I Guess Fox 59 Works for Mitch Roob Now

When the "paper of record" has become a shell of it's former self, the public has to turn to other forms of media to find out what's going on with our tax dollars. And one of the media outlets that have been doing quality reporting for the entire year is Fox 59. With Russ McQuaid, Fox 59 was the outlet that broke the various scandals that involved Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. McQuaid has also been on top of Doctor Director Frank Straub and his war of words against the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

So it's sad to read that Fox 59 has published this news story touting the job numbers being claimed by the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. IEDC has been under investigation all year by WTHR's Bob Segall in his award winning report "Reality Check: Where Are the Jobs?". Segall has learned that getting any real answers from Governor Mitch Daniels and Roob is like pulling teeth. At one point in the story, Daniels walks out of the room as Segall questions him. And when Roob finally does give Segall documents, they're contained in dozens of binders that seem to have little rhyme or reason, and often have a lot of redacted information. Roob claims that exact job numbers and salary information is confidential, and that it gives employers an edge on their competition. But each of our neighboring states, including Illinois, makes salary information and job numbers and titles public information, some even putting it on their state web site.

Shame on Fox 59. I honestly expected better.

Mitch Daniels to Speak at CPAC? Will His Truce Still Stand?

The state GOP community in the Twitterverse has been atwitter lately because the rumors are that Governor Mitch Daniels will be speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (source). CPAC is held by the American Conservative Union and is billed as the largest gathering of conservatives and conservative activists held annually.

Governor Daniels was quoted in The Weekly Standard that the next President would have to call a "truce" on social issues. This set off some on the far-right into a frenzy, and Daniels might've done a little back-pedalling as well, but generally stayed by his comments.

How does Daniels' "truce" relate to CPAC?

In 2010, one of the groups in attendance at CPAC was GOProud. GOProud is a group for LGBT Republicans that is largely seen as a poor man's Log Cabin Republicans, focusing mainly on economical issues and other issues of general interest rather than specific LGBT legislation.

And even though GOProud promises not to push too hard on social issues, their presence at CPAC has caused an outrage among social conservatives. A speaker at CPAC 2010 was booed off stage when he condemned CPAC for allowing GOProud to attend. And due to GOProud being listed as a co-sponsor of the event, several organizations have said they will no longer be attending CPAC.

Among those organizations are the Family Research Council, the National Organization for Marriage, and the Concerned Women for America have all announced their intentions not to attend CPAC 2011. Coincidentally, all three of these organizations were named as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

So will our man Mitch keep to his word on his truce? Will the non-attendance of these organizations make CPAC seem lacking? Or will people just barely notice and move on?

UPDATE: Alex Blaze of The Bilerico Project weighs in as well. Blaze says Liberty University, the university founded by Jerry Falwell, won't be attending CPAC either. He also lists a few other orgs that have chosen not to attend.

Precinct Committeemen to Come Out of the Shadows?

I don't agree with the good folks at Hoosier Access a whole lot. They tend to be more socially conservative than I care for, and sometimes they're little more than a mouthpiece for Representative Dan Burton (R-5th CD) and the old guard of the state and local GOP. But as the saying goes, even a broken clock is right twice a day, and I find myself agreeing with Josh Gillespie in his latest post.

Gillespie discusses Senator-elect Jim Banks (R-17th) proposed legislation that would require county parties to file lists of precinct committeemen and ward chairs with the local county election board. Banks says that his proposed legislation will require these lists to be open to the public.

Banks says that it can be quite difficult for independent voters to find out who their elected or appointed precinct committeeman is. He cites cases he's heard from voters who align themselves with the Tea Party movement. But I'd say that it'd also benefit more than just independent voters, but potential candidates and the actual precinct committeemen as well.

Bil Browning, an LGBT activist who started the blog The Bilerico Project, was a precinct committeeman when he resided in Indianapolis, and took part in the Marion County Democrat's party caucus to elect a representative after Julia Carson passed away in 2007. Browning reports in this post that the lists of precinct committeemen were different for several of the candidates who wanted to serve out the remaining time in Carson's term. Browning also was not able to cast a vote despite being an appointed precinct committeeman at the time, and he says several others were not able to participate as well. Ultimately, Julia's grandson, André Carson, won the caucus vote to fill out Julia's term, and went on to win the special election against then State representative Jon Elrod (R-Indianapolis), the crowded Democrat primary in May for the general election 2008, and the general November election against Elrod.

And that's just the one case we know about. There's no doubt in my mind that the shenanigans Browning reported are common during slating conventions in Marion County among the two major parties.

And a word of advice to the political parties in this state: Don't oppose it. In fact, start complying with this legislation before it passes, or do so even if it doesn't. Post lists on your county party's so that citizens interested in becoming active in a political party can contact someone to get started.

Doctor Director Straub Should Thank Vernon Brown

I had a source of mine tell me several weeks back that Vernon Brown (D-18th) would be voting to re-confirm Frank Straub as Director of the Department of Public Safety. However, Brown voted against Straub during the Public Safety and Criminal Justice committee meeting. I noted, at the time, that Brown didn't ask a single tough question. Brown did a 180 last night when he voted for Straub in a 16-13 vote.

Brown is a battalion chief for the Indianapolis Fire Department, which falls under the umbrella of the Department of Public Safety. The Chief of the Fire Department, Brian Sanford, showed up at the aforementioned committee meeting and publicly voiced his support for Straub.

To me, that comes across as Brown was voting on behalf of his employer. It wasn't the deciding vote, since two other Democrats joined him. But he should've abstained, especially since the Chief of IFD took a public stance during Straub's confirmation hearing.

Ethical lapses have been vast on the Republican side, and have been the focus of critics of the City-County Council since they have the majority, but the Democrats haven't necessarily become any more ethical since 2007.

Doris Minton-McNeill (15th) was MIA for several weeks in 2009 with no explanation as to her whereabouts after a neighbor alleged that Minton-McNeill was driving erratically and almost hit her daughter. It was later announced at a council meeting that she was receiving medical treatment. During the time that she missed on the council, she sent in a note and informed everyone that she would've abstained from voting on the proposed extended smoking ban. That makes me wonder why she chose to abstain from voting (had she been there).

Jackie Nytes (9th) hasn't been able to keep her name out of the local politicosphere for quite a while, having voted several times against the majority of her own caucus, including this vote to confirm Straub's nomination. Gary Welsh recently discussed, on both his blog and in The Indianapolis Star's "Behind Closed Doors" column, how she might be violating the Little Hatch Act. The act, a federal law, prohibits employers who receive a large amount of federal funds from running for and holding partisan political office. Nytes has decided not to run for re-election, where she was expected to get challenged in the slating process.

I could go on, but I can't spend the rest of my day writing about ethical lapses of the Democrats sitting on the City-County Council.

But what can really be done about it? "Throw the bums out" only seems to give us new bums. I think municipal government here needs a complete overhaul, and I hope to detail what some of my ideas would be by year's end.

Holiday Posting

I recently started a new job. I'm sure those of you who follow me on Twitter or friend me on Facebook know that I work Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New Years Day. And on top of a heavier work schedule, I have social and family obligations to attend to as well.

Expect blog postings to basically crawl to a halt after December 21st, which is the day after the City-County Council has their final full meeting for the calendar year.

Stay safe and have fun during this holiday season.

"Special Rights" and The End of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

While I haven't exactly been keeping up with the news cycle in the aftermath of the United States Senate overwhelmingly voting to repeal the policy known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell, I can imagine that many on the fringe right are harping on about "special rights" being granted to gays and lesbians who are serving in our nation's military.

Over at Gay Patriot, there is an excellent post that addresses this issue. Read the whole thing. But there's one section that struck me. They quoted this section from the military's report on ending DADT:

We do not recommend that sexual orientation be placed alongside race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, as a class eligible for various diversity programs, tracking initiatives, and complaint resolution processes under the Military Equal Opportunity Program. We believe that doing so could produce a sense, rightly or wrongly, that gay men and lesbians are being elevated to a special status as a “protected class” and will receive special treatment. In a new environment in which gay and lesbian Service members can be open about their sexual orientation, we believe they will be accepted more readily if the military community understands that they are simply being permitted equal footing with everyone else.

This is what many who fall on the right end of the political spectrum, but still support LGBT equality, have to constantly explain. We believe everyone is entitled to equal rights and equal treatment under the law.

Both Advance Indiana and Indy Democrat discuss DADT's repeal as well.

IMPD vs Doctor Director Straub Continues

Two YouTube accounts (here and here) have been created in the past few days, uploading one video each. The videos are highly critical of Paul Ciesielski, Chief of Police of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, and Frank Straub, Director of the Department of Public Safety.

YouTube played a role in the last municipal election allowing people to upload videos quickly to respond to relevant issues bought up during the campaign, and for politicians and political parties to post campaign ads without having to pay for television or radio air time. It's also worth noting that candidates often don't take down these campaign YouTube accounts even after they lose or set up a new one account. Ballard's old campaign commercials, for example, can still be found here. Sir Hailstone, a long time blog commenter, still has his account open here. And the anonymous themchammer still has his up here. Most official YouTube channels of campaigns and parties can be found easily through their official web sites.

Below are the videos concerning IMPD: