiring Mind” at the Weird Pro blog that have tried to tackle the question of “What are Republicans to do this year?” that got the ball rolling for me.

I’ve been a Republican for as long as I have been able to vote and a vocal supporter of Republican policy, fiscal and social, even prior to that. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a policy wonk. I’ve worked campaigns, walked for candidates, done phone banks and actually worked for the Federal Government. I’ve done probably what most of you readers have done all in the name of promoting or being a part of the Republican message.

But like most of you, I’ve grown disenchanted with the way Republicans have handled Congress, the White House, our presidential candidates and issues in general, that, while I never question whether I’m a Republican or not, I start questioning whether I should take another sip of the kool-aid. In fact, while I’ve been sick most of this month, I’ve told people my body has been extracting from itself all the straight ticket voting and talking points and that it’s starting to think for itself. Now while there is no way in Hades that I’d vote for a Democrat I’ve started taking issues more seriously and thinking long and hard about why I would vote for a particular individual or not. And I believe more and more Republicans are beginning to think that way. At least the ones I talk to via phone banks are. More and more, I get Republicans who call themselves Independents because of the way the party has handled itself nationally. Statewide, they’re still hard R’s, but nationally, they’re lost.

Does this mean Republicans are fading away, destined to become “the Whigs of the 21st Century”? Hardly.

(More after the leap) (more…)

Can someone tell me who let Gonzo Defenestrater out? Because today, he’s out there dispelling the lies and untruths being spread by certain congressional campaigns. Gonzo is a fellow blogger and flack for the “Weird Pro” Blog and today, is our Jack Nicholson from “A Few Good Men”. As voters, we want the truth, but there are some campaign’s out there that can’t handle the truth!

Here’s his post from When the Going Get’s Tough, the Weird Turn Pro. (Copied verbatim b/c fellow flacks don’t mind that sort of thing)

Gonzo Defenestrater tells all!
As Promised: Hard-Hitting, Shocking Expose Sheds Light on Real Story in CD Race That Wasn’t!

IN THE FINEST TRADITIONS OF EDWARD R. MURROW, ERNIE PYLE, HUNTER S. THOMPSON AND SHEPARD SMITH, THE LONG-AWAITED AND SOON TO BE INTRODUCED “GONZO’S TRUTH-O-METER!” TO PROVIDE “THE REST OF THE STORY”

In the interest of full-disclosure, I almost never write about anything that can even remotely be considered “serious journalism”. Well, that’s about to change, fellow truth-seekers!

This is the story of a certain nameless campaign has painfully tortured and deliberately distorted “truth” in a struggling and desperate attempt to be - what’s the word - maybe, relevant? Truthfully, I don’t know what they’re attempting to be.

Since we have a hard and fast rule here about not making cheap personal attacks on individuals - except occasionally at each other - attacking the stupidity, nope, that’s cheap, the ineptitude of this certain nameless campaign doesn’t seem to violate that rule. So here we go … fasten your seat belts, hipsters!

(Warning: Mothers, you may want to send the children outside to play or turn the computer around so they can’t see.)

Read the rest of Gonzo’s truth telling below the fold. (more…)

The campaign finance filing problems for the campaign of 4th District Democratic challenger Nels Ackerson are nothing new.

Back in October, FEC campaign finance filings revealed that Ackerson was on his second campaign treasurer, sacking the first after violations of that most basic of Federal election laws, the limit on individual campaign contributions.

Since then, Ackerson’s personal contributions to the Indiana Democratic Party have been made listing his residence as being in a wealthy Maryland suburb of Washington, while Indiana law requires residency within the state of Indiana (which Ackerson professes to have in his campaign filings).

Residency questions aside, such a wide difference in the places Ackerson likes to call home makes him seem at the very least to be a carpetbagger.

Ackerson’s campaign likes the flip-flop.

The guy that went out as campaign treasurer in those filings I posted about in October (James Hurst) came back this year (his replacement, David Center, has been sacked), and with him came amendments to Ackerson’s campaign filings.

These amendments show a campaign that continues to be significantly troubled.

On January 3, the Federal Election Commission sent a “request for additional information” to David Center, then the Ackerson campaign treasurer, questioning whether the campaign was fully disclosing all contributions over $200 and providing the required identification information, as required by Federal election law.

Ackerson’s Q3 filing had over $100,000 in contributions that were wrongly listed as unitemized (under $200) and had to be reclassified as itemized (over $200, and thus requiring disclosure and identification info) after the FEC caught his campaign failing to meet its basic requirements.

The year-end report for Ackerson’s campaign had almost $40,000 in similar such errors. This seems less, until you realize that it was almost two-thirds of all of the money that the candidate raised in Q4.

Indeed, Ackerson had to dip into his own wallet to the tune of $20,000 in order to keep his campaign afloat.

His wife Sharon chipped in $4,600, the most she is allowed by law to donate.

Most of the rest of Ackerson’s contributions, almost half of the remainder, came from trial lawyers and big law firms.

Spending between thirty and forty thousand a quarter, this early on, Ackerson isn’t exactly piling up the big bucks that he will need for media buys in the fall.

Without his own money being chipped in to pad the contribution numbers, Ackerson’s campaign would barely be keeping its head above water.

His fundraising has hardly been at a level that would inspire Democrats at both the state and national level to take a chance on his long-shot candidacy in a district that is so heavily Republican.

And not only is his fundraising lackluster, to put it mildly, what money he is getting in significant quantity is coming from groups (such as trial lawyers and the ultra-liberal Simons) that are not exactly going to lend any credance to the idea of Nels Ackerson being a down-to-earth middle-of-the-road Hoosier.
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“Though liberals do a great deal of talking about hearing other points of view, it sometimes shocks them to learn that there are other points of view.”

“Idealism is fine, but as it approaches reality, the costs become prohibitive.”

“The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.”

If the state of Indiana is addicted to gambling, then the Senate on Wednesday took a big snort of a line of something.

From the Courier-Journal:

INDIANAPOLIS – Customers could buy paper pull-tabs and participate in raffles and other small-stakes wagering at taverns under legislation the Senate narrowly approved today.

Sen. Jim Arnold, D-LaPorte, said House Bill 1153 provides a “fair, level playing field” for bar owners who have been hurt by laws that allow nonprofit veterans and social clubs to offer small-stakes wagering while cracking down on illegal gambling in for-profit establishments.

HB 1153 passed 26-21 and now moves back to the House, where members will consider changes made by the Senate.

The bill’s author, Rep. Dennis Tyler, D-Muncie, said he intends to send the bill to a conference committee where members of the House and Senate will try to work out a compromise.

First of all, the “fair, level playing field” that Jim Arnold thinks is so great is going to hurt the charitable organizations that last year’s expansion of gaming was supposedly designed to help.

When every corner bar has pull-tabs, people are not going to bother to go to the VFW across town.

Second, the taxation levels being placed upon this new massive expansion of gambling are negligible. One estimate I saw said that the state will get new revenue in the area of anywhere from $5 to $25 million; Matt Bell (R-Avilla) said in committee that his estimate was $14 to $18 million. Both estimates are so small that even its proponents do not try to make the laughable proposition that it is good for the state’s finances.

Third, the level of taxation and its other provisions show the hypocrisy and expose the lie inherent in the claims of Mr. Arnold and Mr. Tyler that this legislation has been put forward to create a “fair, level playing field.”

Indeed–and Indiana Gaming Commission Director Ernie Yelton noted as much in statements about the bill–businesses will be book their purchases of the “paper games” as expenses; charities and other organizations presently allowed to sell them do not have that ability.

This could, perversely, result in businesses actually (by virtue of booking more expenses and thus having less income for taxes) paying less in taxes than before and potentially seeing the state getting less revenue overall.

Accordingly, the field will disproportionately favor the businesses, not the charities; the legislation makes a mockery of the claim of creating a “fair, level playing field.”

Fourth, HR 1153, as I have mentioned earlier, is a special interest creation that will create what amounts to a de facto pull-tab printing monopoly in the state of Indiana for a company, the Muncie Novelty Company / Indiana Ticket Company, that is based in the district of Dennis Tyler (D, Muncie) and is apparently one of the only such companies in Indiana (if not the only such company) that prints pull tabs.

So the Senate has stabbed the charitable groups it was trying to help last year in the back.

It has approved a massive expansion of gambling.

And it has caved into the special interests with the legislation’s “25% from Indiana” provision designed to help a business in the sponsor’s district.

I expected this sort of bad policy cronyism from the House Democrats.

I did not expect it from the Senate Republicans.

Name and shame after the leap; here are the 26 craven worms, err, senators (16 Democrats, 10 Republicans) that voted for this piece of crap.
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When his committee wouldn’t approve a casino gambling amendment, Kentucky Democrat House Speaker Jody Richards sacked one member of the committee by fiat and appointed two new members sure to do his bidding.

From the Courier-Journal:

FRANKFORT, Ky. — A bill to legalize casino gambling survived a series of bizarre legislative twists yesterday that revealed a major split within the leadership of the House Democratic majority.

In the morning, two versions of the proposed constitutional amendment — which would authorize nine casinos and is Gov. Steve Beshear’s top priority — failed to win approval from a House committee.

But yesterday afternoon House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, led a rare move to change the membership of that committee and get the bill to the House floor.

Richards removed Rep. Dottie Sims, D-Horse Cave, because she did not vote for a version of the amendment that he supports.

Then he and two other House leaders added two new members to the panel — over the objections of Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Okolona, who supports a different version of the amendment.

“I want to get that amendment out of committee, and we intend to do it,” Richards, D-Bowling Green, told reporters later.

But Clark called Richards’ move “the cheapest form of petty politics I’ve seen up here in 24 years — to take a member off a committee because she did not vote the way the speaker wanted.”

Sims was furious and almost in tears over her dismissal. “It’s communist,” she said of her ouster. “… The leadership is in disarray. They’re split.”

Depending on how you look at it, The Hair is either clever enough to think to pack his committees with loyalists in advance, or he’s not yet advanced to the whole dictatorial “sack the opponents and rig the vote” level just yet.

I’d bet on the former; yet another area (though an ignominious one) where Indiana is ahead of Kentucky.
(more…)

It seems the moonbat majority in Congress has decided instead of taking up important matters such as the Protect America act, they are going to spend more time investigating major league baseball and the steroids row.

(from the AP and the Ryerson Rag)

” WASHINGTON (AP) — Roger Clemens’ denial of steroid use warrants further investigation, Congress said Wednesday in asking the Justice Department to determine whether the star pitcher lied under oath in testimony to a House committee.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, urging more scrutiny of Clemens’ statements in a Feb. 5 sworn deposition”

GIVE IT A REST, NUMBSKULLS!!! *grumble*

Number Two - this sudden flap over WLW’s Bill Cunningham referring to Barack Obama’s full name. What is wrong with people? We refer to the present CIC as “George W. Bush” and the one Democrat as “Hillary Rodham Clinton” why not Barack Hussein Obama?

You do realize in his younger years he referred to himself as “Barry Obama”, don’t you?

Many in the blogosphere have had their gripes against Congressman Burton. Many have said that the Congressman’s opponent, John McGoff, was the person who could finally knock him off. I’ve laughed off those comments and it’s mostly due to my loyalty to the man who gave me my first job out of college and gave my career in politics a head start.

Well, apparently the Congressman isn’t in such a tight primary after all….according the The Hill that is:

With two of their colleagues falling in primary battles in recent weeks, a number of incumbent members of Congress facing their own primaries have received little support from leadership and colleagues when they might be more vulnerable than ever.

Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Don Young (R-Alaska), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Chris Cannon (R-Utah) (side note from Josh here, but I’m surprised that Chris Canon isn’t receiving more support) have all received $5,000 or less from their leadership and negligible support from fellow members.

At the same time, others including Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.) have banked tens of thousands from leaders and members.

An expanded playing field that could include 80 seats in 2008 makes it harder for parties to spend resources on these primaries, and both campaign committees have policies of focusing on the general election and letting primaries play out.

Party leaders don’t see this as a tight race. And of course polls don’t show this to be a tight race either. But whether you like the Congressman or not (which is apparent that I do), can we all give a shout of praise that Dennis “the alien” Kucinich might not make it past his primary?! He’s great for a laugh and all, but he’s got to go for the good of the country.

A grassroots movement is sweeping the country to direct conservatives to this website - www.ConvinceUs.org. National conservative leaders are demanding McCain take the following path to receive their support in the General Election.

We ask you to please encourage us to work FOR your election by letting your actions convince us we can trust you on the issues important to “Common Sense Conservatives.” To that end we have drafted the following Eight “Common Sense Conservative Assurances” - eight opportunities for you to demonstrate you hear and understand our concerns and are willing to govern more from a position of conservative principle than a particular personal ideology. If you are unwilling to demonstrate such assurance in the middle of an election to secure and consolidate your hard working base, we would be naive to believe you would somehow do so if elected President. Thus we stand on these issues and ask for your assurance on:

1. Life Assurance: Pledge to support and sign a Human Life Amendment that protects all human life.
2. Judicial Assurance: Pledge as President that you would re-nominate the conservative judges your actions sacrificed.
3. Taxes Assurance: Words are not enough, SIGN the No New Taxes pledge now.
4. Immigration Assurance: Pledge to close and secure the border and to enforce immigration law.
5. Free Speech Assurance: Support legislative changes to McCain-Feingold to protect citizens’ free speech, political associations, and activities.
6. Marriage Assurance: We ask for your pledge to support a Federal Marriage Amendment.
7. Security, Energy and Environment Assurance: Pledge first to open ANWAR to energy exploration and build more refineries in a way that shows proper respect for our environment, and then promise to veto any attempts by Congress to cap CO2 or bind us to international law.
8. Respect for Conservatives Assurance: Pledge to dignify the Reagan legacy by respecting ALL conservatives and should you become the Republican nominee publicly offer to make Governor Mike Huckabee your running mate.

The online petition is here. 

Party flacks can get upset when someone from their own party votes against them on a piece of legislation. And sometimes an elected official will go against the entire elected body just to make a point on a particular issue or bill. Most of the time, these votes come from Republicans who are truly standing up for the rights of tax payers in an effort to not pass another senseless earmark or tax hike. On the national level, a couple of our tax hero’s are Senators Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina as well as Congressmen Jeff Flake of Arizona and Indiana’s own Mike Pence.

Fort Wayne voters should be happy that they have a local fiscal fighter of their own in Councilman Mitch Harper.

From the Ft. Wayne Journal Gazette:

Prospective owners of the newest downtown condominiums will now have two tax incentives to buy.

The Fort Wayne City Council on Tuesday voted 8-1 to abate taxes for the $20.3 million condominium/retail piece of Harrison Square, known as The Harrison.

Councilman Mitch Harper, R-1st, was the lone member to oppose the abatement. He said he would have preferred to hold the issue until the state finalizes its property tax plan. Because the plan could cap the amounts of property taxes people can pay, tax abatements could cost city and other governments needed revenue.

Even though the abatement passed in the Republican majority led council, tax payers should be pleased they have at least one champion for their cause in the wake of pending property tax legislation in the General Assembly. It would have been wise for the Ft. Wayne Council to postpone voting on this issue till the property tax issue had been somewhat resolved, but at least those concerned about their taxes have someone fighting for them and their hard earned dollars on the Ft. Wayne Council.

Below is video of Councilman Harper’s reasoning for voting against the abatement. (H/T to Fort Wayne Politics)

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Also, I happened to like the coverage Fort Wayne News gave to the abatement vote.