Brewer Finally Says Something To Distinguish Himself

It comes pretty late in the campaign, but Republican Chuck Brewer finally said something to distinguish himself from his Democratic opponent, Joe Hogsett. Brewer thinks it's time to end the practice of offering big tax breaks and incentives to attract large companies, and he thinks we've done enough already to promote development downtown. Here's the quote from his joint appearance with Hogsett on WTHR this morning:

“As a business owner, I can tell you what I think about giving away tax abatements or tax dollars to companies to attract them here,” said Brewer during a half-hour roundtable discussion with Democrat Joe Hogsett on WTHR-13. “At the end of the day, this is a race toward the bottom. Every city in America does it, and it’s OK if you are trying to develop something — but our Downtown is doing just fine.” . . . 

“The real focus we need to have as a city is to create the kind of place, the kind of success that companies want to locate here not because we are giving away the farm but because this is a great place to find talented workers and this is a great place to live and raise a family,” Brewer said. “I think we’ve given away enough tax dollars and now is the time to focus on creating a great quality of life.”

Brewer passed up an opportunity to challenge Hogsett on what he means when he says in his campaign ads that the "downtown insiders" are "cheating the system" and "stealing our tax dollars." It is absolutely stunning that neither Brewer nor a single member of the local media has seen fit to question Hogsett about what he meant by that statement, and if he believes what he says, why he didn't do anything about it when he was in a position to do something about it as federal prosecutor.

Brewer also passed up the chance to take Hogsett to task for saying he couldn't comment on the Covanta contract because his law firm represents the company, even though that didn't stop him from weighing in on the criminal justice center with an opinion when his law firm was being paid $750,000 by the City to convince the City-County Council to pass it.