Everytime I think Indiana is taking a step backwards, someone comes along to prove me wrong. And thank God for them. Eli Lilly and Co. has sent a letter to House Speaker Pat Bauer saying that SJR-7 is bad for business. Any smart corporation knows that you need to attract the best and brightest people to you can make the most cash. Once again, the private sector gets it. I wish government would.

There are a quite a few items of political note today. Matt Tully has a pieice on how gracious Governor Mitch Daniels has been regarding the defeat of the Commerce Connector and part of the Illiana Expressway. I agree with Matt that the Governor has been gracious in defeat. He’s a much better person than me because I’d start building a Death Star to deal with people who didn’t get it.

Discussion gets underway at the Legislature today over Indy Works. State Senator Jim Merritt is offering an amendment requiring more community input on fire consolidation and also keeping the Township Assessors in place for now. Merritt’s bill would require townships to have three public hearings on fire consolidation and then vote. If approved the departments would consolidate and the township trustees would eventually be out a job becaue their poor relief efforts would be turned over to Marion County’s Health and Hospital. Under the current proposal, only a City-County Council vote is needed for consolidation. Merritt says the Assessor issue is one that should be decided statewide. While I have as much use for the Township Trustees as Stevie Wonder does for contact lenses, they are still elected officials and should have a say in the matter. The Mayor has already had victories in Washington and Warren Townships. I think he can do it in the other townships, but he may have the most problem with fellow Democrats Pike Township Trustee Lula Patton and David Baird, the Wayne Township Trustee. I don’t see these guys giving up power without a military junta overthrowing them.

Speaking on consolidation, the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns will hold a news conference today calling on more autonomy for local governments. Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson may have some ammunition under his belt. Standard and Poor has a report out that says without legislative help, the city could lose its AAA bond rating. James Weimken of S& P goes on to say that if the Indianapolis is not in a position to address its structural deficit, pension liabilities and growing public safety needs in a meaningful way, its credit rating will be lowered. A lower credit rating would mean higher interest payments when it comes to issuing bonds. Don’t be surprised if you see this argument surface today.

The City Ethics Board has agreed to hear the CC President Monroe Gray’s request for an ethics investigation. This will be fun to watch.

It’s never a dull moment over at city hall. Republicans and Democrats got into it last night over an ethics investigation concerning Council President Monroe Gray. Republicans want an investigation into Gray’s business practices, citing a business ties to a city contractor that Gray failed to disclose. Gray held a news conference shortly the meeting saying he would be willing to go along with an ethics investigation, as long as it was done with the Ethics Board and the investigation was limited to him and not his business dealings.

This is where things get interesting. The head of the Ethics Board is city attorney Kobi Wright. Wright has already said in interviews that although Gray should have disclosed his relationship, he was not under any legal obligation to do so. In addition, the Council President also has a selection on the Ethics board as well.

The best solution is to appoint an independent board to look at this. The Democrats and Republicans get one pick each and then agree on a third. This is not rocket science. This is simple. Which would probably explain why no one has been able to figure this out yet.

An ordinance will be introduced at tonight’s City-County Council meeting calling for an investigation into alleged ethical lapses by Council President Monroe Gray. Although it’s been reported that Council attorney Aaron Haith originally would not let it on the agenda until he was over ruled by the Gray himself. Some recently obtained correspondence between Haith and the Republicans is telling.

In a letter to Minority Leader Phil Borst and Republican Attorney Bob Elrod, Haith called the measure “capricious and ludicrous.” He also went on to say it disrespected a fellow Councilor and was being proposed to embarrass the Council. He points out existing rules for ethical investigations and questions the Republicans’ intent for bringing the proposal.

This is interesting because not only has Gray has been accused of failing to disclose his business ties to city contractor who got millions in city business, but Haith himself is Gray’s private attorney and also acted as the attorney for Mid Region, Gray’s failed construction company that’s been named in several suits for failure to pay suppliers and workers.

I have been no fan of Monroe Gray’s Council presidency and have always questioned whether he had the intellectual gravitas to lead the body with all the challenges the city faces. To date I have seen nothing to be able to answer that question in the affirmative. However, I do there should be an investigation. It should be by a panel and with one Democratic appointee, Republican appointee and a bipartisan appointee. The Council it too important a body with too much work to do to allow Gray’s alleged conduct to go uninvestigated.

If Democrats are smart, and most of them are, they will make such a suggestion so they can get on with the city’s important work. They could also ask Gray to step down as President.

Score a victory for the forces of limited, rigid and narrow thinking. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels quietly withdrew plans for the Commerce Connector and majorly scaled back plans for the Illiana Expressway. The natives were restless and opposed both plans. These are usually the same people who end opposing DST and running water. I honestly think the only way this state will move forward will be to divided it in half so the people who walk upright are in one half and the low brow, slack-jawed mouth breathers can all live underground.

Marion County Republicans finally have a slated candidate for Mayor. At a special caucus tonight, the GOP overwhelmingly approved ex-Marine and Indiana Business College instructor Greg Ballard as their candidate for Mayor. Ballard told the crowd Indianapolis’ growing crime rate will be his priority. He also says he wants to work to improve the quality of education in the city. He gave incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson credit for his work on charter schools, but says a lot more needs to be done. Ballard beat James Black, a fellow veteran, and former physical education teacher.

Ballard is a sharp guy, but Bart will be tough to beat even with crime spiraling out of control in Indianapolis, mainly because he has a couple million bucks sitting in the bank.

Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson and Warren Township Trustee Jeff Bennet will announce today an agreement to merger Warren Township Fire with the Indianapolis Fire Department. This is the Mayor’s second fire merger victory. IFD merged with Washington Township last year. The mayor has enjoyed success on this front. Now if he can get Pike and Wayne Townships I’ll be impressed. Good luck getting Pike Township Trustee Lula Patton to give up her department. And if you want to find Wayne Township Trustee to give up his fire department go get a butterfly net.

It doesn’t happen often but when it does, I acknowledge it and correct. In a previous post I wrote “City-County Council Democrats will officially call for a bi-partisan investigation of Council President Monroe Gray’s alleged ethical indiscretions.” That should have said “Republicans” instead of “Democrats.” I have made the correction and regret the error. Although it wouldn’t suprise me if Council Democrats secretly thought that. What’s funny though is usually the D’s will call me in a heartbeat if they think I made a mistake about something, in this case none of them called me to tell me about the error, so maybe I’m on to something. I have found in my experience that although I may not always be right, I’m never wrong.

There’s nothing real big in the world of politics today, but there are a lot of little interesting things.

Make That Two Candidates for Governor
Architect Jim Schellinger is announcing he wants a new job, Governor. The Democrat has strong ties to the state party establishment. And has lined up support from Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson, Congresswoman Julia Carson and former House Speaker John Gregg. Schellinger filed paperwork yesterday. The only other formally announced candidate is Senate Minority Leader Richard Young.

The Madness of Monroe
City-County Council Republicans will officially call for a bi-partisan investigation of Council President Monroe Gray’s alleged ethical indiscretions. They say Gray’s failure to disclose his business connections with a contractor who does business with the city, in addition to other matters, warrant a closer look. Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi’s office will neither confirm nor deny whether Gray is a subject of investigation.

Water, Water Everywhere
In case you were worried, water is now the official drink of the State of Indiana. The State Senate passed a resolution Monday making the declaration. With all the issues facing Indiana, education, property taxes, the budget it’s good to know that water is now the official drink of Indiana.

Indianapolis City-County Council Republicans are introducing an ordinance that would call for a special committee to be formed to investigate Council President Monroe Gray. Both state and local laws allow for the creation of a panel with appropriate subpoena power. Republicans say recent actions and alleged indiscrepancies on the part of Gray make the formal investigation necessary.

They cite Gray’s reported failure to disclose his business connections with a city contractor as well as his being less than forthcoming regarding his wife’s involvement in the 300 East Bar-Restaurant.

And if Gray did not have enough trouble it is also being reported that he is connected with a fire fighter’s charity that had a city bank account to write checks, however City-Comptroller Bob Clifford, who has oversight authority, was not aware of this.

Democrats will accuse Republicans of playing politics, but with the recent pea shake busts, something much bigger is taking place in the Circle City. It’s not Watergate, but something is definitely not right in the State of Marion County.