iPOPA Thanks Mainstream Media, Fellow Bloggers for Catching Up; Speaks on City-County Councillor Folly

When I tell my wife she looks amazing, she thanks me, but I’ve noticed it's only when her friends tell her the same thing that she finally believes it. I guess if you expect compliments as part of the marital pact, it's only when "outside validation" occurs that something becomes really true.

Bloggers have that same kind of relationship with the mainstream media.

Earlier this week, the Indianapolis Star's Francesca Jarosz wrote a stellar analysis yesterday detailing how the Mayor's funding for sidewalks and roads through the Cit Gas transfer is basically a hidden tax increase because it would necessitate higher future rates.

Both of my closest blogger buddies, Terry Burns at Indianapolis Times and Jon Easter at Indydemocrat, posted praises here and here and Advance Indiana, my colleague from across the aisle, followed suit, as if Jarosz had discovered the rosetta stone of MOU's.

I'm green with envy because here's what I wrote about Citizens Gas and the Mayor’s water deal on March 20, 2010:

Or how about this. Why (doesn't Citizens) just assume the debt and forget the $262 million? [Ed. Note: I never bought the $425 million]. We all know the cash is just an advance against an even higher, future rate increase. Why not forget the cash and have lower rates in the future, Mr. Mayor?

One day you all will believe me when I say your shoes look nice. Sniff.

For his part, Democratic Mayoral candidate Brian Williams continues to raise pertinent questino about the deal, and the one that's captivated my imagination at the moment is the fact that City-County Councillor Mike Speedy's resolution has the council voting on a memorandum of understanding (MOU), NOT the final agreement. What is the difference? An MOU is how the parties hope things will work out. A definitive agreement contains the actual, final terms, so we'd know what we're actually getting, not a guess.

Think about that. There are members on the City-County Council who are voting for a "general idea." Can you imagine a Republican member of Congress voting for "healthcare reform" generally with all the actual details to be worked out later by the Obama administration? Of course not.

You say, yeah, but iPOPA, I'm sure votes were definitely cast with an intent of changing the reform bill later. Fair enough, but you prove my point. Congress can always make a law better. Once the City-County Council says, "Do the deal," they lose authority to say anything. What Councillor in his or her right mind would totally abdicate his or her oversight role by voting for something that is NOT the final product?

Stay tuned for...

...who in the Democratic caucus is looking to jump the fence on the Mayor's water deal; and

...iPOPA's Weekend Political Round-Up (an overview and commentary of all pre-primary political activity at all levels)

iPOPA Thanks Mainstream Media, Fellow Bloggers for Catching Up; Speaks on City-County Councillor Folly

Easter Says Pacers Put Eggs in One Fragile Basket

My colleague, Jon Easter, has a poignant and piercing post today regarding Jim Morris's statement that the Pacers would consider moving if the City doesn't come up with $15 million to absorb the Pacers' contract obligation to pay for the operation of Conseco Fieldhouse. Basically, Easter lets J-Mo know his basket is going to get squashed. No way I can improve on this analysis.

Some of my fondest memories are from Reggie Miller's glory years, and I have no doubt the Simons have been good citizens. But this city has been extremely good to them, and the Pacers have always been a loss-leader hobby for their principals. Now that the family dynamics are changing, all of a sudden they need cash? (Simon Property Group is still able to finance a bankruptcy rescue of a competitor in this deal after all).

If the Pacers and J-Mo had ANY game smarts, they would have waited for a year or two until the team got better and/or the economy improved. Why the urgency, unless the fear is that if they can't get the deal done when the powers that be at Barnes & Thornburg are running the city, it might not get done. Either way, this was just disastrous PR. I am certain that 9/10ths of the Marion County citizenry right now thinks Jim Morris should go achieve an anatomically-unlikely venture involving his own self-gratification.

But I'm a problem solver, so here's a thought. To gross $15 million, we need to raise $365,000 per home game. What's wrong with using the Simon's Circle Center parking rate idea? If you park at the mall on most nights, you pay a reasonable $1.50, the thought being that you don't want to discourage people from parking when they can go to Keystone at the Crossing for free.

BUT when big events are in town, the cost goes up to $20, which you pay unless you can prove you bought $20 worth of stuff at the mall. Why? Because the Simons know you probably aren't shopping; you're free riding (well, not free, but "below-market" riding).

I doubt anybody books a hotel to see a Pacers game. But some might eat dinner before or drink after a game, and we know they have to park to go to the games. And these two entity types should pay the entire cost in the form of an "event" charge.

If you assessed a flat "event night" tax on the (what 200 total restaurants?) they'd each pay $1,800 night. If you assessed an "event night" charge on all the parking lots, the restaurant cut would probably go down markedly. They could then decide whether they'd take a cut in profits in an effort to capture customer loyalty or pass the cost on to their customers.

(As I think about this, I don't believe Simon Property Group charges the "event" rate on the nights of Pacer games. I could be completely wrong on this, but if I'm recalling this right, does that strike any else as strange? Circle Center accommodates 5,300 cars. At an additional $18.50 per car at capacity for 41 games, we're talking an additional $4 million in income. But why would a company do that and risk possibly angering customers if you can get the City to absorb the cost?)

Anyway, would the restaurants and parking garages be outraged by such an "event night" fee? Not if they were really making money on the Pacers, but I suspect that of the 14,000 who come downtown for games, many leave town after the games because they're already broke paying for the ticket, parking, and $5 for a pretzel.

Is what I propose even legal? To create a special "game night" taxing district with varied rates depending on the provider? I seriously doubt it. But any solution to this problem needs to approximate this approach as closely as possible.

Understand that I actually have nothing against billionaire owners, millionaire ballplayers, or downtown restauranteers in the abstract. I'm just not going to shut down a public library for them. I was at Glendale Public Library on Thursday, and every computer station was occupied. Maybe print is dead, but words on monitors aren't, and the public library is the single greatest remedy to the technology gap.

Easter Says Pacers Put Eggs in One Fragile Basket

Jon Easter Deserves Praise for Commentary on Bigoted School

Democratic blogger, Jon Easter, is the kind of guy who gives out more praise than he'll ever accept because his humility makes him like that, but I cannot think of how his "personal prerogative" comments could have been an iota more effective. This is a must read.

I'd print the whole thing verbatim, but I want him to get credit for the traffic because it's so well-deserved.

The short version? Somewhere in Mississippi you've probably never heard of, Itawamba County, a high school chose to cancel its prom instead of permitting a lesbian to attend in a tuxedo with her girlfriend. The story itself will likely enrage and sadden you, but Easter's poignant approach to the subject matter should be commended.

Briefly stated, Chumbawamba did "Tub Thumping." Itawamba does "Gay Bashing."

Jon Easter Deserves Praise for Commentary on Bigoted School

Ron Gibson & A Thing I Hate About Political Parties

Earlier in the week, I noted that former City-County Councillor Ron Gibson (D-At Large, 1999-2007) had more cash-on-hand in his campaign account (a bit over $11,000) than any sitting or any trying-to-be city-county councillor, except Toby McClamroch, Joanne Sanders, and Ike Randolph. In short, I hypothesized that Gibson was in decent shape to try to reclaim his seat.

But the day before yesterday, my man Jim Shella at WISH-TV reported that Gibson will announce on Friday that he is running for Mayor.

My colleague Jon Easter at IndyDemocrat gave a solid overview of Gibson's dreamquest, but I want to amplify it a bit.

Gibson's announced opponents in the Democratic field are Melina Kennedy and Brian Williams. Kennedy had $220,485 cash-on-hand at the end of 2009. Williams had $101,000. They both have been campaigning for a long time now, and they both have campaign apparatuses up and running. Gibson wants some of that?!? (I've e-mailed Ron on Facebook to get his motivation, but I haven't heard back yet).

I doubt any political observers will think he legitimately believes he can win the Democratic nomination. So what is his endgame?

I submit that this is a simple Braveheart maneuver. In that movie, the king's commmanders always offered land to the opposing force before waging battle, even when the odds overwhelmingly favored the king's army. This approach helped the king avoid looking like his kingdom was divided and losing resources he'd need for a bigger battle.

If Gibson runs, he'll elevate his county-wide name ID just by being consistently referred to as a mayoral candidate. City-County Councillor Jose Evans hasn't even announced for mayor, but in most stories about the race or about his activities, he's referenced in that fashion. Assuming no adverse political effects, Gibson's play is smart.

By getting in, Gibson recognizes the possibility that either county party or one of the mayoral candidates will pledge support for him in 2011 in exchange for him stepping aside and delivering the support of whoever he musters to his cause. At least six names are currently floating for at-large on the D side; I anticipate that number will grow. Locking up some slating support certainly wouldn't hurt Gibson's chances.

Now, maybe this is "just politics," but political parties (mostly mine) buy off people too often who try to dance on our stage with promises of future support, jobs, or who knows what else. I hate this because it encourages everybody else to play it the same way. If you have even a handful of influential fans or the ability to scorch some earth, by all means, jump into the field and create distraction! Even if you have no chance at winning, we'll cash in your bargaining chip.

I have no problem with candidates competing for an office at the onset when it's not clear who is going to prevail. What bothers me is when a candidate comes in late in the game who must know he can't win. (Of course, there are people on American Idol who you would assume know they can't sing, but they'll still jump on stage, either because they're delusional or they want some fame, so who knows). In short, at this juncture, Gibson's candidacy feels like prelude to a bartering session.

My advice on this to the party and the other mayoral candidates is this: don't give in. As a guide post, look at how the party has handled Greg Bowes, the Democrat opponent to party favorite for prosecutor, Terry Curry. As of this posting, I can say with almost certainty that Bowes has been offered nothing but the political equivalent of a horse's head in the bed (though I'm not sure what anybody could offer that he would find satisfactory).

My point is that my party and its front-runner candidates need to send a message by not only refusing to barter with the other long-shot, johnny-come-latelies, they need to demolish them politically for diverting party resources when we'll need every dollar to defeat Greg Ballard.

My first thought was that Gibson realized the value of beating City-County Councillor Jose Evans to the punch with his announcement. I confess to being uncertain on this fact, but I believe when Gibson announces on Friday, he'll become the first African-American male to run for Mayor of Indianapolis (African-American woman Z. Mae Jimison - God rest her soul - ran against, and lost to, Steve Goldsmith in 1995). Having an African-American man running would be an event long-delayed for Indiana's most populated city (thank you Unigov!).

Unfortunately, even with racial history up for the making, I doubt this gambit will pay dividends for Gibson. But I'll know more with a level of confidence when I see who is standing with him at his announcement. I'll know for sure if I hear political chatter about a deal that made Gibson go home. Then I'll know another player cashed in on nuisance value.

If that happens, we'll have only one question to ask:

Who's next in line?

Ron Gibson & A Thing I Hate About Political Parties

Woe is Me? Advance Indiana Severs Connection, But Easter is Here!

Here's what you need to know about me. I strive to get facts and analysis right, but sometimes I don't. So I need to be "checked" periodically. This is why I have a profound respect for opposing opinions; I don't censor them.

In the entire time I've operated this blog, I've never removed a single comment. I did warn somebody once who was trying to bogard my blog by posting a bunch of unrelated comments. So if people want to take issue with what I say, I let them, even when they keep themselves anonymous. Personally, I wish they wouldn't. But hey, if the authors of the Federalist Papers called themselves Publius, how can I hate just because "Publius" was facing potential death for treason while my posters only face the inconvenience of people discarding their argument because they believe the poster is crazy?

I posted an entry in which I said I thought Advance Indiana was being "dumb" for caring about what Obama has playing in his IPOD, and as retaliation, AI removed IPOPA from his bloglist.

In response, I'm keeping Advance Indiana up on mine. I encourage all readers who lean toward my party (Democrat) to keep reading Advance Indiana. I listen to Limbaugh AND Garrison, and I read a LOT of conservative blogs just to see what's going on and to challenge my own thinking. When we get afraid and want to shut opposing voices down, that when I know we've lost the argument.

AND on the subject of voices, let's give a round of applause to Jon Easter, the Decatur Township Democratic Party Chair, who has joined the blogocracy.

http://www.indydemocrat.blogspot.com/

May you all make many happy returns to Indydemocrat!

Woe is Me? Advance Indiana Severs Connection, But Easter is Here!