Friday Follies
There have been lots of little things that popped up this week that are worth mentioning that I didn’t get a chance to comment on, so here they are.
- Indiana school districts could be on the hook for millions of dollars based on a recent opinion by Attorney General Greg Zoeller. Zoeller’s office put out an opinion saying school districts cannot charge students for basic transportation. The State Board of Accounts has been warning districts that if they offer bus service, they can’t charge for it. Now with the AG’s opinion, this could open the doors to litigation by parents who want their money back.
- As the City-County Council gets ready for another public hearing on the water deal, there is word another Democrat is leaning toward a yes vote. So far Jackie Nytes and Mary Moriarty Adams have indicated support for the deal. This would not suit well for Marion County Chairman Ed Treacy because this means another Council member has strayed off of his plantation.
- It looks like a meeting may actually occur next week between Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and a group of local pastors over IMPD policy with respect to the Brandon Johnson excessive force case. The two sides have been deadlocked over who will exactly be in attendance.
- The financial reporting has started to trickle in. Dan Coats’ U.S. Senate campaign is reporting they raised about $1.5 million in the second quarter and had more than $1 million in cash on hand. Democrat Brad Ellsworth reported raising $600,000 in the second quarter and having $1.2 million in the bank. Second Congressional District Republican candidate Jackie Warloski reports raising $250,000 in the second quarter and having $300,000 in cash on hand.
Happy Friday.
July 16th, 2010 at 10:59 am
The bus issue, like the Citizens deal, screams for granularity. If your spouse has been messing up getting bills paid, you have to drill down: what's on, off, going to get shut-off or reposessed, etc. We've having trouble getting the “bills paid” in school funding. We need granularity and transparency in what we're paying for and not. If that means line-iteming some individual charges- I don't see a way around that in hard times.
We need the same granularity and transparency in city funding as to EXACTLY where our money's going and why. Mayor Ballard seemed to get that at first. Now, I don't know what camels got their noses in the tent, but the tents overrun.
Throwing a bunch of money at the city, whether by check or increased rate hikes so they do whatever they want doesn't cut it. You want more money for a rate hike- it needs to be for something to do with the waters or sewers. Otherwise, make it clear what we're paying for, how much, how long, who's the entity to fix it, etc.
Trust in goverment is bipartisanly gone for a bunch of us.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:36 am
I don't know about granularity-a new term to me but I do suspect that Lawrence Township Schools are going to have a hernia/ Be it recalled that they decided to charge kids for rides to and from schools but only Catholic kids. I suppose there must have been a terrible number of Catholic kids up that way since the matter came (after legal expenses) before a particularily witless judge who essentially ruled that they ought to mediate the State Law concerning transportation. If they continue this legal expense gamesmanship I'd expect the damage awards to include the legal fees of the parents and, of course, the illegal thefts of bus fees.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:45 am
My gut instinct is to vote for the guy that collects the least amount of money, for that person is most likely to serve my interests and not some big moneyed lobby. How does one raise $1 million plus, unless one has sold their soul?
The water deal has me very concerned. They can no longer raise our property taxes as collateral for their spending, so they have come up with a new scheme. Now they seek to tax another vital resource to The People…our water and natural gas.
One day people woke up and could not pay their property tax bills because unbeknown to us, they used our homes as collateral.
If they hold our water and natural gas as collateral to the bond banks, one day our citizens will wake up and not be able to afford their water and gas bills. I think holding our water and heat to the banksters as collateral is akin to putting one of your own children up for collateral.
I think we need to first look at selling the city's real estate. The city has a long track record of not being good in real estate development and turning a profit. And that's ok. It's not the city's job to be good at real estate development.
July 16th, 2010 at 11:58 am
As long as we are doing tidbits and won't be accused of hijacking a thread, I'd like to set the record straight on a matter. You will all recall that ethics complaints were an issue?
“We need Sarah Palin focused on helping common-sense conservatives get elected this November.
While all of the frivolous ethics charges have been dismissed, the Palins are left footing the bill for these attacks.
Will you help free Sarah Palin from the burden of legal fees? Please take two minutes today to make a contribution to The Sarah Palin Legal Defense Fund.
Don't let these these burdensome fees distract Sarah from her work.”
One poster here even went so far as to claim that each of the phoney ethics complaints “had teeth” even after said poster claimed to have read her book. The point here, is not to shill for donations but to squarely nail the credibility of that poster as being nil.
And, while he must know that he was in error or attempting to decieve he has not properly repented or even acknowledged his many errors on this small matter of truth telling. In a broader sense, after harping on the subject for months and months wouldn't the dismissal of phoney baloney ethics charges have been worth a line or two in the major media? You know, fair and balanced?
July 16th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
LOL…I would have helped Sarah if her best pals weren't Fox News Neocons. How much did she make from her book again? I don't feel one bit sorry for Palin.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
Abdul,
Word on the street is that Adams may be reconsidering her vote. I think Nytes is a solid friend to the Mayor on the issue.
July 16th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Fox News NeoCons??? What's your alternative? CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR…………..
July 16th, 2010 at 3:02 pm
So, Melyssa, you think it is all right to file great numbers of baseless ethics complaints (Lies, actually) hoping that the dopey media (CNN, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, et all) ceaselessly repeat them hoping to influence the dopier public (that would be your buddy TA) to suspect that where there is so much blown smoke there must be a fire?
As I recall, you didn't much care for folks who spread a great number of lies about you. As to her book, well, you could write a book too. I expect that Palin makes more money appearing on FOX than she did from her first book.
What we are talking about are liars and those who intentionally spread lies. Once again, that would have been TA. It seems that the disconnect from reality affects only liberal ideologues and so they resort to lies.
We won't then, be hearing from you anymore about Ballard lies, Ballard misrepresentations, pr how similar lies and liars nearly stole your home? Why worry about the Wishard Lies, or the Water Company multiple lies?
It is too bad that the Alaska Liars are not made to pay for their lies….on the other hand, Indiana has no such ethics law that I know of, at all. Not to worry, given that prosecutors in Indiana don't prosecute major liars so long as the political contributions keep coming in.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
What's the big deal about the Mayor meeting with community leaders? He is one of the most accessible Mayors this city has ever seen.
Don't know what they expect this meeting to accomplish. The Feds need to come out with their review conclusions and be done with this circus. Delay only emboldens rumor and conspiracy theories. Hopefully the conclusions will take the wind out of the folks that want to make unjusted demands and get a payday out from taxpayers through lawsuits and extorted city grants.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
RICO…the alternative is turning off your televised propoganda tube and reading instead. CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, NPR are all controlled propoganda. The left and right is controlled by the same people at the top. Don't you know that? They've tricked you and you fell for it. They want you to believe that there is a difference between Republicans and Democrats, when either party will accompliish their goal. They want you enslaved. They want your property, your wealth, your freedom. They don't care whether you support their socialist arm, or their nazi warring arm. Either way, they'll get you.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I bought Palin's book and read it. Consider me donated to her 'cause'. I won't buy another thing from her. I like her sort of these days, but I don't trust all her new friends. Just like I didn't trust the Mayor's new friends after he got famous.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Let Glenn Beck cover her legal fees. He's rollling in the dough!
July 16th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Yep ANYthing with a non-neocon pulse. On Fox last week, the Nevada Senate candidate repeated her website and plea for donations 11 times.
Pathetic.
July 16th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
Where DO you get your facts? You make it up as you go along, right?
July 16th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
You're right, Taxpayer. The dept. heads Ballard has installed don't have the collective sense God gave a rock, so I don't see how they're going to effectively spend hundreds of millions in water deal money.
I take that back. There are a few good one.s But too many knuckleheads. Oft detailed here.
But as long as Pascal is OK with it, hey, what the heck, right? He is plenty smart.
July 16th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
The discrimination against Catholic kids comes directly from the Indianapolis Star. If you wish to know more, the kids are being represented by the lawyers for the ArchBishop, I guess. Curing TA ignorance is getting to be a full time job.
And, I'd duck issues too, TA, especially when called out for being a spreader of lies when you should have known better than to repeat lies. Had you really read Palin's book, as you told us, you would have tread more carefully. There is no fool like an old one, however but you have been called out and found wanting.
July 16th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
As noted over in Eye on Indianapolis (http://eyeonindianapolis.blogspot.com/2010/07/a...), the water deal is a sleight of hand to get money and Jackie Nytes is merely dealing in “politics as the art of the possible” in hopes of getting sidewalks, curbs and streets in her district repaired.
You play the hand you were dealt.
July 16th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
“But as long as Pascal is OK with it, hey, what the heck, right? He is plenty smart.” As usual, only half truths. The fact is that I would NOT be for this theft. The other half is correct-he is smart enough to see thru TA misrepresentations and to show folks what they were-all of this for Haiti…but i suspect you are not sending them dollars for errors….were you, I 'd see your face down at the poor house.
July 16th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
And you forgot the big news that Washington Township cops accused their bosses at the school district of blackmailing a former school board member into resigning. Wonder what your buddy Carl Brizzi will do about the trouble at his Alma Mater?
http://diana-vice.blogspot.com/2010/07/will-car...
July 16th, 2010 at 5:41 pm
Palin's book was ok. It read kind of like she dictated everything to some third party and they cranked it out real fast to be ready by a certain date. The writing style wasn't fluid. It seemed to jump around didn't have Sarah's personality IN it. It was not written from Sarah's own voice. I think that's what surprised me. I paid full price for the book. Wish I'd waited until it hit the bargain bin. And I wished Sarah had taken the time to write it herself, rather than let some ghost writer do it so they could hurry up and make a bunch of money.
I do admire that she got control of Alaska's resources and made sure that the people got paid. And maybe that is why we can't drill…because TBTB don't want to give their big oil money profits over to the people. I wish she had stayed in the oil fight instead of selling out to corporate controlled propaganda like Fox News to become another pretty talking head.
July 16th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
I'm with Melyssa, except for one thing: it IDD seem to have her personality. Like a drop of hot water in a hot skillet…all over the place. Melyssa, dear Melyssa–the law which allocated money to Alaskans was pushed through by former Gov. Water Hickel. A long time ago (1966…he helped push through development of the Purdhoe Bay, which, in return, saw Alaskans get compensated).
Relax Pascal. You're not going to be quizzed. Lord knows you'd need tutoring, or have to stay after school.
July 16th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
oops..DID not IDD lol
July 16th, 2010 at 6:14 pm
Ok then I'm confused. Why is getting paid for the oil attributed to Sarah?
July 16th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Word on the street is that Nytes will get a well known African American primary opponent. She better get what she can for Mapleton Fall Creek and her husband's printing company as her cash cow is about to be dethroned.
July 16th, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Far be it from me to tell anyone how to run their political party but if the Ds do run a challenger against her and she loses, she will still have 7 months on the Council to do whatever she wants and not care. Food for thought.
July 16th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
She doesn't seem to care now so what would the difference be???
July 16th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Pascal relates to TA to check with Indy Star reporter Kevin O'Neal conveniently located at kevin.oneal@indystar.com concerning his story of April 29, 2010 beginning.Or, best, his story of 11/26/09. When you do your homework, you can wipe the excrement from your grin,come back to civilization, and apologize to your betters (who can get along without lying).
July 16th, 2010 at 9:46 pm
“Where DO you get your facts? You make it up as you go along, right?” The quote is from the resident fool. Subtitle of 11/26 northindystar.com, “District votes to charge parochial schools for transporting their kids”. Fool-read more on your own dime. Send $10 to Haiti for your continuing education needs. At some point, willful disregard of the truth becomes habitual lying, TA, are you there yet?
July 17th, 2010 at 4:15 am
So, if it's the written word it's more credible? Tell that to the millions of children in government schools in whose text books are chapters about Obama and not Lincoln. And I recognize that the distinction between the GOP and the Dems may has become blurred. But there is a clear distinction between conservatives and liberals. And it is the libs who are hungry for our freedom. Period. (This is where TA responds with crap about the Patriot Act and ignores what's happening to him/her/it under the current regime.)
FOX is the ONLY news organization to do stories on the Black Panther party, ACORN's pimping, the loophole that allows federal funds for abortions in the new healthcare law, the extreme radical Berwick who was just appointed, etc., etc., etc. It is beyond simplistic to say that they are the same as all others. They are the ONLY network that provides critical analysis of King Barry. And they reported negative news about G.W. Bush. No other network comes close to being as balanced.
I have fallen for nothing. I have been watching very, very closely for decades. Bush would have been assailed by the media had his response to the gulf disaster been as pathetic. Barry's getting a free ride, and we're all getting screwed.
July 18th, 2010 at 1:26 am
“MERRILLVILLE, Ind. (AP) — U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky has less than half the cash on hand for his re-election bid as he did when running two years ago, while his legal bills related to a federal investigation of his former top fundraiser have topped $400,000.
Campaign finance reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission show the northwest Indiana Democrat had $692,710 on hand June 30, compared to the $1.6 million he had at that time in the last election cycle.
FEC records also show Visclosky's campaign spent a combined $99,193 on fees for himself and former Chief of Staff Charles Brimmer since April. The new amount brought to at least $405,389 the total Visclosky has spent on expenses related to the PMA Group investigation, The Times of Munster reported Saturday.
The U.S. Department of Justice has been investigating Visclosky's ties to PMA, a once-powerful firm suspected of making “straw” donations to lawmakers that concealed the true source of the money. PMA represented defense clients, including several Visclosky donors who received millions in federal earmarks.
Visclosky's office and Brimmer have been subpoenaed in the inquiry, but the congressman himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing.
Messages seeking comment on the report were left Saturday at a campaign telephone number and a campaign e-mail account.
The latest FEC records also show Visclosky received almost nine times as much in funds from political action committees ($145,500) during the most recent reporting period as he did from individuals ($16,608)….”
All the Palin “ethics complaints” were dismissed. This guy (from Indiana) is running up the bills but apparently has NO DIFFICULTIES with any “ethics” in Congress? Maybe his problems have no teeth but then again maybe he is just another crooked Dumbocrap from NE Indiana (the heart and soul of Indiana corruption in governmnent).