To clear up a few things regarding yesterday’s blog post and my question regarding Stephen Clay of the Baptist Ministers Alliance and whether he had ever been the subject of an investigation by the Indiana Department of Child Services, I’ve embedded the exchange here.

The BMA was just wrapping up its news conference when I asked the question at the very end.  I asked Clay if he had received my text messages asking him if he had ever been the subject the DCS investigation.

Stephen Clay – DCS Investigation

Like I said in my previous post, this is not one of those “Do you still beat your wife” questions.  This was “have you ever been the subject of a DCS investigation?”  It’s a simple “yes” or “no” question.  It would have been nice if Clay had just given me a straight answer as opposed to refusing to answer.  Now I’m going to have to go find the answers myself.

Wednesday I attended a news conference held by the Baptist Ministers Alliance of Indianapolis.  (Yes, I know where this is going too.)  Reverend Stephen Clay and his minions were doing what they do best, accusing Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard of being a racist.   They accused him of “dividing the city” as opposed to uniting it, engaging in “polarizing political practices” and being insensitive to the Black community.    Now these are also the same people who said the latest plans by IMPD to conduct a “surge” in high crime neighborhoods was bad for the blacks who live in those communities because the city was treating them like terrorists.  In other words, the news conference was pretty standard stuff for the BMA so there was no news at all.

At the end of the news conference, I decided to do some follow-up on something I’ve been hearing for about seven months and needed some clarification.  As you know, I hear a lot of things about a lot of people in this town.  Some of them are pretty right on the money, some are just down right ridiculous and never see the light of day.  But every once in a while, I have to ask a stupid question just to get the newsmaker to say “no” and put the matter to rest.

For the last few months I’ve been hearing some rather disturbing things about Stephen Clay.   To put it mildly some of it would just make you downright nauseous.  I was also told that some of it involved an investigation by the Department of Child Services Child Protection Division.  I originally dismissed the rumors as simple rumors, but they kept resurfacing.  I contacted DCS and their spokesperson told me they don’t comment on past investigations.   Fair enough, so I decided to go to the other source, Stephen Clay.

A couple days before the news conference,  I sent him several text messages outlining what I was told and asked him to respond.  He never did.  Well, I take that back.  Since he didn’t have my phone number he wanted to know who was texting him.  After I identified myself, he never got back to me.  So at the end the news conference on Wednesday, I asked the question again.  I asked if he had ever been the subject of an investigation by the Department of Child Services.  His response, “I’m not going to answer that question” and walked off.

Now I know I am not one of Clay’s favorite people, but this was a simple “yes” or “no” question.  Either you were, and the allegations were unfounded, or the answer was “no” and we move on.  By not answering my question, Clay makes me think there might actually be something to what I’ve been hearing. So now my expedition begins to go find out what’s really going on.  I have a couple of leads I’m going to track down.  And while I could be pursuing a wild aquatic fowl without a purpose, my reporter instinct tells me there’s something there and I’m going to find it.  When I do, I will definitely let you know.

There was a lot of stuff going on in the last 24 hours, and unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time this morning so let’s make it quick…

I had teaching obligations all day Tuesday but during my breaks I caught some of the Twitter posts and testimony regarding the Charlie White hearing with the Indiana Recount Commission.  White’s testimony did not paint him as the brightest person in the room, but I’m not sure Democrat attorney Karen Celestino-Horesman proved the necessary intent to demonstrate voter fraud, especially with both his wife and ex-wife pretty much corroborating White’s story.  I was surprised that White did the interview with the AP without his attorney Jim Bopp’s knowledge.

Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy, much to the dismay of a lot of precinct committee folks picked local businesswoman Pam Hickman to step up and fill in the spot on the ticket being vacated by Joanne Sanders.  A lot of people have been asking “Why Pam?”  It’s easy if you read behind lines, she and her hubby have a lot of cash that they can drop on her race, she’s got southside Indy roots where Democrats don’t do very well and she’s a Mahern (cousin to Dane and Brian, I’m told).  What more needs to be said.

I was saddened to hear about the job losses over at the Indianapolis Star.  Five dozen people loss their jobs.  It’s the changing dynamic of journalism.  It also puts more pressure on the rest of us to offer information and perspective to the news consumer.  I always said if I ever won the lottery I’d start an on-line publication here in Indianapolis and hire all my friends who have lost jobs in media over the past few years.

The Indiana Recount Commission will hear the Charlie White voter fraud case today.  You can watch it here.
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Every once in a while I have one of those days that starts out as pretty routine buts ends up pretty odd. Monday was one of those days.

I was originally going to drive over to Cincinnati for an interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geitner, unfortunately the Secretary cancelled at the last minute and that left my afternoon wide open.  Then I got word that City-County Council Minority Leader Joanne Sanders was holding a news conference at Marion County Democratic headquarters where she was going to make a “significant announcement” regarding her future on the Council.

I made some phone calls and my sources were telling me that they expected her to announce she was taking her name off the ballot and not running for re-election.  The reasons ran from job commitments to a potential coup being launched against her by fellow Democrats Monroe Gray and Vern Brown to remove her from leadership and replace her with Maggie Lewis.

So with all that information at my disposal I went to County Headquarters where a young man was waiting at the door.  I figured since MCDP was in a secure building he was there to greet the media and let us in.  I was half right.  He greeted me and told me I was allowed to come to the news conference because it was “invited media only”.  My reaction was “really?!”  So we talked for a few minutes and I decided this was just someone doing his job and acting on orders from higher ups. I wasn’t going to give him any grief.

You can hear the encounter here….

Abdul Not Allowed In

As I walked away I pondered whether Ed Treacy or Executive Director Adam Kirsch gave the order to bar me from the event.  I figured it would have to Kirsch.  While Treacy has never been a fan, he is a grown up.  Kirsch on the other hand has a major axe to grind.  He tried to ban me from covering the Democrats slating convention earlier this year, however Treacy yanked his leash.  I’ve also been on Kirsch’s hit list since I blogged about the fact he tried to get on as Melina Kennedy’s campaign manager and she wanted no part of that.  And probably the fact that I wrote about how his attitude and reputation has made his current local job so difficult that he’s looking out of state for new work.

Oh well.  If this is the world we now live in, so be it.  I’m not quite sure what party leadership was trying prove by keeping me out of their news conference, but I can promise you someone’s life is about to get a lot more interesting.

Yesterday, I posted a really bad joke on my Twitter account. I asked “what’s the definition of mass confusion?” The answer, “a Father’s Day picnic at 42nd and Post Road”.  It’s actually a very old joke and easily adaptable to any social setting, take the former Governor of California, for example. And while a lot of the punditocracy spent Sunday pontificating on the importance of fathers, I honestly think we would have fewer societal issues if fewer people became fathers in the first place.

Allow me to elaborate. This past week a 16-year old was arrested for shooting and robbing a man on the Monon Trail. In less than four weeks a lot of good-hearted people are going to team up with law enforcement and patrol downtown Indianapolis during the second Saturday of Indiana Black Expo because some people are going to let their children run loose. For the past several weeks we’ve had hearings on the possible state takeover of failing schools because, in part, some people have decided not to be good parents and let their children’s’ education go straight to hell.

When I look at those few examples, it makes me wonder why instead of defunding Planned Parenthood, Indiana lawmakers didn’t increase funding and hand out gift cards. Let’s face it, some people are not just ready to be parents. And instead of chastising them, we really should turn our efforts into convincing them not to procreate. It’s not fair to the children and certainly not fair to us who will have to bear the costs, financial and otherwise, of their bad choices.

I know some of you are saying “Abdul, who the blank are you to say who can and can’t have kids?”   The flippant answer would be “I’m Abdul”.  The more thoughtful answer is I’m not saying people should not be allowed to procreate,  what I’m saying is that it would be nice if people made more informed decisions and were better equipped before bringing children into this world. Let’s be honest, if Mom and Dad are hooking up at $2 Tequila shot night, there’s a pretty big chance the rest of us will be picking up the tab for that love connection for quite a few years to come.

So instead of wringing our hands about how fathers are abdicating their responsibilities and women are making poor choices for getting together with these men whose sole purpose in this world is to not violate probation, how about we spend a bucks and make contraception a lot more available. It would save the rest of us a lot of headache and taxes.

Hope you had a great Father’s or Baby Daddy’s Day., whichever the case might have been, unless of course you’re waiting for the paternity test to come back from the Maury Povich Show.

I’m out-of-state today, but I wanted to take a few seconds and wish all you a Happy Father’s Day. If you don’t think fathers are important, drive around some parts of Indianapolis. If some people would do their jobs, the rest of us wouldn’t have to in the form of taxes, police and social services. But enough Sunday preaching, enjoy your day.

I’ve always said that if you stick around politics long enough you will eventually see everything.  That is definitely true in the race for Mayor of Indianapolis  The new topic du jour  is crime and the number of police officers on the street.

Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy says the incumbent Greg Ballard is drooping the ball on crime and that the city may lose millions of dollars in grant money because of the number of officers on the force is dropping below a certain number.   The Ballard administration says the city is at strength with a new recruiting class of 20-25 officers coming down the pike and the inclusion of the park police unit in IMPD.

I find this interesting because I’ve seen this argument before, in fact I can remember at least one occasion in the Peterson administration when the number of sworn officers became an issue.

In June 2005, then Mayor Bart Peterson asked for a waiver from the federal government to avoid losing money from the then COPS program.   Due to budget problems, the city was not going to replace 78 officers who were retiring from the force.  The Justice Department approved the waiver since the reduction was due to the city’s finances and not the because of the grant.  In this case the city is not asking for a waiver.  I don’t recall a lot of complaining back then.

And as far as the question of “where did the COIT (County Option Income Tax)” increase go, that’s an easy one if you’ve been paying attention for the past several years.  it’s been going away.  Remember, it’s an income tax.  And when unemployment is up, income tax revenues go down.    So far, the city has taken in $37 million in less income tax revenue since 2008.

And if that’s not good enough for you, remember that extra court that was supposed to help ease jail overcrowding?  Well the Marion County judges at the time created a new family court instead.  They figured they could ease jail overcrowding with case management and really needed a family court to handle the extra caseload.

See what happens when you stick around long enough.

As I’ve watched the hearings concerning the possibility of the state of Indiana taking over failing schools, there was something that caught my attention.  I hadn’t put it together at first, but after I noticed it, my jaw dropped to the floor.  At the beginning of every hearing the State shows the audience data concerning test scores and graduation rates of the failing school.  The test scores are a compilation of ISTEP and End of Course Assessment results.  This data, along with attendance and some other factors, are used to determine what level of intervention is necessary.

As I looked at the test scores and compared them with the graduation rates something just wasn’t right.  The percentage of students graduating is two to three times the rate of students passing English and Math.  Take a look for yourself…

• Northwest High School
  • English – 19%, Math – 25%
  • Graduation Rate – 57%.
  • Dropout Rate – 26%.
• Calumet High School
  • English – 46%, Math – 42%.
  • Graduation Rate – 75%.
  • Dropout – 16.5%
• Hammond High School*
  • English – 24%, Math – 33%
  • Graduation Rate – 62%.
  • Dropout Rate – 8.5%.
• Howe High School
  • English – 31%, Math – 38%.
  • Graduation  Rate – 78%.
  • Dropout Rate – 6%.
• Manual High School
  • English – 35%, Math – 29%.
  • Graduation Rate – 60%.
  • Dropout Rate – 25%
• Morton High School
  • English -39%, Math – 48%.
  • Graduation Rate – 69%
  • Dropout Rate – 10%.

What do these results tell you?  They tell me a lot of students are graduating with diplomas they can’t read and with educations that are practically worthless.  And the only thing that makes matters worse are the people who are defending status quo.  If there was a ever a case for abuse and neglect, this is it.

*Hammond school officials say their test scores have increased since the last state assessment.  They say preliminary data shows English pass scores went from 24% to 45% and Math increased from 29% to 64% for sophomores.