The ad’s overarching claim that Hogsett cut his office spending checks out.
But what doesn’t check out is the house the ad portrays as Hogsett’s residence. The house isn't his.
The campaign says it was forced to move the video shoot to another house because it lost the necessary lighting for the project after the sun went behind a tree. The video was taken at the nearby house of a campaign supporter.
That house is comparable to Hogsett's home in the Nora area. County records show the house in the ad has a marginally higher assessed value and is about 500 square feet larger than Hogsett's residence. Hogsett's home is assessed at a value of $226,700, while the house in the ad is valued at $286,500 . . .The story doesn't identify the campaign supporter's name who owns the house shown in the ad so I can't verify their claim it's 500 square feet larger than Hogsett's residence. It sure doesn't look as big as Hogsett's house on East 82nd Street appears on Google Earth. And it certainly doesn't sit on a lot anywhere near the size of the over-sized lot Hogsett's home sits. The Star also conveniently refuses to delve into the curiosity surrounding the slashing of the assessed value on Hogsett's home by one-third this year from $338,100 to $226,700, which Advance Indiana told you about. Hogsett took out a $243,000 mortgage on the home when he purchased it in 2001, suggesting he probably paid somewhere between $270,000 and $300,000 for it 14 years ago. Only a fool would believe Hogsett's house in that upscale neighborhood is worth considerably less today than the price he paid for it in 2001. The Star concludes the ad simply took "artistic license" by representing another person's modest home as Hogsett's home.
The Star may have also missed on its mention of the home depicted in Republican Chuck Brewer's lone TV ad.
His Republican opponent, Chuck Brewer, also has run an ad showing him on the steps of a house talking to his son. It isn't Brewer's house, but the imagery doesn't suggest as strongly that it is. Brewer's residence is a rented apartment on the Southside of Indianapolis.Advance Indiana is told by a blog reader that Brewer is now living in a house on N. Pennsylvania Street, the same one depicted in that ad, not in the apartment he used as a voting address down in Perry Township when he started using that address so he could run for an open City-County Council seat. He formerly owned a condo in the Athletic Club, which he sold in May to Dennis Dye, a partner of The Whitsett Group. Advance Indiana can't confirm at this point the validity of the reader's claim Brewer now lives on N. Pennsylvania. The reader posted anonymously so it could be a Hogsett supporter stirring the pot.
10 comments:
If local media kept their "news noses" to the ground as do you, Gary, this City would be in far better shape. But that presupposes the definition of "news" is properly comprehended by "journalists" and the persons who "manage" them.
As far as this ongoing charade between Brewer and Hogsett and the false narrative of differences between Democrat and Republican Councilors, I am fully disinterested in ever again being a part of the game.
Essentially, Hogsett and Brewer are the same person, members of political parties indistinguishable from each other. The same can be said of any, and I mean ANY, Councilor in the CCC Chamber. It is not going to matter one whit whether Sally Spiers is elected or if Pam Hickman is elected. We see this in the proof of the parking meter scam, cricket field scams, the bastardization of E. New York Street through the IUPUI complex for ever more financial benefit of the wealthy campaign donors, the Mickey Mouse atmosphere of cheaply built but expensive rentals along Virginia Avenue in Fletcher, parking meter deals for corporatists, Vision Fleet, Blue Indy... IT'S ALL STILL THERE AND IT IS NEVER GOING TO BE REMOVED.
Like Obamacare (which, btw, is now failing of its own weight), we the people who pay are expected to "get over it and get used to it".
What about the car in the ad? They make a big deal of the premise that he won't pay for power windows or door locks, and they show a little compact car. Is that really Joe Hogsett's car? Let me say for the record that I like the guy and plan to vote for him. But I don't like misleading ads. Particularly when they concern issues like honesty and integrity. So when Hogsett makes it an issue that he lives quite modestly in a boring little house with a tiny front stoop and drives a tiny little car without amenities, and keeps 30 year old shoes, we stop and take notice. We compare that with the penchant for luxury that other politicians grow to want, and we admire the austerity and simplicity we used to associate with early Indiana residents. My father also thought power windows and door locks were an unnecessary luxury and avoided them for years. So if Hogsett is actually living in a grander home, and driving a grander car, it is a bit deceptive. And I don't know what he was thinking when he filmed a recent ad from the luxury box of the stadium for the big Colts game. That kind of insults those of us who don't think the mayor ought to accept free tickets to anything. Come on Mr. Hogsett. Are you carefully managing this campaign, or is it getting away from you. Honesty and integrity are job one. The only reason I am voting for you is because I don't think the current administration has been honest in its dealings. If you're lying to me, I will switch to Brewer in a heartbeat.
Brewer is on WIBC this morning rightly talking about his experience holding a weapon to defend his country; while absolutely failing, to discuss any defense, of citizens from runaway statism & unsustainable costs related thereto. He's mentioned the undue influence of "big law" while ignoring that same influence as "Republicans" grow the size & expense of government, by unsustainable dimension, in real net terms.
Until candidates focus on reducing the morbid girth & expense of bad example government, in real, net, measurable terms (real time); there will be no progress, as candidates wax on in the slave tongue of statism; unConstitutionally / inorganically bound to the establishment & its club fed narrative.
Word has it that the story about the shoes are inaccurate.
Those weren't the same shoes that Joe ran that 50 mile ultra marathon in NY 17 years ago.
Good grief, is there nothing sacred any longer?
Man, HillDog must have threatened to go all Vince Foster/Ron Brown on the Democratic field. She got Biden, Webb and Chafee to all drop out within days of each other.
The Hilldog is living proof that "Politics is Power, nothing more."
If the campaign ads are false what else is new. The whole political process in Marion County is a false front. The design features of the false front are to act out differences in the parties. There are no differences between the Republicans and Democrats.
The Star's big scoop on the campaign ads is nothing but a slight distraction. The Star appears to be performing it's duties and responsibilities as the Fourth Estate. However, the bigger stories of Crony-Capitalism and Corporate Welfare that infest both the Republican and Democrat Parties, will not be reported on by the Star. The Star as well as the other MSM in Marion County are fused together with this Crony-Capitalist System, and offer it a cover by simply pretending it does not exist.
So if these Campaign Ads are false, misleading, etc., well it's just a small part of the staging of an election that pretends to offer us a choice.
And who is the woman in the Brewer ad? Is she his Chicago wife or just a stand-in? I am a somewhat uniformed family values voter - just asking.
The white woman in Brewer's ad is Colleen Fanning, the Republican candidate for council in District 2 on the city's north side. Brewer is divorced. The boy sitting with him on the porch is his son from that marriage.
Well, in Brewer's favor he's smart enough not to buy real estate in Marion County. That has to count for something. Too bad Ballard endorsed him. I can't vote for anybody who has been endorsed by our very own Chubby Marine, Empty Suit and Mayor.
I doubt this post will be approved, but I'll post it anyway:
I used to be a member of what Indy insiders calls the 'fringe' crowd: the activists that assisted Ballard in his initial election and win over the multi-millionaire, and deeply entrenched Bart Peterson, shocking the nation. I was the only racial minority on his very small, underfunded campaign staff when no one knew him and was hired for opposition research.
A few key fellow fringe pals turned on me as soon as Ballard was elected, afraid that I'd benefit as any other citizen similarly situated would benefit, benefits I earned by conducting exhaustive research, sticking my neck out for an underdog knocking on doors, walking neighborhoods recruiting voters and campaign workers and standing in the rain shaking hands, handing out flyers and promoting Ballard and demoting Peterson, in addition to blog work. Such hard work and dedication usually earns one a seat at the table; a seat that was offered, until my bigoted fringe pals turned on me. They felt that my "type" of minority was supposed to work for free and never expect any benefit because historically that was the purpose in America for my type.
So...years later, the fringe crowd is still on the outside looking in. I've moved on to better pasture.
I deplore both parties in Indy, but at least they stick together and advance individuals in their party and build by getting their folks inside and pulling others in with jobs, board positions and contracts; bigotry has no place in activism and you'll never win in Indy being a bigot even when you actually win the election.
The fringe crowd, whether they want to align themselves or not, are a minority themselves within government; to cannibalize a fellow minority of a different persuasion is dysfunctional and is the reason why they are not taken seriously, even after they assist in the overthrow of an entrenched incumbent. They will always be left behind and on the outside looking in; and I can't be blamed for that because I haven't been around, so cannibalizing me didn't offer the relief they were expecting, whatever that was supposed to be? Perhaps someone less educated, quieter, lighter, easier to influence, persuade and manipulate? That's what they got.
But, one will always have interesting, and 'shocking' blog stories to tell about the parties and government corruption uncovered; if that's what you're interesting in. I'm interesting in actually living a nice quality of life, not just dreaming and complaining about the lack thereof on a blog, year after year, election after election.
Sure, we all make mistakes. I learned a lot from this experience and it changed my life and how I view certain people and how they treat minority team players after we win, and in general. I hope all the activists from the initial Ballard campaign learned something too; you sank your own ship. I realize that I am only one of several who actively supported Ballard, but, I would have made sure our voices were actually heard, not just in a blog, and I would have secured jobs, board and commission seats and contracts for fellow blogger, street activists and campaign supporters, just like everyone else does for their team and I would have stood as firm for you as I did for Ballard. But, I was a different type of minority than the rest of you.
So.....Continue to enjoy your diverse menu in Indy, Bon Appetit!
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