It was a busy day over at the Statehouse.
All that and it’s only week two. I’ll have some analysis tommorow. Off to go exercise and then cover city hall.
The last chapter of the most useless form of government in Indiana may be written this legislative session. Township government is getting it from both the left and the right and from both the Indiana House and Senate.
Several bills have been introduced that either eliminate township government altogether or put the question on the ballot.
SB 240 would move the functions of township government up to the County level. HB 1138 would allow townships to merge, thus reducing the number. HB 1181, introduced by long-time township supporter Bill Crawford, would eliminate township government by referendum. If that bill became law, I could probably be able to count in milliseconds the time it would take for township trustees to use government time, government money and people who get poor relief to start a campaign to save their own jobs. Legislation will also be introduced by Democrat Ed Delaney and Republican Jim Merritt to eliminate township government as well and transfer poor relief to the county level.
What I’ll be looking for is how township trustees and advisory board members try to justify their existence. A number of them called into an afternoon Indianapolis radio talk show to talk how important their jobs were. If their jobs were so important why were they on the phone talking about it instead of giving out poor relief? Frankly, their arguments sounded just like the former township assessors, and you remember how that turned out.
One line of defense they use is that if there should be consolidation then schools and excluded cities should be part of the equation. Frankly I have no problem consolidating the non teaching functions of schools (transportation, human resources, janitorial services) as well as the excluded cities as well. But knowing the traditional Hoosier mindset and it’s aberration when it comes to change, I’ll take whatever victory I can get.
I’ve noticed lately that some of the comments in my blog posts have nothing to do with the topic at hand, so I’ve made a command decision on how to deal with them.
For the time being, if I think the comment is completely irrelevant to the conversation I’m going to delete it.
Now before some of you start crying censorship, I’m going to direct you to another project we’ve had up here for a while. It’s called Indiana Discussion, the sister site to Indiana Barrister. You can go there and discuss Article XIII of the Indiana Constitution, whether Barry is a socialist, property tax repeal, conspiracy theories or whatever else floats your boat.
I truly believe in giving people a forum to discuss issues of the day, but there’s a time for everything and the time and place for that stuff will be Indiana Discussion.
Have at it.
You would think that one of the last places a person would find racial issues would be the Indianapolis Chapter of the Indiana Democratic African-American Caucus. That wasn’t the case on December 19th.
That was the day the group held elections for some tightly contested offices. Who ran and who won is not important, what matters is that some black members of the group used its by-laws to exclude white members from voting.
My sources tell me that according to the by-laws, only members can vote, and the rules have been interpreted that only African-Americans can be members. Whites can join the group, but only as associate members. Associate members had voted in the past on issues, however at the election meeting of officers, the white members were told they could not vote because of their associate status and had to leave the room. Of course there were some IDAAC members who wanted them to vote, but they were overruled.
All I can say about this is “wow”! Had the roles been reversed and whites had told blacks they couldn’t participate in an organization they were members of, all holy you-know-what would break loose. And in my opinion, it would be justified. The same goes for here.
I’m not one to tell any organization how to run its internal affairs, but for an African-American organization to deny someone the right to vote because of skin color, that’s beyond the pale (pardon the pun). If any group of people who should know better, it should be black folks.
I understand the historical roots of a lot of long-time black organizations and how membership traditionally was restricted to African-Americans, however in the 21st Century a lot of that has gone by the way side. And for an organization that pushes for African-Americans to have full-inclusion in the political process, you don’t score points engaging in the same tactics that made the creation of your group necessary.
Two wrongs never make it right, but they make great racism.
In my continuing efforts to present all points of view, I recently had three of my “liberal blogger” friends on the morning show. The guys from The Bilerico Project and Chris Warden of iPOPA. It was a fun discussion over state and local issues. We obviously disagreed, but it was a lively, spirited and respectful conversation.
What’s funny about all that is that after appearing on my show Chris received grief from some of his fellow Democrats for coming on my show and advocating their point of view! Here’s some of what he had to say…
… I’ve caught some grief from my own party for appearing on Abdul’s show. I’ve been called a turncoat, a sucker, and a few other unpleasant things. You see, Abdul Hakim-Shabazz is a Republican in name and Libertarian in spirit, which means we disagree on almost everything. Also, he’s run some stories on his blog and radio show that have been inaccurate and/or caused headaches for local Democrats. In fairness to Abdul’s Republican detractors, he’s irritated them almost as often.
The thought process among my kinsmen seems to be that Democrats should boycott Abdul because he doesn’t play nice and appearing on his show gives him legitimacy.
Luckily, Chris is a Democrat with a pair who will fight for what he believes in…
Sorry, but Worden genes don’t permit punking out for any reason, and the last time I checked, politics is a rhetorical contact sport.
Tuesday night at Congressman Andre Carson’s volunteer appreciation rally, he said, “Don’t let anyone silence you.” He was telling Democrats to not only speak out among the general public, but also within our party ranks. The Congressman knows that the courageous will say what needs to be said without regard to their own standing. That’s why I will follow his lead and shake off the haters.
But I would be lying if I didn’t say that the criticism for doing nothing but defending Democratic values walloped me psychologically because it made me question both the spines and abilities of some people in my own party.
You see, I’m a Democrat because I believe steadfastly that we get it right more times than not. And if you’re afraid to defend a position or go toe-to-toe with your political opponents just because you don’t have home field advantage, maybe it’s because you can’t. Sorry, but I’ll travel any distance, walk into any lion’s den, and suffer whatever arrows are slung my way for the chance to tell somebody why I’m proud to be a Democrat.
To my critics I ask, “Why won’t you?”
Because somebody hurt your feelings?
Maybe its time for my party to quit cowering when we don’t own the mic. That cowardice and “I’ll take my ball and go home” mentality is embarrassing. Amos Brown has burned many a Republican, and yet they still go on his show, don’t they?
Sorry, but you won’t find yellow here at iPOPA, only blue. If my party has the courage to live up to its ideals, every time I come off Abdul’s mic, people will know that on election nights 2010 and 2011, G.O.P. will mean “go out peacefully” in Marion County.
There are plenty of Democrats in Indiana at the local and state level that I like and have great relationships with. They represent their constituents well and are really sharp. We have philosophical differences but they wet their pants and cry like babies when challenged. But like I always say, if I were afraid to debate me on the issues, I’d try to boycott me too.
And Chris, thanks and you’re always welcome on my airwaves!
Indiana lawmakers moved another step closer Thursday to giving Hoosiers a chance to vote on putting property tax caps in the Constitution.
HJR-1 came up on second reading and three amendments were offered to the proposal, none of them passed.
Had one of the amendments passed, the entire process would have potentially had to start over from scratch. As any amendment to the Indiana Constitution cannot be altered when passed by subsequent sessions of the Legislature.
A full House vote could come as early as Monday. A full Senate vote could come later next week.
If, more like when, approved by both chambers, it will go before the voters in November.
*Once again, the blogmaster does not discuss property tax repeal because he has a life.
I’m dealing with weather today so this morning’s post is more of an open forum. Here are some topics for discussion.
Play nice.
Indianapolis Water officials told me this morning the problem with non-working hydrants are likely the result of them being opened and closed improperly.
Communications manager Paul Whitmore says when hydrants aren’t accessed and closed right it can result in drainage which can cause them to malfunction.
Fire destroyed three businesses on East Michigan Road Tuesday night. IFD crews had problems locating a working fire hydrant. Another fire destroyed a business on Shadeland.
Whitmore says they inspect each of the city’s 36,000 hydrants once a year. He also says more then 1,000 people are authorized to open hydrants.
Whitmore will join me on the air live tomorrow at 7:35 a.m. on Newstalk 1430, WXNT-AM.
If you’ve ever had any interaction with House Speaker Pat Bauer, you know it’s important to know when to read between the lines. Yesterday was one of those days.
The Speaker said local governments hadn’t made the case against implementing property tax caps. He pointed out that the locals have had a year or so to make their case and have failed to do so.
At best, the city of Muncie had to layoff firefighters, even though some that could have been avoided with a little government reform and consolidation.
By saying the locals have failed to make their case, I honestly believe the Speaker is quietly maneuvering his caucus towards a vote to pass property tax caps. Let’s face it, it’s something that is overwhelmingly politically popular and most citizens have little sympathy for government which they think take too much of their money anyway. As a neighbor told me the other day “if I have to cut back, why can’t the government?” I truly doubt the Speaker wants to publicly run against that sentiment.
Is the Speaker throwing the locals under the bus, maybe. But if the locals want to avoid property tax caps, they better do something real quick because they’ve probably only have a couple weeks at best before lawmakers vote to pass tax caps.
*Once again, I don’t discuss property tax repeal because it’s not going to happen.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard is entering the second half of his first term in office. And like any midterm it’s time for a grade. Overall, I give the Mayor a solid B. Listed below are some of the pluses and minuses…
Pluses
Minuses
As I said, overall the Mayor gets a “B”. While the administration has had some serious successes, their weaknesses have stifled some of their progress. Most of that stems from the fact the Mayor is not a political creature, but more of a “bricks and mortar” kind of guy. His big challenges will be how does he deal with the water company situation and how does he build his political organization and structure?
2010 should be pretty interesting.
