A proposal that would change the way a new fire chief would be appointed to head the Indianapolis Fire Department is heading back to the drawing board.

The proposal  has gone through a number of drafts and the Mayor’s Office and Fire Fighter’s Union can’t seem to get on the same page.  It was up for a vote at tonight’s City-County Council meeting, but it will be pulled and sent back to committee.

The Mayor’s Office wants the option to hire a new chief from outside IFD while the Union says the new chief should come from within the ranks.   Under current city code, the new chief must come from within the Department. 

This seems to me like an issue that has the potential to get out of control real soon and make a lot of people look silly.  I think it’s in the best interest of all parties involved to get their acts together real soon.

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 first started with the argument that Greg Ballard was trying to take away control of the police department from the Sheriff because Republicans did not want a Black man running IMPD. However the people who were promoting this theory “forgot” that Frank Anderson had already endorsed the very white Kerry Forestall for the position when Anderson steps down. So since that line of attack didn’t work, two new bogus arguments are being circulated.

The first is in regards to the number of promotions of Blacks in the police department. There were no promotions of Blacks to Sargent in the last round so some are throwing the racist charge again, little do they know, or publicly acknowledge that there were Blacks promoted in the previous round, and some over whites who were much higher on the promotions list and IMPD was playing catch-up. For example some individuals who were ranked in the 30s on the list were promoted over officers who were in the top 10. It’s one thing to take an officer who is a tenth of a percent lower on a test score over another, because statistically there is no difference, however to pull someone from who is clearly ranked lower than another does no one any good, especially the officer who should not have received the promotion.

The second argument, and in my opinion the more egregious, is that incidents of police brutality and excessive force against African-Americans are on the rise since Ballard took over IMPD. There is no evidence to support this nonsense, however not only is it being promoted in the Black community, my very reliable and trusted sources point to one of the authors of this rumor as Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson himself. Anderson, my sources say, is still upset over losing control of IMPD and has been pushing the idea to members of the Concerned Clergy, a group of African-American pastors.

This is the same group where City-County Councilor Bill Oliver insinuated that Ballard and his administration were racist for not attending the annual Indianapolis NAACP dinner. The Mayor did not let that charge go unchallenged and a very heated discussion ensued.

I would like to think that all these examples are isolated incidents and just part of life in big city politics, but I don’t buy that for a second. My instinct tells me this is all part of an organized effort to take back the Mayor’s office in 2011. Remember, Ballard won in part because large contingents of Blacks stayed home. And one way to get those voters out is to play the race card and play it early and often. Despite all the evidence to the contrary that Ballard is a racist; his high-level appointments of women and minorities, his frequent visits to all communities and neighborhoods in the city, and the fact his wife is from the Philippines, just to name a few.

If there is going to be a referendum on the Ballard administration at least have the decency to do it on his record. There will be plenty of missteps and plenty of opportunities to go after the man on legitimate issues of public policy. If the race card is all you have, expected your bluff to be called every time you play the hand.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is on his way to meet with members of the Indiana National Guard in Iraq today.  Daniels is slated to meet with the 76th Infantry Brigade Team.

I’ve picked up some good gossip lately. Here it is. Take it for what it’s worth.

Is former Deputy Mayor and Marion County Prosecutor candidate Melina Kennedy gearing up for a Mayoral run in 2011? Maybe. Her old boss, Bart Peterson is having a party at the Broadmoor Country club and invited all of his old staff, except the ones who still work for city hall. Some say it’s more than a friendly get together.

Joanne Sanders, the Democratic Leader on the City-County Council may want to watch her back. Rumor has it that she supported David Orenlichter in the primary and now some of the Black Democrats on the Council think she should step down as leader because she did not support Andre Carson.

And speaking of Councils and Mayors, word is Council member Bill Oliver tried to “punk out” the Mayor at a recent meeting of the concerned clergy, calling Ballard everything but a flat out racist. Ballard apparently had enough and gave Oliver a verbal “pimp slapping” at that gathering. I wish someone had been rolling tape on that one.

FYI, the city should know Tuesday if it’s getting the 2012 Super Bowl.

The controversy between the Jill Long Thompson campaign and the UAW may not be over quite yet. The UAW filed a complaint against Thompson’s campaign over money spent on television advertising. The Election Commission says it can’t look at the complaint until the end of the reporting period which is July 15.

By the way, JLT has a new friend in former Congressional candidate Dr. Woody Myers. He recently wrote her a check for $20,000.

And for those of you who thought all the action was in Democratic circles these days, the Republican race for Attorney General Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas and challenger AG Chief of Staff Greg Zoeller is stepping up. I’m hearing that while Costas is the Governor’s choice, Zoeller has been working hard to get the votes of the delegates to be the nominee. I think this race will eventually got to Costas, but it will be closer than anyone thinks.

And someone needs to tell Marion County Sheriff candidate Kerry Forestall that the next time you have a political fund raiser at Bubba’s on East Washington that officers should leave their squad cars at home. It’s never nice to mix government and politics, especially where they can be easily seen from the parking lot.

And congratulations to my good friend Leslie Hiner. She is leaving her position as Chief of Staff for House Republicans to take a position with the Friedman Foundation; the school choice people.

That’s all folks.

The California State Supreme Court ruled today that state laws banning same-sex marriage violate its Constitution.  Before you say the Court is ruled by judicial activists, please note it was a majority Republican-appointed Justices who made the decision.  Second, go read the opinion.  Third, to date no one has given me a practical, real-world reason why same-sex marriage should be illegal.  And for the record, unless I screw things up, there is a very solid chance my girlfriend an I will tie the knot someday.  I have yet to see how my next door neighbors getting married will harm that.

Indiana Democrats say despite the divisive gubernatorial primary, they are united in their quest to win in November.   Nominee Jill Long Thompson stood with her fellow Democrats at the State Capitol saying they will work together to beat Mitch Daniels in November.

State Chairman Dan Parker said the 1.1 million voters who picked Democratic ballots (Republicans and Operation Chaos not withstanding)  shows their party is sending a united message.

Gubernatorial nominee Jill Long Thompson reiterated her priorities to rebuild the state’s economy, reform the tax code, provide health insurance for all Hoosiers and stop the Governor’s “obsession with privatization.”

Despite the unified message, the UAW, a key Democratic constituent, put out a letter calling for the State Election Commission to follow up on a complaint regarding Thompson’s campaign and how she paid for television ads in the last days.  Thompson staffers played down the complaint saying it had been addressed by the Commission and there was no wrongdoing.

However, the fact that the UAW  would even file a complaint shows that there are still some deep divisions in the party that will have to be healed.  And no, Jim Schellinger was not there.  He was in Florida. 

The National GOP has got to be sweating like a bunch girl scouts at R. Kelly’s house.  Republicans suffered a major defeat in a special election in Mississippi.  Democrat Travis Childers beat Republican incumbent 54-46. 

The special election was to fill the seat of former Rep. Roger Wicker who was appointed to to fill the vacancy left by Trent Lott.  President Bush won the district in 2004 by 62 percent.   This was a classic race, heavy GOP spending, appearances by Dick Cheney, recorded messages by the President, Laura Bush and John McCain, as well as GOP attempts to tie Childers to Barack Obama.  None of it flew.  Childers won by adopting the simple adage that “all politics is local” and he kept it that way.

Republicans have a shot at getting the seat back in November, but party divisions may hamper those efforts. 

Republicans have lost in special elections in “safe” districts in Illinois and Louisiana.  If something like this can happen in Republican rural Mississippi, just imagine what could take place here in Indiana. 

My friends on the second floor of 47  South Meridian probably are. 

My good friend Thomas Cook over at Blue Indiana is taking issue with Governor Mitch Daniels’ latest ad.  In it, Daniels says he balanced the budget without raising taxes.  Cook argues Daniels did raise taxes in the form of the sales tax, cigarette tax and increases in property taxes.

Since a lot of us are still recovering from last week, I’m willing to give the recent IU grad (congrats by the way, Thom)  a pass on this one.  However, allow me to set a couple things straight.

Daniels’ claim is that he balanced THE STATE’S budget without a tax increase, which is accurate.  The Governor did not raise state taxes.  His administration held the line on spending.   Daniels’ opponents argue that he did that by balancing the state’s budget on the back of local governments by holding back property tax replacement revenue which led to the massive increase in last summer’s tax bills.  Actually that was only part of it, fundamentally what led to the increase in tax bills was the assessments and local government spending, which is where 99 percent of your property taxes go anyway.  And that sales tax increase was to help pay for property tax relief and the state’s assumption of a number of levies such as child welfare and police pensions.

The increase in the cigarette tax was part of a bi-partisan effort to provide health care to uninsured Hoosiers; something that has been a corner stone for my Democratic friends.

I do think the 2008 Governor’s race is going to a referendum on Daniels; as most re-election bids are.  And I think the Daniels’ folks should be worried about a year where change is the big theme and Democrats are expected to come out in droves. 

I also think Jill Long Thompson comes in with about 40-percent of the general electorate, but she os going to have to convince 11 extra percent that this state is going in the wrong direction.   And by the way, the race for the Governor’s office is going to be won or lost in Southern Indiana (Jill did well up north, Mitch is strong in central Indiana).

Either way, it’s going to be fun to watch.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels formally threw his support behind Valparasio Mayor Jon Costas for Attorney General.  In a letter dated May 11 to state Republicans Daniels called Costas a “proven vote-getter” and “progressive leader.”

More importantly, Costas is not from Indianapolis like his opponent, Greg Zoeller.  Although Zoeller is a Southern Indiana native, he is currently chief of staff for the current AG, Steve Carter and can be hit with the “Indianapolis” label.  In his letter Daniels said he shares concerns by many in the GOP that there should be geographical balance on the ticket and 75-percent of the state ticket should not come from the same part of Indiana.

The nominee to replace outgoing AG Steve Carter will be chosen at the State Republican convention on June 2.

When I saw this Mitch Daniels campaign ad, I couldn’t help but think of a movie preview.  I guess the next question is would a second Daniels term be an  Iron Man or Speed Racer?