Loading ...The Weekend Report
After a Friday night of heavy indulgence with friends and chasing after someone I’ve had a major thing for forever, you’d think I’d spend the following Saturday morning recovering, but no. Instead I went to the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations monthly meeting. Nearly two dozen candidates for the City-County Council showed up to answer questions and let the crowd know why they were running.
For the most part everyone did ok. Crime was the big issue and everyone agreed it was out of control and needed to be addressed. While most of the approaches were the same, more police and early intervention. There were some new comers with interesting ideas. I was particularly impressed with District Four candidate Christine Scales suggestion that interest from the Township fund balances be used to pay for extra police patrols in the township areas. I thought it was a very innovative idea and the type of out of the box thinking this county could use. And it would also give the Trustees some real work to do.
While I did agree in principle with those candidates who said jobs were important, I have never fully subscribed to the theory that poverty causes crime. There are a lot of poor people in this world who would never think of harming another person. And most of the people committing the crimes in Marion County aren’t Jean Valjean stealing a loaf of bread to support their families. They are bad people who need to be locked up and put away.
However, I guess my biggest eyebrow rising moment came when City-County Council Vice President Joanne Sanders said she would fight crime by making sure ex-offenders had jobs to go to. A position that makes sense, no doubt, however when that subject came up last year and a proposal was before the council (Proposal 97 sponsored by Ike Randolph), Sanders and her party tabled the measure saying it needed more study. To date I haven’t seen anything show up on the council floor that would bring that measure back up.
Like I said, overall it was an interesting meeting. The biggest point of contention in the meeting was when one member of the audience asked on a note card how well the candidates thought Monroe Gray was doing as Council President, that raised a bit of a stir and caused some bickering. I’m glad I convinced someone to slip it in the stack.
April 22nd, 2007 at 7:47 am
When Bart has $2.9 million for his campaign while unfortunate GOP slated candidate Ballard has less than $10K, trying to get “free media” for poverty-stricken Republicans against Monroe Gray is kinda feeble. Gray was elected overwhelmingly in his District — the sputtering Republicans haven’t even got a candidate running against him. Instead of paltry partisan mud-throwing, try elections to gain political power - it’s the American way!
April 22nd, 2007 at 9:48 am
Wilson, if the stalking laws extended to blogs you would be in serious trouble. Get a life and step out your front door into the real world once in a while.
April 22nd, 2007 at 10:10 am
If you stopped using your old Commodore 64 for your Internet access, you’d know that modern PCs have a very useful feature called RSS (Really Simple Syndication) that notifies users when there’s something new and/or interesting on a website.
In essence, Abdul tells me when he’s got something worth reading. Thanks, dude! Too bad some of your readers are so deficient in modern technology … kinda like their politics: stuck in the old days of Steve Goldsmith!
April 22nd, 2007 at 11:39 am
Not all of us have to be the first one to comment on each and every post.
:)
April 22nd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
And what’s wrong with how things ran under Steve Goldsmith? Hell of a lot better then than they are now under this short stack of a mayor.
And besides has anyone figured out for certain exactly which racial profile Monroe Gray falls into? He appears more Heinz 57 than Tiger Woods.
April 22nd, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Like Abdul, Monroe Gray has at least one drop of African blood so that you perplexed racists may properly classify him pseudo-scientifically as “African-American”.
April 22nd, 2007 at 3:09 pm
Amen Anon 948. But as usual, Wilson wants to change the debate, I can even tell from the ’style’ of writing he is hiding here as an “anonymous”, shame shame Wilson.
As much as I like to read our local blogs, the incessant ramblings of the left wing lunatic, Wilson, means I am starting to skip them more and more, and just when I discovered the brilliant “Shorebreak” on them to light the way with truth. *sigh*
Abdul, I love your site - so tell us more. What was the reaction, who was bickering with whom? Dish Abdul, not all of us could make it.
April 22nd, 2007 at 8:37 pm
In that this thread mentions Mr. Gray, I thought I’d share a few thoughts.
On March 26th at a full CCC meeting I attended, an attempt to investigate Grays’ behavior, Proposal 182, was introduced by Council Minority Leader Dr. Borst. He was viciously shouted down several times by incumbent At-Large Councilor and Majority leader Lonnell Conley(whose wife sits on the Metropolitan Development Committee of 300 East infamy), Conley screaming repeatedly “You dont have the authority!”. Dr. Borst calmly assured one and all that the authority existed under the 1975 Municipal Code, at which time Mr. Conley shouted “Recess!” of the meeting which was all of 5 minutes old. During this embarrassing behavior by Conley, Vice President and incumbent At-Large Councilor Ms. Joann Sanders was seen to roll her eyes at the audacity of anyone attempting to investigate Mr. Gray. Perhaps she was concerned that it was her and fellow Democrat councilors’ judgement of selecting Gray as their President in January that was being questioned.
The attempt to investigate Mr. Gray was defeated 14-13 (Gray did recuse himself, after having told the Star that he’d vote on a matter concerning himself, and Ike Randolph (R) was absent). Although Councilor and fellow LEO Ms. Sherron Franklin (D) was among the 14, I believe that she felt the measure was doomed anyway, and I have admired Sherron’s conduct while having served; her way of looking at proposals objectively as opposed to 100% partisanly.
The Proposal was forwarded to the Rules and Public Policy Committee, chaired by incumbent At-large Councilor Dr. Rozelle Boyd (he of the 75% pay raise attempt($9,000) for “dry cleaning” which he eventually killed), who didnt even bother to hear the Proposal, on March 28th.
Later in the meeting, when Monroe Gray was up for readmittance to the Capital Improvements Board, Councilor Bob Cockrum (R) questioned whether Mr. Gray had any business dealings which would be a conflict of interest-a reasonable question given Mr. Grays’ alleged behavior. The question was attempted to be silenced by incumbent At-Large Councilor Mr. Ron Gibson (who is facing misdemeanor charges of Battery on a Law Enforcement Officer and Public Intoxication), who stated he “Believed that the question was purely political” as opposed to reasonable and pertinent for the Public.
To all Law Enforcement Officers and friends of same, I’ll mention the fact that a Police Officer (who is appointed by an elected official) has standards of integrity and ethics which, if violated, usually result in at the very least termination of employment and quite probably imprisonment for perjury, a felony.
A question I’ll ask you is: Why arent the same standards as rigid for our Elected officials as they are for us, appointed Officers?? Should they not be? I think they should.
We as citizens get what we choose, either good or bad representation. In my opinion, which I have heard echoed by several people during my campaigning, is that We deserve Better representation. The actions of the Democrat majority of March 26th, among several other instances, is that this body of elected officials, having gained control of the Council for the first time ever, since 2003, has been a parade of actions which are NOT for the betterment of the Public, but rather, a litany of self-interest, coupled with deceit and barely disguised contempt for their constituents-Their bosses!!.
Responsibility and Leadership is just that: To serve as a legislative body for the betterment of a community, instead of holding on to the “juice” as Mr. Gray so stated for its own sake and self-interest. I guarantee that if I and my fellow slated At-Large candidates are elected on November 6th, that we wont ask for a huge payraise; that we wont be intoxicated in public and lose control of ourselves, nor will we engage in any activity other than is what is best for the community, All 9 townships of it. We will NOT BE A ‘RUBBER STAMP’ for a Mayor whose idea of “getting tough” on street violence is to..convene a commission on video game violence..who in 4 out of 8 years lets his Police serve without a contract..who threatened to lay off Police Officers if his “increased efficiencies and money saving” merger wasnt made into law (which has resulted in a weaker Department and estimated costs of $21 MILLION over both former IPD and MCSD budgets)..I can do this all night long..I only wish I didnt have to. :(
The best defense against a libel lawsuit is a narration of recent history. We as Voters have the power to correct these and other issues: I urge you all to review the performance of your incumbent At-Large Councilors, and vote accordingly.
Stay Safe- LEOs and the Public!!
Michael Hegg
(R) At-large, City County Council candidate
http://www.michaelhegg4ccc.com
April 23rd, 2007 at 6:51 am
The city ran well under Goldsmith? Really? Wanna check history, and get abck to us?
Bart is far from a perfect mayor, but for this he gets five stars: he refuses to walk away from the expensive problems left by 35 years of Republican domination. Let’s click off a few, sacrificed at the altar of no-new-taxes, which kept them in power:
1. The Jail. A conservative Republican federal judge ruled nine or ten years ago, that the current jail was a violation of basic civil rights, and instituted a mandatory overcrowding order. That order and resultant problems, have put thousands of people on the streets early, which has contributed in no small way to our crime prblem.
At the time of the order, the cost to fix it was $20-30 million. The cost now, a decade later? $120-200 million.
2. Combined Sewer Overflow. A conservative southside Republican councilwoman, Beulah Coughenor, riled on this for years. Neglecting our CSO prolem has now resulted in federal EPA mandates to clean it up. No small cost there, either…it’s estimated at three quarters of a billion when complete.
3. Public Safety Mess. Unigov failed to tackle police and fire overlaps, which are costly. I’m a great admirer of Dr. SerVaas, and perhaps there was insufficient poltical capital at the time. And under Lugar, Hudnut and Goldsmith the pension underfunding compounded. (But hey, we didn’t raise taxes!)
Do I need to go on? There are more examples.
Yeah, there are mistakes on the other side, too. But attempts to clean it up, and save money, have been met with partisan hollering the likes of which you’ve never seen. Conservative Republican legislators blocking consoldiation attempts at the leegislature, just to stop any political credit from gonig to the Mayor.
And add the lousy Democratic council leadership to the mix, what have you got? A mess.
So, in the past, we had mediocre mayors and strong council. Now it’s the reverse.
Neither works well. But a strong chief executive, over time, can prevail. The voters saw through the ridiculous grandstanding of the Lawrence and Warren township attempts to preserve fiefdoms.
Bit by bit, it will get better.
Not quickly enough to save huge sums now, but over time, we’ll look back and be thankful.
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 am
“Like Abdul, Monroe Gray has at least one drop of African blood so that you perplexed racists may properly classify him pseudo-scientifically as “African-American”"
Current thought is that all human life originally came from Africa. For this reason, I always check that I am “African-American.” If enough people do this in the suburbs, we will see more federal funds thrown our way just because it will look like our area is “black.”
April 23rd, 2007 at 11:28 am
“Not quickly enough to save huge sums now, but over time, we’ll look back and be thankful.”
Yeah. Look back and say “glad we consolidated police before this city REALLY went into the shi**er”.
Which is where this dump is going under Democrap leadership.