Archive for the ‘Local Politics’ Category

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.

(Read more after the leap) (more…)

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?)
(more…)

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.

…or in this case never starts when you can’t get a wireless signal that you were told would be available. Truth be told, one was available to us, we just weren’t given a password to access the signal. C’est la vie! On a positive note, we were able to record a podcast of the days events and even came away with some great interviews.

Anyway, it was a great convention! It was so much better than I could have expected. To be honest, my hopes weren’t all too high consider all that was on the slate were Superior Court and Circuit Court races in addition to the HD 86 & 89 races. While the contested HD races were interesting, the judges races took the show.

For the announced 430 voting delegates that showed up, the judges races went to multiple ballots with four incumbents losing, total, losing in the slating and the Circuit Court race ending in a statistical tie between Alicia Gooden and James Joven because one voter used green ink to mark a ballot which was against the rules. That caused there to be a tie since the ballot was thrown out. This was announced after many of Joven’s supporters had left. Who won? You’ll have to listen to the podcasts.

Not to give too much away, we were able to get interviews with slated winners Chris Swatts in HD 89 and Adam Nelson in HD 86. We also got to spend some time with Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard, who is a voting precinct committeeman himself.

So stay tuned for the podcasts as they become available over the course of the weekend.

UPDATE - Below the fold are the winners in today’s Marion County GOP slating convention. (more…)

Here is a great headline in the Indy Star: “Sheriff gives mayor control of police force”

As if he had a choice. They apparently came to an “agreement” that sounds a lot like what Mayor Ballard was going to do anyway.

I would have loved to be in that room. The discussion would have gone something like this:

BALLARD: Mr. Anderson, I am going to take control of IMPD. You cannot do a thing about it. Now, do you want to look like you are trying to work for public safety or like a partisan hack?

ANDERSON: Ummmm.

BALLARD: Why don’t we go out and make a statement….

In this technological age of ours, it seems as if one county clerk in Indiana still wants voters to use paper ballots. Is this clerk somewhere where it’s more rural, the population is lower and would make sense to have a cheaper option even though this is the 21st Century? Well, cheaper may be one of the reasons she gives, but if Beth White has her way, voters in Marion County (that’s right, Marion…it’s only the most populous county in the state and home to the State capital) will be using paper ballots in the Special Election on March 11th to decide who will fill the remainder of Julia Carson’s term.

One would have to assume that this is a joke. But even if it was, which it’s not, Marion County GOP Chairman Tom John isn’t taking it as a joke. In a statement release by the Marion County Party, John is quoted as saying:

“Beth White has an obligation to the voters of the 7th District and Marion County to conduct this special election under the same standards as would be expected of any election,” John said. “For Beth White to propose that 7th District voters vote on scraps of paper rather than the electronic systems for which we paid millions of dollars for is ludicrous–simply because White claims she does not have time.”

(Read more of Beth White’s lunacy below the fold) (more…)

Hey all you Hoosier Access fans out there, yours truly has been invited, again, to be a guest on Abdul in the Morning discussing local and state politics.  The segment should air between 7:ooam and 8:00am.  So as you’re getting ready in the morning or if you’re already driving in to work, tune into 1430 AM WXNT.  You can either listen to it on the radio or you can check out their website and listen to a live stream from there. Just click the “listen live” button at the top of the page.I should let you know that you have to sign up as a “member” to listen if you haven’t already, but it’s free so that’s no biggie.

Dr. Phil apparently contacted “the Anderson Mayors” to get them to work out their little squabble. Great, that’s what electoral politics has come to in Indiana. The situation in Anderson has become such a joke it’s now bordering on Dr. Phil levels of ridiculous. Thankfully the Mayors turned him down.

H/T - INdiana Systemic Thinking

From today’s Indy Star:

Behind closed doors

Mayoral transition anything but smooth
Both parties apparently ran into some transition friction in the final days before Bart Peterson surrendered the mayor’s office to Greg Ballard.

Ballard this past week said Peterson wouldn’t let his people enter the 25th-floor offices. But the level of animosity between the two camps went beyond that, though not quite reaching the legendary removal of W’s from the keyboards in the White House at the end of President Bill Clinton’s administration. John Cochran, Ballard’s transition director, said the Peterson team became less cooperative toward the end. As one example, he led a visiting reporter on a tour of a disheveled office supply room on the 25th floor that looked as if a sour grape had exploded inside it.

Several employees in the City-County Building said the shredding machine was going nonstop in the final week of Peterson’s tenure, with the remains hauled directly to waiting city trash trucks. Justin Ohlemiller, Peterson’s former deputy chief of staff, declined to comment on the question of whether the staff destroyed documents willy-nilly. He said the outgoing administration acted “professionally.” He offered this statement: “File cabinet after file cabinet there is full of public records. Everything they need to run city government is there.”

Greg Wilson, the city’s new director of minority business affairs, was unhappy about the situation. “The sad thing is that they were acting like those were their documents,” Wilson said. “Those records are the citizens’ documents. Tax money paid to produce them.”

Shredding documents?  What did Bart do that was documented and then needed to be shredded?  It’s not as if he was hiding any national security secrets.  Maybe it was Bart that was selling enriched uranium cakes to Iraq.  Okay, maybe not.

(H/T - Bart Lies)