Now that Jon Elrod has dropped out of the race for the 7th Congressional District, there is a question as to who (if anybody) will step up to run in his place. A replacement would have to be chosen by GOP precinct committeemen in the District.

I’ll let you guys play the name game, but I’m waiting to see if any of the people who have been complaining about the current Marion County GOP leadership and plotting “a revolution” will step up to the plate and run.

These are the same people who spend all day in the blogosphere and in small circles complaining that the County party doesn’t know how to run against Andre Carson. Well boys and girls, here’s your chance.

Start calling precinct committeemen, win your party’s nomination, run the campaign you’ve always wanted, lose 53-47 percent and then come back and tell me how it feels.

By the way, with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket you might lose by an even bigger margin.

I’ll even give you the blog space to write about the experience. Any takers?

Republican Jon Elrod is abandoning his race for Congress and instead focusing on the 97th House District. Elrod told me he was at a crossroads and weighed where the voters were and where he could do the most good. He said it was better to focus on a hard-fought return to the statehouse rather than go for a long-shot bid for Congress.

The decision may have also been influenced by the fact that in the March 11 special election, Elrod actually beat Democrat Andre Carson by several hundred votes, even though Carson won by a comfortable margin in the total district.

Elrod would have to be put on the ballot by the County party.

He faces a challenge from Democrat Mary Ann Sullivan.

IMPD and city officials say expect some changes in the way the department does some of its business in the wake of the arrests and subsequent indictments of three IMPD officers from allegedly engaging in a conspiracy to engage in drug trafficking and conspiracy.

Officers Robert Long, Jason Edwards and James Davis along with Kabec Higgins, a civilian, are charged with marijuana trafficking, possession of a firearm, executing a bogus search warrant, just to name a few.

According to the Justice Department’s complaint the Officers allegedly intercepted marijuana shipments and distributed it on the street.

The FBI was tipped off by other IMPD officers.

IMPD Chief Mike Spears says the officers violated the trust of the public and the department.

In addition, Spears says the department will look into making changes such as implementing random polygraph tests for officers working in narcotics. Prior to the merger, IPD did use polygraphs however the Sheriff’s Department did not.

A decision was made three months prior to consolidation to discontinuing polygraph tests for officers in narcotics.

FOP 86 President Bill Owensby says the union tends to oppose polygraphs because they are not admissible in court and they are not reliable. However, Owensby says the union is willing to work with IMPD on the issue to make sure any questions that are asked are phrased properly.

Spears says IMPD may also look at tightening up controls on evidence gathering.

Although this news puts a black eye on law enforcement in Indianapolis, it also shows the fact that it was officers who helped report the wrongdoing of their colleagues and “crossed the blue line” to turn in wrongdoers.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for an incident like this to harm the reputation of hundreds of men and women who put their lives on the line everyday for the rest of us, because it feeds into the worst charges that are levied against officers by those who have no love or respect for the law.

And while I firmly believe everyone is innocent until proven guilty, if these guys are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, they shouldn’t see the light of day for a very long time.

It’s official.   Democratic Candidate for Governor Jill Long Thompson named State Rep. Dennie Oxley of English as her running mate for Lt. Governor.  Although the two disagree on social issues (abortion, gay marriage) they say they united on economic issues and the need to turn Indiana around. 

When questioned about their differences, Thompson said the two represent the diversity of the Democratic party.   In addition, when asked if he could point to any economic development projects he was specifically responsible for, Oxley told the media that as majority whip in the House his fingerprints are on any legislation that created jobs in Indiana.   The two also said that education was also an economic development tool.

Thompson told us that she could not remember the number of people she spoke to about being her Lt. Governor, but Oxley was the only one she offered the job to.

As I’ve said before, Thompson-Oxley is an interesting combination, but I do wonder how JLT will be able to effectively attack any legislation signed by the Governor over the past two years if her running mate’s “fingerprints” are on it.

You should have received your property tax reconcialtion bill by now.   So my first question for you is what’s the damage?  And my second question is are you getting your money’s worth?

Jill Long Thompson is expected to announce tomorrow that she is picking Southern Indiana State Representative Dennie Oxley of English as her running mate for Lt. Governor. Now while no one thinks a Lt. Gov will make or break a candidate, I do wonder how Oxley’s candidacy will impact JLT’s? I don’t say that because of where he is from, but from looking at statements from the two. I wonder if they are on the same page on some issues and I’m not talking about regional or cultural issues, but the stuff that matters.

Property Taxes

For example, JLT has been very critical of Governor Mitch Daniels and the property tax relief plan that made its way through the Indiana General Assembly. In February, she released a press statement calling the Governor’s plan “nothing more than a well-orchestrated shell game designed to shift the blame and the burden of collecting taxes to local government.”

Juxtapose that with a statement from Oxley in a April 22 interview with the Corydon Democrat Newspaper, “We took a huge step forward this session addressing property taxes by passing a sweeping, bi-partisan bill which provides $900 million of property tax relief. As a result, homeowners will see significant reductions in their bills.” Who’s correct? You make the call, but take a look at these two other areas, health care and job creation.

Health Care

JLT has also been critical of the Daniels administration on the issue of health care, however if you go to Oxley’s website he talks about bipartisan work on “[the] approval of a landmark program that provides coverage to thousands of Hoosiers who were without health care.”

Job Creation

JLT had some tough words for the Governor in a March 7 interview with the Chesterton Tribune saying, she would, “would move away from the Daniels’ administration’s approach to economic development, which she ripped as one that “rewards companies for bringing in low-paying, dead-end jobs that don’t offer benefits.” Oxley on the other hand said, ” One very significant thing that we have already done was create the Indiana Economic Development Corp., which works with local economic development officials.” He later went on to say “The state is doing some things right, but I have concerns that the economic development success stories are not evenly spread throughout Indiana.” I read this to say Oxley likes what the Governor has done and would like to see more of in Southern Indiana.

This isn’t to say the two won’t well together and Oxley won’t be a good match up. What I think it does do is highlight serious divisions between the two which they should address publicly on how they’ve managed to reconcile them. If they don’t, I can just imagine what the next set of Daniels’ campaign commercials are going to look like.

As different as Marion County Republicans and Democrats are, they face a lot of the same internal issues these days.  It’s like two families that aren’t crazy about each other, but their own in-fighting keeps them from effectively going after the other party.

For example, Marion County Republicans are still dealing with divisions from the State Convention and the race for Attorney General.  I hear some Republicans want to run a challenger against Chairman Tom John in 2009.  If the GOP is smart, they will all go into a back room and work out whatever issues they need to and get over themselves. John has reached out to some of the disaffected party members, but there is still a lot more healing to do.  It also can’t help the party that Perry Township Constable Roy Houchins was indicted on corruption charges.  2007 was a unique election unto itself and future local elections may not be so kind to the GOP.

Things don’t look all that great on the Democratic side, either.  I told you about the botched coup to replace Joanne Sanders as minority leader.  And now the quest to take back the Mayor’s office may add new divisions.  I already mentioned Melina Kennedy is laying ground work for the job, the other two contenders are former Deputy Mayor and current Marion County Democratic Chairman Mike O’Connor and Woody Myers.   O’Connor, while bright, would still be tied to the former administration and Dr. Myers may have a residency issue to deal with.  To be Mayor you have to have residency for five years.   What is also hurting the Democrats is that they have no real leader or unifying force for now. Right now the only thing holding them together is their dislike of the Mayor and the Republican controlled council.  They’re going to need more than that.

Wow!

If you haven’t heard already, Tim Russert of Meet the Press died today of a heart attack. There are very few people I admired in this business at the national level, Russert was one of them. I respected the fact he was an attorney who went into politics and later news analysis.

If I could be half as successful and respected one day as him, I will consider myself fortuante.

Thank you, Mr. Russert for keeping integrity in this profession.

And for the record, there is something wrong in this world when Tim Russert is dead and R. Kelly is acquitted of child molestation.

The word is Jill Long Thompson has chosen Southern Indiana Democrat  State Rep. Dennie Oxley (D-English) as her running mate for Lite Gov.  I called Oxley last week to confirm this, but my call didn’t get returned.  He and I have a good working relationship and he is very personable.  I just wonder what took JLT so long.