Chilly Reception For Kenley Bailout Plan

Sen. Luke Kenley's $47 million tax and spend bailout plan for the CIB is getting a chilly reception according to the Star's Mary Beth Schneider. She cites both House Speaker Pat Bauer and House Republican Leader Brian Bosma among those. Even CCC President Robert Cockrum conceded the votes are not there to push a tax increase approved by the legislature for the CIB through the City-County Council without bipartisan support. Don't count on that happening according to Joanne Sanders, the Democrat's minority leader. Mayor Ballard finds himself between a rock and a hard place. His operatives pushed the bailout plan to Kenley, but now that the heat is on, he won't specifically commit to any of the tax increases. "I'm just scared to death of taxing too much," said Ballard, who won election in 2007 on a wave of voter discontent over property and income tax hikes. Uh, the legislature wouldn't be considering this tax increase if your administration hadn't been pounding on them for help for the past four months. So who is running this administration? Mayor Ballard? Or Bob Grand?

The Star's Matt Tully has a pretty accurate take on where Ballard stands today. "The man who ran against the establishment in 2007 is now a card-carrying member of it," Tully writes. "The guy who insisted that things had to be done differently now believes some things must be done the same old way." He adds: "It's becoming clear that nobody in power is speaking out for the average taxpayer during these negotiations. City and state officials have huddled privately for months with the Pacers and the Colts in search of a deal. The public has been ignored." Tully ended, "As I listened to Mayor Ballard defer to lawmakers, I had a thought: What would Candidate Ballard -- you know, the outsider average guy -- have said about this process?"