Monday, October 25, 2010

Capital Improvement Board Budget Passes Council

Just a quick note for those that didn't tune in to the Council meeting on Channel 16.

The Capital Improvement Board was the main point of contention in the budget hearings tonight. It passed 15-14, mostly along party lines.

Christine Scales, a Republican, voted no. Jackie Nytes, a Democrat, voted yes.

This was similar to what happened a year ago, where Ntyes and Scales were in a similar position over the CIB bailout which raised the hotel tax and let the CIB take a $27 million loan from the state of Indiana.

Terry Burns, who posted about FIVE Republican council representatives who might vote no, ended up being off about all except Scales. This is rare, because Burns, though partisan, is usually pretty dead-on as far as predicting votes.

Some posts on Twitter and Facebook noted a packed room. I'm guessing the Unite Here pro-union crowd turned out most of that crowd. They're good with that, and I find it odd that liberals and fiscal conservatives can align on this issue. It's good, but still odd.

5 comments:

  1. I agree, I find it incredibly surprising that only Scales voted no on the R side from the reporting on different blogs. I thought Coleman was on the record as saying he wouldn't support it, but maybe he explained his rationale during debate?

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  2. Erin, Ed Coleman (LP-At Large) voted against it. The Council demos are 16 R, 14 Dem, and 1 LP.

    I don't always agree with Ed's votes, but he's a solid vote against the scheme that is the CIB.

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  3. Wait- isn't it 15 R, 13 D and 1 L for 29 total seats (25 district and 4 at larges)? If Coleman and Scales voted no and Nytes yes, then it would have been 14-15 fail? Maybe there was another D who voted yes? I'm confused now, but I'm pretty sure there are only 29 councillors...

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  4. You're overall 15-13-1 count is right, but your math is off after that.

    15-1 Scales +1 Nytes=15 Yeah votes

    13D-1 Nytes + 1 Coleman + 1 Scales=14 No

    TLDR: Council Republicans, without Scales, had no votes to spare, and without Nytes support, would've lost.

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  5. Oh right, math was off there! I was confusing myself between 29 and 31 when I was adding and subtracting. Got it now. Very surprised at that vote result.

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