Juno Wrote:

August 13th, 2008 at 1:32 pm

There is an obvious way to get to the bottom of these contracts. Make them, and the procedures under which they were awarded, a matter of EASY PUBLIC ACCESS for all of government. If government wants transparancy, input and savings, then create a site where this information is readily available. We shouldn’t have to endlessly search and fight the b-crats/law firms for it. Interested citizens, and attorneys other than the usual beneficiaries of government’s goodies, could then compare the processes and results, and evaluate them relative to each other and against the cost of performing the same work in house.

You would also have to see the rejected proposals. I suspect that’s where a good many of the dead bodies lie. Which is why it is never going to happen. And please don’t lecture me on how confidentiality is required to preserve the integrity of the bidding process. This is government for which the people are involuntarily forced to pay, not Ford Motor Company competing with Toyota.

Much of this stuff stinks so badly I’m surprised the people of Indianapolis aren’t all sick from the smell. Despite the fact we complain about it, these people keep it up, even after they are caught red-handed breaking their promises to bring an end to it. CIB and Grand? Text book example of a “captured agency”. And exactly what part of “conflict of interest” don’t some of the greatest legal minds in the State get? Why does government continue to rely on the self-serving advice of these people and then defend their right to pay out the ass for the privilege? Did any of the bad press about this appointment change anything? You simply can’t shame the shameless, the greedy and the just plain stupid.

And this is a problem that goes well beyond county government. Lewis & Wilkins wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for that deal with the AG’s office. Do you really believe that two ex-AGers won that contract fair and square? It’s a very small firm but it’s managed to attract some heavy political hitters in it’s short life. How many campaigns have been and are being run from behind those doors? Do you really think these guys did any lawyering while they were there? If not, why were they paid? Future benefits, that’s why. See Advance Indiana for a rundown of Evan B. and his stint at B&D and what B&D got out of the deal. This is way more complicated than analyzing a few contracts to save the taxpayers millions by cutting costs. This is how the sausage is made. It’s ugly and it stinks.

It’s also dangerous. Once these contracts are analyzed and the results made known, the academic/dogooder/troublemaker, depending on your perspective, is outed. Revealing fiscal irresponsibility is bad enough, but if corruption is found, watch out. Remember, there are a lot more of the guilty than there are of you reformers out there when the people who work in captured agencies, the businesses they monitor and those they employ, the law firms who represent them, and the people put in office by them to perpetuate this expensive nonsense are added up. They also have a lot more at stake, are organized, have the advantage of fighting from within the system, and common interests. They will defend their turf with a vigor and nastiness you have never encountered. Getting between these guys and their wallet is the one thing they will not tolerate without a fight, public and private. Your money is their money and everyone from the lowest level b-crat to the managing partners at the major law firms knows it.

You would also have to see the rejected proposals. I suspect that’s where a good many of the dead bodies lie. Which is why it is never going to happen. And please don’t lecture me on how confidentiality is required to preserve the integrity of the bidding process. This is government for which the people are involuntarily forced to pay, not Ford Motor Company competing with Toyota.

Much of this stuff stinks so badly I’m surprised the people of Indianapolis aren’t all sick from the smell. Despite the fact we complain about it, these people keep it up, even after they are caught red-handed breaking their promises to bring an end to it. CIB and Grand? Text book example of a “captured agency”. And exactly what part of “conflict of interest” don’t some of the greatest legal minds in the State get? Why does government continue to rely on the self-serving advice of these people and then defend their right to pay out the ass for the privilege? Did any of the bad press about this appointment change anything? You simply can’t shame the shameless, the greedy and the just plain stupid.

And this is a problem that goes well beyond county government. Lewis & Wilkins wouldn’t even exist if it weren’t for that deal with the AG’s office. Do you really believe that two ex-AGers won that contract fair and square? It’s a very small firm but it’s managed to attract some heavy political hitters in it’s short life. How many campaigns have been and are being run from behind those doors? Do you really think these guys did any lawyering while they were there? If not, why were they paid? Future benefits, that’s why. See Advance Indiana for a rundown of Evan B. and his stint at B&D and what B&D got out of the deal. This is way more complicated than analyzing a few contracts to save the taxpayers millions by cutting costs. This is how the sausage is made. It’s ugly and it stinks.

It’s also dangerous. Once these contracts are analyzed and the results made known, the academic/dogooder/troublemaker, depending on your perspective, is outed. Revealing fiscal irresponsibility is bad enough, but if corruption is found, watch out. Remember, there are a lot more of the guilty than there are of you reformers out there when the people who work in captured agencies, the businesses they monitor and those they employ, the law firms who represent them, and the people put in office by them to perpetuate this expensive nonsense are added up. They also have a lot more at stake, are organized, have the advantage of fighting from within the system, and common interests. They will defend their turf with a vigor and nastiness you have never encountered. Getting between these guys and their wallet is the one thing they will not tolerate without a fight, public and private. Your money is their money and everyone from the lowest level b-crat to the managing partners at the major law firms knows it.

They are those lawyers who work for the smaller firms that are ’squeezed out’ consistently by the greedy firms like Barnes & Thornburg. They are the lawyers who are denied opportunities because they either do not work for B&T, are minorities or women…Hundreds of ‘em if the truth be known.

Just get the contracts and the invoices submitted for payment. I’m particularly interested in B&T. They are destroying the Ballard Administration in more ways than one realizes.