No more than four months ago, Mayor Peterson allowed Rep. Bill Crawford (D-Indianapolis) to kill a consolidation plan for Marion County before the Indiana General Assembly because Crawford and other Democrats wanted to protect the Center Township patronage machine headed up by Township Trustee Carl Drummer. Today, Marion Co. Democratic Chairman Mike O'Connor blamed the GOP for the defeat of the consolidation plan and seemed to suggested the Mayor and Democrats now support elimination of township government. As a further affront to Marion Co. taxpayers, O'Connor stood and made the announcement with the disgraced and conflicted City-County Council President Monroe Gray (D) and his equally embarrassing colleague, Councilor Lonnell Conley (D), at his side. O'Connor accused Republicans of having a "death-bed" conversion on the issue of government consolidation in the wake of skyrocketing property taxes. O'Connor didn't explain why the consolidation of IPD and the sheriff's department, along with two township fire departments, had failed to relieve the property tax burden on Marion Co. taxpayers despite claims that at least $18 million a year had been saved.
Republicans countered that O'Connor's statement to the press today was nothing more than a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from the action of Mayor Peterson and council Democrats earlier this week to raise county option income taxes 65%. “O’Connor is bringing consolidation back to the forefront to distract attention from Bart Peterson and Democratic leadership on City-County Council raising income taxes by over $100 million Monday,” said Marion Co. GOP Chairman Tom John. “Indy Works is the Mayor’s same old tired political ploy, so of course he would trot it out to try to cover up the administration’s fiscal mismanagement and huge tax increases. The reality of Indy Works is that it isn’t real government reform at all When faced with real reform proposed by Senator Merritt in this last session, Peterson couldn’t even convince his own party to reform local government."
Sen. James Merritt (R), who carried the consolidation legislation, was particularly perturbed by O'Connor's statements today. “We put forward a complete, uniform consolidation plan this General Assembly, and it was killed by Marion County Democrats, led by Representative Bill Crawford, because of patronage in Center Township. How disingenuous can you be?” said Merritt, noting Crawford’s opposition to 2007 consolidation efforts because Center Township was not excluded from trustee consolidation.
56 comments:
The deal had been worked out by all on township consolidation but then at the last minute Merritt added the poison-pill provision of Center Township nullification. Crawford simply wouldn't accept this new demand. Things fell apart. The word at the Statehouse was that some Republicans wanted "to keep Drummer from becoming another Julia Carson."
Last year the voters in Center Township massively re-elected Trustee Drummer by better than 3-to-1. What the Republicans can't win at the ballot box, they try to finagle at the Statehouse. Shameful!
I agree that all townships need to be eliminated, but how did the Mayor LET Crawfrod kill IndyWorks? He doesn't have a vote...
Representative William Crawford has exactly one more vote in the Legislature than does Mayor Bart Peterson...
Longtime Center Township resident and Representative (since 1972) Bill Crawford also just happens to be Chair of the Ways and Means Committee - the tax committee. Kinda powerful position too!
By the way, Bill Crawford is so popular the local GOP didnt run anybody against him last election. He got 100% of the vote!
Wilson,
You are one stupid S.O.B.
if your going to eliminate trustee's then they all must go including the ghetto mafia center township trustee.
now you pi$$ed me off and i'm not going to take you out on anymore dates to our place ever again!
How could adding in the consolidation of CENTER Township be a poison pill ?
Pike Voter
Elimination of Center Township and its primary function of "poor relief" was NOT a part of the consolidation plan. Merritt demanded it be added after agreements had been worked out laboriously on other issues by all. That last-minute condition was simply unacceptable so the grand agreement foundered.
It's a common legislative trick. The Hate Crimes Bill might have been passed but the Right-To-Life crowd tried to add fetus-protection to the bill. That oddball inclusion screwed the passage since it was totally unacceptable to the majority of legislators.
It's also interesting to note the majority of the hating against Drummer comes from other townships -- voters in his township just chose him again last year 3-to-1.
Seriously Wilson you need to stop with this overwhelmingly elected crap. It’s called gerrymandering and both sides do it. You could run a dead person with a D behind their name in Crawford’s district and they would get elected because it’s just that overwhelmingly Democrat. Just the same way a person who advocated public flogging got elected to Garton’s Senate seat…it’s just that overwhelmingly Republican. A politician isn’t a good public servant just because they aren’t challenged and get elected by wide margins; it just means they’re in a safe seat.
Wilson46201 said...
Elimination of Center Township and its primary function of "poor relief" was NOT a part of the consolidation plan.
So do you agree that leaving Center Township and its primary function of "poor relief" out of it is a better option than consolidating ALL parts of all townships ?
If 90% is good why isn't 100% better ?
If you leave out the "Center Township and its primary function of "poor relief"" how much is the city / county really saving ?
If the African American community wants the hellhole that's Center Township then give it to them! Nobody HAS to live there and nobody HAS to operate a business there.
This same bullshit came down in Detroit 30 years ago and look where their annointed BLACK LEADERS took that city to! The far outlying suburbs have never stopped booming since with all the people that got away from that mess.
Hell, Center Township is already 75% black and one of the poorest and crime infested inner city areas in the United States. If Crawford, Drummer ad the rest of these so-called black leaders want the place it's there's.
And O'Conner being the spokesman for the inner city black community? What a joke, O'Conner is a white transplant from Greenfield which is 99% WHITE!
Not a lot of difference between Greenfield and Martinsville. If I were black I'd be ashamed to be seen with the man.
The city neighborhoods are going to seed and the black community wants to fight over the few scraps that the whites left when they moved out and continue to move out. How pathetic.
Maybe POOR RELIEF would not be needed if Drummer's constituants got jobs and worked. It's a very sad state of affairs when the only job a black can get in Center Township is on the government dole.
Control the relief checks and you control the votes. What a system.
Wilson, you're starting to give racist white people a good name.
The main thrust by all was to consolidate the separate assessors into one AND to consolidate fire departments. There was no particular desire to consolidate poor relief. Peterson had earlier suggested consolidating all poor relief run by Center but objections were raised...
Poor relief has been around since the Indiana Territory - its main continuance has been in urban areas. Rural Hoosiers are usually out of luck on poor relief and that's wrong! I'd be for consolidating poor relief into a county agency with uniform assistance guidelines. Nowadays the level of help is amazingly arbitrary -- Center Township has always had one of the most serious and helpful assistance programs. Center Township voters have long been supportive of this activity. The poor and needy all over the State deserve this halfway-decent level but the 1008 Trustees vary all over the place.
Center Township is only 41% African-American -- it's majority white.
The cost of running Center Township is less than 1.5% of your Center Township tax bill. If you dont live in Center, you arent paying for it -- so relax!
Fuzzy math Wilson. Try 70%
Try the official U.S. Census Bureau figures for population of Center Township. No arithmetic needed. 41% it is. Don't let your bigotry get in the way of verifiable facts...
You know what the REAL cost of running Center Township is to the taxpayers Wilson? Priceless!
You can't put a price on murder victims or any other of the increasing crime victims in that Township.
I'd say need to start straightening up your own house.
Bigotry! The race card gets real old Wilson.
I have never read more bigoted, racists remarks than the drivel you spout on the blogs you live on day in and day out.
Alway's the White Man's fault hey Wilson?
Go feel sorry for yourself someplace else. God made you a black man, he didn't make you a racist!
Races in Center township:
* White Non-Hispanic: 51.9%
* Black: 40.6%
* American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.3%
* Asian: 0.6%
* Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.0%
* Hispanic or Latino: 5.1%
* Two or more races: 1.3%
* Some other race: 0.2%
1.5% of my tax bill on Center property I own amounts to about $167. That's $177 more than the Center crowd deserves.
Poor relief at 150% overhead is actually cruel to the poor, and criminally inefficient. Don't dare claim the system works to serve the poor. That's a lie.
That 1.5% of my tax bill goes to fund the ridiculous real estate empire he's built up. Which is not the trustee's mission. And to pay for his expensive police car. And to store his personal vehicles on govt. property for free. And to pay his $87000 salary for crying out loud.
And to pay the silly salaries of seven township board members, one of whom, when informed their positions might be eliminated, remarked publicly: "What will I use for money to go to the (casino) boat?" There are 63 or so similar township board members across the county--costing us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As long as people like Drummer continue to rape the tax base, and spend money like drunken sailors, they deserve to be eliminated.
Oh yeah...from those who were there, this first-hand account: Wilson was not there. His account of the last-minute Merritt legis. proposals is pure fiction. The proposal died because the mayor's negotiators would not allow Drummer's head to be put on the block. Plain and simple. It was not a surprise. It was always a roadblock, and even tho most of the other roadblocks were negotiated, this one could not be agreed. Sad.
Their days are numbered. Rep. Crawford, Drummer, all of them might very well have bene overwhelmingly re-elected, but don't use that as a defense of this political caste system. The trustee's role was not on the ballot.
Only his name. And it's worth less by the day as he defends this ridiculous, wasteful system.
By the way, I was at the Legislature daily in their waning days talking to legislators and lobbyists. I even offered to buy a very frazzled Bart Peterson a soda-pop while he waited to see Pat Bauer...
Does Carl Drummer even live inCenter Township? I saw a picture of him standing in front of his house while all of his cherished corvettes were parked in his semi-circle driveway. That photo ran in the Indianapolis Recorder.
Now tell me, where in CT will you find a brick house with a semi-circle driveway with a huge setback from the street? Looked a home in the burbs to me.
Drummer lives just north of the 34th & Central. It is a very nice home, but the Center Township Assessor didn't think it was worth what Carl was asking for it when he had it listed for sale. He was off by at least $100,000. But then again, he didn't think Julia Carson's house was worth much more than a run-down house, so go figure.
Drummer is proudly president of a local African-American Corvette-fanciers club -- those vehicles weren't all his -- the photo was likely taken after one of their get-togethers.
By the way, Jocelyn Tandy tried to claim in a 1996 suit that Drummer wasnt a Center resident but she lost (as usual). Her paranoid obsessiveness never ends, does it?
From the outside exterior, Julia's house doesn't look like much, especially when compared to the newer homes built on her street.
But inside, it's very, very nice.
Speaking of Julia, I saw her sitting in her booth Sunday at Indiana Black Expo. Her wig was slightly askew. Sarge Fisher was there too, looking like a rumpled, wrinkled, drunk.
Wilson,
The article in The Recorder was about Drummer's very large and extensive Corvette collection.
If you're implying that I'm crazy-assed Jocelyn Tandy, LOL!
Julia's lot is worth $30,000, even if the house isn't worth a whole lot. Councilor Abduallah is apparently living in a run-down shack as well, assuming he actually lives in the house he claims as his residence.
fwiw, I've been having fun today reading 2007 bank lawsuits involving the Dickersons ... Bentleys and Mercedes, oh my!
Countless people "walked by" the hall in the last days of the last legislative session. Probably thousands.
Do not imply that you were anywhere close to the delicate negotiations on Sen. Merritt's conference committee, because you weren't. That was purposely a very small group.
And don't imply that the Mayor would remotely trust your advice, because he wouldn't. Not even close. He's got your number.
The compromise died because the last remaining thorn was elimination of trustees. Which I believe the Mayor would secretly like to do, but which he's politically afraid to do. God knows why, but he is.
And that, as Elizabeth Ann used to say in her big rocking chair, is the troof.
Bentleys and Mercedes?
It's worth absolutely nothing. Except as diversion from good points posted here. As Judge Judy (that glorious bitch) would say, "put a period at the end and get over it."
Hey! Stop making fun of Julia! She's one classy dame!
In a previous job, we brought a group of constituents to meet with her regarding health care issues.
I've seen bag ladies in Hollywood with better fashion. While talking to us, she munched on a tuna fish sandwich and shoved fritos into her mouth, with some even falling out and onto her well-worn track suit.
Bart Peterson is a mayor - he has no vote in the Legislature. He may have personally desired to ditch the Trustees but if the actual elected legislators wouldn't agree, Bart's vote counts for nothing. He's a smart cookie politically - he knows he couldnt override Crawford's veto. Simple as that. Merritt wouldnt agree to just consolidating assessors and fire departments, he had to throw in that poison-pill which he knew would be rejected.
Recall the famous remark by Bismarck about the analogy of legislating being like sausage-making: the process may be disgusting although the results are often tasty...
To some people the poison pill was "just consolidating assessors and fire departments".
Why not go all of the way with consolidation.
Hey, leave Judge Judy alone! She rocks! I wish she were here in Indy to hear all this crap going on, she would put this city on its ear.
We need to ELIMINATE the 9 townships in Indianapolis. Townships only serve rural areas, and have no place in a city.
Center Twp is the best reason to eliminate townships completely...full of patronage and corruption. With over 100 patronage make-work, do-nothing jobs, it is obscene! Let's also remember that Center Twp owns 3 giant taxpayer bought buildings, but has no need for them. It put a bar that stunk of political corruption in one of the taxpayer owned buildings, where city codes were not followed, and zoning variance was granted by the WIFE of the city-counil majority leader.
The Center Twp Trustee uses one of the taxpayer owned buildings to store his car collection...doesn't he?!
And what is more obscene is the fact that an uneducated Center Twp Trustee makes $90k/taxpayer paid salary!!!
Now, the Center Twp Constable, (ONLY Marion County has any constable) who lives in a 1/2 million dollar home...does anyone think that perhaps the fees for the small claims court are too high?????
Center Twp has $11 million tax dollars in the bank!
Shouldn't we just eliminate the township as a taxing entity, transfer constable function to the civil sheriff, small claims court as inferior court under the Superior Court, no township trustee at all, and selling all those taxpayer owned buildings (especially the one with the bar inside)!
Geeeezzzzz, Carl Drummer (D) Center Twp Trustee thinks his job is to TAX & SPEND and become a property manager and have a bar in the taxpayer owned building that is owned in parts by the wife of the city council president, airport authority croney (D), and a local wealthy democrat who owns a chemical business. It is wrong to tax us for this. We need to eliminate the taxing entity and make any needed functions accountable to the proper official.
For the record Carl Drummer and his wife and children lived in Lawrence Township and he used the address of Julia Carson's house on Park Avenue at the time to run for trustee. 30 days in the township qualified him to run and the Democrat Party knew it at the time. Ask Kip Tew who was county chairman at the time. It was all a set up to name the 300 building after Julia Carson. The board did not know this was going to happen in advance as reported in the Star. The sign in front of the building with her name on it had already been ordered before he took office. Ask the board members. Check out the facts, it was all a coverup to allow Carson to remain the overseer. The trustee bond was filed at the Recorder's officelate because they forget about it. The plan continues. A lawsuit was filed in Circuit Court.
The dumpster diver is at it again.
No admission of the obvious greed and corruption in the Democrap Party.
I am so glad that when I was house shopping, I did NOT move into Marion Co./Indy. With all the corruption from both parties in years past and in years to come, I see Indy becoming just like Detroit. The east side has become a vast wasteland. Don't let the building boom of retail fool anyone. All those shops are going to be closing up shop after their 10 year tax abatement goes bye-bye. The building of the new Section 8 cesspool right next to Washington Sq. Mall will pretty much kill the entire east side. The positive thing about Marion Co. corruption is that at least now I have some really hard facts and figures to show why any future "regional tax" should be voted down in my county. The food and beverage taxes for Ir$ay are one thing. Taxing me to help keep the corrupt Marion Co. hacks in power is another.
True, the Mayor has no vote in the legislature. But Democrats statewide look to him for leadership on multiple issues. He is greatly admired. That's a fact.
You needn't agree with his policies to recognize it--the capital city's mayor, whatever the party, is always a major player in legislative debates.
All four legislative caucuses worked hard on the consolidation bill. Each had to give a little. The final caucus that would not, was House Dems, largely because Crawford-Porter-Summers would not bend on Center Township govt. elimination.
(Notice how Wilson no longer insinuates he was "in the know" about these negotiations? Amazing what happens when a little truth is broadcast...)
The gig's up. Property tax revolt was the final nail in the cofifn of wasteful and shamefully corrupt township government.
Good riddance.
I've got a really simple idea for poor relief, one which has absolutely no overhead and puts money directly into the pockets of ALL the poor people in Center Township without them having to grovel to anyone..... it's called cutting taxes.....
I'm amazed that Merritt's getting a free pass on this... He wouldn't give in on consolidating all of the assessors, which was a non-negotiable for Crawford. So, to lay this all at the feet of Crawford is not fair. I know that the talking points put out say to lay it at Crawford's feet, but Merritt's got to get some blame in this as well.
I'm not sure why Merritt wouldn't give up the assessors, since 5 of the 9 are Dems know, but, what do I know? I think it was Paul Ricketts influence on Senator Merritt.
Could be, 7:23, but your source is partially wrong. Ricketts was already history when this legislation was negotiated. (And, again, good riddance)
Sen. Merritt, a smart man, is, for me, wrong on most issues. But he never insisted on the assessor thing.
Here's another question, just for giggles: how can a township trustee, on $87K a year, afford so many Corvettes, child support, a large home, and a travel schedule that would make Ross & Babcock swoon? (Who pays for that travel?)
Quick math tells us that after-tax income would be about $52,000...to support all those expenses. Hmmmmmm.
Nice try, Wilson, but the trustee has bragged to too many people that all those Corvettes are his. And he has other vehicles, too.
Either he lied to them, or this is another smoke screen.
8:30 pm:
The Mayor actually held a press conference the last days of session to publicly state his support for township consolidation...no secret agendas there.
Not hard at all to determine where Drummer gets a good chunk of cash to live the lifestyle he does.
For some reason, nobody seems to understand that just how deep people like Drummer are tied into black organized crime and the illegal numbers racket that continues to operate in Center Township.
Does anyone really believe that these so-called black leaders are making all that money and living as they do off taxpayer money alone.
The thousands of inner city blacks that receive "poor relief" money are VERY important to the illegal numbers racket. The Center Township Trustee provides one hell of a lot of customers to the people running the multi-million dollar numbers racket in Indianapolis.
There are two CASH HOUSES in Center Township where the gambling money goes under police escort to get counted everyday. Anyone care to speculate on just exactly who owns these homes?
7:30, Merritt absolutely did insist on the Assessors thing. That's from sources inside the negotiation room (which according to some folks was a "small" crowd). It may have been part of his temper tantrum when he realized Crawford wasn't going to give up on the Trustees, but it occurred.
To set the record straight: Dr. Benjamin Osborn purchased the former Mayflower Building with a federal grant to house the offices and a training center for poor relief recipients. He had a GED program and graduations ceremonies there...and NEVER had a surplus in the bank!!! (Hear that Corrupt Carl (D) Drummer? Someone actually performed their job function, instead of creating a patronage system and wasting tax money like you do now.)
-The funds were spent for the PEOPLE IN NEED OF TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE! (Corrupt Carl Drummer now has a patronage payroll over over 100 employees).
Dr. Osborn served as many people as he could without predjudice and would exhaust his budget many times.
Julia Carson (Our "Fool on Capitol Hill") purchased the former Standard Life Building at 300 Fall Creek Pkwy. N. Drive for #350,000.00 of TAX MONEY at auction, and went to the state TAX commission for $18 Million Poor Relief Debt Bonds to fund the $8 Million renovations and retired the debt of Center Township with the help of Atty. Lacy Johnson (D). Let us emphasize that Atty Lacy Johnson (D) is part-OWNER OF THE BAR now located in that same taxpayer owned building!!!
Until the bonds are repaid, Center Township has to maintian $5 Million of tax dollars in the bank to support the bond rating of the city.
Julia "Our Fool on Capitol Hill's" Carson's plan as Township Trustee was to have the building named after her when she ran for congress (how arrogant!).
The one story Mass Avenue Building also housed an expensive boutique in the one story building adjacent to the main building where poor relief recipients purchased clothes for the school friends. The store was listed in the name of her associate Louis Morse and his wife. They made a fortune in the short time they were there.
Only the bookkeeping department of the Center Twp Trustee was moved from Mass Avenue to 300 East Building leaving the fourth floor VACANT on Mass Avenue, and Corrupt Carl Drummer's (D) collection of expensive cars were housed in the taxpayer owned building for free.
Corrupt Carl Drummer (D) with the help of Rep. Bill Crawford (D) purchased the former Fall Creek YMCA for $1 Million of TAX money with the promise to renovate the HOTEL for "homeless" people.
Both Carson and Drummer CUT SERVICES to poor people but spent funds for THEIR PERSONAL MONUMENTS!
-It was allowed and overlooked like everything else in Center Township.
Drummer has and $11 Million surplus in the bank which indicates his budget for this year should be cut! The Center Twp board went along with the program ("Machine Politics"). Not one of the board members stood up to them. If you asked questions, you are black- balled and defamed throughout the Democrat Party.
The time is long overdue to ELIMINATE TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT in cities. In addition to having no need, it has become a TAX & SPEND corrupt political Machine.
Well, 8:08, all I can say is, the negotiators are evidently telling different post-war stories.
And as for a definition of "small," the point was, large or small crowd, the conversations were fairly heavy, with some smart people from both sides. Wilson was nowhere near them, as he implied.
Sen. Merritt consistently asked for elimination of all township govt. I believe, but could stand to be corrected, that he exempted the Small Claims Courts. Most folks believe the Superior Court system could not handle the Small Claims caseload if small claims courts were eliminated. And I use the SC Courts; they're efficient and relatively quick.
The Democratic House position, supported mostly but not entirely by the Mayor, was a Super Trustee, conveniently Center's, to handle all county trustee functions.
As if rewarding his ineffiincy would somehow help.
The position was faulty from the outset in January, but the negotiators worked forward, hoping against hope that the weight of the rest of the reforms would make the House Ds collapse on the Super Trustee. They should've, because their position was not consistent.
At the last minute, negotiations broke down because the trustee's office was a drop-dead position for the House Ds.
For those of you playing the home version of this game, that's a small preamble to the next big fight, which is 3-7 years away: absorption of IPS by the township school systems. The Center machine views IPS as their last big chit. It'll go down hard, butit wil go down.
Small Claims Courts are already technically a part of the Marion County Court system. The judges are elected by township and the "Court Clerk" is the elected Township Trustee. The elected Constables are fee-based and provide the bailiffs for the courts. The Small Claims Courts are basically economically self-sufficient from filing fees. Taxes aren't needed to operate them.
In some townships, the small claims court rent, utilities and office supplies are paid by the taxpayers, or at least partially.
Still, it is an efficient system.
I wasn't aware they were considered a "part of" the Suerior Court system. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that isn't true. If it were true, Lord Bradford, when he was Chief Judge, would've made all the Small Claims employees serfs.
Appeals Court Judge Bradford. I still can't get over that.
So funny. Fourteen out of fifty, twenty eight percent (28%) of the comments so far are from Wilson. The Marion County Democrat party must be sweating this one. Sick 'em Wilson Sick 'em. I can hear the rally call now. Is Center Township getting tired of the wicked witch and her flying monkeys? Time will tell. Sick 'em Wilson before it’s too late.
TRUTH is that the Small Claims Courts are independent and NOT part of the Superior Court system (yet). If they were, they would share administration as the Superior Courts do.
Small Claims courts are (currently) separated from the Superior Court.
Marion County is the ONLY COUNTY IN INDIANA to have a constable...and the Center Twp Constable's home is valued at almost 1/2 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!
Now, where else, except from the public dole can an ignorant and incompetent fool make so much money & live in a mansion valued at 1/2 Million Dollars? Only in Center Twp, Marion County, Indiana...and his job is totally worthless and performed more efficiently by the civil sheriff!
Remember what Ronald Reagan said: "Governing least is governing best!"
9:27, Great point! The Democraps know that their TAX & SPEND philosophy is going away in November, when voters get to make their decision!
So funny. Fourteen out of fifty, twenty eight percent (28%) of the comments so far are from Wilson46201.
Corruption IS as Corruption DOES!
Welcome to South Detroit! Hope you like our crime rate, courtesy of TAX & SPEND DEMOCRAPS!!!
"and the Center Twp Constable's home is valued at almost 1/2 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!"
I was told that Duncan's home was assessed at $120K.
Something's wrong here.
2:20 Is that you posting anonymously again, Wilson?
Here is Mark Tony "The Constable" Duncan's property card:
Parcel Number: 1038930
Property Address: 02604 BROADWAY ST
Owner(s): DUNCAN, MARK ANTHONY
Year Built: 2006
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Assessment Information
Land Value: $8,400
Structural Value: $443,300
Total Assessed Value: $451,700
Value Deducted as Exemptions: $0
Net Assessed Value: $451,700
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