Indiana

Tax Caps, Anyone?

Posted on January 19, 2010
The Indiana Senate today by a vote of 35-15 passed a measure giving Hoosiers the change to vote on tax caps in November.  The House approved the same measure last week.   If passed into the Constitution, property taxes would be capped at 1-percent of a home’s value for residential property, 2 percent for rental [...

The Dream Is Still Alive

Posted on January 18, 2010

Special Ed

Posted on January 17, 2010
Just when you thought you had all the information you needed on something, more good gossip comes along.  This time it involves Libertarian City-County Council member Ed Coleman. Coleman apparently was part of the attempted coup Monday night to defeat Ryan Vaughn as Council President...

Look Left

Posted on January 16, 2010
While most Marion County politicos were watching County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi not run for a third term and Helen Marchal announce her candidacy, there was some interesting movement on the Democratic side of the equation. Candidate David Orentlicher filed paperwork showing he had more than $183,000 in cash on hand in his race for prosecutor...

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Money in the Bank

Posted on January 15, 2010
Although the filing deadline isn’t until Wednesday,  January 20, some 2010 candidates have already filed their annual financial reports.   Here’s a snapshot of some of them… County Prosecutor David Orentlicher Raised – $184,200...

State of the City Redux

Posted on January 14, 2010
Here is the actual audio from the State of the City address as well comments from the Mayor afterwards and reaction from some members of the audience.   Ballard State of the City Address – 1 Ballard State of the City Address – 2 Ballard State of the City Address – 3 Ballard State of the City Address – 4 Ballard [...

Brizzi Not Seeking Third Term

Posted on January 14, 2010
The third time will not be a charm for Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.   Brizzi informed me a few moments ago that he would not seek a third term in office. Running instead will be Brizzi’s Chief of Staff  Helen Marchal, who has spent 12 years in the office as a prosecutor...

Pay to Play

Posted on January 13, 2010
Franklin Township Schools are looking at charging students to play sports as a way to shore up its budget shortfall. According my friends over at Fox 59, the school board is trying to cut nearly $7 million from its budget. The district is already looking at cutting more than 50 teaching positions and requiring students [...

State of the City

Posted on January 13, 2010
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard delivered a “bricks and mortar” speech in his third State of the City address to the citizens of Indianapolis. The speech, delivered at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, focused on the Mayor’s accomplishments in addressing city needs for the past two years and also spelled out where he wanted to take Indianapolis [...

The Chickens Have Flown the Coup D?etat

Posted on January 12, 2010
Usually the elections to run a legislative body are pretty mundane; not so much in Indianapolis. Although Monday night’s election of Republican Ryan Vaughn seemed pretty nonchalant on the surface, there was actually an attempted coup behind the scenes...

Blaming the Victim?

Posted on January 12, 2010
To be honest, it wasn’t Monday’s 75-23 vote in favor of putting property tax caps into the Indiana Constitution that surprised me the most.  What caught me off guard somewhat is the argument by House Speaker Pat Bauer that local governments hadn’t come out and made the case against property tax caps...

Township Attack

Posted on January 11, 2010
The last chapter of the most useless form of government in Indiana may be written this legislative session.   Township government is getting it from both the left and the right and from both the Indiana House and Senate. Several bills have been introduced that either eliminate township government altogether or put the question on the ballot...

Statehouse Round Up

Posted on January 11, 2010
It was a busy day over at the Statehouse. Property tax caps passed the House 75-23. Ethics reform passed the House 97-2. Even elimination of township government by local referendum passed out of a House committee 11-0. All that and it’s only week two...

Racism; In Black and White

Posted on January 10, 2010
You would think that one of the last places a person would find racial issues would be the Indianapolis Chapter of the Indiana Democratic African-American Caucus.   That wasn’t the case on December 19th. That was the day the group held elections for some tightly contest offices...

Take It Outside Boys

Posted on January 10, 2010
I’ve noticed lately that some of the comments in my blog posts have nothing to do with the topic at hand, so I’ve made a command decision on how to deal with them. For the time being, if I think the comment is completely irrelevant to the conversation I’m going to delete it...

The Caps, They Are A Comin?!*

Posted on January 08, 2010
Indiana lawmakers moved another step closer Thursday to giving Hoosiers a chance to vote on putting property tax caps in the Constitution.   HJR-1 came up on second reading and three amendments were offered to the proposal, none of them passed. HJR1-01 ? William Crawford, Failed 31-68 Deletes the St...

Fear Factors

Posted on January 08, 2010
In my continuing efforts to present all points of view, I recently had three of my “liberal blogger” friends on the morning show. The guys from The Bilerico Project and Chris Warden of iPOPA. It was a fun discussion over state and local issues...

Open Forum

Posted on January 07, 2010
I’m dealing with weather today so this morning’s post is more of an open forum.  Here are some topics for discussion. Have local governments failed to make a case against property tax caps? Will ethics legislation create real reform or bigger loopholes? Will tax caps pass and by what margin? How much government reform will really happen this session? What [...

Put Your Tax Caps On*

Posted on January 06, 2010
If you’ve ever had any interaction with House Speaker Pat Bauer, you know it’s important to know when to read between the lines.  Yesterday was one of those days. The Speaker said local governments hadn’t made the case against implementing property tax caps...

Waterworks, Sort Of

Posted on January 06, 2010
Indianapolis Water officials told me this morning the problem with non-working hydrants are likely the result of them being opened and closed improperly. Communications manager Paul Whitmore says when hydrants aren’t accessed and closed right it can result in drainage which can cause them to malfunction...

Mayor?s Mid-Term

Posted on January 05, 2010
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard is entering the second half of his first term in office. And like any midterm it’s time for a grade.  Overall, I give the Mayor a solid B.  Listed below are some of the pluses and minuses… Pluses Crime is down six percent since 2007...

Bills, Bills, Bills

Posted on January 04, 2010
I’ve been glancing at some of the proposals being introduced in the Indiana General Assembly.  Here are some of the more interesting ones. SB 18 – Ban sending a text message while driving, says nothing about reading them. SB 25 – Bans property owners from prohibiting firearms on their land if the weapon is locked in a [...

Let the Sunshine In

Posted on January 03, 2010
Indiana lawmakers are tripping over themselves to offer up ethics reform proposals. House Speaker Pat Bauer offered up a plan last year and Senate Republicans put out a proposal as well. The measures include “cooling off” periods where lawmakers would have to wait for a year or so before going to professionally lobby their former counterparts...

Top 10 of 2010

Posted on January 01, 2010
Happy New Year!   Here is my list of the 10 things to look at in 2010, not necessarily in any particular order. Will Republicans take the House of Representatives this November? Will any incumbent Democratic Congressman lose? How many local governments will be forced to consolidate due to tax caps and declining home value assessments? How much [...

Final Jab at 2009

Posted on December 31, 2009
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Indy?s Top 2000*

Posted on December 30, 2009
This post is a little tricky as I’ve only been hanging around Indianapolis since the Fall of 2004.  But I think I’ve done enough research to fill in the gaps for the biggest news stories of the decade (although the decade doesn’t end until December 31, 2010)...

Top 10 of 2009

Posted on December 29, 2009
As tradition dictates, it’s time for my Top 10 local news stories for 2009. 10.  Proposed tougher smoking ban rises from the ashes only to be extinguished by common sense. 9.    Tea parties start to form in Indiana, but most local meetings never get past talking about the Federal Reserve...

What?s Wrong With This Picture?

Posted on December 28, 2009
WARNING:  If you are someone who is easily offended or overly sensitive, I suggest you skip today’s post. I’ve been doing my end of the year look at the city’s murder rate.  I say murder rate because murder (an unlawful killing)  is different from homicide (a killing), police action shootings and shootings done in self-defense...

The More Things Change

Posted on December 27, 2009
Every political pundit and news organization is putting together its list of top stories of the 2000s.*   I will spare you my diatribe of how the decade doesn’t really end until next year and offer some perspective on events as well. I think I can honestly say we close out the decade the way started, [...

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!!!

Posted on December 24, 2009
I wanted take a moment and wish friend and foe alike a Merry Christmas and joyful holiday season.   This will be the the third Christmas for me and Mrs. Shabazz, but our first one as a married couple, so this should prove to be interesting and a lot of fun...

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