Township Consolidation And Racism

Race-baiting radio talk show host Amos Brown is at it again. It seems that he is miffed that some Democrats would dare to support the consolidation of township governments into the consolidated government. Brown is particularly upset with State Rep. Ed DeLaney. Brown writes in a recent column in the Indianapolis Recorder:

Township board districts are far smaller and more representative and grassroots than legislative or City-County Council districts.

So, why do the forces trying to carpet-bomb township governments try to eliminate these boards? There are no good reasons, just because they can.

If they get their way, scores of Blacks, elected by their neighborhoods and our community, would lose their positions. Again, for no good reason.

Meanwhile, the drive to eviscerate township trustees has also returned. But instead of being spearheaded by Republicans, a renegade Democratic state legislator from Marion County, one elected on the backs of Black folks’ votes, is leading the charge.

This renegade representative released a press release Monday saying he wants to turn the power of township trustees over to a county’s top executive. In Marion County, that would be the mayor.

The misguided Democrat also said he wants to create an elected “countywide advocate for the poor.” And in an even more bizarre proposal, this leave of his senses legislator wants to convert the tax dollars township trustees now use for emergency poor relief into “ways to reduce poverty levels across Indiana, including financing teaching and academic research in those areas.”

Instead of meeting Hoosiers’ emergency needs, or helping find jobs for those in poverty, this renegade representative would spend it on high paid professors and consultants!

This bizarre, absurd scheme from a turncoat Democrat from a 26 percent Black district needs to be scuttled – now!

Sorry, Amos, but I have no idea who represents me on the Center Township Board and the person serving as Center Township Trustee was not elected by the voters. The township employs dozens of political hacks who do little more than help get out the vote for Democrats on election day and owns numerous properties it does not need that sit vacant. Your claim that fiscal irresponsibility in township government is primarily contained in rural townships is laughable. Countless examples of misuse of township funds has been documented in Marion County. You just choose to ignore them. More importantly, it is an outrage that you would accuse DeLaney of selling out blacks simply because he supports consolidation. I suppose you think Sheila Kennedy, another liberal supporter of consolidation, has racial motives. And what about the co-chairs of the Kernan-Shepard Commission, former Gov. Joe Kernan and Chief Justice Randal Shepard? Are they racists too? It's a shame that responsible leaders don't call out Brown on this nonsense that he shovels constantly to stir up racial strife in our community.

Speaking of racism, where's the outrage about comments Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) made about Barack Obama during his run for the presidency that have come to light in a new book? Reid complimented Obama for being "light-skinned" and "with no Negro dialect." Last year, Reid compared Republicans who opposed Obama's health care reform legislation to slave masters. The highest ranking member of the Congressional Black Caucus, U.S. Rep. James Clybourne (D-SC), and other leading African-American leaders quickly came to Reid's defense. It's funny that's not how they felt towards former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS). Lott came under fire when he praised the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Lott praised his own state for supporting Thurmond's 1948 independent run for president and said our country would have been better off if Thurmond had won that election. Like many white southerners at the time, Thurmond supported segregation. Democrats, civil rights leaders and the media kept up the attacks on Lott until he was forced to give up his leadership position.