The one percent increase in the city’s hotel tax made it through tonight’s city-county council with just enough support to make it bi-partisan. All but one Republican voted “yes” and all but one Democrat voted “no.” Republican Christine Scales voted against the proposal, Jackie Nytes voted in favor. Libertarian Ed Coleman joined the Democrats. Nytes […]

All due apologies to my friends at 300 N. Pennsylvannia. It’s amazing what people talk about behind closed doors when they think no one is listening. Strategy or Tragedy in the Making In a recent caucus meeting, City-County Council Democrats planned their next line of attack against Republican Mayor Greg Ballard.  The Dems are planning […]

I understand the philosophy that “all is fair when it comes to love, war and politics” however, if you are going to try to play the game, at least do it with some modicum of sophistication. I am referring the whisper campaign being lodged against the Ballard Administration that it is full of racists. This […]

For the past couple weeks, Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard’s ethics proposal has been circulating around city hall. It hasn’t been formally introduced as the Mayor has been soliciting input from both Democrats and Republicans on the Council. I managed to get a copy of a summary sheet and here are some of the highlights. Unless […]

That’s how Monday night’s City-County Council and four years of Democratic Control came to an end.  It wasn’t short by any means. The meeting started at 7 p.m. and finished shortly before midnight. Measures to start a process to repeal the public safety tax, have the council approve tax abatements, tie the unionization of hotel […]

There are a lot of things on my radar screen this morning. As funeral arrangements are pending for Congresswoman Julia Carson, Marion County Democrats are still as one operative put it, “in a tailspin” over who should lead the party. Civil war anyone? Also Council Democrats are going to make one last effort to exert […]

As much as I like the Governor’s Commission on reforming local government, I do have one critique of the plan.  The commission suggests tinkering with Indiana’s school board and municipal elections.  It suggests moving school board elections to November.  Currently they occur during May primary.  And it suggests moving municipal elections from odd-numbered years to […]

You might recall how I equated the process to succeed outgoing Congresswoman Julia Carson to that of the queen passing and the subsequent royal family jockeying for position. Well if anyone tells you there is no positioning going on they are lying to your face. For right now it looks like for the major players […]

I got a news release Monday from the Indiana State Democratic Party criticizing Republican Mayor-elect Greg Ballard for signing on to the Governor’s property tax reduction plan. They say Ballard promised to pursue eliminating property taxes but changed his mind after getting elected into office. Now while this skews the facts a bit because Ballard […]

As the tug of war over the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department continues between Mayor-elect Greg Ballard and Sheriff Frank Anderson, there is another fight that is getting ready to flare up as well. There are rumblings in the African-American community that if the soon to be Republican-controlled City-County Council takes IMPD from Anderson and gives […]