If you've tuned in WCTY the past few days, Indianapolis' public access channel (TV2-Channel 17)), has been running non-stop the pro-Wishard referendum show HHC officials put on as part of its public notice meeting on the record-breaking property tax increase referendum scheduled for this Tuesday, November 3. HHC officials also made a presentation to MCANA at its September meeting. That meeting was placed in heavy rotation on WCTY's Channel 16 for the entire month following Gutwein's presentation to MCANA. Channel 17 also ran an interview with Gutwein and Harris to promote the referendum that has also run on multiple occasions over the past month. The only opportunity for opponents came when I made a presentation at MCANA's October meeting. WCTY did not add that meeting to its rotation until several days after it took place and then only ran it a few times, far less than it ran Gutwein's presentation. It has been removed completely from the rotation for the days leading up to the election.
This is our publicly-owned TV station and it is being blatantly used to promote only one side of the Wishard debate. This isn't the first time I've notice the politicization of the public access channel. It often runs staged events where people (mostly city contractors) stand up and talk about how great Greg Ballard is and what a great job he's doing. Incensed that the agency director for the public access channel sought to collect public right-of-way fees from the utilities, Ballard ordered his job eliminated and the council Republicans dutifully complied with his request because it offended one of his top advisor's clients, a public utility company that didn't want to pay the fees. Where are the Democrats? Why do they sit by and allow the public cable station to be used to promote Ballard politically?
If something like this had happened when Greg Ballard was running against Mayor Bart Peterson, Ballard would have staged a press conference in front of the City-County Building to protest the unfairness. Not now. He sold us out, folks. He went over to the dark side. He's now trying to outdo the tax and spend policies of Bart Peterson. He's using your government resources to pass a referendum that will reward his campaign contributors with one of the largest public works project in our City's history. That's what it's all about. Keep hundreds of millions of your taxpayer dollars flowing into the public construction pipeline to repay the construction industry for its generous campaign contributions to the politicians. Thank Ballard for supporting the biggest property tax increase in Marion County history the next time you see him. Tell him I sent you.
6 comments:
The larger the municipality, the more corruption there is. The size of large cities means more and more elites that want their personal bank accounts padded at the expense of taxpayers.
All one has to do is read this blog and that should tell them one thing: Don't live in a heavily populated county, especially one that has a large % of people living on welfare of some sort, and expect a honest government. It won't happened in Indy, it has never happened in all of human history.
Get out while you can.
Spook,
I certainly don't agree with that. Corruption of a city's politics is not directly related to the city's size. There are plenty of corrupt towns and small cities where there are one or two elites running the show. Then there are big cities that have more honest government.
The key is whether thee is a watchdog. Indianapolis has no watchdog. These people have no fear of getting caught, or if they get caught, no fear of of prosecution. When was the last time Brizzi prosecuted a public corruption case?
Our problem is not with welfare for the poor. Our problem is with welfare for the rich.
Absolutely right. There is no watchdog for the public interest, and the fatcats are grabbing everything they can get, while the getting is still good.
And in a great bit of subliminal messaging, WISHTV repeated a news story all weekend with
(a) phone interview with TV screen just showing 'voice of', and Scott Schneider giving his reasons for urging a NO vote.
and then
(b) closeup of Gutwein on-camera making his standard pitch, ending with a cheshire-like grin as the story fades to black.
Now maybe they just couldn't get Schneider on-camera in a timely manner, but the slant was there intentional or not.
Gutwein has confirmed to me that he is extremely machiavellian in his ways just like so many of his generation. Bill Clinton represented the worst of this from that 60s generation. The young people lost their way and began believing in a sense of entitlement in place of the traditional American dream. They honestly believe it is okay to lie if it is done to achieve what you believe is best for yourself. That's how we get our president telling us "I never had sex with that woman" only to later say in the face of his patent lie that it all depends on the meaning of what "is" is.
I have been wondering where they are planning to build? I saw a report over the weekend that said 'west of the IUPUI campus' but there sure isn't much room around there if you look at the google map. Maybe it's going to be skinny and really, really tall? But they still normally have mechanical shops, laundry and steam facilities as outbuildings from what I've seen of other more modern hospitals. Where they gonna put all that?
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