There is talk tonight that City-County Councilor Dane Mahern may abstain from voting on the proposed smoking ban at Monday night’s meeting because a news story scheduled to break later this week that Mahern’s father, Ed, is a lobbyist for the tobacco industry and is holding Dane a fundraiser,  his vote might be tainted.

Dane reportedly opposes the smoking ban and his abstention would make it easier for proponents to win what will already be a close vote.  I think Dane should abstain from voting, but only if one of the chief sponsors of proposal 371 does the same.

According to campaign finance records, Angela Mansfield has taken at least $700 in contributions from anti-smoking advocates.  So if there is an impression that Dane maybe in the pocket of the tobacco lobby, surely Angela would not want the same impression and the last thing she would ever be guilty of is hypocrisy.

Hey guys, after being out of town for a few days, I’ve managed to get caught up on a few items here and there.  Some you are quite aware of, others maybe not so much.  As always, we are more than happy to print the gossip, rumor and blatant innuendo that we can confirm from two or more sources.  Enjoy.

• Marion County coffers may be in for a bit of sticker shock as more commercial property tax appeals move their way through the system.  The assessment on the M & I building reportedly went from $71 million (pre-appeal) to about $20 million (post-appeal).  A few more of these and local governments could be in for a rude awakening.
• Speaking of property taxes, Indiana lawmakers will take up putting property tax caps into the Constitution when the convene in January, however I’m hearing the opposition is not as much based on party lines as it is geographical ones.  Lawmakers from cities and suburbia are more like to vote for the caps, while those from rural areas tend to oppose them.  Stay tuned.
• For all the talk about the failures of modernizing FSSA, one thing I don’t hear is that even in Governor Mitch Daniels’ admission that the system didn’t work, the taxpayers saved $145 million.  If that’s failure, I’d hate to see success.  In addition, for anyone thinking this will translate into a political issue, I doubt it seriously.  I don’t see people who pay taxes getting too excited over the plight of those that generally don’t.
• Opponents of the Wishard referendum continue to make their case against the proposal.  However, as I was told following a presentation on Saturday at the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhoods, that although the opponents have raised some legitimate concerns, they haven’t done enough to move voters into the definite “no” column.
• The conspiracy theorists are at it again over the Capital Improvement Board’s news that it may not need to borrow $9 million from the state due to a better financial picture.  They say the CIB is just clearing the way to provide a bailout to the Indiana Pacers.   My conversations with sources close to the negotiation tell me there will be no wholesale bailout and the city will definitely get something in return for the taxpayers if any assistance is offered.
• Remember how I told you a while back that Eli Lilly may lose some of its tax abatements because it is laying off employees.   Well I’m hearing the same thing may be getting ready to happen over at Simon Corporate headquarters. Sources say the Simons layoff employees in such a way that it doesn’t have to report the figures to the state, however in the aggregate those numbers do add up.  Watch for this one folks.
• Fundraising in the 5th District looks pretty interesting.  Although incumbent Dan Burton raised $152,000 in the latest reporting period, his opponents raised a combined $221,000.   This once again proves my theory that unless someone gets out, Burton will likely stay in.
• Carlos May will announce tomorrow that he is running against incumbent Andre Carson in the 7th Congressional District.  May has a long community service resume, but what may make this one different are his deep ties in the Latino community, which is often overlooked in Marion County races.  While those ties may not be a total game changer, having a candidate who can speak the language, literally, of a key group of voters, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  Of course the GOP will have to keep the heated illegal immigration rhetoric down to a bare minimum.
• The political divisions continue to grow within the Indiana Democratic African-American Caucus over whether candidates who run against the slate should be banned from slating for the next six years.  At another weekend meeting the discussion got so heated State Rep. Bill Crawford stormed out of the meeting in disgust.  Crawford was apparently not pleased with Democrats using the same tactics in 2008 that were used trying to keep African-American political pioneers off the ballot in the 1970s.
• And speaking of race, I’m hearing Marion County Sheriff’s candidate John Layton may be playing the race card in his primary contest against Mark Brown.  I’m told Layton is accusing Brown of not only voting Republican, but only voting for Barack Obama because he is black.  Brown is also an African-American.

That’s all I’ve got for today.  By the way, this marks Indiana Barrister’s 2,000th post! Yeah!   So now is as good a time as any to personally thank all of you read IB on a daily basis.   By my last count we get anywhere from 1,100 – 1,700 unique visitors daily and if someone didn’t think we were a valuable resource, you wouldn’t come here from all over Indiana and quite a few parts outside the Hoosier state.  So thanks again.

By that way, this means it’s the perfect time to celebrate with cocktails and a cigar. But knowing me, everyday is a good day to celebrate with a cocktail and cigar.

I’m out of town today on business, but I figured I’d treat you folks to this wedding photo that I found while looking through about 1000 of them.  It’s something you’ve all probably wanted to do at one time.  My wife is the only one who can get away with it.

Allow me to chime in on the whole Rush Limbaugh/Rams controversy.  I know there are a lot of people who think Rush was booted from a joint bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams because he’s a conservative radio talk show host.

Sorry folks, but you’re not looking at the whole picture.

Rush was booted because he became was more trouble than he was worth.

The NFL is a business.  The goal of business is to make money and keep the hassle down to a bear minimum.  Now before we go down the road of the NFL has dog beaters and wife fighters, think about this.  As long as those players who behave badly keep making the teams money, the owners don’t care.

The problem with someone like Rush is that he has a very popular 3-hour a day radio program where he makes quite a good living saying controversial things.  Now imagine, if you will, Rush saying something on his radio show and his players being peppered with questions by the media about it on game day?  Or the other NFL owners being compelled to respond to everything he says?  Who really needs that hassle, honestly?

Were some people against Rush because he was conservative or they perceived him as racist?  Of course.  But at the end of the day this was a business decision.

And when you are bad for business, you need to go.

You probably figured out that we had some server issues yesterday.   Some of you tried to log on and got a message telling you that you didn’t have permission to access this page.

My good friend Kevin Hood who manages the technical aspects of this blog is working to get our problem solved.  So if it pops up again, be patient with us.

I tried to fix it myself, but the server pulled a HAL 2000 on me.  It was a pain to get back in that airlock.

I will say this, we have a bigger audience than I thought.  I got e-mails from people from all political parties letting me know the website was down.  Thanks for reading when this thing works.

The following was originally written by Jason Hammer.  Hammer is the host of “Sports Sunday” which airs Sunday nights from 5-8 on Newstalk 1430, WXNT-AM.

For arguments sake, let’s just ASSUME that Rush Limbaugh is actually serious about buying the St. Louis Rams and this is NOT a publicity stunt…Let’s just go with that…That being said, where are all those people who BEGGED and PLEADED for Michael Vick to get a “second” chance? Where are all the people who are happy that Ricky Williams is back doing well? Those people appeared to have went away and hidden while this whole Rush/Rams thing is taking place. Why have so many current owners who agreed to let a guy back into the NFL after he ran a 7 year felony that included dog fighting, gambling. and lying to the feds and commissioner so quick to toss out the notion that Rush wants to buy a team? These are questions that need to be answered.

On Tuesday, Colts Owner Jim Irsay stated that Rush would not get his vote to become an owner of the St. Louis Rams. Really? Is this the same Jim Irsay who battled pill addicition (just like Rush) a few years ago? Is this the same Jim Irsay who brought back Ed Johnson this past season after his off the field troubles? Is this the same Jim Irsay who stated that everyone needs a second chance? My question is, where is Rush’s?

If this whole Michael Vick escapade taught us anything, it’s that people LOVE to use the catch-phrase “Second Chance.” That’s all I heard was “everyone deserves a second chance.” Where is Rush Limbaugh’s? Last time I checked, this was the United States of America and if a guy has the money to buy something and the current owner wants to sell, what is the big deal?

In a league where there are convicted felons, wife beaters, drunk drivers and drug users, are you seriously telling me that a talk show host whose job is to make people shocked is the worst thing? Really?

Am I to believe that Rush is so bad and so much worse than those guys that he doesn’t deserve a “second chance?” Rush once made racially insensitive comments on television. T.O once made homophobic remarks about Jeff Garcia. Rush made racially insensitive comments, while Ray Lewis was involved in a murder scandal. Mike Vick, Donte Stallworth (who will be back next year), Chris Henry, Ricky Williams, Dominic Rhodes, etc…all have had MAJOR off the field issues that trump anything Rush has ever done.

Is it because Rush is a rich, white conservative? Is that why we don’t hear the outcry for “everyone deserves a second chance?” If Rush were black, would the same people who went out and bought Mike Vick #7 Eagles jerseys be calling into my show and others to support him? There appears to be a real double-standard here set by the NFL, fans and the hypocritical owners, ESPECIALLY the second chance loving, former pill popping Jim Irsay.

Just ask yourself what is worse for the league. Is it a guy who wants to buy a team and be part of rebuilding a winner in a great sports town like St. Louis? Or, is it allowing law breakers second and third chances to make millions of dollars and providing bad press for a team and their fanbase? What is worse? The NFL needs to follow their own lead and make “second chances” valid for all who are deserving, not just certain African Americans or certain Whites. This is going to get very racially interesting.

This has NOTHING to do with your political stance. If you like, hate or are indifferent about Rush, how can you look me in the eye and say Mike Vick belongs in the NFL and Rush doesn’t? The owners and Jim Irsay need to stop pretending they are holier than thou. They allowed Vick and others back with this whole “second chance” stuff, now they need to do the same for Rush.

A recent decision by Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy to exercise more control over the local slating process is creating an underground of inter-party resentment that could grow into a major battle based on racial lines.

As I told you before,  Treacy is creating rules that would ban anyone from running against the slate from being slated for six years and he would also ban any elected official from supporting a candidate who was not slated.

Now I’m all for political parties running their organizations as they see fit, after all, they are not democracies.  However Treacy’s decisions are creating a backlash that has a racial twinge to it.  Treacy was supposed to address the IDAAC, the Indiana Democratic African-American Caucus, this past Saturday and explain his actions, but he never showed.  However House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Crawford was there and was outraged when he found out about the new rule.

Things have also gotten so bad that a number of  Black Democrats are privately griping that the move is designed to keep non-status quo Blacks from running in the Marion County Democratic Party.    And many of them are threatening to take it out on candidates in the 2010 and 2011 elections.

What is also complicating matters is whether 7th District Congressman Andre Carson will support Melina Kennedy or an African-American for Mayor in 2011.  Once again, while the establishment Black Democrats are rallying around Kennedy,  there is growing sentiment in the Black community that if Carson doesn’t support a Black candidate there could be repercussions for him in a future election as well.

Now there is plenty of time for Democrats to get their act together and unite for 2010 and 2011, however it doesn’t help matters when your county chairman potentially alienates 45% of your base.

My good friend and occasional political counterpart Thomas Cook is opining about some recent recommended reading by Governor Mitch Daniels.  At the last meeting of the Education Roundtable, Daniels handed out a copy of “Real Education” by Charles Murray.

According to a review at  Amazon.com, the book stresses four major themes…

1. Children have different abilities.
2. Half of all children are below average.
3. Too many children go to college.
4. America’s future depends on the gifted.

Murray also states, according to Amazon,

“…there are only a limited number of academically gifted people and these are America’s future leaders, that only this elite can enjoy college productively and that the non-gifted shouldn’t be channeled by their high school counselors into training for that college chimera, which wouldn’t make them happy anyway”

My good friends on the left say this smacks of educational elitism.  I say it’s just telling the honest truth.   Let’s be frank, not everyone was made for a four year degree, but everyone needs post-secondary education.   I have taught too long and seen too many students that a traditional four-year education was not in the cards and they would better served going another route.

And another unpleasant truth is that some people (kids included) really are just plain stupid and nothing is going to change that so give them a broom and point them in the direction they need to go.  Now before the lot of you get your Calvin Klein boxer briefs in a bunch, really think about this.

The world has always been structured so that a handful of people really run the show. Think about any organization you belong to or have been a member of in the past. How many people really did all the work and how many people just showed up for fun?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but not everyone was put on this Earth to achieve, they were just put here.  And the scary part is in your heart, you know I’m right.

There’s nothing like a holiday named after a guy who was headed in the wrong direction, “discovered” a place (the Vikings got here first) where a bunch of people were already there which resulted in most of them ending up dead or displaced.  Why do we celebrate this day again?

The President is vowing to end restrictions on gays and lesbians serving in the military.  As  an army brat watching the military from my front row seat, barring service based on sexual orientation was one thing I never quite understood.

One thing I always appreciated about the military was the fact that it stood for the American ideal that the only discrimination that’s allowed should be based on ability, not race, religion or ethnicity.   Despite that, one of the big arguments against gays serving openly in the military was that homosexuality was incompatible with military service.  Tell that to the Israelis, the Dutch, the English, the Swiss and a dozens of other nations that don’t have such a ban and seem to function quite well.  And if my history serves me correct wasn’t Alexander the Great gay and he went on to conquer the known world?  Doesn’t seem like much of a compatibility issue there?

I would also think that in the age of the War on Terror, you wouldn’t have time to discriminate against someone over sexual orientation who can speak several Middle Eastern languages.

Now I know there is the school of thought that says allowing gays and lesbians to openly serve is disruptive.   But I would think that as long as people are doing their job and (pardon the stereotypes) not dressing up as Judy Garland while wearing a rainbow boa and doing the YMCA dance you wouldn’t have too much of an issue.   The same rules of the military conduct would apply to gays and lesbians as the would the rest of the corps.  And as long as individuals are doing their jobs and perform, what’s the big deal?

If America stands for equality and individuals achieving because of what they do, not who they do, then it’s time for the ban to go the way of segregation.