I received a copy of the following statement in my e-mail tonight from the Indianapolis Bar Association.  The organization took issue with my recent blog post Treacy v. Parker? As a big believer in free speech, I have no problem with the Bar Association criticizing yours truly.

I stand by my blog post.  This blog has always been about open debate and respecting honest dissenting opinions and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Like the title says, I’m a big boy and I can take the criticism.  It comes with the territory.  I’ve always said if you can’t take the heat, find another cook.

Today is the second to last day of the Indiana General Assembly.  We’re doing the morning show love from the Statehouse talking to various newsmakers so I figured I’d so something a little different today.  I have this thing for the Academy Awards so I figured I’d do the same thing and let you offer up your nominees for the following categories.

• Best Politician
• Best House Lawmaker
• Best Senate Lawmaker
• Best Legislation
• Best House Bill
• Best Senate Bill
• Worst Politician
• Worst Legislation
• Worst House Lawmaker
• Worst Senate Lawmaker
• Worst House Bill
• Worst Senate Bill
• Best Political Move
• Worst Political Move
• Biggest Special Interest Winner
• Biggest Special Interest Loser
• Biggest Unfinished Piece of Legislation

You don’t have to fill out all the categories, obviously.  But feel free to pick and choose.  Have at it.

I thought I was done for a while with the perpetual stories of Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy’s inability to play well with others like 7^th District Congressman Andre Carson and Mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy, however the fates have decided on a different course of action this morning and this tale takes us by the Charlie White voter fraud civil  trial and Treacy’s not so great relationship with IDP Chairman Dan Parker.  Sit tight folks, this one is good.

As you know Indiana Democrats have filed suit in Marion County Court to have Charlie White removed from office and Vop Osili declared Secretary of State.  They say White wasn’t a legally registered voter when he filed for Secretary of State and his election should be declared null and void.  Marion County Judge Louis Rosenberg, a strong and loyal partisan from everything I’ve been able to learn about his record, ordered the Indiana Recount Commission to rehear the case it originally dismissed last year.  And the public impression regarding Judge Rosenberg is that he has been no-nonsense about the entire matter.

However, from what I’ve been able to piece together, as always from multiple sources which help me draw a composite, is Judge Rosenberg originally did not want to get involved in the matter, however he was getting a lot of pressure from a group of stalwart Democrats at the state and local level.  Rosenberg then reportedly went to Chairman Ed Treacy to get permission to go forward and to also drag Republican Party GOP Chairman Eric Holcomb into all this as well.

Treacy allegedly saw this as an opportunity to go after current State Chairman Dan Parker.  There is no love lost between the two.  Treacy was reportedly part of a coup that tried to have Parker ousted as Chairman two years ago and he’s still reportedly furious at Parker for what went down at a mid-February meeting concerning the upcoming Governor’s race.

At that meeting Parker, former gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger, former Lt. Governor and City of Indianapolis Comptroller Kathy Davis and former Congressional Candidate and State Public Health Director Woody Myers all met with former Speaker and soon to be announced candidate for Governor John Gregg at State party headquarters to talk about Gregg running for Governor.  There were no representatives from the Democrats’ key constituent groups: leadership from the traditional African-American base, the LGBT community and the Marion County Democratic Party, thus the reason for Treacy’s anger.  I meant to write about this back in February but then the House Democrat walkout occurred and it got pushed to the back burner.

So Abdul, what does this have to do with the Charlie White trial?  Everything.  The logic behind the White trial, my sources tell me, that if Rosenberg can find that White was ineligible to run for Secretary of State and gives the office to Osili, then Treacy can take credit for doing something the IDP could not do, win a statewide office.  This increases Treacy’s influence statewide.  Which by the way, he has been quietly placing candidates in key positions for upcoming state party elections so Parker can be removed from office.

Hey, I know it sounds crazy, but apparently my last two posts hit quite the nerve with the Chairman because of how close they were to the mark so I’ll be interested to see what the end result of this one is.  Of course if any of the key players mentioned in this post would like to dispute what I have written I plan to be at 300 East Sunday afternoon between four and six for the Marion County Democratic Party free chili supper and rally.  My digital tape recorder and I will be more than happy to take down anything they’re willing to say.

With one week to go before the May primary I’ve been taking a look at some of the early voting.  As of  Monday afternoon just under 2600 people voted early, either in person or mail  (1772) the rest have submitted an application to vote by mail, traveling board or fax/email but have not yet returned a ballot. .

More than 1070 voters have gone Republican ballot and more than 1400 went Democratic and 88 chose Perry and Franklin township school referendums.   Here’s a breakdown of where the vote have come from by township and party.

• Center – 342 votes; 65 Rs, 277 Ds.
• Decatur – 36 votes; 19 Rs, 17 Ds .
• Franklin – 324 votes; 208 Rs, 80 Ds, 36 Other.
• Lawrence – 255 votes; 135 Rs, 120 Ds.
• Perry – 389 votes; 210 Rs, 127 Ds, 52 Other.
• Pike – 247 votes; 76 Rs, 171 Ds.
• Warren – 180 votes;  69 Rs,  111 Ds.
• Washington – 487 votes; 168 Rs, 319 Ds.
• Wayne – 327 votes; 126 Rs; 201 Ds.

Draw your own conclusions on what the numbers might mean.  Early voting continues through Monday, May 2.  You can vote from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. through Friday,  10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this coming Saturday and Sunday. And you can vote Monday, May 2, from 8 a.m. to noon.  The primary is May 3.

Although we’re still quite a bit away from the 2012 elections, Democrats are slowly lining up to take on Republicans.  Former Speaker of the House John Gregg is forming an exploratory committee to run for Governor.  There is also talk State Senate Democratic Leader Vi Simpson may also make a run, appealing to the more progressive wing of the party.  Former State Representative Dave Crooks of Washington tells me he’s planning to run in the new 8^th Congressional District against Larry Buschon.  And Sam Locke recently sent out an e-mail last week saying he’s looking at taking on Todd Young in the 9^th.  And all signs are pointing to a Joe Donnelly run for the U.S. Senate.

Simpson and Locke not withstanding; Gregg, Donnelly and Crooks can fairly be categorized as conservative Democrats, which is definitely something Democrats will need.  Let’s all be honest here, this is Indiana and flaming liberals need not apply in most places.  However, despite some potential vulnerabilities I see on the Republican side of the equation, Democrats are going to have to bring something else to the table in 2012 that they did not do a lot of 2010, new ideas.

You may not have liked the Republican agenda this year, but at least they had one.  I had yet to see Democrats, as a whole, offer up any real, concrete policy positions on education, job creation, government reform etc.  Even the House attempts at redistricting was highly lacking in detail.  And no offense, but running across the border didn’t really change a whole lot at the end of the day.  Yes, right-to-work was taken off the table, but all you’re getting in its place is an anti-bolting statute with $1000 fines attached to it.

The Democrats can’t just pin their hopes on the Barack Obama Presidential campaign and the uneasiness some moderate and independent voters might have with respect to a Mike Pence gubernatorial campaign and the social issues it would bring with it.  They are going to have to give voters a reason to throw the Republicans out.  One promising sign for the Democrats was in two recent polls taken (one on the walkout, the other on school reform) a majority of voters did think the state was on the wrong track, although neither went into specifics.  But to really capitalize on that angst and anxiety, the party is going to have to offer some ideas.  One group that has been offering suggestions is Indiana Democrats for Education Reform.  They’re doing what a good advocacy group should do, offer praise when warranted, criticize when necessary, and bring ideas to table all the time.  It would be nice if other segments of the Democratic Party did the same thing.

In order for Indiana’s political climate to remain healthy it needs a strong two-party system; three if you count the Libertarians.  Hopefully, the familiar faces who are jumping into the pool will bring some new ideas with them, otherwise it will just be business as usual and Republican landslides will just become another everyday occurrence.

Yesterday got a little hectic and away from me, so I didn’t get time to compose a few thoughts for your reading pleasure this morning.  So today, I’ll let you do the work and express your own thoughts.  I’ll give you a few topics to get things started.  I’ll try to have something up later this weekend, but since it’s Easter, don’t expect a whole lot.

1. The expansion of school choice and the Governor’s education reform proposals.
2. The Senate passage of the anti-bolting statute.
3. The House passage of an illegal immigration bill that focuses more on employers than law enforcement.
4. The upcoming May municipal primaries.
5. The federal budget battle.
6. Indianapolis Public Schools’ decision to hold the only public meeting on budget cuts on the Friday night before Easter.
7. Whatever else floats your boat.

Have at it, just play nice.

As I look at the debate in Washington, D.C. over federal spending and how we get this nation’s finances under control, I always marvel at the words, “the wealthy need to pay their fair share”.   Usually this occurs when the President talks about rolling back the Bush era tax cuts.  While I don’t think taking more of an individual’s hard-earned money is a good idea, I am willing to concede that in tough times, shared sacrifice must be made by all.  However, if that means the wealthy need to pay their “fair share” then by that logic don’t the we all need only take their “fair share”?

Abdul, what do you mean?   Here’s what I mean.  When I wrote this blog post at 6:04 a.m. Thursday, the national debt was $14.3 trillion and our federal deficit was about $1.4 trillion.   Our largest budget items were Medicaid/Medicare, Social Security, National Defense, Interest on the Debt and federal pensions.   I’d put numbers next to these figures but they kept changing every time I switched tab screens on my monitor.  And while I laugh when Congress and the White House say they cut $38 billion from the budget, that’s really just a fly in the bucket.  The federal government overspends just slightly more than $4 billion a day, that means they managed to balance the budget for nine days, and left the other 354 alone.  Luckily, the nice little financial scare the government got from Standard and Poor’s threat to make its credit rating look like my brother-in-law’s will hopefully serve as a catalyst to make real change in our national spending habits.

It’s no big secret that we are driving this country off a financial cliff if we don’t turn our spending around.  My wife and I are willing (both under 45) are willing to not only give up Social Security, but also and Medicare and be willing to take care of ourselves and responsible for our own destinies.  We have no problem with honoring the commitments for those that promises were made, but the rest of us are going to have make some adjustments.

The same thing also goes for those people who consume what some would call a disproportionate amount of government services, they’re going to have to share in the sacrifice as well.  If we’re going to make this work and turn this government’s financial situation around, everyone is going to have to pitch in, rich, poor and everyone in between.

Who’s ready to sign up?  By the way in the 15 minutes that it took me to write this, our national debt just went up another $30 million.

The Indiana Senate voted Tuesday to concur with the House on SB 575 and send a bill to Governor Mitch Daniels’ desk that would limit collective bargaining in teachers union contracts to wages and benefits and eliminate layoffs based solely on seniority.

Score one for the good guys and for education reform.

This is the first education reform measure to make it out of both chambers and head to the Governor.   And when you throw in more charter schools (with the appropriate accountability), vouchers, merit-based pay for teachers, and the possible state takeover of several failing schools in Indianapolis, education reform is looking pretty good right now.

All that is just seven legislative days away from taking place. The only thing more exciting than watching reform be created, will be to watch it implemented.

Like I said, score a big one for the good guys!

I recently wrote about a behind the scenes feud between 7^th District Democratic Congressman Andre Carson and Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy.  To put it mildly, the two don’t apparently see eye and would gladly get rid of the other one should the opportunity ever present itself.  Well, less than 24 hours after that blog post appeared I got word that another very prominent Marion County Democrat has some issues with the current Chairman as well. That Democrat is mayoral candidate Melina Kennedy.

According to my reliable sources, Kennedy and Tracey’s relationship is   strained at best.  At a recent fundraising event in a private donor’s home the two didn’t speak nor as much make eye-contact with each other.  Now granted that may not mean much in the abstract, but I also discovered that the two have been at odds over quite a while since Kennedy decided not to staff her campaign with Marion County Democratic Party personnel, particularly Executive Director Adam Kirsch.  Treacy reportedly wanted Kennedy to hire Kirsch as her campaign manager, Kennedy was not crazy about that idea and I’m told “learned her lesson about Adam during her run for County Prosecutor” back in 2006.

And now there seems to be some tension over yesterday’s voter rally at City Market.  Less than three dozen Kennedy supporters and party members showed up for the rally and a number of them were voter registration staff.  Both sides are reportedly blaming each other for the low turnout.  The Kennedy camp, I’m told, believes the County party did a horrible job in getting supporters out.  The County party reportedly blames Kennedy for not being an exciting enough candidate.

And apparently, it’s not just Kennedy who has a problem with the Chairman.  There are also a lot of rank and file precinct committeemen who would like to see someone else take the helm and are just waiting for the right leader to come along.   Throw in Carson and Kennedy’s discontent toward the County Chairman and you are potentially sitting on a full mutiny.

Now I know once again, this is the part where I get accused of “making stuff up” and “living in a political fantasy world”.   However, let me make two quick points.  First, like everything else I put out I stand by what I write.  And what I write is based on conversations I have with a number of individuals and I take those conversations and put together a composite.  Are there pieces missing at times, of course there are.  But if I was ever totally off-point, as in the past, I would get a call from a surrogate telling me I was way off base and pointing out the errors of my ways.  And all of the aforementioned parties in today’s post have my number and I will let you know if any of them show up on my caller ID.

Every once in a while, the  lovely Mrs. Shabazz and I discuss children.  While I have an adopted son, we do bat around the idea of procreating.  Now while that may scare some of you, as well as it should, the subject came back up again following Governor Mitch Daniels’ announcement Friday that state revenues were up so much that the state could afford full day kindergarten (FDK).  Our discussion was basically that if we did have children, FDK is definitely something we would pursue and any school we looked at sending our once and future kids would have to have FDK.

We are both big believers in education, something that was instilled in us from our parents.  We believe learning is a life long experience and the sooner you start, the better off you are.   According to the State Department of Education’s website, there are a number of academic benefits to enrolling a child in FDK.

• Teachers reported significantly greater progress for full-day children in literacy, math, general learning skills, and social skills.
• Researchers find strong support for quality full-day kindergarten programs among parents and educators.
• The full-day schedule allows more appropriate challenges for children at all developmental levels.
• Full-day kindergarten programs can result in social benefits.
• Full-day kindergarten programs can result in academic benefits.
• School corporations in Indiana that currently provide full-day kindergarten also find academic and social benefits.
• The number of transitions kindergartners face in a typical day can be reduced by full-day kindergarten.
• Two-way transportation can be an important benefit of full-day kindergarten.

I know there are some people who believe FDK is nothing more than glorified day care.  I think that is a fair criticism if the program is not done properly.  However, if a school’s FDK program is structured to maximize learning and parents do their part, I don’t see why anyone, absent an issue with the child, wouldn’t want to do it.

The sooner that children are put on a path to learning, the less remedial work we have to do down the road.

I am a big supporter of FDK, and now that the state has found a way to cover a good chunk of the costs of it, it looks even more plausible.  Hopefully, more parents will take advantage of it.