Comments on Advance Indiana™: Republican Council Advances Largest Tax Increase In Indianapolis History

Almost no one cares. The sheep will continue to v...

2010-05-12T20:41:31.938-05:00

Almost no one cares. The sheep will continue to vote like sheep and we will get more of the same; we will just have a different set of criminals stealing taxpayer's money.

If the Indianapolis Gannett Star was willing to te...

2010-05-12T15:10:50.170-05:00

If the Indianapolis Gannett Star was willing to tell its readers the truth, the title of this AI piece would be the title of a headline story there. We, the tax payers, are being socked here, taken to the cleaners. I also say, in Indiana, vote the only third party able to get on the ballot, Libertarian.

Just for completeness sake - that was a cell phone...

2010-05-12T12:07:28.803-05:00

Just for completeness sake - that was a cell phone that went off when Glenn Pratt was speaking.

It's beyond sad when it was an era of less cor...

2010-05-12T11:15:54.281-05:00

It's beyond sad when it was an era of less corruption and more voter empathy when Monroe Gray was in charge.

If we don't make goverment simple enough to be understood by the average guy, we don't make it believable. If we don't make goverment believable, then we don't trust it or spend much time paying attention to it. When we fail to pay attention to goverment, our public servants run amuck. When public servants do anything they want, we end up in our present deep, deep fiscal and societal hole.

Piling everything into bloated, grandiose schemes only adds to the distrust that infects us all.

We have to return to simple governing.

Gary, the buzzer was actually someone's cell p...

2010-05-12T10:48:40.423-05:00

Gary, the buzzer was actually someone's cell phone. It was someone in the audience.

Could you see this happening if we had a Libertari...

2010-05-12T10:27:37.838-05:00

Could you see this happening if we had a Libertarian majority in city council?

The new boss is the same as the old boss.

We worked hard day and night to get Ballard into office on the assurances that nonsense like this would end under him.

It's time everyone votes Libertarian. As you can see by our Republican majority council, lesser evil IS still mighty evil.

Lutz is polite to you, Pat, because you represent ...

2010-05-12T09:36:08.607-05:00

Lutz is polite to you, Pat, because you represent MCANA and he doesn't want to piss off your organization. He kisses your butt at every meeting. He treats the rest of us like shit, which is exactly what he's going to get in the next election. You could not have seen the prior meeting or you would know what I was talking about. I did hear a buzzer go off when someone was speaking.

I'd like to differ with you in the regard of L...

2010-05-12T09:09:37.995-05:00

I'd like to differ with you in the regard of Lutz' allowance for time spent on the issue. There were a lot of points brought to the forefront last night, which is good and I think Lutz was giving lots of leeway for that.

One thing the majority (5 Rs, 3 Ds) could have done far better, though, was to agree to the Democrats' request to be able to review the documents they had requested before the committee voted. It wasn't some last minute request for records, and Chris Cotterill indicated it just was taking more time than he had hoped to post them online.

Although I'm sure Lutz doesn't need me defending him, I do think he was fulsome with the time last night. Has he made up his mind on this issue - sure. But, as far as his conduct of the meeting, I personally have no qualms.

As an aside Councillor Rivera might want to review the channel 16 'tape' and see if he can find a way to reign in his clear distain for the Ds. Brian Mahern did a nice job of not returning tit for tat.

Matt, Your question was a good one and I got that ...

2010-05-12T06:53:44.144-05:00

Matt, Your question was a good one and I got that impression that's how they reacted to it. Angel Rivera will not be getting my vote in the at large race for council next year after his comments last night. This is what happens when you put a person who earns a living off government contracts on elected bodies.

Gary, unfortunately, I'm starting to agree wit...

2010-05-11T23:37:17.252-05:00

Gary, unfortunately, I'm starting to agree with you on that aspect. I see these lawyers with connected law firms get their questions answered and the Council reps seem receptive. People like Pat Andrews and myself comment (no buzzer this time!), and we're met with blank stares into space.

There was a lot of grandstanding on both sides tonight.

Easter, You are a joke. How you could listen to Ca...

2010-05-11T23:13:14.582-05:00

Easter, You are a joke. How you could listen to Carson's press conference and conclude on your blog that he wasn't suggesting the protesters outside were terrorists as much as Muslim terrorists is beyond me. So much for the objectivity you profess on your blog. You won't win friends in Franklin Township defending the Carson ghetto mafia. It's too bad that such partisan Democrats like you are sitting in classrooms teaching propaganda to our students to learn everything that America is not about. No wonder our public education system is in such a crisis.

Matt, I wasn't going to waste more time at tha...

2010-05-11T23:04:10.102-05:00

Matt, I wasn't going to waste more time at that horribly run committee after last week's debacle to be shit on by the Republians I helped elect to office. Boy, I can't wait to see how many of them I can defeat in the next election. If they want to act like Democrats, then let's just elect all Democrats to the council. Vaughn has absolutely no sense of what ethics means. He proved that when he sold his seat on the council for a job a B&T in the first place. His firm collects over a million dollars a year in fees for work it does for the Mayor's office and various other city and county agencies. He's not fooling anyone. His obfuscations are worse than Monroe Gray's when Vaughn was badgering him about his conflicts.

I watched the proceedings on Channel 16, and it wa...

2010-05-11T22:30:55.976-05:00

I watched the proceedings on Channel 16, and it was very interesting to say the least. Vaughn slapped down the "conflict" claim quickly just by sidestepping it. He made no substantive attempt to answer Sanders' very valid questions.

Councillor Angela Mansfield was also awesome asking tough questions. It was clear that Lutz wanted to move it through saying "if this hopefully passes this committee" and "when it hopefully passes the council" and tipping his hand.

There were several exchanges between Lutz, Brian Mahern, Vaughn, Sanders, Angel Rivera, and Mansfield that were very uncomfortable to say the least.

Then, top it off with less than impressive list of infrastructure improvements the deal would create. The Mayor has explaining to do on this still, but he's likely going to, borrowing a tea party expression, cram it down our throats from here. Ed Coleman could make a difference!!!

Ok, Gary. Uncle. It's going to take a mi...

2010-05-11T21:34:36.031-05:00

Ok, Gary.

Uncle.

It's going to take a mighty, mighty compromised Democrat or Libertarian to not get my vote as next mayor. From what was advertised to what we've degenerated to.....I don't know what to say. AND, Vaughn is MY counselor.

Raising our rates on a vote for just a water company, and/or trying to pass a bond issue for sidewalks and foreclosures teardowns is one thing. Trying to package all this together and tell us it's not as politically corrupt as our blessed health "reform" is another. Instead of having the AMA or AARP or drug and insurance companies behind closed doors, we've got city counselors, lawyers, and God knows what construction firms that are making sure they come out ahead.

If goverment, ANY goverment, any LEVEL of goverment can't explain what they want to do simply, with the paperwork matching the explanation- I don't believe them.

"Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss...."

Gary, I was there so I can relay what happened. I...

2010-05-11T19:57:11.590-05:00

Gary, I was there so I can relay what happened. I am working from memory though (and Twitter updates), so Channel 16 might have something when they broadcast it that I forgot.

The initial accusation made by Sanders is that B&T has been representing the city. Vaughn responded by saying that B&T works for Veolia, and he said he personally does not involve himself in the utility related cases. He said that a code of ethics that he's sent to "some Democratic bloggers" proves that he doesn't have to abstain from voting. Sanders said she'd like to see those ethics to be cited.

I've heard of a time when councilors would abstain from voting WHENEVER it could be seen that a conflict of interest existed. NOW, the standard is only to do it when forced to by law, and those laws pretty much suck.

Vaughn went on to note that Baker and Daniels is representing the city, and ICE Miller works for Citizens Energy Group.

Were you in the crowd, Gary?

I thought another interesting part of the meeting was one of the councilors asked that anyone who is involved in the utility sale to raise their hands. Almost everyone's hands in the audience went up. Only Pat Andrews, myself, and one or two others, out of a crowd of about 20, were not directly involved with city government.

It was quite an eye opener.