POLITICAL POTPOURRI
There are a few items from around town today that are worth mentioning…
What Property Tax Relief?
State Senator Luke Kenley tells me he hopes to have a list of recommendations to reform Indiana’s property tax system by the middle of November. One recommendation that won’t be on that list is the elimination of property taxes. Kenley says he doesn’t think it’s feasible to eliminate property taxes because all it will do is increase other taxes (sales, income). Kenley says he would like to cut local property taxes by 50 percent. Part of that would involve the state picking up some of the taxing authority, but also shifting the burden to other local taxes. Kenley says it’s best to keep the taxes at the local level because that is where the most accountability is. He also says he wants a more uniform system of tax assessment which translates into one assessor per county. He also wants to look at a local government circuit breaker that would cap tax increases and limit the rate of growth of local government.
First the Client, Now the Lawyer
City-County Council Republican leader Phil Borst says his party is not playing politics by filing an ethics complaint with the Indiana Supreme Court against Council attorney Aaron Haith. Borst along with several other Republicans filed the complaint saying Haith blocked and ethics investigation of Council President Monroe Gray as Council attorney, but Haith is also Gray’s private attorney who has represented him in some of the matters, which are the subject of the investigation. Borst says he did not want to file the complaint, but the integrity of the Council must be protected. He said he was going to file a compliant back in March, but decided against it. But since then, Borst says, there have been six to eight incidents where Haith has had a conflict of interest and willfully and purposely disobeyed city rules. If the Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission agrees to hear the matter and Haith is found to have acted unethically, he could be suspended or disbarred from practicing law. The Supreme Court disciplined Haith back in 2001 for unprofessional conduct concerning previous convictions for driving while intoxicated.
The Great (sort of) Debate, Part III
I watched the third Mayoral debate Sunday between incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson and challenger Greg Ballard. Neither candidate gave a real convincing performance nor said anything groundbreaking. It must have been the fact that it was Sunday morning and they were out partying on Saturday night. At least I hope so, because that would be an excuse I could live with.
