A controversial conservative member of the Indianapolis City-County Council, James Bradford (R), resigned his seat from the council effective January 1. Bradford was defeated in last week's elections by another former city-county councilor, Frank Short, in the Washington Township Trustee's race. His term on the council, however, does not expire until the end of next year. Bradford made the announcement at the beginning of tonight's council meeting. Oddly, after leading the council in prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance, he excused himself from the meeting so he could take his family to dinner.
Bradford was one of the council's most outspoken opponents of the police consolidation ordinance and the human rights ordinance, both of which were approved narrowly a little less than a year ago after two Republicans, Scott Keller and Lance Langsford, joined Democratic members in approving the measures. Bradford urged Keller and Langsford to leave the Republican Party after the votes were taken.
Incidentally, Indy Undercover is reporting that Scott Keller is in talks with Democrats to join their party before next year's city-county council races when he will stand for re-election. I find that report very hard to believe. Keller, a life-long Republican, has been active in establishing the First Republicans, a moderate Republican group. He also accepted an award from the Log Cabin Republicans earlier this year for his valiant efforts in sponsoring and supporting the passage of Indianapolis' HRO. Keller did not respond to an e-mail request to respond to the Indy Undercover report. Indy Undercover, which is run anonymously by someone with local law enforcement ties, has attacked Keller mercilessly, including unfair personal attacks on him, because he supported the police consolidation ordinance.
14 comments:
Well, as a constituent of Jim, a lifelong R straight ticket voter, this is a relief. Heck, I even voted for him last week. Now let's hope we can get someone more gracious and thoughtful than Jim. The government channel did him in as many were able to see his style in practice. His public service and politically oriented family is wonderful and hopefully he will find success elsewhere in life outside of politics.
Yippee, not a day too soon! As a ticket splitter, I was glad my vote against him finally led to his defeat. He has been off the deep end a long time.
and I would hate to see Keller go D. We need a 2 party system, where there are moderate and reasonable voices on both sides.
The jockeying begins.
There will be more surprises--some of them soon.
The Dems had lined up a strong candidate to run against Bradford, and I think he smelled the coffee. He would not have won, and, in fact, due to his absolutely beligerant attitude, would've lost big-time.
He pissed off a lot of Republicans on the northside with his zoning decisions of late...one for a developer who has donated heavily to some council members. (Ike is a big recipient of those dollars)
Let's hope the Republicans caucus and find a strong candidate to replace him.
But no matter---this seat will go Democratic next November.
Isn't it amazing that Republicans are now calling for a strong two-party system, after having had it entirely theri way for over 35 years?
If you think the past few years have seen some bad decisions, look back over the last 35...failure to live by a federal court order on the jail, the combined sewer overflow problem...all sacrified at the altar of no tax increases.
Mission mostly accmoplished on the tax increase thing. To our eternal detriment.
His decision to leave the council could be a blessing for the GOP. They might actually find a good candidate to fill his seat and run for the council next year. The seat was sure to switch the Democrats if he ran for re-election due to the issues you raise, anon 8:35, as well as others. His fierce opposition to the HRO didn't sit well with a lot of his constituents either.
Oh, Lord...watching Ch. 16 tonight....random thoughts:
I need to take up a collection for English dictionaries and grammar handbooks for these folks.
Some terms heeard tonight:
Gibson: "recityism" (instead of recitivism) He loves the sound of his own voice.
Conley: "Folks was going to..."
Gray: "The proposals passes."
Mr. Cochrum: it's veterans, not "vetrins." He even brought up the mayor of Carmel.
And would someone PLEASE give the president a cue card with Mary Bridgette Moriarty Adams's name on it...he screws it up every single time. Damn he's known her for years.
Councillor Schneider: the John Birch Society meeting is in Martinsville every Tuesday?
Not a great display of intellegence, unfortuantely.
Anon 857 - What you SEE is what Indy is going to BE. Pretty sad.
8:47, it's "heard," "recidivism," "intelligence," "unfortunately," and "Mary Bridget Moriarty Adams." Careful before casting that first stone.
Oh, and "Cockrum." Missed that one. 10:28, two of those are your guys, you know. Or maybe you're just sad in a bipartisan way. I could be oversimplifying.
Things keep going like they are, the 'Rats will have nobody to blame for the city's problems. They'll be in charge of everything. Then we'll really be living in Gary South.
Jackie Nytes shouldn't worry about finding affordable housing. There will be plenty if the D's take a vast majority of the CCC and the remaining R's put their houses up for sale to move to Shelbyville, Greenfield, Plainfield, and Franklin.
sorry for the earlier typos, 11:39...fat thumbs on a small Blackberry keybaord.
A far cry from actually speaking in a public meeting. Thankfully.
Bradford wouldn't have won next year.
There is almost no one the Republicans can nominate for a year, who can win in fall 2007.
He would not have won, and, in fact, due to his absolutely beligerant attitude, would've lost big-time.
You know sometimes the CCC could use a bit of beligerance instead of everyone being nice sheep and falling into line behind SweetPea. The guy has cojones and served as a good check to the 'Rats that are running a steamroller over the city.
Well, Hail, I'd like to argee with you, but Bradford just lost all credibility a long time ago, mostly in his own party.
He narrowly won in 2003, and the district is about 53% Democratic now.
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