I Support Councilor Mansfield and Councilor Scales

EDITOR'S NOTE: I have contributed financially to both of these candidates and will be working as a volunteer for a few hours Tuesday morning for Angela Mansfield.

I do not live in any of the districts that have contested primaries for this year's municipal election. But if I did, I would be supporting Councilor Angela Mansfield in District 01 and Councilor Christine Scales in District 3.

While both come from different political parties, both have a history on the council of independent voting, sometimes voting against their own party.

I came to know these two women in completely different ways.

When I first started following the council, Councilor Mansfield was one of the minority members on a committee dealing with some budget item from the Capitol Improvement Board. She was the only no vote on that committee. I thought that took courage, when even members of her own party would support it but she couldn't.

Legislative representatives have almost perfected a craft in talking about how hard votes are and how they really want to vote one way but just have to vote the other and on and on. Councilor Mansfield isn't like that. She's just going to come to a conclusion and stick to it. She'll listen to you if you disagree,  but I haven't seen her fold under public pressure.

She has also been one of the most articulate critics of Mayor Greg Ballard's administration within the second term. Some Democrats, on the council and off, think it is enough to say that Mayor Ballard is a Republican and thus his policies are bad. But Mansfield doesn't settle for that. She will tell you precisely what policies they are and why they're bad. She'll even have suggestions on how to fix it.

I do not want this to be construed as being against Councilor Leroy Robinson, who is running against Mansfield in the Democratic primary. Councilor Robinson and I have not always seen eye to eye. But I think he has grown into the council and it suits him well. But his perplexing strategy of avoiding candidate forums and declining to appear on Amos Brown's radio program (probably the easiest booking opportunity ever for any candidate on a ballot within Marion County), as well as the massive amount of money he is raising for this race, are causes for concern. 

The district is also roughly what my grandfather, Gordon Gilmer, represented during his time on the council. 

District 3 is also on the northside of Indianapolis (northeast rather than northwest), and it should come as no surprise that I fully support and endorse Councilor Christine Scales.

I don't know if I can recall exactly the first time I interacted with Councilor Scales directly. But several years ago, I received an invitation from someone inviting me to a meeting. I get a lot of legit looking spam via e-mail due to this blog, but I thought this sounded legit. The proposed sale of the water utility company had been proposed, and Councilor Scales was organizing a blogger round table. We were given the opportunity to directly question representatives of Citizens Energy Group on the proposed sale of the water utility. It was a very productive and informative conversation. 

Since then, Councilor Scales and I kept in touch. About a year or so ago, she was voted out of the caucus of the Council Republicans. I remember writing her shortly after about the possible switch of her party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. There were some Democrats (both on the council and off) who were absolutely targeting her as a party switch, while others were working behind the scenes. I wrote to her saying that if she didn't believe in her heart of hearts that she was a Democrat, then she should sit outside during caucus meetings with pride. She is one of the hardest working council members out there and will always hear you out, even if you don't live in her district.

If you live in one of these council districts, I hope you consider supporting one of these courageous councilors. In an election where we're very likely to get more of the same from the powers-that-be, it'd be nice to send two councilors back to the City-County building who aren't bought and paid for.

More On The Negative Campaign Against Christine Scales

Today, I received three (yes, three) pieces in the mail from the Indiana Republican Party on Melina Kennedy, the Democratic nominee for mayor.

I first thought about what a waste it was to send three negative direct mail pieces to the same address on the same day addressed to the same person. I mean sure, they were about different subjects (one about crime, the other jobs, and the final one on crime, jobs, and taxes), but I digress.

But then I turned my thoughts back to the negative campaign being waged by Democrats against Councilor Christine Scales, a Republican running in the 4th district of Indianapolis for re-election to the City-County Council. Her opponent, Kostas Poulakidas, is one of the most well financed campaigns for council in Indianapolis history. And that money can buy a lot of direct mail pieces.

Poulakidas and the Democrats, aided by the Indiana Democratic State Central Committee (and perhaps aided by a $5,000 contribution Poulakidas gave the Indiana Democratic Party), first sent out this postcard-like mailer and later sent out a follow up. The postcard reads "Paid for and authorized by the Indiana Democratic State Central Committee."

In these several GOP pieces on Kennedy, the disclaimer reads "Paid for by the Indiana Republican Party. www.indgop.org Authorized by Greg Ballard for Mayor"

I'm not intimately familiar with campaign finance law or what types of disclaimers are required on mailers, television ads, and so on. But I find it interesting that the disclosures are different and, in my opinion, more honest on the GOP side.

UPDATE: Terry Burns and Kip Tew, both Democrat insiders, are taking the stance that THEIR negative mailers in district 4 are just "lighthearted" and "a joke." Nevermind that their mailers lied about Scales' council attendance record and distorted the Capital Improvement Board bailout vote, a vote which a majority of their Democrat councilors voted against.

Guess what happened at that OTHER committee meeting last night?

Several events were scheduled around the city last night. Indy Connect was hosting a forum at the Julia Carson Government Centre, Mayor Greg Ballard (R) was hosting a Rebuild Indy forum with City-County Councillor Paul Bateman (D-11th), and two City-County Council committees met. The Rules and Public Policy Committee met, which I've already covered. In addition, the Committee on Committees also met.

The Committee on Committees consists of the President of the Council, Majority Leader, and the Minority Leader and assigns committees. It's agenda has no detailed explanation of what is actually being done at the meeting besides "Committee Assignments" and, according to a reliable source, Channel 16 doesn't record this committee's meetings.

My understanding is that Christine Scales (R-4th) was taken off of the Public Safety and Criminal Justice committee and wasn't reassigned elsewhere.

Why Scales? She has bucked the administration twice in the recent past on the Capital Improvement Board, both voting against the new taxes levied to support it and it's most recent budget which included a bailout for the Indiana Pacers. She voted for the water utility sale, but is rumored to once again buck the administration on the ACS deal if it comes up for a vote next week. With these controversial proposals and a razor thin majority on the council, Ballard and Council President Ryan Vaughn have come to rely on several wild cards, including Bateman, Jackie Nytes (D-9th), Mary Moriarity-Adams (D-17th) and Edward Coleman (LP-At Large).

Jon Murray of The Indianapolis Star is reporting today that she sent an e-mail to her caucus asking caucus leaders to table the proposal so as to have more time to deliberate on the proposal itself and explore other options.

It seems Scales honestly wants a good piece of legislation passed and wants to do good for her fellow Republicans. Unfortunately, they aren't willing to listen.

Terry Burns of The Indianapolis Times has previously openly wondered about a primary challenge for the three Democrats who voted for the water utility sale (Nytes, Adams, and Bateman). So the question here is, will the Marion County GOP do the same to Scales? Or maybe they just won't support her in her re-election attempt since she's already facing a Democratic opponent?