You read here months ago that Mayor Greg Ballard had been visited by the powers that be and told it was time to hang up his jock strap and move on. WTHR's Mary Milz learned in September of a job he was seeking at Cathedral High School at the end of his term. Yet the Star's Tim Swarens shamelessly claims an exclusive on the mayor's official announcement on the subject as he prepares to head over to Berlin for his tenth overseas junket paid for by his favorite pay-to-play, city contractors.
UPDATE: State Sen. Jim Merritt has seized on today's announcement to tout himself as a Republican candidate for mayor. Readers should know a couple of things about Merritt. He is behind the cabal of good ole boys who drafted Tim Craft to move into Councilor Christine Scales' new third district and run against her in the Republican primary next year. He approved of the same council Republicans who never asked Lincoln Plowman to resign or leave the caucus after being indicted for taking a bribe from an undercover FBI agent booting Scales from the Republican caucus because of her conservative and independent streak. Former Chief of Staff Ryan Vaughn liked to copy Merritt on e-mails deriding Scales for putting her constituents ahead of their petty politics. Merritt would reply approvingly to Vaughn's cutting e-mails of Scales. Secondly, Merritt lobbied hard for the bone-headed decision to locate the Regional Operations Center at Alex Carroll's Eastgate Mall property despite the legitimate misgivings former Public Safety Director Frank Straub had with using that location. Know the man before you jump to support him.
9 comments:
Tim Swarens is a plagiarizing, unethical, low-talent, hack who got his ass kicked by Gary Welsh in this page, weeks ago.
Swarens and Tully: local jokes who will never get a real journalism job.
Anon 4:53 said it all- and said it very well- about sewer scum Swarens/Tully so need not comment further.
Today my Inbox from alma mater Cathedral High School appears another donation hit email about me considering shopping at the Cathedral Online Christmas Store and the ShamrAuction Online.
ATTENTION CATHEDRAL HIGH SCHOOL: No more donations from me, no purchases online, no support in ANY way shape or form until I see that you DO NOT EMPLOY GREG BALLARD and thus prove fales the rumors I hear of this possibility.
You will learn that I am not alone should you place this failure with ZERO leadership skills and ZERO intellectual value to what should be excellence in education.
I think anyone who was paying attention saw that Ballard had not given up on the idea of running again until the Broad Ripple shooting incident. It was at that point in time that the Indianapolis corporate powers that be turned on Ballard and looked for a new horse to carry their agenda.And then,miracles of miracles,Evan Bayh rolls into town along with Hogsett and the deal is cut for Hogsett to replace Ballard.
Don't let the fact that Hogsett is a Democrat fool you into thinking that he is going to be any different from other mayors that Lilly Endowment have picked for you since the time Lugar was elected at the dawn of unigov.
Ballard simply outlived his usefulnees once crime reach it's peak last summer.
I can't wait to see who the sacrificial lamb will be that the local powers (GOP and Dem) front Hogsett with.The challenger will be a bi partison decision juat as in the past.
Christine Scales should know by now the only women who get ahead in the local Republican Party are those who keep their mouths shut and do as they are told or those who are skilled workers on their back.
"those who are skilled workers on their back"
Dee Dee Benkie?
"Don't let the fact that Hogsett is a Democrat fool you into thinking that he is going to be any different from other mayors that Lilly Endowment have picked for you since the time Lugar was elected at the dawn of unigov."
One problem with that line of thinking - the Mayor was picked to be the sacrificial lamb in 2007 and it was expected Bart Peterson would prevail and have a 22-7 or 23-6 Council in his favor. The popular uprisings of the summer, Gary himself, a couple of now defunct blogs, Dems who stayed home, among other things led to Bart's downfall. TJ said himself he wasn't putting a lot of effort into 2007 as he wanted to wait until 2011 to make a serious challenge for the Mayor's office.
That's true, Sir Hailstone. Tom John told party contributors up until a few weeks before the election they should only contribute money to help elect the Republican council candidates because it was a waste of money to spend it on Ballard's campaign. Bob Grand rushed to host a fundraiser for Ballard with less than 30 days left in the campaign when they suddenly woke up and realized just how high voters' discontent was. Ballard quickly forgot who was responsible for getting him in the dance. You were one of those council candidates so you remember.
Irrespective of the late hour, a viable candidate can't rely on the party. They'll need alignments / arrangements of their own making from day 1 announcement.
A viable candidate must decouple conflicted interests of crony socialists / statists; protecting the public purse from the entrenched industry of usual raiders & lower the cost of living with deregulation & an open / organic free market.
"Adult" conversation includes examination of prevalent undue influence, at odds with public interest as known / understood by informed consent & appropriate disclosure...
Good government shouldn't be confused & nor should it operate "like a business." Government's not a business. It doesn't move quickly, it moves slowly & deliberately in the public interest.
Years ago in Management classes I took there was a section on the Peter Principle- "You rise to level of your incompetence." It is not stretch to say that Ballard rose to his level of incompetence in the Mayor's Office. He was a puppet of the Shadow Government from day one. Honestly, I think winning the Mayors Office terrified Ballard.
Well now Mayor Blowhole will get perhaps a not so Golden Parachute. He may wind up on some board of directors for Charter Schools as a severance package. If Ex-Mayor Ballard thinks he will be a part of the Political insiders, he will have rude awakening. He will in retirement have an expired shelf life, and be discarded from any real access to insiders.
Post a Comment