As the results come in I freely engage in some educated tea leaf reading.  From what I’ve been hearing so far with just a handful of places Jon Elrod appears to be doing relatively well.  Here are some from the East side of town (note these are all hand counts, you can get the Clerk’s votes here.) Of course this will be a long night and this can all change.  Feel free to e-mail us your hand count totals.

Warren 13 – Elrod 240, Carson 62; Warren 16 – Elrod 249, Carson 66; Warren 17 – Elrod 156, Carson 46.

I just got this update.  In Center Township Ward 2, Precinct 1 the Republicans have dispatched an attorney alledging election violations.  Election judges were wearing Andre Carson buttons and there was no seal on the ballot box for 10 of 12 hours the polls were open.  By the way, Ward 2, Precinct 1 is the home of infamous Internet blog poster, Wilson Allen.

I spent a good chunk of the day making calls and talking to politicos across town about today’s race and here is what I’m able to conclude; barring some total last minute blowout whomever wins it will probably be pretty close.

The Elrod camp tells me they’re doing well in places where they need to, while Democrats say things are going as expected for them.

There appears to be very heavy on the south side of the district as well as Speedway which is heavily Republican. Center Township was described lighter than usual for the morning crowd, but the key time to observe is between now and when the polls close at 6 p.m. because that is considered make or break time due to the heaviest turnout occurs during that time.

It could be close, folks.

A couple hours into voting and we’ve already had some bumps in the road.  About a half dozen precincts didn’t open on time this morning.   Clerk Beth White says some of the inspectors either overslept, had car problems or could not get into the building.  By 8 a.m. all but a couple had opened. 

My GOP sources also tell me that more Republicans than Democrats have been identified as taking absentee ballots. While that doesn’t automatically transfer into votes for Elrod or Carson, it does give Elrod a small boost in a District that is predominately Democratic.

I’ll have more throughout the day.

After a two weeks of taking it on the chin, Indiana’s township assessors are fighting back.  The assessors have been accused of making a $4 billion mistake in assessing the commercial and industrial property in Marion County.  However the assessors says the reassessment is wrong and will result in more commercial appeals and higher taxes for homeowners.

They argue the reassessment should have taken between 12 and 18 months but was only done in four.  They say exempt property such as hospitals and churches were included in the reassessment which led to artificially inflated assessments.  They also say apartments were improperly assessed.  In addition, the assessors argue agricultural property was assessed as commercial or industrial. 

The assessors say they been unfairly accused of making mistakes in the property tax assessments and the County assessors and state department of local government and finance also bears responsibility.  They argue the commercial and industrial reassessments are so fraught with mistakes that resulted in enormous property tax increases that it is likely that a vast majority of the commercial and industrial reassessments will be appealed which, if successful, will result in increases for residential taxpayers and potentially wipe out any reductions in their tax bills.

Indiana lawmakers will continue their negotiations today at the Statehouse over property taxes.  There’s no official word on any break throughs however the meetings are described as productive.  I’ll try to have more later today.

Today is the special election to replace the late Julia Carson in the 7th Congressional District.  If you live in the 7th and are registered to vote, take your ID, go to your polling place and vote.  If you don’t know where your polling place is call (317)327-VOTE.  If you don’t vote, shut up! 

This is the last week of the Indiana General Assembly and the only thing all sides in the property tax debate are saying is that they are still talking. I’m hearing rumblings that a breakthrough is being reached, but so far that is just rumblings.

The only “big” news this morning is that Republican State Senator Mike Delph and Democratic State Representative Vern Tincher say they’ve reached a compromise on an immigration reform bill and they hope that it will make into a conference committee report by the end of the week.

The bill would, among other things, restore language creating penalties for individuals who are found guilty of transporting, shielding from detection, concealing or harboring an illegal alien for commercial or financial gain; Allow public contracts to be terminated with contractors or sub-contractors who knowingly employ illegal immigrants; Require the Superintendent of Indiana State Police to enter into a memorandum of understanding for a pilot project for the training and enforcement of federal immigration and custom laws; Authorize the Indiana Attorney General to investigate a complaint that an employer knowingly employed an illegal immigrant and to initiate administrative proceedings against an employer who is employing illegal immigrants before an Administrative Law Judge; Change the time frame for second and third offense from five years to seven years.

Delph says these changes are necessary because Hoosiers want something done about illegal immigration, however the changes Delph wants may come with built in constitutional challenges.  First, only the federal government can make the determination as to who is an illegal immigrant, not the states.   The State Labor Department does not determine the legal status of employees.

Secondly, the legislation requires employers to use the E-verify program to determine employee status.  The problem with E-verify opponents say is that you are forced to waive your 4th Amendment search and seizure rights.  It’s one thing to waive your rights in a voluntary, contractual capacity, but it’s another to require an employer waive their rights.

Third, there are several types of businesses that are exempt from the legislation; some corporations, not-for-profit groups, public utilities and hospitals.  That could lead to some equal protection issues.

In addition bill supporters point to a recent Arizona court ruling pointing to similar law being upheld in that state, which is now before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.  However the federal courts in central Pennsylvania struck down a similar law.

The older I get the less use I have for the current K-12 public education system as it currently exists. I’m not talking about choice, vouchers and merit-based pay, which I am all for and would go a long way to fixing our education system, but my use for “educrats” gets smaller and smaller everyday.

I got a copy of a talking points memo, which the Superintendents of Marion County have been using to make their arguments against property tax reform, even though schools are anywhere from 24-75 percent of your property tax bill, depending on where you are in Indiana.

They oppose the circuit breaker, i.e. property tax caps because it would “harm school systems trying to educate children in districts with low assessed valuation.” Never mind giving homeowners predictability with their tax bills.

They also oppose the referendum requirement , saying the process would “cost too much and take too much time” to conduct a campaign and could only be done in May or November which means the designs and bidding would have to fit in that electoral time frame.

They are notorious silent on consolidating the upper management of school districts as pointed out in the Kernan-Shepard commission report.

Now I know none of this is new information; particularly as we go into what will hopefully be the last week of the General Assembly. However to have the audacity to actually write this stuff down in an e-mail, circulate it and tell other Superintendents to use it to fight against real, meaningful and permanent property tax reform and relief so average Hoosiers don’t have to worry about losing their homes, takes a hell of a lot of nerve.

I got a mailer yesterday from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee at my downtown place that had a rather interesting message on it; “Had Enough (of George W. Bush), Vote Carson.”  I seem to recall having seen the “Had Enough” message somewhere before.  Oh well, I guess since it’s good enough the other guy, because it worked, it’s good enough for the DCCC.