I’m taking a few days off after Tuesday’s primary. I’m going home to tend to a few things. I’ll be back on Monday. Emjoy the rest of your week.

I attended the Indiana State Democrat Annual Dinner last night, much to the surprise of a few folks. U.S. House Majority Steny Hoyer was the keynote speaker and the crowd was very receptive to the usual cast of characters, Bart Peterson, Pat Bauer, Julia Carson, Evan Bayh, etc. Also getting warm regards were new Congressmen Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth and returning Congressman Baron Hill.

As I sat down to eat one of the people at the tabled asked me why was I there? I said to see if I could get a free meal from the Democrats like I did the Republicans. They wondered how I could do that, insinuating that I don’t like them. That is so far from the truth. Fundamentally, I like everybody. I have very good relationships with members of all three parties, there are women in all three parties I wouldn’t mind dating and there are people in all three parties that I can’t stand.

I give my Democratic friends grief in Marion County not because they’re Democrats, but because they’re in charge and this County’s crucial problems are happening on their watch. If the GOP were running things, I’d be all over them. My criticism isn’t so much about party, but position. And Democrats are in the top position in Indianapolis. And I reminded my Democratic friends that with my criticism there are three things they can never say: I’m not fair, don’t do my homework, nor am I wrong.

City-County Council Democrats may find themselves in the awkward position this election year of having to vote for a tax increase. Mayor Bart Peterson told me last night at the Jefferson-Jackson Dinner that he will need all of the new taxing authority granted to him by the legislature to help pay for Indianapolis’ budget problems. Under the plan passed by the house, the city could levy additional income taxes and .50 public safety taxes. Throw in the average 24-percent increase in property taxes and the rebate check which won’t show up until late fall, and millions given away in tax abatements for developers, you can see how this County is sitting on a taxpayer revolt in the making. And the revolution could occur at the ballot box.

This has not been one of Mayor Bart Peterson’s better weeks. He lost Indy Works in the Legislature. There were massive traffic jams downtown during a motivational seminar during morning rush hour earlier this week. News broke that IFD bounced a check. And now A Shelby County Judge has ruled there’s no issue that Marion County owes the state $67 million in juvenile incarceration costs. The city tried to argue the state improperly charged the county for the costs of holding juvenile offenders. However the Court granted the State’s motion for summary judgment, holding there was no genuine issue of material fact and the city owed the state $67 million. No word yet on whether the City will appeal.

City fire officials asked me and a reporter from the Indianapolis Star into their office today to talk about a bounced check. It was for $239.00 to Lowes. It seems odd that a city with a budget of $534 million could ever kite a check. Now granted Indianapolis’ bond rating has been dropped and I knew the city was having financial problems, but I didn’t think things were that bad. The issue had been raised in the blogosphere and it’s rattled some city cages.

Deputy Chief Earnest Malone, who oversees fire prevention, says the staff needed to purchase equipment from Lowes back in November of 2006. He was out of town and so his office assistant wrote the check for the purchase. The check was returned in January for insufficient funds, but Malone did not become aware of it until March 15, 2007. He said the amount due was paid in full on March 19.

When questioned about the account, Malone said it was a “single source” account, not directly controlled by the city, since the source of the funds was donations from State Farm Insurance and not typical taxpayer. He said the account is active mostly between September and October, and they pay very little attention to it again until May.

When asked how often they monitor the account and whether they check monthly statements, Malone said they did not do unless the account was being used. He did not immediately provide monthly balance statements, but he did have a list of receipts for account purchases. He admitted he should have done a better job of monitoring the account.

While on the surface this appears to be a pretty cut and dry story, that is at best embarrassing for the Indianapolis Fire Department, it does raise an important question or two. First, why not immediately produce a list of monthly statements? Receipts only tell us, in part, what the account paid for. It does not tell us about withdrawals authorized or unauthorized or other deposits that would not show up on receipts. Second, if this account was so important, why didn’t the city do a better job of keeping track of how much was in it? I’ll admit Indy is going through some tough financial times, but something like this should have never happened in the first place.

Malone and Public Safety Director Earl Morgan say they are going to set up a 501-c not for profit to take donations to the fund in the future and the account had been closed. Malone strikes me as a good man, but I think he’s falling on the sword for IFD. One thing I can say out of all this is that the meeting I had was the result of a post on an anonymous blog that really must be getting to city. Who knew he, she or they had that much power? But who would have thought a city with a budget in the hundred of millions would bounce a $239 check?

Believe it or not, I actually do enjoy news conferences. I was at Alberto Gonzales’ on the west side of Indianapolis Tuesday afternoon. As you know he announced $2.5 million in crime fighting grants for Indianapolis. During the event, Gonzales said the city’s rising crime rate last year was one of the reasons it got the grant. It’s funny. I talked about this last year and was accused of being a rabble rouser and trying to scare the public because the crime wasn’t that bad. It looks like I was right, again. Imagine that.

We are good on jail beds. Kevin Murray, counsel for Sheriff Frank Anderson says there is enough space in both the public and private jails. Last time this year we were laying the ground work for disaster. Murray says the Criminal Justice Planning Council is working diligently to make sure there no repeat of last year.

The Mayor’s Office is pointing its finger at Republican State Senator Jim Merritt as the cause of no fire consolidation and costing the city $15 million. They say Merritt could have signed a conference committee report that would have consolidated the city and township fire departments and saved the issue of trustees and assessors for a later date. I think they should have spent more time at the General Assembly, because I don’t remember it happening exactly that way during the 12-15 hour days I spent there at the end of session.

Speaking of Mayor, Bart Peterson admitted Tuesday that this current violent crime spree is more worrisome than last year, particularly of the randomness of several of the more notorious public crimes. I completely agree with the Mayor on this point.

Also Public Safety Director Earl Morgan says the city will look if an ordinance to give ex-offenders a second chance by tying some city contracts to the hiring of ex-offenders fits the requirements of one of the grants given to the city by the U.S. Attorney General. The proposal has been sitting on the shelf since last year. If anyone in this town was serious about hiring ex-offenders, someone would have done something by now. But now that there is free money involved, something might actually happen.

Oh, this isn’t a crime but one African-American elected official recently got some racially inflamatory material sent to them at their home and office. Nice to know in 2007 some things never change.

I was teaching up in Carmel tonight and on the way back to my downtown apartment, I stopped by 300 East. I had a jack and diet and talked to the visiting chef who I knew. It was a real nice place and pleasant atmosphere. It was quiet so I’ll have to come back on a night when it’s busier.

The fallout from the Legislature’s failure to pass Indy Works could be even more far-reaching than originally anticipated. Both the recently agreed to contracts for the city’s police and fire fighter’s unions were both tied to the passage of Indy Works and the Mayor having a public financing plan to pay for public safety.

City officials are still trying to determine what impact the non-passage will have on the contracts. While it is not uncommon for a city-union contract to tied to a municipality’s ability to pay, most agreements don’t hinge upon a particularly piece of legislation.

More to come.

Indiana lawmakers tonight gave Governor Mitch Daniels a major victory by passing his health care plan, which included an increase in the tax on cigarettes. The 44-cent increase would go to help provide insurance for thousands of Hoosiers who are without coverage. The measure passed both the House and Senate by wide margins, although conservatives criticized it as more government spending.

Following the lead of the Indiana House of Represenatives, the state Senate passed a new budget, property tax relief, expanded gaming and new taxing power for local governments. The Senate passed concurrent measures that passed in the house, however critics called the measures short term, involved too much government spending and were only band-aid solutions to Indiana’s long-term problems. The measures now go Governor Mitch Daniels for his signature.