I’m starting out this piece by saying former Indianapolis Star columnist Rishawn Biddle and I have been friends for three years and we still are, nothing has changed. Biddle was fired from his job writing for the Star last week because of comments he made describing the antics and behavior of certain Black politicians in Indianapolis. Following his comments, the “community leadership” came out and went after him , as my grandmother would say, like “mad dogs after a raw piece of meat”. His bosses acted and let him go. That’s old news. What hasn’t been focused on in this entire controversy was the point Rishawn was trying to make, which I argue was lost in the posturing by the “community.”

The point Rishawn was trying to make was that the behavior of Black politicians as of late in Indianapolis has been quite embarrassing. The list is quite extensive, whether it was the mishandling of 300 East, the bar/restaurant in the Carson Center, City-Council President Monroe Gray whose name is synonymous with “pea shake”, State Representative Bill Crawford and his perpetual attacks on charter schools while defending a public education system in Indianapolis that is broken. City-County Council Member Ron Gibson who was charged with disorderly conduct, although the charges were dismissed. And City-Council attorney Aaron Haith, who now finds himself before the Indiana Supreme Court facing potential disbarment for alleged conflicts of interest. Need I say more?

Some Black politicians never ceased to amaze me. They engage in bad behavior and then have the audacity to hide behind the cloak of racism when they get caught, either with their pants down or with their hands in a cookie jar. If you don’t believe me, check out this week’s edition of the Indianapolis Recorder and you’ll see exactly what I mean. I would be more willing to buy this load of you-know-what if there weren’t dozens of other elected and appointed officials who for some reason unbeknownst to me manage to stay out of the pea shakes and pool halls and out of the papers as well. Despite my philosophical differences with Sheriff Frank Anderson, Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell, City-Councilors Paul Bateman, Sherron Franklin, County Auditor Billie Breaux or State Representative Carolene Mays these folks are all Democrats and somehow have managed to demonstrate to the public that they have some kind of home training.

When you are in the public light you need to conduct yourself accordingly. Behavior that might be acceptable in the hood is not acceptable where the only hoods people know are on the back of their jackets from Lands End. These elected officials have a duty to behave themselves and also engage in self-policing. When you don’t, expect the criticism.

I covered an anti-violence march at 35th and Illinois three weeks ago as neighbors protested the killings of three young black men within the past month. Gray had promised to be there but was nowhere to be found. Somehow I gather he is more punctual with his reported pea shake visits. But it is symbolic of the behavior that is wrong with a segment of Black leadership in this town. Look at the neighborhoods with the worst crime, abandoned homes and poverty and look at the leadership that is in charge. That should be more telling than anything else. If the Black community is going to elect leadership that looks to them on the theory that it will be more responsive to its needs, then the Black community needs to hold this leadership to a higher standard of behavior.

When I hear the sanctimonious, self-righteous and self-serving speeches from certain segments of Black leadership in this town, all I can think of is the “Balderman Davis” character from the old “Good Times” television show. It’s time for Black citizens of Indianapolis to say enough is enough. It’s time to elect people of character, not people who are characters.

I was at dinner last night downtown and while talking to some of my server friends, I asked them if people talk about taxes over dinner. They told me “yes.” They told me that the small talk usually consists of the Colts or Pacers or some quirky news story. Now it consists of taxes. Using a very unscientific survey they told me taxes are a big issue and one of out every three people talking taxes are really mad and plan to vote. Now that is unscientific, but anecdotally it is very telling of the anger that is seething in the electorate.

In less than 48 hours the voters of Marion County will go to the polls and decide the fate of this city for the next four years. I hope everyone goes to the polls and votes based on an informed decision with the appropriate mix of emotional attachment. Having been in politics in one form or another since 1992, I fully understand how the heart can be more of a guide than your head. As human beings we tend to not gravitate toward things we don’t like, food, music, mayoral candidates. I perfectly understand, but with so much at stake in this election all I ask you to do is think first. If you hate Bart Peterson, but know he’s the best choice for the city, then vote accordingly. If you love Republican Greg Ballard, but don’t think he’s up for the job, then vote accordingly and vice-versa.

One of the best things about my job is that I get to talk to a lot of people from across the city. And I have never been in a place where so many people are so mad about everything and are just waiting to take it out on someone. I disagree with my media colleagues who say the undecided voters will stay home. I argue the undecided will vote and will more likely take it out on the incumbents. All I ask those people to do is think first. And after thinking about it, if you reach the same conclusion, then throw the lot of them out with my blessing. Not so much for what they did, but for what you did, which was think for yourself.

I just got back from covering this morning’s Marion County Democratic rally at party headquarters in downtown Indianapolis. It’s always interesting to be in a place where you are arguably the most hated man in the room because of what you do for a living, and the even sadder part is that it’s people who look like you who hate you the most, but this is why I get paid the big bucks so I really can’t complain.

As far as rallies go, it was pretty typical. A crowd of 200-300 jammed the tent, although a good number were city-county employees. The music played and party chairman Mike O’Connor gave a very animated and lively speech. O’Connor was more intense than I’ve ever seen him in the three years I’ve known him. It was either a sign that in the last 72 hours he’s getting really enthusiastic, or things are worse than he will publicly admit. I tend to think it is a little of both. County Democrats are afraid that their base will not come out and vote in this election, either because they don’t care, or like everyone else is mad about a 65-percent tax increase thrown up on top one of the largest property tax increases in history.

Mayor Bart Peterson also stressed that theme as well saying the enemy is not the Republicans, but complacency. What is complicating matters more for Democrats is in key Council districts that are arguably Democratic strongholds, there is no Republican challenger. Council Members William Oliver, Cherish Pryor, Andre Carson and Jackie Nytes do not have opponents, so it makes it less likely Democrats will turn out in those areas so it is important that the base turnout. That would also explain the high number of African-Americans who were signed up to canvass in those neighborhoods that have high African-American populations.

We’ll know if the Democrats were successful come Tuesday.

“My philosophy as a state legislator is based on something said by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., ‘Cowardice asks, “Is it safe?” Vanity asks, “Is it popular?” Expedience asks, “Is it politic?” But conscience asks, “Is it right?” ” There comes a time when a person must do something, not because it is safe or popular or politic: they must do it because it is right.'”
— State Rep. Bill Crawford

“I will say categorically, and your audience can do whatever they choose to do, That I defend Aaron’s right to call you Willie Lynch. I do not defend your right to use the “N-word” on your airwaves, or to defend anyone who uses the C word. And anyone that equates [those two], is a small minded person in my mind.”
— State Rep. Bill Crawford

You can hear it all for yourself right here.

Your property tax rebate check is in the mail, but if you’re in Marion County you won’t get it until next year. The Department of Local Government and Finance has certified more than $300 million in tax rebate checks. Marion County taxpayers will get more than $51 million. Hamilton County will receive more than $14 million. Hendricks County will more than $5.6 million in rebates. Hancock County will get $2.8 million. Boone County will get slightly more than $2.4 million. Shelby County will get more than $1.4 million.

Don’t get too excited though and don’t spend it all in one place. Because Marion County is going through reassessments, the checks won’t arrive until after the new tax rates have been reconfigured. And to make matters worse, no one can figure out exactly how much the rebates will be. At best DLGF officials say you should take your 2007 tax bill, and add five to 10 percent to your homestead credit. That should give you a starting point to work with. And speaking of reassessments, I’m hearing some pretty grave news about them you’ll be lucky so much of any change in the Spring. Some people call it a reconciliation bill.

I call it a day of reckoning bill I call it a day of reckoning bill because the rebate isn’t expected to cover the amount of your tax increase. Consider yourself warned!.

I attended the news conference this afternoon at Kennedy-King Park. The news was pretty straight-forward. The fun part was what happened afterwards. I’ll have a link up here tomorrow for you. I won’t go into much detail, but tune in here tomorrow after 10 a.m. and I’ll have the full details. It will be priceless.

The word on the street this morning is that I am to be the subject of a news conference at Kenndy-King Park at 17th and Broadway. Some “community leaders” are supposed to talk about “issues that threaten to divide our city.” From what I’ve been able to gather this will be about, in part, two of their least favorite young black men in Indianapolis, myself and former Star editorial writer Rishawn Biddle.

I expect to be chastised for my criticism of this town’s Black leadership in a veritable slew of personal attacks about my residency, my diction, upper-middle class financial status and anything else they can come up with. And you know what, I’m fine with that. First it gives me free publicity, which I am always for. Secondly, this is America and everyone has the right to express their opinion, no matter how uninformed it may be.

All I ask from my critics is just a little consistency. If you’re going to attack me or former colleagues for what we say and write, then please do a better job of policing your own. I would hope that at today’s news conference the leaders express their outrage at me, but also at City-Council attorney Aaron Haith for referring to me as the “grandson of Willie Lynch” the legendary slave trader who is believed to have written the book on slavery. Haith later denied making the remark in an exchange with Ike Randolph during Monday’s city-county council meeting. But if it’s bad for one person to say it, then I hope it would be just as bad for someone else to say it, even if they are of the same philosophical persuasion.

Indianapolis Star Editorial writer Rishawn Biddle was fired this afternoon for comments seen as racially charged that appeared in his blog Expresso. Sources inside the Star say Biddle’s job as a columnist was to bring the community together, but instead divided it when he criticized a number of Black Politicians in Marion County. Those comments have been since taken down from the paper’s website. There’s no word yet on what Biddle will do next.

For those of who missed me this morning, I was over at the Indiana Tax Court listening to arguments involving one the recent lawsuits over property taxes. The main issue I was following was the 65-percent increase in the Marion County income tax. The plaintiffs argued the tax was passed illegally because then City-County Councilor Patrice Abduallah did not live in his district at the time of the tax vote and therefore it was illegal. Attorneys for the city say the complaint should have been dismissed because Abduallah was a “defacto” elected official, which means although he should not have been on the Council there is a strong public policy reason to not overturn the tax increase.

The city’s attorneys did acknowledge that Abduallah did not live in the District and the office was vacant. However, they cited case law where officials who did serve improperly did have their decisions upheld. However, what distinguishes this case from those was the prior knowledge of the County Clerk and constructive knowledge of the Council President, Monroe Gray, that Abduallah did not live in his district.

If the Court were to hold that Abduallah’s vote was valid , this, in my not so humble opinion, would give elected officials cart blanche to break the law and if they get caught the decisions can stay. It is one thing to have an elected official forget to sign an oath of office, it is another thing to blatantly violate the law and there be no penalty.

A decision on whether the case should be dismissed is expected within 10 days.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has dismissed a lawsuit challenging prayers delivered in the Indiana General Assembly. The Court did not rule on the substance of the case, but instead procedural matters. It said the plaintiffs in the case did not have standing to sue because they could not point to a significant legislative expenditure that supported the prayers. The suit was brought back in 2005 and U.S. District judge David Hamilton issued an injunction against the delivering of sectarian prayers. House Speaker Pat Bauer says prayer will resume when lawmakers come back November 20 for Organization Day.

If you think about it, with all the work lawmakers are going to have to do dealing with property taxes in the next session, a little divine intervention just might be what’s needed to tackle the problem.