Sunday Evening Political Mashup featuring LGBT Protests and Brizzi Unleashed

Tonight's post will be about a bunch of events that I found interesting that happened throughout the week that I just didn't find time to write about on their own.

It's not often that the world of politics crosses over into the world of my personal life. But last week, it did. Indiana Equality organized a protest at the State House this past Monday, and one of the featured speakers was my friend, Dorothy Vanore. I've known the Vanore family for years, and for many of the years, Dorothy was just my friend's younger sister. But she's become much more than that. You can see a video she made about her day leading up to her speech here. It's my understanding that she was part of the delegation from Indiana Youth Group, an organization that caters to the needs of LGBT youth.

Former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi's weekend radio show on 93.1 WIBC-FM apparently lit up with phone calls this week concerning the indictment of Brizzi's drinking buddy, Tim Durham. Both Diana Vice and Gary Welsh have accounts of this. According to their accounts, Brizzi went off on a caller asking about his lavish stock portfolio and the multiple real-estate deals he's a part off. Vice points out that slander is held to a much lower standard when it comes to private individuals, and brings up that Brizzi might've put Emmis Communications (the company that owns WIBC) in legal jeopardy. Maybe Brizzi should go to a political image consultant, and maybe the struggling WIBC should let Brizzi go.

Speaking of WIBC, has anyone noticed the quality of advertisers have dropped quite a bit? It's understandable that Rush Limbaugh and Coast to Coast AM bring their own unique sponsors to the station, but I'm hearing crazy radio ads even beyond those time slots, particularly the Income At Home "program"/scam and the End of America 38/44 ads. Are the internal struggles at Emmis Communications between their shareholders making it harder to sell adspace? They still haven't hit the low grade quality of advertisers that 1430 WXNT-AM (mostly government departments and programs advertising their services with few exceptions) attracts, but they're catching up pretty quick.

Praise for Rep. Justin Amish

I ran across a post from a friend of mine on Facebook that talked about Representative Justin Amish's (R-MI) innovative use of Facebook. It's not unusual for politicians to utilize social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and LikedIn, but Amish is taking it to new levels. He seems to post about every single vote he casts. His most recent vote posted on his Facebook page was on the bill that would "defund" National Public Radio. Some in the House-controlled GOP caucus say this is a cost cutting measure in a time where we're still in an economic recession and the federal government is $14 trillion in debt, but Amish disagrees. Amish, correctly, points out that this proposed legislation doesn't cut a single dime out of the budget. What it does is bar the Corporation for Public Broadcasting from giving funds it controls to NPR. CPB will still have these funds to give to some other entity. Due to this, Amish only voted "present" but the bill did pass out of the House of Representatives.

It's not uncommon for politicians to use social media to talk about their votes, but most don't do it to the extent Amish and his staff do. Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN), who is running for a 7th term, tends to only post about votes on bills which he supports and that also pass out of the Senate. Lugar's social media outlets were pretty quiet on the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which he opposed, but it ended up passing. Similarly, his social media didn't talk much about the proposed DREAM Act, which he supported, but it didn't pass out of the United States Senate. He did, however, post a lot about his support of the START Treaty, which did pass the Senate.

Kudos to Representative Amish. I hope our other Congresscritters will take a look at what Amish and his staff are doing, and more will follow in his footsteps.

Music is an Art Too

I got my start in journalism by reviewing concerts for IndianapolisMusic.Net. At the time, I had no significant exposure to local music and very little experience in writing outside of my classroom. I'll be eternally grateful to folks like Matt Fetcher and Steve Hayes who gave me a chance to voice my (at the time very) uninformed opinion and let me hone my craft on their website.

I remember, at the time, then-Mayor Bart Peterson talked about making this a city for the arts. But I guess Peterson didn't consider music an art. Because throughout his time in office, the city had a very contentious relationship with the all-ages crowd that attended concerts and events at venues like Festivillia, the Emerson Theater, and Solidarity Books.

Solidarity Books Collective was a hangout for various groups, including the Green Party and members of the hardcore music scene. In August, 2003 it was raided by the Indianapolis Fire Department, Indianapolis Police Department, the Seattle Police Department, a bomb squad, and agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The SPD and the ATF agents were in town because the National Governor's Association were being held in downtown Indianapolis. IFD claimed they had a tip on some minor fire code violation, but found nothing. IPD and SPD proceeded to search the entire building, including the rooms on the second floor where several people lived and had their personal belongings stored. Of course, without a warrant.

IFD issued citations for stuff like a lack of fire extinguishers, and later, IPD claimed they were looking for "weapons and chemicals", even though Solidarity Books promoted non-violent forms of protest.

Solidarity Books sued the city with assistance from the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, but I'm unaware of how the lawsuit was resolved. What I do know is that Solidarity Books is no longer around. And sadly, that's a reoccurring theme in this town when someone provides a safe, drug-free environment for young people to hang out in.

The Emerson Theater had a run-in with IPD in 2004. The all-ages venue allowed smoking at the time, so it was common for people who wanted a breath of fresh air to go outside in front of the venue to get a breath of fresh air. This crowd would often increase when a band wasn't performing. One night, IPD officers ordered about a dozen people back inside because they were chasing a few kids who reportedly stole from a nearby restaurant. A few minutes later, a band ended their set and about 200 people started piling out of the venue: some to leave, some to get some food from the nearby McDonalds, and others to get fresh air. A few IPD officers noticed this and, remembering the order to stay inside the venue from earlier, ticketed over 200 people for loitering. Among those people was Matt Fetcher, who was the editor of Indianapolis Music.Net. Even though the prosecutor's office dropped the charges after a few weeks, it sent a chilling message to hundreds of youth: you aren't welcome in this town. The Emerson Theater now doesn't allow re-entry to any of their patrons unless they're over 21.

And these are just the stories that were picked up my mainstream media (though at the time, I remember reading most of the coverage in NUVO rather than The Indianapolis Star).

While the art galleries and exhibits and events that are found in areas like Massachusetts Avenue and Fountain Square are certainly deserving of our support, so too are the efforts of the local music community, especially when it comes to those under the age of 21. Often, these music venues cater to a crowd that doesn't have a lot to do, and don't live in the best of neighborhoods. And if the powers-that-be in this town would just leave them alone and let them go about their business (or heaven forbid, actually support them instead of throwing money away to some of the more useless endeavors we support), it would help tremendously. And if young people in this town had positive experiences to remember, maybe they wouldn't be so eager to move out of this city or state at the first possible chance.

Some Mindless Thoughts

Despite the title of this blog, I haven't been in school for quite some time, but hope not to fall into the trap of all the people who say they're "taking a break" but never actually make a real effort to go back to school.

So today, I took the step to fill out the FAFSA, which is the federal student aid something or other that lets me qualify for federal government grants and loans and all that jazz. But to do that, you also have to file your taxes. And being a 20-something year old male with no notable assets (well, I do have a really cool vinyl record collection) and a measly amount of income, it takes a lot of time answering "no" to all these questions of shit that I don't own and thus, won't pay taxes on. No, I don't have stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, nor am I transferring money to foreign bank accounts, and on and on and on. But I did finally finish my federal taxes and am getting a good chunk of change back from Uncle Sam, so that was worth it.

Filing my state taxes though (which, by the way, you might qualify for free e-filing for your state return here), even though I answered a similar amount of mind-numbing questions, resulted in a a whole dollar of a return. That was fun.

And finally, I go to fill out my FAFSA. And I log onto their site, and I'm hit with a "browser not compatible" page. Yeah, I use Google Chrome. It's the new, cool kid on the block and I guess the feds only want you using Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox. I remember the White House IT department went out of their way to make sure whitehouse.gov was compatible with the iPad's browser by the iPad's launch date, but I guess they haven't gotten around to compatibility for Chrome when filling out government forms.

And finally, about my only political thought for today. An e-mail landed in my inbox announcing the formation of two new Indiana Tea Party organizations, one in Boone County and one in Marion County. Their call out meeting will each be held at public county library branches. I guess the irony of meeting in a government owned and operated building (likely with a free or cheap meeting place) is lost on them.

Where Have Ballard's Backers Been?

Last weekend, Hoosier Access had this entry on the top of it's page for most of the weekend. In it, contributor Mark Warner praises Mayor Greg Ballard and all he has done for the city.

It's no secret to regular readers of this blog that my opinion of Ballard's administration is fairly low, and I have been public in that criticism. I've attended City-County Council meetings, political events, protests, and so on. I've sat down and talked with people who would be affected by the stricter parking regulations that Affiliated Computer Services will enforce, and have talked with normal citizens who, months later, were still fuming about the outright sale of the water utility.

So my question to those of Mark Warner and the others at Hoosier Access, who will inevitably be schilling for Ballard's re-election, where have you been?

I performed several Google searches of Hoosier Access for key words such as "ACS" and "water" and didn't find a single post advocating for the ACS parking scam or the water utility sale. I similarly didn't see the good folks at Hoosier Access at public forums or council meetings advocating for these two major initiatives that Ballard and his City-County Council pushed for. In fact, Mayor Greg Ballard has been a rare topic of conversation at Hoosier Access ever since he was elected in 2007.

And not to beat up on only Warner. No one, besides paid lobbyists and lawyers working on the deals themselves, showed up to those public forums and council meetings to advocate for these aforementioned deals. The citizens that did often were lukewarm on the deals at best (feeling they were rushed through and lacked a proper understanding and explanation from their representatives), and flat out against them at worst (from those who felt they fully understood what was going on).

So I guess this is the roundabout way of saying this, but welcome back, Mark Warner and Hoosier Access to the world of municipal government. We'd love it if you'd stick around after the municipal elections are over, and continue debating the issues with other blogs, readers, and the public. Municipal government, after all, doesn't go away after elections are held. It's always there, often being the form of government that affects average people the most.

Time To Go, Charlie

Secretary of State Charlie White was indicted on several charges today, including allegations of voter fraud. White has been battling these allegations since the election season, but he benefited from...well, most people don't really know what a state-level Secretary of State does, anyway.

I am not a fan of politicians who stay in office while they fight with their legal or personal drama. If this takes away even one hour of his duties as Secretary of State, he should resign and seek employment that allows him the flexible schedule he'll need to deal with his legal problems. If he is found innocent, he can run for office again. Until then, he should resign.

I think it'll be interesting to see how the higher-ups in the state GOP will react to this. It has not been a good week for Democrats in the headlines, and this is just what they need right now. Will Governor Mitch Daniels and his buddies get White to resign quickly, or will they allow this to drag on?

I also find it funny and quite ironic that some people are always complaining and harping on voter fraud in Marion County and Lake County, but all too often never gather evidence to press charges. And yet, the most high profile voter fraud case in this state's history might be from a guy who voted in the town of Fishers!

UPDATE: According to Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, White has said he has no plans to step down and is innocent of all charges. This is in contrast to what Governor Daniels said a couple of hours ago where he said White should step down, and said the same feeling was shared among all state-wide elected officials.

Thoughts on Councilor Evans and "North of South" Project

It shouldn't come as any surprise that the so-called "North-of-South" proposal passed the Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council. What is interesting is who voted for it.

Democrat council representatives Jackie Nytes and Paul Bateman, both of whom are not running for re-election in 2011, have supported several of Mayor Greg Ballard's major initiatives and often "made up" for Republican council members who would occasionally defect and not toe the party line. In my conversations with Democrat loyalists, I do not hear many positive thoughts on Nytes or Bateman.

But the vote that caught my eye was José Evans, who represents District 1 and encompasses a chunk of northwestern Pike Township. Evans was a candidate for mayor of Indianapolis until shortly before the Marion County Democrats held their slating convention, where he announced he was halting his mayoral campaign, endorsing Melina Kennedy, and running for his council district seat instead.

Evans often touted a need for a mayor who is concerned with neighborhoods as much as one is concerned with downtown. So his vote here seems a bit odd, since it's a project that only helps a small section of downtown.

Has Evans been seduced by the promise of a certain percentage of Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) being contracted for the construction work, or that minorities will be a certain percentage of the 2,800 job "commitments"?

Or does he genuinely think that adding a second YMCA and another hotel to the downtown area will be beneficial? Zach Adamson, a downtown business owner and a candidate for Council At-Large on the Democrat ticket, doesn't think so. And I tend to agree. It seems like we have over-saturated the downtown area with hotels which will only be in full use during the largest of events (IE the Superbowl). During smaller events, these hotels will be competing for smaller slices of the pie. My fear is that, without constantly getting these big events, these hotels will start to lose money and will be back before the City-County Council or the state legislature looking for a bailout.

I wonder if this will become a pattern of sorts for Councilor Evans. Will he become the new Paul Bateman of the council?

For more information on the North-of-South project, please see Pat Andrew's blog (also a candidate for Council At-Large on the Democrat ticket), where she's written extensively on it.