Archive for the ‘Ethics’ Category

Yep. The same party that accuses us of being a bunch of bigots, has publicly whipped out its Anti-Semitic card. It seems the DNC has prepared a set of web pages featuring its opposition research on Sen. McCain’s potential VP choices. Their page on Virginia’s Eric Cantor associates Cantor with now disgraced former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

“Both Abramoff and Cantor are Jewish.”

Yup. You read that correctly. Put on the Tyvek bunny suit and go take a peek at the DNC’s site if you don’t believe me.

I find the hypocrisy amazing. If the GOP even considered using the J-card against a Democrat such as, say, Dr. David Orentlicher there would be yelling and screeching from the moonbats that would top even the worst trailer park argument. However the DNC is free to fling the J-card around to suit them.

From Baron Hill’s response to Mike Sodrel’s initiative for a positive campaign and town hall debates across the district:

I am also disappointed that at this stage in the campaign you still have not explained to the people of Southern Indiana why after the last election you closed your official offices early. This left Hoosier families without congressional representation. You also refused to transfer constituent casework, all the while continuing to collect taxpayer’s money in the form of salaries for you and your staff. Quite honestly, I believe this is a poor reflection of your real desire to be a public servant.

When you apologize for closing the offices early, abandoning the citizens of Indiana’s Ninth Congressional Distict and taking a salary for work that you did not complete, we can then sit down and have a productive conversation about the campaign.

These are particularly egregious lies that Baron has been peddling ever since late 2006. They are manifestly and demonstrably untrue, and are a distortion of history.

First of all, regulations set by the General Services Administration require the vacating of “satellite” Congressional offices within the district well before a defeated Congressman leaves office, usually by December 1st. The phone lines to these offices are cut, the office furniture in them is moved out, and rent and utility payments are concluded.

Those offices are closed not by the wish of the defeated Congressman, but by the edict of a government agency and some Federal bureaucrats over which the defeated Congressman has no control. Baron should be familiar with this; his offices were ordered to be vacated by the GSA in 2004, just as Sodrel’s were in 2006.

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Well, what do you know, for once a Democrat City-County Councilor under investigation does the right thing.

According to the Indy Star:

A City-County Council member said today that he would give up his seat on an ethics committee after news he is being investigated for his ties to a bankrupt charity.

“I’m going to do the ethical thing and what I believe is the right thing to do and step down,” Paul Bateman, a Democrat, said this afternoon.

I won’t lie and say I’m not surprised. Because I am. But Paul Bateman did the right thing. Here’s hoping he sets an example for others on the council who are under investigation *cough* Doris Minton-McNeil *cough*.

Let’s see who is chosen to replace him on the Ethics Committee. That should be interesting.

UPDATE [by Mike]: The IndyStar is reporting the Ethics Committee met tonight and voted to censure Councilor Monroe “Sweet Pea” Gray before the full council. According to the article,  only Councilors Cain and Pfiesterer were present. Councilor Duke Oliver was not present, and of course Councilor Paul Bateman resigned from the committee. It ain’t over yet folks.

Ahhh, the Marion County Democrats. God’s gift to Marion County Republicans.

GOP CHAIR: PAUL BATEMAN SHOULD RESIGN FROM ETHICS COMMITTEE

John says Councillor under investigation has conflict of interest

INDIANAPOLIS-Marion County Republican Central Committee Chairman Tom John today called for City-County Councilor Paul Bateman (D-District 11) to recuse himself from the Council’s Investigative Committee on Ethics.

“Elected Officials who serve on Committees reviewing the actions of their peers must be free from ethical investigations themselves,” said John. “Since it has now become clear that Councilor Bateman is under such an investigation, it is improper for him to continue serving on the Investigative Committee on Ethics.”

Several news organizations have reported within the last week that Councilor Bateman is under investigation for his involvement in a charity that allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars in funds.

Here’s what I love. When almost 1 out of every 4 Democrats on the Indianapolis City-County Council are under investigation, it’s gotta be hard to find people to fill those Democrat spots on the ethics committee to keep it bi-partisan.

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Thomas Cook longs to be the next Jen Wagner, living large in the blogosphere, smearing candidates and career politicos left and right, all while taking Dan Parker’s money and acting as his hired gun in the Hoosier Internets.

Instead, he spends most of his time banging out laughable and factually incorrect press releases.

Today, he decided to throw out for consideration two smears on 2nd District Republican Congressional candidate Luke Puckett.

The first involves unpaid property taxes by Puckett in 2006. Hardly surprising given the problems that frequent the dispatch of property taxes in Indiana to property owners, but I digress. Joe Donnelly, Puckett’s opponent, had four and a half times as much in unpaid property taxes as of January that same year.

The second, of course, is the infamous “churning rumor mill,” a “bubbling, brewing issue” of sorts. What rumor mill, you ask? What bubbling, brewing issue, you wonder?

I asked myself the same question.

So I went to the Puckett campaign and asked them what was up.

And, surprise, surprise, they sent me a response.

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Poor Linda Pence.

She’s still trying to run away from her record and from a certain interesting omission about her past history that she made in the first days of her campaign.

Pastrick’s sidewalks-for-votes case has been green-lighted to go to trial, and Pence is still denying that the case matters.

She is still refusing to take a strong stand on prosecuting corruption, even when the corruption might involve fellow Democrats.

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(Hat Tip - Dan Turkette of Fort Wayne News. Check out his post that goes with it.)

…and miss some votes in the House while busy endorsing (complete with footage) the Obamassiah:

House Roll #233
Apr 30, 2008 6:56 PM
No Vote
H.R. 5522: Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act of 2008 (On Passage)
Passed 247-165, 19 not voting

House Roll #232
Apr 30, 2008 6:48 PM
No Vote
On Motion to Recommit with Instructions: H R 5522 Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act
Failed 187-225, 19 not voting

House Roll #231
Apr 30, 2008 6:15 PM
No Vote
Amendment 2 to H.R. 5522: Combustible Dust Explosion and Fire Prevention Act of 2008 (On Agreeing to the Amendment)
Failed 178-237, 21 not voting

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Posted in Baron Hill, Congress, Elections, Ethics, Indiana Politics, Presidential Politics, Uncategorized | No Comments » | Read more..

I know all about Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment“. More often than not, however, I consider myself only a casual observer. But the apparent abuse of taxpayer funded privileges just days before the primary gives this blogger pause and questions what two particular State House Republicans incumbents are thinking and what their motives were.

In recent days John Ulmer (R-49) of Goshen and Greg Steuerwald (R-40) of Brownsburg, both in extremely tight races, have sent out 8×10 glossy “franked” mailers to their constituents touting their views on immigration and property taxes respectively.

The first offender, State Rep. John Ulmer, is normally considered a more moderate to liberal Republican (in 2006 he received a 100% score with Planned Parenthood) and is in a tight race against the more conservative Wes Culver. The second offender, State Rep. Greg Steuerwald, is an appointed incumbent and has been on the job for only a short time. He won last summer’s caucus in Hendricks County after former State Rep. Matt Whetstone stepped down. Only a short time in office, he’s in a difficult race to retain his seat against young upstart Zach Rice.

So what’s the deal?

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It’s just sad it took the death of these two innocent children to potentally bring about legislation which increases the penalties for their murders.

The man who shot a pregnant teller during a bank robbery last week could face as little as two years in prison for killing her unborn twins.

But a penalty stretching several decades to 100 years would apply for the robbery and the attempted murder of the mother — an absurd gap, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said. Today, he is expected to announce a proposal that would expand Indiana’s fetal homicide laws to include any unborn child.

The change would remove a condition that the fetus be viable, or have the ability to live outside the mother’s womb.

“I don’t see why we should be talking about viability,” Brizzi said Tuesday. “If somebody takes the life of an unborn child, they should be charged with murder, period.”

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Posted in Ethics, General Assembly, Legislature | 1 Comment » | Read more..

On Tuesday there were numerous reports of irregularities and odd happenings coming out of Philadelphia, perhaps the toughest political battleground in the state of Pennsylvania. With the Pennsylvania primary giving Hillary Clinton a reason to stay in the race, the eyes of pundits are now turning to Indiana and North Carolina where primaries will be held on May 6th.

Aside from national attention shifting to Indiana, another way to tell that the primary is looming is the start of election shenanigans in Lake County.

Apparently the good folks over in Gary felt that part of their civic duty involved helping some of the city’s high school students vote early by busing them the county seat of Crown Point for a vote-early field trip. Yes, you heard that correctly: a school district in a city where Obama will probably win a landslide victory bused 200 voting age students on 32 miles round trip just so they could vote early.

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