Several hundred faithful took time out of the work day to participate in today's Revolt At The Statehouse Rally, some driving as far as Hammond and Evansville. A big thanks to Paul Ogden and Melyssa Donaghy for the great work they did today. A special thanks to City-County Councilor Ed Coleman (L) for coming out today. I think he was the only elected official willing to show his face at the event. I gave the CIB and its owners, the Simons and the Irsays, hell for seeking a multi-million dollar state bailout so the taxpayers can shell out more money to operate their sports palaces. A new item I picked up from a sympathetic lawmaker today is a plan being circulated among the legislative leadership to impose a statewide increase in the liquor tax to finance the CIB bailout and other assorted items. That should go over well with bar owners. In Marion County, they already collect a 9% food and beverage tax to help pay for the CIB.
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Here's an AP report on today's rally. WIBC has a story here. There's a WTHR story here. WISH-TV's Jim Shella weighed in with a critical report, which comes as no surprise. Shella likes buddying it up with all the insider State House types and looks upon outsiders with derision. Incidentally, Jim, it wasn't a Libertarian only event as you try to portray it. There were plenty of Republicans and Democrats there as well. I'm sure he was miffed that blogger Ruth Holladay blew the lid off the fact that WISH-TV employees were among the more than 60 corporate clients entertained by the Pacers at an exclusive resort in Cancun, Mexico recently. Don't expect any follow up reporting from Shella and his State House reporter buddies. They wouldn't want you to learn the extent that they're in the tank with the Simons in pushing this bailout deal through the legislature. Media organizations profit off the Pacers and the Colts. The word I'm hearing is that the Pacers front office is blaming the leaked story on the Pacers' Cancun trip for Indy's elites on a disgruntled worker at the Indianapolis Star, one of the Pacers' corporate partners which took part in the Cancun trip.
This news is not sitting well with some of the Star's rank and file employees from what I'm hearing. Workers there have already been forced to take a one-week unpaid furlough during the first quarter. The Star's parent company recently announced that employees at the newspaper will be asked to take another one-week unpaid furlough during the second quarter. Additionally, the newspaper loaned the CIB close to $3 million from the dividends it earned from the Circle Centre Mall, which is operated by the Simon family, to help pay for Conseco Fieldhouse. We recently learned from the IBJ that the CIB has asked the Star and other investors to forgive a total of $36 million owed to them. The Star has had nothing to say about the request to forgive the loan.
8 comments:
I am appalled (but not terrible surprised) to read the various blog comments I've come across on this this afternoon. Lots of people painting everyone that cared enough to participate as somehow just not right in the head.
Disagree with the Dems and you are a mental defective or racist or likened to Timothy McVeigh.
That just tells me the message is on target. Denigrating those who think for themselves and actually care about something other than government handouts seems to be the new world order.
This mindset is from the poison of bloggers like Abdul, Jen Wagner and Thomas Cooke. They are paid political hacks who think they're smarter than all the rest of us. They can't stand it when people get involved in the process out of a sense of civic virtue and not a paycheck and beat them at their own game. Abdul has been so thoroughly discredited that his daily listenership is down to about a couple hundred people. He's not too far from having to write a check to WXNT to keep his pathetic show on the air.
I heard an interview on wibc with Eric Berman on the Steve Simpson show, and he was struggling to find something good to say.
Delegations came from evansville, new albany, hammond, lafayette, muncie to share their local government's lack of accountability and misplaced priorities. Advance Indiana's remarks sparked the loudest crowd response. Two thumbs up and thanks.
Again, WIBC, like other media organizations in town have a financial stake in bailing out the CIB. Whatever the Pacers and Colts demand, the media organizations fall into line because they have partnerships with the sports teams in promoting their events. The on-air reporters are restricted from going out too far on a limb, even if they personally sympathize with us. The real disappointment is Greg Garrison. I'm sick of his total focus on national events and lack of concern for what is happening locally.
Shella is a pure establishment hack. I doubt his interest in politics runs any deeper than being associated with what he thinks is 'big', so that he can think of himself as an important person. Helluva a news guy, eh?
A shame this event suffered his ridicule, because it was clearly non-partisan, or perhaps more accurately, multi-partisan. The 'news report' he ran was butchery. Nothing like looking for the worst bits possible, excluding germaine statements, in the interest of forwarding his particular bias.
WISH-TV should be embarassed of him.
I wanted to, but couldn't make it today... are there are videos floating around anywhere, youtube, whatever... of the different speakers?
:)
I've heard Garrison refer to being 'local this hour' which I take to mean the show is purposely wider scope than local issues because they are piping the show all over (the state, I suppose), except during the tailend of it.
It really is unfortunate, as I don't give a whit about the national phone-ins - they just repeat the same thing everytime.
It's a matter of money, of course. Perhaps even a plot by Garrison to try for a national gig.
Oh well.
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