Dennie Ray’s Double-Talk Continues

The contradictions between Jill Long Thompson and the only guy willing to run with her, err, her chosen running mate, Dennie Ray Oxley II, are many.

And certain Democrat spin-mistresses are already beating a swift retreat away from his importance to the ticket.

You can bet that they wouldn’t be downplaying the significance of his presence on the ticket if they really thought that he was such a great choice.

The contradictions with what young Dennie Ray II is saying now and with what he has done in the past are even more enlightening, however.

See why after the leap.

Take this shot he took at Major Moves as a perfect example:

Oxley wasted no time taking on the role of attack dog, criticizing the decision by Mitch Daniels to lease the Indiana Toll Road.

“We need a governor that will tackle our problems head-on, not just sell them off to the highest foreign bidder and hope things get better,” said Oxley.

Dennie Ray is also beating a swift path away from his current job, as a “project coordinator” working for the engineering firm of Beam, Longest & Neff LLC (company website here):

Oxley works as a business development representative for the engineering firm Beam, Longest & Neff LLC, but will be resigning from that post soon to campaign full time with Long Thompson.

Why? You might ask?

Because his employer has made big bucks working on Major Moves contracts, that’s why.

Remember how Jill Long Thompson attacked Jim Schellinger because his architecture firm designed those expensive designer schools that caused property taxes to go up?

Well, she’ll have a hard time attacking Mitch Daniels over Major Moves when her running mate and his former employer have been cashing in, big time, building highways that are being paid for by the toll road lease.

Take INDOT project designation #9901280, over in Union County.

That’s a hefty project.

And who is involved in that nine and a half million dollar road construction contract?

Why Dennie Ray Oxley II’s former employer, Beam, Longest & Neff LLC (page 5 of the 2007 letting list, PDF warning).

They’re also listed for two other Major Moves projects in Union County that were let at the same 18 month letting list, though I can’t readily find their price tags.

But wait!

There’s more!

Dennie Ray’s company is also looking to make big bucks on a lot of other Major Moves projects:

In Howard County, they are involved in INDOT DES 9706380 (PDF of 2008 letting list, page 41), a bridge over Wildcat Creek that will cost almost $39 million.

In Floyd County, they are involved in INDOT DES 0101102 (PDF of 2008 letting list, page 37), an interchange on I-64 with state roads 62 and 64 that will cost over $14 million.

These three projects alone (which I found in about ten minutes on the INDOT website) total $62.6 million.

It looks like whenever Jill Long Thompson or Dennie Ray Oxley II attack Mitch Daniels over Major Moves, they are going to have to do so with a disclaimer.

Seems that Dennie Ray’s former employer was cashing in big time on Major Moves.

So if the Long-Thompson-Oxley ticket wants to say that Mitch Daniels “sold our problems off to the highest foreign bidder and hoped things got better,” then they are going to have to say that some of the people that got better out of it were LG hopeful Dennie Ray Oxley II and his former employer.

This post is also available at Hoosierpundit.