There’s word on the street that some of the local activists folk may show up at the Mayor’s Community Luau this Saturday (1-4 p.m. at the IMS Pavilion ) and cause a stir. 

Apparently they have some issues with the administration and who it uses to lobby and they think the “People’s Mayor” has forgotten the people.

This is America and everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t know if raising a big stink at a charitable event meant to get food to the hungry and raise money geared towards underprivileged kids is the best way to express your grievances with your government.

You’ll probably get attention, but not the kind you’re looking for.

The new report is out on the Mayor-Sponsored Charter Schools in Indianapolis.  Here are the findings…

1. 94 percent of the 2007-2008 Mayor-sponsored Charter high schools are now enrolled in either two or 4-year colleges.
2. Students who usually come to a Mayor-sponsored charter school are academically behind their traditional public school counterparts.
3. Mayor-sponsored charter schools are 7 percent of the schools in the city, but 30 percent of the most improved schools in the city.
4. In terms of increased ISTEP pass rates, a Mayor-sponsored charter school has been the most improved in the city for the past three years.
5. The average improvement in Mayor-sponsored ISTEP+ test scores was 5.8 points, compared to 0.6 statewide and 0.2 points in Indianapolis.
6. 87 percent of Charter school parents say they are satisfied overall with their child’s education.
7. A majority of teachers in Mayor-sponsored charter schools say they felt supported and worked well with their colleagues.
8. Enrollment in Mayor-sponsored charter schools increased 17 percent from the 2007-2008 school year to the 2008-2009 school year.
9. More than 700 students were waiting to get into a Mayor-sponsored charter schools for the 2008-2009 school year.
10. As a whole, Mayor-sponsored charter schools either exceed or matched their state or national peers in academic performance.
11. Seventy-six percent of the population of Mayor-sponsored charter schools is minorities and 72-percent qualify for free and reduced lunch.

And there should be a moratorium on charter schools?  Whatever!

I’ve been glancing through the Mayor’s campaign finance reports this evening.

For the 2008 cycle, an off-season for municipal elections, incumbent Greg Ballard raised more than $835,000 and had more than $530,000 in the bank by the end of the year.

A Ballard campaign official says they exceeded their expectations for the year seeing how the Governor and other Republicans were also raising money and they did not want to infringe on those efforts.

Some of the Mayor’s biggest contributions came from…

• Eli Lilly – $25,000
• Bose McKinney & Evans – $25,000
• Baker & Daniels – $25,000
• Keystone Construction – $28,000

Barnes & Thornburg, the bane of some local Internet bloggers and conspiracy theorists, only gave $12,000 to the Mayor’s campaign in 2008.

There’s more evidence that Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson is planning a run for Mayor in 2011.

Anderson’s political action committee, Citizens of Frank J. Anderson, had a political fundraiser last night at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Indianapolis.

It was $100 a person and about 50 people attended.

I’m still working to confirm that many of the attendees were Sheriff’s Department employees who were not happy to be there, but felt compelled.  It would not surprise me as morale at MCSD is extremely low these days.

Anderson joins a growing list of potential Mayoral candidates which includes former Deputy Mayor Melina Kennedy, former Secretary of State Joe Hogsett, former State Health Commissioner Dr. Woody Myers and local businessman Brian Williams.

My thoughts on this Inauguration Day are real simple.

1. For Black folks, there is now a new age of accountability!  The last thing I want to hear is how some white person kept you down.  
2. For the young “brothas”, pull those pants up, turn that hat around and get a job or an education!
3. For the national GOP, you better learn how to relate to minorities otherwise you will be the minority party for quite a while.
4. For my Democratic friends, remember, the worst thing about getting drunk on power is the hangover the next day.
5. For all those who came before me and did a lot of heavy lifting, thanks.
6. For Obama, don’t screw this up.  I’d like to have your job someday.

It’s become a tradition for me to reprint this column I wrote back in 1996.  And with the new age of accountability that’s coming,  it seems to be even more relevant this year.

Recently I had a conversation with a black friend of mine and she told me something I found was a bit disturbing.   We were arguing over crime and how to deal with it when she told me, “Abdul, your attitude is typical of middle-class back folk.” I asked her to tell me what that meant. She then went on to say as middle-class blacks tend to move up the socio-economic ladder, they forget their origins, and treat poor blacks the same way whites do. I have to say I was a bit taken back by all this, because I was being attacked for my status in life which I had no control over. So I told her that she really needed to get grip and maybe the weave in her head was too tight and slowing the flow of oxygen to her brain.

I for one find it rather annoying that I’m accused of being insensitive just because I have a low tolerance level for crime, welfare, and people reproducing who shouldn’t.   And I’m not saying these problems are exclusive to poor black neighborhoods so get that attitude out of your head right now. What I am saying is that attitudes of individual responsibility, self-reliance, and hard work are not the exclusive property of white folks.

Why should I send my children to horrible schools and stay in crime-ridden neighborhoods? What possible point could there be to prove? That I’m a well-to-do idiot? I don’t think so. I’m sure there would be some thrill in moving my furniture in my house in the middle of the night so no one will see and steal it later that day while I’m out working. Many middle-class blacks feel a sense of guilt at having made a measure of success for themselves while seeing the fellow “brothers and sisters” left behind. The logic being older middle-class blacks can remember when they were shut out of the “mainstream” by whites and don’t want to return the favor.

I for one have no such guilt because there’s a big difference between closing the door on people because of race, which has nothing to do with behavior, and having serious concerns about people who haven’t learned how to honor the social contract, which does have a lot to do with behavior. This is not to say that poverty and bad behavior are soulmates; both my parents grew up poor in the rural south, however they didn’t hop in the horse and buggy and do drive-by shootings either. What I am saying is blacks who are doing well should not make excuses or feel responsible for those who don’t. I personally am shocked at stories I hear of people voting against their own interests (particularly economic) for the benefit of someone else, especially when the end result is counter-productive.

But I know what you’re saying, “Abdul, other ethnic groups work together why shouldn’t we?” I am not saying blacks shouldn’t work together. What I am saying is that if you’re in a balloon that’s going down, the first thing you do is get rid of the dead weight. I am all for helping people who want to better their situations, but the only way people will ever make any real achievement in this world is when individuals decide they want to take personal responsibility for their actions and take charge of their destiny.  And accommodating bad behavior is not the way to make that come about.

Thanks for indulging me. 

Truer words were never written.

You guys know that in addition to the broadcasting and politics, I teach college part-time.  I had something interesting happen this past week.

While in class Thursday and going over the course schedule, I had one student (a young African-American male) ask me if we had class on Inauguration Day?  I told him “yes, why wouldn’t we?”  He said because he thought since it was the day Barack Obama was getting sworn-in as President that class would cancelled so they could all go watch history.  I told him since we had class at three in the afternoon and the main Inaugural functions were at noon, he should probably be in class instead of at home.

After class we chatted, and I told him it would be one thing to take a few minutes during the middle of the day and watch history being made, it would be another thing to take the whole day off; when if you look at what Obama embodies it is that a good education can open limitless doors.  I also told him he will need as much education as he can get because with Obama just a few hours from being President, there is a new age of self-accountability coming (which I will elaborate on in Tuesday’s post) that may not be kind to Blacks on the lower socio-economic ladder.

My student got the point I was making and I told him as he left, while Tuesday marks the beginning of history you will need your education to not only fully appreciate, but to make some of your own 20 years down the road.

I’m planning to relax today with a couple good cigars, martinis and the future Mrs. Shabazz, so today’s gossip will be short and to the point.

Marion County Democratic Party Executive Director Adam Kirsch has been making the rounds lately speaking to township organizations.  The big questions the locals want to know is who’s running for sheriff, prosecutor and of course, Mayor.   Kirsch has been telling his audiences to be patient because the party will unveil its plans soon.  One thing Democrats are trying to come to terms with is that the Mayor is reportedly polling in the 70-percent approval range.

The City of Indianapolis was a recent presenter a national conference in D.C., on vacant and abandoned homes.   The Justice Department is looking at coordinating a national policy on abandoned homes and Indianapolis was one of the cities asked to contribute.

Newly sworn-in Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller will be attending the Presidential Inauguration ceremonies next week.  Zoeller, a Republican, called the ceremony one of the “greatest symbols of our democracy.”  This is his third Inauguration.  He attend Bush-Quayle in 1989 and Clinton-Gore in 1993.

Word on the street is that Wishard Hospital apparently has plans to build a new facility from the ground up.  The price tag,  $600-$700 million dollars.

Joanne Sanders beat back another coup attempt this past week to remove her from her position as Council Minority Leader.  This time it came from a couple members of the Democrat’s Black Caucus.

Tim Maguire was elected chairman of the Marion County Libertarian party.  Democrats re-organize on March 7th.  No word yet on when the GOP holds is county chair elections.

And Mayor Greg Ballard hold his second annual community Luau on Saturday January 24 from 1-4 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Pavilion.  It’s free but $5 donations are requested for either the Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis or the Salvation Army.   You can also bring a canned good for Gleaners Food Bank.

That’s all folks.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says based on the figures he’s seen, the state could possibly receive up to $3 billion from the federal stimulus package so there’s no need to dip into the state’s reserves to pay for education or other programs.

Daniels made the announcement during a news conference this morning.

The Governor said a breakdown of the plan shows Indiana getting $800 million for education, $750 million for roads and more than $1.75 billion dollars for Medicaid. The Governor cautioned though that any plan regarding the stimulus money should take into account the funding would only last for two years so it should be invested wisely.

He said Indiana was in better shape to use the stimulus dollars because unlike other states, Indiana would not have to spend much keeping existing programs afloat.

Democratic House Speaker was more pessimistic than the Governor saying Indiana should not wait on the federal government to come to its rescue, but instead use some of its own funds right now to create jobs.   He also said the Daniels administration should come to the table with more ideas.

Bauer also accused INDOT Secretary Karl Browning for having a chip on his shoulder following a very tense House Transportation and Roads Committee hearing Thursday where lawmakers voted to transfer money from state road projects to local ones.  Browning said the legislation would hurt the state and it would never see the light of day.   Bauer said Browning should have remembered he works for the taxpayers.

The Governor, defending Browning, said the bill would win the contest for the worst legislation ever proposed this session and if some lawmakers are going to dish out the criticism, they should also be able to take it.