Indiana

Political Potpourri

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

There was a lot going on politically Monday.  The candidates for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate debated at Franklin College.  If Franklin gets the debate up on its website, I’ll provide a link.  Not much changed since the first debate I moderated on April 8.  I expected more of an attack on Dan Coats, there were some minor digs, but not much.  I did speak to the candidates shortly afterward, except Coats because he had already left before I could get to him.  I asked them about the race in its final days and what makes them different.

Their replies are below.

US Senate Primary

I also did a quick interview with a local couple, the Kelvanos, to get their reaction to the debate.

Tom & Linda Kelvano

There is one more debate tonight being sponsored by the Indiana debate Commission.  Hopefully, something exciting will happen.

Race for the 5th

5th District Congressional candidate Luke Messer took a shot at incumbent Dan Burton for using out-of-state talent in his latest ad.  While not the political death blow, I think Burton’s response to the ad did more damage than Messer’s attack to paint himself as out of touch.  According to the Indy Star, Burton’s response to the actors not being Hoosiers was, in part, as follows…

?They may be. I don?t know. You ask me questions about that, I don?t know. I really don?t know. The only thing I did was say, ?I?m Dan Burton and I approve this message.? The message I think is probably pretty accurate, but you’d have to ask them who did the commercial.?

Yikes.

Polling For  Workers

Apparently I raised a bit of a stir Monday when I called Marion County Democrats to see how they were looking on inspectors.  According to the Clerk’s Office the County is about 100 short of the nearly 600 they need.  Party Executive Director Adam Kirsh told me they are where they expected to be and they will help the Clerk find volunteers because they abdicated that responsibility to her a few years back.  However, I think someone on East Market needs to re-read the law.  The job of getting inspectors falls on the Party that won the Secretary of State’s race and that would be the Ds, unless someone at Market Street doesn’t want polling place to open like in 2007?  Luckily Beth White is more proactive than that.

Slippery When Wet

Several City-County Councilors got feedback from the public at a hearing on the proposed transfer of the city’s water and waste water facilities to Citizen’s Gas.  You can listen to their feedback below.

Water Company Hearing

My personal assessment is that the public overall is supportive of the measure, but cautious as well.  I also haven’t seen any organized opposition, so this could be a repeat of the Wishard referendum.  The Mayor is expected to announce a plan to repair streets and infrastructure with the proceeds from the transfer in a few weeks.

Final Note

Speaking of Mayor, word is recent polls have Greg Ballard with a countywide approval rating that rivals that of what Mitch Daniels has statewide.

That’s all folks.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on April 20, 2010 (boomark / email).