In & Out
You have to admit that as far as politics go, last week was a giant roller coaster here in Indiana. Let’s recap.
Mike Pence is out as a possible to challenger to Democrat Evan Bayh for the U.S. Senate. Secretary of State Todd Rokita might get in the race or he might get in the race for the 6th Congressional District now that Steve Buyer is getting out.
Buyer told reporters Friday he was getting out because of his wife’s health, but there’s speculation the federal government might be getting in to investigating his Frontier Foundation charity and that was the real reason he was getting out.
Meanwhile the four candidates for the U.S. Senate are staying in for now, but a couple may be getting out next month because they failed to gather enough signatures to get on the ballot.
We’ll also have a better idea this week of who’s staying in the 5th Congressional District race; campaign finance reports are due in tonight.
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi is out of sorts because of a news story that insinuated that he petitioned the court for an early release of a woman accused of murder because of campaign contributions by her father. The money is back in the hands of the original donor.
Former Democratic State Representative David Orentlicher is out of the race for Marion County Prosecutor, and Mark Massa, former prosecutor and Governor Mitch Daniels chief counsel may be getting in. He would replace Helen Marchal who got out this week.
Legislation that would change Indiana’s alcohol laws and require reimbursement for wholesalers who lose their supplier contracts to another company isn’t getting out of the House and although it’s still pending in the Senate, it’s odds don’t look to great getting out of there either.
An Indiana House panel wants to make sure sure kids in failing school districts can’t get out by forcing charter schools to petition parents and get 51% of the vote before they can set up shop in a school district.
And speaking of schools, IPS Superintendent Dr. Eugene White demonstrated he is out of his mind by accepting a pay raise while the parents of the school children in his district are just barely getting by.
Did you get all that? I’m out.
January 31st, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Eugene White is out of his mind and out of touch regarding his pay raise and probably another dozen issues. The school board who are supposed to be his boss is scared of him due to his intimidation tactics and bullying that he uses on employees. Time for a major change In IPS.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:24 pm
Could you soft-pedal the Brizzi story any further? LOL.
“Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi is out of sorts because of a news story that insinuated that he petitioned the court for an early release of a woman accused of murder because of campaign contributions by her father. The money is back in the hands of the original donor.”
Please. Every major news outlet in the city is on top of this and you trot out this paragraph? *chuckle* I find myself smitten by your apologies regarding your pal Brizzi.
January 31st, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Sorry to disappoint you big guy, but this is what everybody gets over the weekend. Having this thing called a life dictates that. You'll get more later this week. Nice to know you read.
January 31st, 2010 at 8:22 pm
Let's talk about Bayh. Despite not being known as the sharpest knife in the Senate, he is for all practical purposes, unopposed. His father, a true liberal was also thought to be unbeatable, but, whooooooooops. So, it appears that Rokita would be the best choice to run against Evan, but will probably take the non-combat approach and run for Buyer's seat. If Buyer resigned immediately, would the Guv be responsible for the appointment????????
January 31st, 2010 at 10:52 pm
Saying the woman is “accused of murder” makes it sound like the trial is still pending. She was found guilty and sentenced. No longer accused.
February 1st, 2010 at 5:19 am
House vacancies, unlike Senate vacancies, must be filled by an election of all of the voters. This close to the primary, it would be safe to assume that the term would be filled in May.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Now that we have a real candidate in Massa, let’s look closely at what happened over past couple weeks in the debacle that was Tom John and his county circus. No, we don’t have to look closely. From a distant planet that fool stands out. There are good people in the party, nobody wants to step in and help because of him. I would say the e-mail for names was the icing on his lunatic cake, but he is not done.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:29 pm
Who cares what Brizzi did? He is out. Tom John is out. Governor is stepping in and wiping the county GOP like it was hi a**. He is embarassed his own home turf is run by a clown. Massa will be a good candidate. Get him in office, get new county GOP leadership and we move forward.
February 1st, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Massa and Curry may be a good race to see if we can get a good prosecutor. The whole Brizzi thing will blow over, but the next candidate will ahve to deal with it. he is not going to jail that is democrats doing their thing. The Marion County GOP money was stolen and nothing was done. Everybody said tom John was a crook and moved on. Peterson gave contracts to friends and nothing was done. Each side takes care of the other since the office switches every now and then. Maybe that should stop.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:08 pm
So if Massa is such a sure lock, why the hesitation? Something seems to be holding him up. I do think he is a fine lawyer, and can certainly use Mitch's connections ($$$) to leverage his way into the office. But once he announces, and the gloves come off, what could he have in his background? My understanding is there were allegations of infidelity and could involve people currently on the bench in Marion County. I have NO first hand knowledge of that issue. It was the subject of a recent Terry Burns blog article. I hate to see people get torn down because of their personal lives, but if true, that would be hard on everyone involved, including children. Maybe he won't do it because of that. I wish campaigns were not run that way – but that's the reality of the modern day campaign wars.
And what of the “Hatch Act”? Does this come into play here? Would he have to resign from Mitch's office, find another job, etc???
Yes, I understand that Mitch is popular in Marion County, but he is not running for MCPO, just his handpicked candidate and his campaign money.
Can't wait for Abdul to rip this one apart.
February 1st, 2010 at 9:08 pm
I hear tell Fox has loads more to report. Stay tuned.
February 5th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Mayor I was laid up but I wanted to comment you make some good points. Don't know about Hatch Act, but if he has to leave the Governor has shown ability to land talent at that job. On the point, I will support Massa and forget his personal issues. We ned a break from county gop crap. It is run by a hillbilly who has messed up every decision including marchal. The Governor told Tom John to step back out of the way and forced Massa on them. They did not want to because he is not in the small group of monkeys. Look who won.