State Representative Jon Elrod officially announced his run for Congress today. Elrod narrowly defeated Democrat Ed Mahern in the 2006 election. Elrod says he wants to be an alternative for voters in the 7th District.

I honestly don’t think incumbent Julia Carson is going to run again based on her health, so while Republicans make early news, I’m more interested in which Democrats start lining up for the job as the odds favor them in Marion County.

My Marion County Democrat friends just can’t seem to grasp the concept that they lost the Election and are debating whether to tinker with the public safety tax.  Repealing the tax would be illegal because the law says it can only be voted on once in a calender year.  The new talk is amending the proposal so it can sunset.   That may still run against the law and intent of the legislature.  If they wanted to sunset the tax they should have done so when it was first passed. 

I am no big fan of the tax, but as bad as it was to pass it, it would be even more irresponsible for this Council in its last days to mess with it, especially if it won’t “man up” and make the appropriate spending cuts.

Better time would be spent by politicos rebuilding and reconnecting with an electorate that rejected them at the ballot box  and cleaning their own house as opposed to playing 11th hour games.

The Indiana Supreme Court this morning heard oral arguments in a case where the defendant claimed her January arrest by an IMPD officer was not valid because he was not sworn in when the department was created this year.

Chery Oddi-Smith was arrested for drunk driving back in January, but a Marion County Judge threw out her arrest in August saying the arresting officer had not been properly sworn into the new department.

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office argued on behalf of the city, saying the officers did not have to be re-sworn, because their arrest powers transferred with them to the new department. And in the alternative, even if they were not sworn in, they were defacto officers and their arrests were valid.

Oddi-Smith’s attorney Jim Voyles said the law requires officers be sworn in and therefore the arrest violated the Constitution.

Justices peppered both sides with questions, Justice Frank Sullivan drew an analogy to a corporate merger where the new company assumes all assets and liabilities and asked Boyles since he argued the arrest powers would not transfer, if any pending civil rights litigation against the former departments would transfer either?

Justice Robert Rucker wanted to know if any violation of an internal department general order would be grounds for dismissing an arrest.

Both sides did agree that this case would only impact about 100 defendants in the Marion County system, because any challenge made to an officer’s status would have had to been made at the pre-trial hearings and not after a conviction.

It is interesting to note that a number of IMPD homicide detectives took matters into their hands and went and got themselves re-sworn on their own accord out of fear of jeopardizing their cases.

The Supreme Court is expected to return a decision by Christmas.

Indiana lawmakers are unveiling proposals for property tax relief this afternoon.  The plans include the following:

1.  Provide permanent tax relief by cutting residential property taxes by up to 50%.

2.  Reduce growth in local spending, closing tax loopholes and restricting the  use of tax increment financing and abatements.

3.  Reforming the property assessment system with a taxpayer bill of rights and consolidating the township and county assessors into one office.

4.   Providing alternative sources of funding for tax relief by expanding the sales tax to include non-essential services and use local option income taxes to reduce property taxes.

This is only step two in a three step move to lower property taxes and consolidate government in Indiana.  Governor Mitch Daniels has already unveiled his plan for tax reform and the government reform commission headed by Former Governor Joe Kernan and Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard will present a reform plan before the end of the year.

There are a lot of little things to report from across town today so here they are:

State Senator Luke Kenley and his Property Tax Commission will unveil their plan for tax reform with a goal of cutting residential property taxes by 50-percent. Although Kenley is being tight-lipped about what they will unveil, he does tell me that to provide the tax relief, look for some tinkering with the sales tax and the local option income tax. My money is on an increase in both to provide the necessary relief and I would not be surprised to see a sales tax on services.

Speaking of taxes, there has been talk lately, and I’ve been one of them, of City-County Council Democrats repealing the 65-percent public safety tax as a way to throw a monkey wrench at the incoming Republican Majority. If the Democrats want to gum up the works, they’ll have to wait until next year because the law required the tax only be voted on once a calendar year. So nothing could happen this year, but they could introduce an ordinance next year.  I could see the tax being reduced to the amount necessary to pay for police and fire pensions, but that’s about it.

City-County Council Vice-President Joanne Sanders says she wants to be the new Minority Leader when the caucus makes the decision next year. She says her party should learn from the messages the voters sent this past election.

On the Republican side of things, the new leadership of Bob Cockrum did not come without a little jockeying and it did not involve the incoming President. Sources tell me things were getting to the point where some serious infighting was about to take place until incoming Majority Whip Ryan Vaughn took himself out of the running for Council President.

Mayor-elect Greg Ballard will finally get a chance to talk to the President of the United States today. George W. Bush will be in New Albany today and Ballard will be in the receiving line. He and the White House were unsuccessful in connecting when the Administration tried to call him and congratulate him on his victory.

Expect a decision later this week from State Representative Jon Elrod on whether he will run for Congress in the 7th Congressional District.  Elrod says he is looking at the potential support he would get for a Congressional run.  And he says voters are fed up with Washington partisanship and the “do nothing” Congress.  Incumbent Congresswoman Julia Carson has suffered health problems as of late and has not declared whether she will run for re-election.

And before I forget, what do tax protesters do now that they’ve declared victory at the City-County building, they turn their attention to schools. This ought to be fun.

There are two pieces of news today that could give some relief to taxpayers. State Senator Luke Kenley will announce recommendations tomorrow from the property tax commission that he says will cut property taxpayers bills in half and give renters a 25-percent break.

Also the Mayor’s office is announcing today that the city’s bond credit rating has been upgraded to AAA, which should make it easier for the city to borrow money and lower interest rates. The rating is based on the city addressing its outstanding pension issues.

I’ll bet a hundred bucks some people over at city hall wish this news would have broke last week and I don’t blame them.

In looking for someone to lead the City-County Council, Republicans have picked someone who was on the Council when they were last in the Majority.  Decatur Township’s Bob Cockrum will assume the mantle of Council President.   Newcomer Kent Smith will serve as Vice-President.  Lincoln Plowman will be Majority Leader and Ryan Vaughn will serve as Majority Whip.

The four were chosen last night and Republicans say they wanted to pick the leadership team as soon as possible because the voters expected action from them.  Crime and taxes will be their two main priorities.  They also plan to continue the ethics investigation of current President Monroe Gray.

They say when it comes to reducing the cost of government, everything is on the table.  And they plan to move the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department under the Mayor.  IMPD is currently under the Sheriff.

They also plan to improve communication with their Democratic counterparts on the Council.

I told you there was a “Civil War” getting ready to brew in the Marion County Democratic party.  The first battle will occur at the City-County Council over the position of Minority Leader.  City-County Council President Monroe Gray is not accepting any responsibility  for the Election Day defeat his party suffered and will try to hold onto his position.  The likely challenger will be current Council Vice-President Joanne Sanders.  If Democrats vote along racial lines, Gray will win because there are more African-American Democrats than white.  However the definition of insanity has been to do the same thing over again and expect a different result.  And if the Democrats re-elect Monroe Gray to leadership position after this election, they have definitely lost their minds.

No, you haven’t logged on to the wrong blog.  This is still Indiana Barrister, the premiere blog in Central Indiana for news and perspective.  We just switched to a new format to make it easier on you and ourselves.  We think you’ll like it.

You guys have no idea about how long I have been waiting to write that headline with exclamation points. With respect to last week’s local election results that swept Republicans in Indianapolis into the Mayor’s office and control of the City-County Council, I figured if one party lost either slot there would be infighting and soul searching taking place. But with the GOP in, and Democrats out, a war is about to break out that will make the War of the Roses seem more like the Rose Bowl parade.

Here’s why, many white Democrats are mad at elected officials like Monroe Gray because he became the face of the party through advertising and voter angst and his own actions which motivated a lot of Republicans and independent voters to come out; on top of the taxes. Secondly, there is talk Black Democrats on the Council will try to nominate Monroe Gray as minority leader over current Vice-President Joanne Sanders. Arguing Gray was unfairly attacked in the media and their loss was not his fault.

Now to add insult to injury, with Democrats losing the Mayor’s office, it is very unlikely Congresswoman Julia Carson will run again because of health reasons so there is no leader for Democrats to rally around. And to add another intricacy to this puzzle, although some Blacks are publicly complaining that Mayor-elect Greg Ballard is trying to take control of IMPD from Sheriff Frank Anderson, they are privately upset that Anderson has handpicked Kerry Forestal, his top deputy who is also white, to take his place when he steps down in 2010. They are mad that they are going out on a limb to keep IMPD under the control of a Black Sheriff so he can just turn it around and give it to a white guy.

Look for these Democrats to rally around another Black candidate to take on Forestall in the primary; that Democrat will likely be Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer. Drummer has strong ties in Center Township which is crucial for any Democratic victory in Marion County, and being Julia’s favorite doesn’t hurt either. Of course no one will admit any of this publicly. It would be the equivalent of fighting over granny’s silverware and she’s not even in the grave yet.

But trust me, these discussions are taking place and a battle is brewing. I hope you love the smell of napalm in the morning, because there’s a lot of it coming.