I can’t say I was surprised to find out 7th Congressional District Congresswoman Julia Carson was terminally ill with lung cancer. I knew there was something going on; her staff would never be candid with the press, a last minute radio interview before the election, former Congressman Andy Jacobs giving an “endorsement” to her grandson and City-County Council Member Andre Carson. The list goes on.

Despite all that, like a lot of other people in this town, my heart goes out to the Congresswoman. I strongly believe her condition is a lot more serious than anyone thinks. As RTV 6 reported yesterday, Carson is in hospice care. When an individual goes into hospice care it is more for comfort at the end of life, rather than treatment. I’m not trying to be crass but I honestly don’t think Julia is long for this world.

And in the event she is not able to complete her term, the floodgates of candidates will open and everybody and his mother will go for the job. I recall Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson refer to Julia as “our queen” back in 2006. The only probably with the passing of the queen is that the Princes, Princesses, Dukes, Earl, Duchesses, Barons, Counts and Marquis all line up to consolidate power. Factions are created. Alliances formed. Marion County could be in for a political civil war the likes of which have never been seen. Pick your house, York or Lancaster.   This is not going to be pretty.

God save the Queen.

I’m going home tonight to Chicago to see family, friends and ex-girlfriends for the Thanksgiving break and will be back on Sunday.  So I wanted to take a few seconds and thank all of you guys for your support of all my media endeavors (WXNT, RTV 6, The Indianapolis Business Journal and of course Indiana Barrister) here in Indianapolis.

It’s not very often you get to do all the things you love and someone pays you a whole lot of money for it, so for that I am thankful.  I also want to take a few seconds to thank all the people in this town who hate me and are always looking for ways to to bust my chops.  It’s because of you I work hard to get my facts right and we can argue on the merits instead of on emotions.

I wish all of you (lovers and haters) a Happy Thanksgiving.

I got a news release Monday from the Indiana State Democratic Party criticizing Republican Mayor-elect Greg Ballard for signing on to the Governor’s property tax reduction plan.

They say Ballard promised to pursue eliminating property taxes but changed his mind after getting elected into office. Now while this skews the facts a bit because Ballard has said repeatedly that he believes in eliminating property taxes, but understands that is probably not going to happen in the current climate, so reducing them as much as possible is his goal.

More interesting though is the fact this news release came from the state party and not the local Democratic party. They should be the ones going after the local Republicans. The state should only have to focus on more “global” issues. But I guess after their performance in the last election and losing the Mayor’s office, the City-County Council, a soon to be very public civil war over a 7th Congressional seat, an absentee Sheriff who is about to lose power and is holding on desperately to keep it by any means necessary, and dealing with a racially divisive fight over who should be the next Council minority leader, they probably have their hands full so I can forgive them on this one.

Although Marion County voters just got done with one election, another could be right around the corner should 7th District Congresswoman Julia Carson not complete her term in office due to health reasons.

Unlike state or local races where if an incumbent doesn’t finish his or her term, their political party gets to fill the vacancy, with congressional offices a special election would be held and political parties would only get to choose their nominees. This would likely be done by a vote of 7th District precinct committeemen who would face each other in a runoff. So there is no guarantee that if an incumbent leaves, someone of their political persuasion would automatically get the spot.

So far the only declared mainstream challenger for the seat is Republican Representative Jon Elrod. Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman has also openly expressed interest running if Carson doesn’t. Former Congressman Andy Jacobs is endorsing City-County Council Member Andre Carson for the job. Andre is also the grandson of the incumbent and has not made his intentions public.

And speaking of “special” elections, my sources tell me City-County Council Democrats are deadlocked over who should be their minority leader. They are split (long racial lines) over whether the leader should be current Vice-president Joanne Sanders or Monroe Gray, the current Council President.

Nominating a possible successor to Julia Carson can be complicated with all the factors involved, but this one seems like a no-brainer to me.

Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman is making news this morning on a couple fronts.  Rodman says he will ask the Governor’s Office to allow taxpayers to pay their upcoming third property tax bill in installments.

Under state law, the Department of Local Government and Finance can allow residential property taxpayers to make payments in installments.  All that is required is that an ordinance be passed, which means the City-County Council can do the taxpayers some good for a change.

Rodman also told me this morning that if 7th District Congresswoman Julia Carson doesn’t run again, he will throw his hat into the ring.  He says he’s fought for taxpayers at the local level and would do so at the national level.  He also says Democrats did so poorly in the last election because they did not give citizens a reason to  come  out and vote for them.

As the tug of war over the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department continues between Mayor-elect Greg Ballard and Sheriff Frank Anderson, there is another fight that is getting ready to flare up as well.

There are rumblings in the African-American community that if the soon to be Republican-controlled City-County Council takes IMPD from Anderson and gives it to Ballard then it would be taking power away from the Black Sheriff and giving it to the white Mayor. So forces are gathering to begin the obligatory protests and letters to the editor, etc.

Before people get too worked up they may be overlooking one little detail. If Anderson has his way, power will already be transferred from the Black Sheriff. The Sheriff has already endorsed his right-hand man Kerry Forestall for the job when he runs in 2010. Forestall, by the way, is white.

So anyone who plans to protest or march on city hall to object to power being taken away from the first Black Sheriff and given to a white guy may want to stop by Anderson’s office on the way. This way they can avoid looking like total hypocrites and instead just silly protesters.

The talk is ramping up about whether outgoing City-County Council Democrats will try to tinker with the 65-percent increase in the County Option Income Tax.  In some recent  media interviews, Council Vice-President Joanne Sanders has said Republicans oppose the tax so the Council should look at either ending it or including a sunset provision.

Some of my Democratic friends must still be upset about their Election loss because they are forgetting that the law only allows for the tax to be voted on once per calender year, so they could not repeal it this year.    Also, after speaking to officials in the Statehouse, they could not vote to sunset the provision this year either.   The new Council could vote on the measure but they would have to do between March 31 and August 2.

How complicated is this to figure out?

Have you ever had a moment in your life that was so surreal that you couldn’t believe it was happening? I did today. I learned the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was going to come to my downtown Indianapolis apartment with a search warrant and try to confiscate my computer.

I was surprised too. They reportedly wanted to know what my “connection” is with Indy Undercover. I think it’s something else which I’ll get to in a moment. Luckily, common sense has prevailed for now and someone decided catching real criminals would be a more important use of the taxpayers’ money.

I freely admit to reading Indy Undercover (the police blog) and I know some of the guys who do it. I’ll even admit it was my idea over lunch one day. I got tired of hearing them complain and told them to start a blog like everyone else in this town. It’s better for people to have a forum where they can complain than me having to listen to it. They’ve sent me items and I’ve returned the favor a time or two. That’s what I do as your friendly neighborhood arms dealer. I read the news but not the comment section because I don’t trust it.

I know the top brass hates Indy Undercover and some of them can’t stand me personally because of my criticism, but I never thought people would go this far. What I honestly think this is about is that for the past week I have been working on a story involving alleged child sexual abuse by a very prominent and wealthy local Democrat. I won’t mention the name but the Department of Child Services confirmed there is an open investigation and IMPD is looking into it also.

I like to think that no elected or appointed official would ever abuse their power, but I’ve been around long enough that I would not be surprised if the true purpose of the warrant would be to squelsh the publication of that story by confiscating my home computer.

I hope I’m wrong. But it also makes me wonder some other things. Have local law enforcement officials been monitoring my Internet usage, phone calls and engaging in other surveillance? And if it would be done to a very public and vocal person like me, what about your average citizen who doesn’t have a radio show, blog, newspaper column or television access?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a big supporter of law enforcement.  And if not for an unexpected venture into talk radio a few years ago, I would have probably been a county prosecutor back home.

I know there are bitter feelings about the last election and my role in it as a voice and forum for the voters, but it’s really sad if things have come to this.

For the first time in my life, I really do hope I’m wrong.

Marion County property taxpayers could get some relief from their third installment property tax bills scheduled to come out this Spring. Governor Mitch Daniels says he’s open to allowing taxpayers to make their third payment in installments.

In the wake of this summer’s property tax crisis, the Governor ordered a reassessment of property and froze bills at 2006 levels. Homeowners paid their Spring and Fall bills, however many have dreaded receiving the third reconciliation bill which will be the difference between 2006 and 2007 bills. The Governor said he was open to giving taxpayers whatever help necessary to pay their taxes.

House Democrats are expected to unveil a plan Monday that will address the reconciliation bills as well.

Any help would be welcome.  Marion County Treasurer Mike Rodman says he’s going to ask that the deadline be pushed back for next May’s property bills and the rebate check be applied to the reconciliation bills.  Because of the reassessment order, Rodman says taxpayers would have had to pay their reconciliation bill and their first 2008 installment before receiving a rebate check.

The Governor also said this morning he doesn’t think politics will get in the way of providing Hoosiers with permanent property tax relief. He said he expects the opposite to happen with all sides coming together to address the issue.

As we debate property taxes in Indiana, here are a few facts about local government.

There are 2,370 property-taxing units of government many of which overlap.

There is one unit of local government for every 2,600 Hoosiers.

Indiana has 92 counties.

Indiana has 1008 townships.

Indiana has 564 cites and towns.

Indiana has 293 school districts (quite a few of them have fewer than 1000 students).

Indiana has 240 library districts, 172 special districts and 65 conservancies (I have no idea what those are).

Indiana has more government per capita than the state of California that has nine times the people.

Maybe we are debating the wrong subject.