Who Won This Election?

My frustration with the people Mayor-elect Greg Ballard has chosen to lead his transition team is reaching the boiling point. The bottom line is that the same old crowd who has been calling the shots in this town are completely in charge of the transition team. I can't begin to express my disappointment at how quickly the people who won this race for Greg Ballard have been tossed to the curb. A report by WTHR's Kevin Rader shows how badly his transition team has gotten off track. Let's look at this bit of his report:

"I think he has called on very capable people with experience, decades of experience in government," said John Cochran, transition chairman.

Former City-County Council member Toby McClamroch is leading Ballard's public safety transition team. Pat Kiely is leading the Capital Improvement Board team and former state Secretary of Commerce Mickey Maurer is leading the waterworks committee.

"High profile individuals who add immediately add credibility," said Joe Loftus, former deputy mayor during the Goldsmith administration, is the transition director which includes 24 teams and 150 volunteers.

Let's take a look at some of these folks:

• Toby McClamroch is a former Republican city-county councilor who is the managing partner of Bingham-McHale. His law firm has made millions off its legal work for the City of Indianapolis the past eight years. Its largest contract is providing legal services for the Capital Improvements Board of Managers. Yes, it played an intricate role in that lousy lease negotiation with Jim Irsay and the Colts, which is costing the taxpayers dearly. While McClamroch's firm raised lots of money for Peterson's re-election, it did absolutely nothing for Ballard's re-election, and that includes McClamroch. On election night, as a commentator on a local TV station, he dismissed Ballard's chances of pulling an upset.
• Pat Kiely is a former legislator from Anderson who is president of the Indiana Manufacturers Association. He is lobbying hard against efforts to repeal property taxes. Ballard pledged to support a repeal of property taxes during the campaign. Kiely is also against proposals like Gov. Daniels', which might require businesses to pay more taxes to reduce the burden on homeowners. His big corporate buddies are all in favor of taxing the little guy to finance stadiums for wealthy team owners on the backs of the little guy so they can entertain their business friends in luxury at sporting events. Does anyone recall Kiely advocating Ballard's election as mayor?
• Mickey Maurer, although he served as Gov. Daniels' Commerce Secretary, is a Democrat. He was viewed as a supporter of Mayor Bart Peterson's re-election like many of Indianapolis' leading business figures. Maurer is the owner of many businesses, including large real estate holdings in the city. His business dealings often require approvals from various agencies of city-county government. As Daniels' Commerce Secretary, he was a proponent of big government handouts to businesses in the form of direct subsidies and tax breaks, which helped contribute to the huge tax shift in Marion County from business to homeowners over the last several years.

The bottom line is that it's business as usual. The same people who have called the shots in this town are still calling the shots. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Mayor-elect Ballard, I ask of you, why are you turning your back on the people who worked so hard to elect you?