Indiana

Return of the Living Ed

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

As I sit here with martini in hand and cigar in mouth I am wondering what was going through the heads of my Democratic City-County Council friends during last night’s meeting.

Reportedly they met with County Chairman Ed Treacy prior to the Council meeting.  According to my sources, Treacy encouraged them to do what they could to slow down the budget process until November in an effort to embarrass Mayor Greg Ballard and the Republicans.

The line of attack apparently was to question a proposal that would have transferred $47 million in city funds to make up for shortfalls in a number of fund balances.  The proposal went through the Administration and Finance Committee.  Democrats questioned the move saying it went against transparency in government and circumvented the Council committee process.

I would buy that argument had Democrats not done the same thing back in 2005.  Democrats moved around $38 million to shore up multiple shortfalls and used the Administration and Finance Committee to do the exact same thing.  Both Councilors Joanne Sanders and Jackie Nytes, critics of  Monday night’s proposal, both voted for the funds transfer.

Am I the only person in this town who remembers this stuff?  I understand the Council is a political, as well as a governmental, body and politics is part of the job.  But I don’t see how my Democratic friends can take Ed Treacy’s advice in this arena and hope to accomplish anything.  All it does is feed into the dissent I keep hearing about with Treacy’s leadership of the party and the possible coup that might be coming.

Oh well, at least it will be fun to watch.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on September 09, 2008 (boomark / email).