Archive for the ‘Local Politics’ Category

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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*Adam Longworth was able to attend Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s first State of the City Speech.  Since no one else who contributes here was able to attend, Adam volunteered to offer his impressions of the speech.*

Well last night was quite the interesting experience as far as speeches go. Although this was my first state of the city address that I would be viewing personally I have seen a few like them, and thus had a reasonable expectation of what to expect-or so I thought. I traveled to union station with Ponytail Paul and Kent Morgan and we arrived about 20 minutes before the speech began. Of course, this being a Republican mayor, there were plenty of Republicans there for me to rub elbows with. And I did with gusto.

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

Hoosier Access groupie and contributor to the Weird Pro Blogger Hour on Hoosier Access Radio, Adam Longworth, is attending the Mayor’s State of the City Address at Union Station in Downtown Indianapolis. It appears it will not be live on Channel 16 (cable) but most likely taped and played at a later time.

Adam will provide a post-Address wrap-up here later tonight and if any spectacular announcements are made at the Address Adam will text one of us and we’ll post it up here.

First, of Novak.

Mr. Novak has a piece in his latest column on Indiana and how Obama could possibly win the state’s Democratic primary the same way he won the Missouri primary: win a high concentration of voters in a handful of populous counties.

Here is the excerpt:

HOOSIER HOPES

While the Indiana primary May 6 is listed by Hillary Clinton’s strategists as a probable win in her effort to stay alive for the Democratic presidential nomination, Barack Obama could surprise her there by concentrating on a few counties — as he did in Missouri Feb. 5.

Obama benefits from large African-American voting blocs in Marion (Indianapolis) and Lake (Gary-East Chicago) counties, plus heavy student voting from Indiana University, Purdue and Notre Dame. Obama could win Indiana by carrying only five of 92 counties. In the barometer state of Missouri, Obama carried only five out of 114 counties, plus the city of St. Louis, in finishing first there.

A footnote: Obama broke into the Hoosier Democratic establishment Wednesday with an endorsement from the prestigious former Rep. Lee Hamilton. An ex-chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Hamilton won national acclaim as co-chairman of the bipartisan 9-11 commission.

It should come as no surprise that the Indiana Democratic establishment has for the most part endorsed Hillary Clinton. Evan Bayh holds quite a bit of sway in the party and his endorsement of a presidential candidate is almost binding on anyone who wishes to stay within the good graces of the party.

Speaking of favorite candidates, wouldn’t it be interesting to see Schellinger and Clinton lose the Indiana primary and Obama and Thompson win against the establishment? Of course, this is interesting only if you are not hopelessly in love with the Indiana Democratic party’s talking points.

(See the “Of Limbaugh” part below the fold) (more…)

The Agenda (not the “uhgender”) is posted HERE (Adobe Reader required). Meeting starts at 7 PM.

6:53 PM - The crowd is assembling in the Public Assembly Room. Several veterans including Warren Township’s own Pony Tail Paul Cauley.

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Monroe Gray was finally supposed to get his day under the spotlight from the Investigative Committee on Ethics of the City-County Council. It never happened. What gives? Turns out, it got delayed to another day and time. How, under a Republican controlled council, does this happen? Democrat Councilman William Oliver did his best to move it behind closed doors and out of public view, if not stall it outright with selected readings from Robert’s Rules of Order. Clever, Councilman Oliver. Very clever. Check out the footage from the committee hearing.

(H/T to the people with Bart Lies)

Matthew Bauer, it seems, is Speaker Pat “The Hair” Bauer’s younger brother (and, from the photo, it looks like he accepted hair loss a lot better than his elder brother did).

Anyway, how nice of the Bauer clan to have their family business leave Indiana; granted, it’s true, most parts of the Hoosier state (and even Michigan) are more business-friendly than big-tax, big-spending South Bend.

Still, why would “The Hair’s” brother move to Michigan and not somewhere else in Indiana? Read the story from the South Bend Tribune after the leap. (more…)

Do you ever picture State Dem. Chairman Dan Parker hunched over his desk, like Mr. Burns from the Simpson’s, cursing every time a Republican keeps a campaign promise? That’s really all he can do as his third tier candidates for Governor duke it out while Governor Daniels continues to keep his campaign pledges from 2004. Not that I need to remind what they are, but here goes: daylight savings, streamlining state government through privatization, bringing in more business into the state (while other state have them fleeing) and now he’s dealing with our out of whack property tax problem.

And if that’s not a hard enough kick to the posterior, Indy Mayor Greg Ballard continues to work at fulfilling his campaign promises. First, he brought IMPD back under control of the mayor’s office. Next on his list? Increasing the transparency of city government.

From the Indy Star:

Ballard last year ran on a platform in part dedicated to the notion that government dealings should be more transparent, and his reform package is aimed at fulfilling that campaign promise.

Ballard was quoted as saying “Government is not supposed to be a closed loop. Who is getting contracts and who is lobbying should be open to everybody.”

Of course, all Parker can do is try to throw something on the wall to see if it sticks when it comes to attacking the Mayor, which is exactly what he did just after Mayor Ballard assumed control of IMPD.

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I’m at the Indianapolis City-County Council Meeting live blogging for Hoosier Access tonight. The Democrats are very slow in making a presence in the Council chambers. President Cockrum called the GOP councilors to their seats at 6:57, it is now 7:00 PM and the Democrats are slowly making their way to their seats.

Doesn’t appear to be a whole lot on the agenda. Councilors Mansfield and Dane Mahern are absent.

More after the jump (to conclusions?)
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Guest Post by Chris Faulkner, a former GOP County Chairman in St. Joe County.

No really I mean it, the job sucks. What is really funny it is completely bi-partisan in its suckage as I am sure many on the Democrat side would agree. I was the St. Joseph County GOP Chair from 2005 to 2007.

A long time ago in a blue hair’s fuzzy memory there was time when County Chairman were mighty figures in local and state politics. It actually was not that long ago the job had some decent $ incentive thanks to the License Branches. That all ended with Gov Evan Bayh (another reason not to like him) in 1989. Gone where the days when a County Party Chair could hand out jobs and favors like candy.

Today we are left with a job that has limited stature, almost no perks and little or no funding. Worse still is the outright contempt that so many elected officials seem to hold their own party in. Most officials ignore their County Party completely and sometimes will actively undermine it. It is a sad state of affairs and only a few of us who have walked in those shoes know how tough it is.

In 2007 Allen Co. Indiana witnessed a tumultuous and strange Mayoral election where an upset winner in the GOP Primary was not embraced by the Party “establishment”, some would argue for good reason. Regardless of personal feelings, personal hardship or even odds on who would win Chairman Steve Shine did his job. He was probably as surprised as most on who his party handed him for its GOP nominee but he did not ask for a do over or even to be excused…he did his job. His job as county chair was to back his party’s nominee, no matter what the odds or circumstances because that is what the job means.

The job is a lot of things. Some of the things it is not are policy maker, outreach coordinator or band leader it is pure sausage grinder and leg breaker.

You are the coach which means you don’t always get to pick your players but you have to take the field and do whatever it takes to win. Steve made tough decisions which cost him most if not all his political capital. You can argue all day if Steve made the right choices but you can not argue that Steve sucked it up and did his job. Kevin Leininger of the News Sentinel in Ft. Wayne has this to say.

I salute Steve Shine, Butch Morgan and every other County Chair out there for either party who labors for their cause. You are undervalued but do an important job. (more…)

At the Marion County GOP slating last Saturday, Judge Gary Miller was deposed by the party’s Precinct Committeemen and Ward Chairmen in favor of up-and-coming attorney Kurt Eisgruber. Not saying Kurt was a bad choice, he’s worked hard to contact the “roots” via the townships. Though it appears some are not happy over a lobbyist who “has a past” being slated in place of some long time experienced judges. I heard (prior to slating of course) judge candidates say they wouldn’t “buck the slate”. It appears one has decided on doing just that.

Gary Miller has filed to run in the May primary against the slate.

I was under the impression if you went to slating, and lost you couldn’t file for the primary. I guess that is not the case.

UPDATE: It seems our favorite Log Cabin blogger is reporting Ken Johnson is also going to buck the slate.

Fort Wayne Politics is reporting today that the Allen County Republican Party headquarters is up for sale. Pictures of the building with a “for sale” sign in the window can be viewed at Fort Wayne Politics and you can watch the story at Indiana News Center here.

The television story from Indiana News Center interviews a former legislator who is part of an effort to elect several new precinct committeemen in Allen County to challenge current leadership as reported at Fort Wayne News here.