Star Tries And Convicts Dickerson

CONTINUES ITS ROLE AS CARSON'S ENABLER
Continuing its decades-long tradition of covering up Rep. Carson's misdeeds and public malfeasance while she is supposedly serving the people of Marion County, the Star's editors today try and convict her Republican challenger on a 15-year-old police report, which both he and the would-be victim's wife, deny happened. Innocent until proven guilty has no applicability to Eric Dickerson according to the Star's editors. Mr. Ryerson and fellow editors, have you no decency?

Mary Beth Schneider and colleagues participate in the smear job, which was kicked off by Star political columnist Matt Tully earlier this summer. This from the same folks who've sat on far more serious accusations against Rep. Carson and her associates simply because she screams bloody racism every time they ask her a question about any of these matters. Rep. Carson has been on the public dole for decades. Mr. Dickerson has never worked for the government or run for public office. Go figure.

Aside from the misdeeds and numerous acts of malfeasance while in public office, Rep. Carson, on virtually any day, spews inappropriate, rude and false statements about people with whom she disagrees. Yesterday, she flippantly tells a WTHR-TV reporter of the damning charges she first raised about her opponent, "I don't know that it makes him unfit, because there are others who serve in Congress." She just matter-of-factly says that there are other wife beaters who serve in Congress, not bothering to provide any basis for her assertion and without a care in mind as to how she is besmirching the legislative body she has served in for a decade.

The first time I met Rep. Carson was shortly after she was elected to Congress. I was helping put on a legislative conference for a law firm where I previously worked. Carson was part of a panel of speakers at the conference. She arrived late, with two associates holding her on either side, one of whom was Lacy Johnson. When she looked up at me, her eyes were glossed over and her speech was slurred. She was obviously either drugged or drunk. Among the people on the panel that day was Eric Miller. Now, I can understand her disdain for Miller, but she is an elected representative in Congress so she should accord herself accordingly--or one would think. Instead, she complained that she did not want to be seated next to "that man" so she was seated away from Miller as an accommodation. Throughout her presentation, she would never refer to Miller by name, only by whatever derogatory term came to mind at the moment. She munched on cookies during the panel discussion, not bothering to wipe away the crumbs that accumulated around her mouth. She occasionally babbled something, which was barely decipherable. She contributed absolutely nothing of substance to the discussion. Her performance was the worst on the panel by far. She left as she came, with Lacy Johnson and one of her associates on either side of her holding her up.

A couple of years ago, I attended the Grand Masquerade ball with friends. It's a fundraiser for the Damien Center, which provides much-needed services to people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Rep. Carson was the special guest for the event. She arrived in a red leather slack and coat outfit with matching shoes and purse. When she was given an opportunity to speak, she began her speech by talking about how Reagan was president when we first discovered the deadly disease. She delivered a bitter and partisan message to the folks gathered at this charitable event to raise funds for a good cause. Her most offensive comment, though, came when she said that Reagan didn't give a damn about AIDS until his best friend Burt Reynolds died from it. What? Burt Reynolds. Doesn't she mean Rock Hudson? In fact, Reynolds was once falsely accused by a tabloid of having the dreaded disease, and he fought back and won. Did her associates bother to correct her? Did she issue an apology? No, on both accounts. That's just Julia being Julia. We're all supposed to accept that. Never mind that her grandson she helped raised broke into a home and robbed two gay men, forcing them to drink bleach, burning them with an iron and then setting their home on fire before leaving--one of the worst hate crimes committed against gays in the history of our city. Let's not talk about her domestic disturbances, broken marriages and police runs to her residence. Don't ask Carson about her family values. Just let her cast judgment on everyone elses'.

I know for a fact that Carson's performance at the Grand Masquerade ball was communicated to Mary Beth Schneider at the Indianapolis Star. Schneider, in typical form, brushed it aside as she has for years, just as she and her colleagues at the Star have casually brushed aside every damning bit of information about Carson that has come across their desks. As a consequence, the people of the 7th District of Congress have as our representative a total embarrassment who has little respect among her colleagues and who has no legislative achievements of note to point to after a decade of service. She has one of the highest absenteeism rates in Congress. She typically has relied on her poor health as an excuse. Earlier this summer, she had a different excuse according to the congressional record. “Due to a fender bender on my way to vote, I was unable to record my roll-call votes 400 to 402. Had I been present, I would have voted ‘yes’ on all votes.” Just another one of those items that never made it into the Star. Rep. Carson is still in office because the Indianapolis Star has played the role of her enabler all these years, covering up her truly dark and disturbing side. The Star sadly continues in its role as her enabler with these latest developments in her race against Dickerson.