Tully's description of Waterman pretty much sums up what a goof this man is:
Let's start with Waterman, a former Southern Indiana sheriff known for wearing camouflage suits, raging about "homosexuals" and mumbling almost incoherently. Standing in front of a home on Indianapolis' Northside on Tuesday, Waterman wore a short-sleeve shirt, a clip-on tie and a confused expression.
The lawmaker announced he would be running as a member of the Taxpayers Party, a protest group that is the brainchild of attorney John Price, who tried to lure other conservative Republican senators into the race before settling on Waterman.
Waterman didn't say much, other than briefly criticizing property taxes and ISTEP, and complaining that fellow Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' office did not cater enough to him. "I would have a lot better open-door policy to legislators," Waterman said as a neighborhood cat plopped down on the sidewalk by his feet.
As for Elrod, Tully sees his decision as nothing more than the "opportunistic" politician who is "desperately seeking whatever office he can win." Contradicting himself, Tully says Elrod's decision was "a smart political move." Yet, he says the Democrats "mockery" of Elrod is "fair." Tully seems to forget, or perhaps he simply doesn't know, that Elrod's opponent, Mary Ann Sullivan, is now seeking her second public office in just the past ten months. She ran for the vacant city-county council seat of Patrice Abduallah, losing to Andre Carson and finishing third with just two votes. She had also already started laying the groundwork to run for state representative, even before she sought the vacant council seat. I also don't recall Tully knocking Carson after he picked up and ran for Congress just months after being appointed to the council and before he was even sworn in for a full term after winning election unopposed.
24 comments:
The problem for Jonathon Elrod is that he seems to make a habit of hopping around from election to election. If there's such a thing as "Electoral ADHD", Elrod's the poster child for it. Why doesn't Jon just settle down and serve out a full term of something without also running for something else?
Gary I am so happy to see that your blog and Frugal Hoosiers point to the hypocrisy of the Waterman campaign under the direction of John Price.
What I want to know is why Senator Waterman did not stand up and do everything in his power to see that SJR1 (property tax repeal) saw the light of day during the general assembly instead of being moved to a summer study session? Where was Waterman then?
Price uses Waterman to advance his own opportunist agenda, and Waterman uses property tax anger to advance his. I've come to the conclusion that the taxpayer is being used by both of these men.
Even though I organized most of the rallies last year (including the first one with Andy Horning), hosted countless meetings in my home, and gave as much as 30 hours a week of volunteer time, Price refuses to allow Hoosiers For Fair Taxation to join the statewide property tax repeal alliance.
The reason? I believe it is because Price is a misogynist and does not approve of my legal, although misunderstood work as a dominatrix.
Last summer, not knowing who I was and desperate for more people to sign onto the Constitutional lawsuit, Price faxed me paperwork.
Within minutes someone told him who I was. Immediately, I was told that I was not wanted on the lawsuit.
Yet, I am a homeowner for the past decade in the prestigious Meridian Kessler neighborhood and have never once been found guilty of breaking a law ever in my life.
In contrast Price gives accolades to men like Waterman who did absolutely NOTHING to advance property tax repeal as a Senator.
Price also allowed a convicted felon, a man who once threatened to murder the family of the Marion county prosecutor, into the Repeal Alliance.
So what exactly is the common bond between these two men? I don't think it is property tax and I think both of these men are hijacking property tax anger.
Mark my words, I am far from done with Price. There's nothing I love more than exposing and humiliating hypocritical men who take advantage of innocent well meaning people.
Creeps like these nasty, self-righteous men bring out the sadist in me.
--Melyssa
uuhh, he is serving a full term as state representative, unlike your pal Andre, who couldn't wait to dump his council seat after a few months of doing nothing more than drawing a government paycheck and campaigning full time for his grandmother's congressional seat.
Elrod spent some of his first year of his first term sitting on the house floor while working on mailings for his Congressional candidacy. Those of us who live in HD 97 deserve better than that and will get it from Mary Ann Sullivan who I predict will get close to 60% of the vote in that district. AI, your state representative, John Day, would never disrespect his district by doing political mailings on the house floor......he has too much integrity.
Sorry Gary, I think you have this wrong. I'm a fan of you and your blog, but Mary Ann Sullivan is a tremendous candidate in our 97th district. I had heard a lot about her, and finally had the opportunity to meet Mary Ann a month or so ago. Elrod won't be able to handle her- you'll agree soon (if you don't already).
I dont vote for too many people on the other side of the aisle, but she'll be an exception.
Any word on David O's old seat? DeLaney can't win can he?
Day is a nice guy, but I can't think of a single legislative accomplishment of note after all these years in the House. And I'm not counting all those bill he co-sponsored. Some of our neighborhood leaders are less than impressed with him. The only time they see him is around election time.
Sullivan's problem is that people in the 97th District are actually intelligent enough to know how to scratch a ballot and not vote a straight Democratic ballot like robots. As the poll showed, Obama was leading McCain but Daniels is leading Thompson. I run into people all the time who are apolitical and live in Jon's district. They've all met him and they have nothing but nice things to say about him. Sullivan thinks she can dump a bunch of smear campaign pieces prepared by the House Democrats and walk away. Everything will be tit for tat. HRCC will put all of the resources into this race it needs to hold it.
According to public records from the Republican former Marion County Clerk, only about 10% of voters of either party vote a straight party-line ticket. "Mindless straight party voting" is an urban myth used to excuse political losses by incompetent campaigners...
I know that district well as I work with many of the precincts. It is a good Democratic district but it is a district that does not vote straight ticket. Wilson is correct.
Mark, Apparently you didn't live through the same congresional election I did this past March. Did you see all the negative direct mail pieces Carson dumped in voters' mailboxes? You can bet Sullivan will recycle those same pieces with the assistance of the House Democrats. Remember, it was the House Democrats who aided a Democratic Party staffer in gaining access to the balcony to videotape Elrod while Cooke was on the payroll of the Indiana Democratic Party. And don't someone come no here and try to tell me that was strictly taped from the public balcony. One of the angles was clearly shot from the guest balcony. Many rank and file members, Ds & Rs, are still livid with the state party for pulling that stunt.
Mark, Apparently you didn't live through the same congresional election I did this past March. Did you see all the negative direct mail pieces Carson dumped in voters' mailboxes? You can bet Sullivan will recycle those same pieces with the assistance of the House Democrats. Remember, it was the House Democrats who aided a Democratic Party staffer in gaining access to the balcony to videotape Elrod while the staffer was on the payroll of the Indiana Democratic Party. And I don't someone to come on here and try to tell me that was strictly taped from the public balcony. One of the angles was clearly shot from the guest balcony. Many rank and file members, Ds & Rs, are still livid with the state party for pulling that stunt.
Gary,
I *think* I understand what you wrote. However, it seems like you are equating a state house race for Mary Ann Sullivan to a Federal election for Andre Carson. I didn't like Carson's mailers at all, but I didn't like Jon's either.
And what *in the world* does Mary Ann Sullivan have to do with:
a) the campaign that Carson ran against Elrod
b) the fact that Jon got caught on video using a state employee (on the clock) to help him campaign for his federal office (before he decided not to run) (which is after he decided to tell people he didn't want his job anymore) (but now he wants it back)
Wilson, your stats are wrong. The stat you cite is the ones who check the straight party ticket option. Many, many people who vote straight party go through and check all the Republican or Democratic candidates. They are not listed in the percent of straight ticket voters, but that is in fact what they are.
There were no laws broken, Mark. The staffer did not have any role in preparing the campaign mailing. Lawmakers are part-time and are multi-tasking every day while they are at work at the State House. They can do work related to their professions outside the State House and do campaign work as long as they are not using state resources. The letters and stamps were paid by Jon's campaign. Jon's campaign produced the letters, he simply carried them to the State House, signed them, stuffed them and sealed the envelopes during the down time. The staffer did nothing more than drop the letters off at the post office at the State House, along with official letters. That is not a prosecutable offense and everyone knows it. Lawmakers were aghast because they do other work at the State House all the time. I've personally witnessed attorney lawmakers doing work on their cases at the State House. When I was a lobbyist, I witnessed legislators AND staffers passing out invitations to political fundraisers to lobbyists in the hallways. I witnessed legislators and staffers performing work on legislators' filings as candidates. Mary Beth Schneider and Jim Shella have witnessed these activities as well. Never once did it occur to them to do a story on it because they knew it was de minimus activity which didn't warrant a criminal investigation. Schneider and Shella allowed themselves to be used as hacks for the corrupt Carson political machine. They turned a blind eye as Carson used government resources left and right in front of TV cameras for his campaign. Sullivan has every intention of dragging this bullshit up again. She may as well know that those of us who support Jon will hit back hard at these baseless claims.
Flynn, I agree with you. I saw stats on straight-party voting in Marion County which really surprised me, particularly in municipal elections.
The difference you are missing is that Elrod was on the public payroll being paid to represent us not campaign on the house floor. The Demo State committee staffer was not a public employee and his filming was done from the public seating area. You may not like that he caught Elrod doing this but Elrod did it so often that the Dem party sent a staff person over to film it.
And you continue to make a false claim. STATE LEGISLATORS MAY DO OTHER WORK WHILE THEY ARE AT THE STATEHOUSE. THEY ARE PART-TIME CITIZEN LEGISLATORS. THEY HAVE ALWAYS DONE OTHER WORK WHILE AT THE STATE HOUSE. IT'S A FACT OF LIFE. THEY ARE ALLOWED TO WORK ON THEIR CAMPAIGNS AS WELL AS LONG AS THEY ARE NOT USING STATE RESOURCES. JON ELROD DID NOT USE STATE RESOURCES.
Further, the proof is in the pudding. Not one Democrat would file a formal complaint against Elrod. Why?
So if something has "always been done" then it must be legal.
AI, the republicans still do not have a candidate for state senate or state rep in the district in which you reside...why dont you talk to the party and run for one of those offices.......
My House and Senate districts are gerrymandered, heavily Democratic districts. I don't engage in exercises in futility. And yes, that's the way it is over there. It was even much worse when I worked for the Illinois legislature. I would add that there are some people who are really walking a fine line on work they do for state legislative races and the legislature in both parties. Patrick Fitzgerald tripped up the chief of staff to my former boss in Illinois on such matters and sent him to prison. But since we don't have a U.S. Attorney's office in Indianapolis which prosecutes political corruption cases like they do in Illinois, Indiana legislators probably have nothing to fear.
My home received enough unwanted negative Carson mailers (litter) to stoke the fireplace with fuel for an entire evening. --Melyssa
Gary,
I never said it was illegal. It was a blunder to be sure, and it certainly says a lot about Elrod's judgement and political acumen (far less though than his recent announcement). Bottom line- Elrod's going to get beat by Sullivan- and we'll ALL be better off for it.
Now...let's get to talking about races where we have a better candidate and a better shot.
Waterman facing tough primary opposition in this election; Eric Bassler from Daviess Co.
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