(I decided to take a look at the abandoned home issue this week.   After doing some research I decided it was going to be more than just one blog post.   So I will be writing about this for the next several days on both blogs.)

Today begins the first of a multi-part series of interviews on the issue of abandoned housing in Indianapolis.  The city has plans to use money from transfer of the water and wastewater company to tear down more than 2,000 abandoned properties this year.  That plan has caused some residents to get upset because they think it is too aggressive and instead of tearing down some of the homes Indianapolis should attempt to either rehab them or sell them to someone who will.

We begin this series with an interview with  Reggie Walton of the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development.  His job is to oversee the demolition of the city’s worst abandoned properties.

You can hear the interview here.

Tomorrow, you will hear from Tiffany Benedict Berkson of Historic Indianapolis who says she has serious problems with the way the city is tearing down the abandoned properties.

Get your gossip political gossip while it’s still hot!!!

In this edition…

• The real split in the Black Church Over the Mayor’s Race.
• The Internal Polling in the Republican race for Indiana Governor.
• Will Freedom Works Put their Money Where Their Mourdock Is?
• The race for the 7th District may get crowded.
• And much more…

To subscribe, for $20, click here to use our pay pal account.  You get a bi-weekly subscription that’s good for the rest of the year.  Don’t want to do that?  E-mail me at abdul@indypolitics.org and I’ll tell you how else you can get your copy.

It’s not everyday I attend anything held by the NAACP.  I am not a fan of their politics and I personally think they have gotten away from empowering African-Americans and towards promoting policies and programs that make Blacks more dependent on government.  With that said, I am not above accepting an invitation from a friend and showing up at an NAACP event or two just to check out the lay of the land.  Plus, the food was free.

So Thursday night, I decided to attend the NAACP’s 42nd Annual Life Membership Banquet.  I had heard through the rumor mill that some Marion County Democrats were not pleased that Republican Mayor Greg Ballard was going to speak and they had planned to boycott, so I figured I’d attend and see if the rumor was true.

It turns out they did not boycott, but it also turns out that Democrat Melina Kennedy was on the program.  She was slated to do the “Membership Appeal” which encouraged people in the audience who weren’t members of the NAACP to join.   Kennedy was also a “Life Member” which meant she paid at least $750 in annual installments of $75 for the privilege.  I figured this must have been a way to placate the Democrats concerns that Ballard was speaking.   Because it seemed odd that Kennedy would do the appeal when there were plenty of people in the room who were also “Life Members” of the organization.  Kennedy did the appeal and took a couple backhanded shots at Ballard over satellite voting and other things.  That didn’t surprise me I actually expected it.  What did shock me was that after doing her song and dance she left.

She did not stay for Matt Gutwein of Wishard Hospital’s keynote speech.  Nor did she stay for the presentation of awards to Pike Superintendent Nate Jones, Federal Judge Tanya Walton Pratt, Dr. Virgina Caine of the Marion County Department of Public Health, nor the posthumous award for Graham Edward Martin; one the 13 African-Americans enlisted men who became the first Black commissioned and warrant officers in the U.S. Navy.   Heck, for that matter Kennedy didn’t stay to receive her own award for being a lifetime member,  instead an aide picked it up for her.  I would love to know why she bolted because the emcee didn’t say anything; maybe she had a 9 p.m. fundraiser or something.

Now, this is the part where you say, “Abdul, why do you care whether she stayed or left?  You’re not a big fan of the NAACP anyway.”   Well you’re right, I am not a big fan of the NAACP, but I find it interesting that the Republican who Marion County Democrats love to insinuate is everything  from insensitive to outright racist over things like satellite voting, minority hiring, closing pools to make needed repairs and promotions in the police department not only stayed for the entire event, but also hung around afterward to chat and take pictures.  Kennedy bolted like a rat out of an aqueduct (Monty Python reference) as soon as she was done.  There is something wrong when I stick around longer than she does and I did not have to be there nor do I agree with the organization’s political agenda.

Now if the Mayor had left after he spoke and not stayed for the program, someone would have probably filed a civil rights complaint and demanded the sheets be pulled off his bed to check and see if there any holes in them.  Kennedy left and I seriously doubt if anyone noticed.   But I guess, this was one of those instances where the style was over the substance.  And style didn’t even have the decency to stick around and pick up her award for being a lifetime member of a civil rights organization.

Let the comments begin.

Whenever someone asked me my impression of Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry I always said he reminded me of a movie where the best part is the trailer.  So when I had the chance to see him up close and personal, I was hoping to be proven wrong and maybe I had judged him unfairly.  After all, I of all people should know that people are different in person than on television.  However, after watching his performance Wednesday, I concluded that if he were a film I would have have walked out and asked for my money back.

I have never seen such a poor performance from a candidate playing on the national stage.  Herman Cain, John Huntsman and Mitt Romney all did well with their appearances in front of Indiana Republicans, but Rick Perry was just plain awful.

He was stiff (which led to several Viagra jokes being told).  His pauses were awkward.  At times when we didn’t know whether he lost his place or his thoughts.  He read a speech that he should have been able to give at the drop of a dime.  There wasn’t much new in the content, heck he was just did a debate the night before.   And to make matters worse, he was late.  One undecided Republican told me, “if you can’t show up to your event on time (when we know he was in Indy for a luncheon) I have no respect. I value my time… he didn’t value mine.”

Little things like that, along with a standard speech that was poorly delivered is not the way to impress the party faithful or win over the undecideds.  I will say seeing him perform up close and personal made it easier to see why Romney and Cain are the front runners.

By the way, the audio of his speech is embedded at our sister blog, IndyPolitics.Org.

A while back I wrote about my “vision” for Indianapolis in the wake of this year’s Mayoral and City-County Council races.  I expanded on that concept and wrote about it in today’s edition of the Indianapolis Star.  Feel free to check it out.

Indiana Secretary of State Charlie White today flied a complaint with Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry accusing former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh and his wife Susan of voter fraud and homestead fraud.

In his complaint, White alleges the following…

Evan Bayh, while living in a $2.3 million home in Washington, D.C. and making millions along with Mrs. Bayh, do not primarily reside in the $58,200 condominium in Indianapolis and should not have claimed a homestead nor should they have voted here in the Municipal Democratic Primary of 2011. He no longer serves in the U.S. Senate and no longer has legal immunity to vote here.

White goes on to say he filed records showing “Evan and Susan Bayh registering and each voting twice from Philip Lehmkuhler’s (now Obama’s USDA Indiana Director) home in 2000 and registering at Fred Glass’ (Now IU’s athletic director) house in December of 2000 until they purchased the $58,200 condominium the following year .”

White says his complaint is not a result of “sour grapes” but “Democrats have opened themselves up for this and many future filings against others who show their blatant disregard for voting and homestead deduction laws.”

A copy of the actual complaint is embedded below…

The problem with quoting statistics during an election year is that they can change at the drop of a hat depending on a particular point in time.  For example, did the city lose 35,000 jobs since January 2008 or has it  gained 12,000 jobs since January 2011?   Are aggravated assaults up 10% since 2007 or are they down 10% since January 2011?

The most recent example of this is the Melina Kennedy campaign’s charge against Republican incumbent Greg Ballard that Indianapolis is not safe.  The campaign points to a Forbes.com listing from last year labeling Indy as one of the most dangerous cities in America;  the Circle City ranked 8^th on the list.

Well, something must have changed since then because the new list is out and Indianapolis is no longer in the top 10.  The new list put out last week is below.

Most Dangerous Cities in America

• Detroit, MI
• Memphis, TN
• Springfield, IL
• Flint, MI
• Anchorage, AK
• Lubbock, TX
• Stockton, CA
• Tallahassee, FL
• Las Vegas, NV
• Rockford, IL

Forbes bases its data on FBI uniform crime stats as well as the number of fatal traffic accidents.  According to the latest IMPD preliminary reports crime overall is relatively flat compared to last year where the city saw near record lows in some areas.  I think someone might want to go back and re-edit a campaign commercial or change their most recent mailer.

My analysis of the Occupy Indy group is posted on our sister blog, IndyPolitics.Org. I argue the Occupy Indy/Wall Street crowd and the Tea Party movement are really two sides of the same political coin.  I decided to use today, Columbus Day, to share a little humor.  I still don’t see why Christopher Columbus gets a holiday but Leif Ericson and Amerigo Vespucci don’t. Enjoy.

Those Wall Street protests that have been popping up all over the nation begin today in downtown Indianapolis.  I plan to be there monitoring the event.  I’ll have a more complete analysis tomorrow, but in the meanwhile you can follow me on Twitter at either #AttyAbdul or #IndyPoliticsOrg.   The tweets should start about 11 a.m.    For some background, here’s the link to the original story.

The Indianapolis Fraternal Order of Police is declining to back a propose settlement between the city and several black officers that have accused the Department of racial discrimination in its promotional process.

The officers sued saying the departmental policies were discriminatory and did not allow for the promotion of enough blacks.  The city has been working for months to reach an agreement with the officers.

In a statement released tonight, the FOP said it was committed to “merit based” promotions and opposed any process that would allow individuals to “skip over” the promotions process.  The FOP’s release also accuses the City of engaging in a public relations game and election year politics.

In an interview with Fox 59, the attorney for the black officers Nate Lee shared that sentiment saying the city was trying to settle because of the November elections.  It was later discovered that Lee was not authorized to make that statement by his clients and was speaking out of turn.

About a dozen black officers would be impacted by the proposed promotional settlement.

The proposed new promotional process goes before the merit board Tuesday.  You read a copy of the FOP letter below…