The Monroe County Chronicle

League of Women Voters Candidate Forum

2007-10-14T13:18:00.000-04:00

The headline in the HT should have read “Nothing new from the League of Women Voters Candidate Forum” which was held last Thursday evening at Ivy Tech. Democrat’s once again showed their intolerance for anything or anyone that doesn’t lean to the left. The charge was lead by Andy Ruff, their designated hitter who once again managed to show us his contempt for all non-Democrats with his typical condescending self-righteous remarks. It never ceases to amaze me how often I hear Democrats use words like tolerance and diversity when obviously these feeling don’t transcend to anyone with beliefs that don’t mirror their own. When they speak, they speak of a society where everyone is accepted, where culture and diversity makes for a nearly utopian community and we were reminded repeatedly the only way to maintain it is to keep electing Democrats. Yet these words are not meant as an example but rather a mere diversion from reality, a reality where in Bloomington a dog is given more consideration than a person that affiliates with the Republican Party.

There were constant reminders that all things good have come from Democrats and if anything we should perpetuate the juggernaut because without them the city would turn into an overdeveloped wasteland similar to Greenwood. Democrats are really in their element in this type of forum, a microphone, video cameras and a room full of left wing groupies. They can easily spin stories of prosperity, happiness and security since “they” took office. What you didn’t hear at this forum is a plan for our future, a road map of where they see us going and how we are going to get there. What was heard is that our Democrat leaders feel that it is not only acceptable to take on global affairs but rather expected when you sit on the Bloomington City Council. It is obvious that taking positions on global issues gives each of them a feeling of extreme self-importance. Issues like the war in Iraq, global warming and peak oil all take precedent over mundane topics like well maintained streets and sidewalks and finding ways to hold the line on providing the necessary services of our local government. If there was a single highlight in the evening it was council candidate Clifford Meadows’ response to the question “whether or not the City Council should spend time discussing global affairs”, his response was an unequivocal and simple “no”. You have to appreciate someone that has the ability to sum it up so completely. The current administration claims to be concerned about issues like reducing the environmental footprint of our government and has responded by the establishment of various committees and commissions. Their bulging budget supports programs with snazzy names like Commission for Sustainable Living and Living Wage Ordinance but when their term is over what has really been accomplished, has anything really improved over the last four years, I think not?

As has been the case in the past the forum format leaves a lot to be desired as it does little more than to offer a glimpse into each candidate’s ability to read his or her prepared statements. The panel was once again made up of all Democrats, as is the majority of the League of Women Voters and the questions were carefully selected to allow a platform for their candidates to expound on their talking points. In this format the candidates are never allowed an opportunity or the time to truly debate issues as it might allow an opportunity to expose the weakness of those in office. The League can once again pat themselves on the back and indulge in self-gratification for supporting the democratic process on the local home front.

What we were able to extract from the evening was that our current Mayor, Mark Kruzan has been an ineffective leader over the last three and a half years. He has managed to lose support of many of those that help him get elected four years ago. He supports reducing the ecological impact of our local government as long as he doesn’t have to give up his “gas guzzling SUV”. He doesn’t want to be held accountable for his shortcomings but wants to revel in the uniqueness of Bloomington and what he has done to maintain it. In these last four years he has over-promised and under-delivered, no real news there after all it is politics. He wants to be reelected not for what he’s done or going to do but rather what he will prevent from occurring should his opponent get elected. His campaign up to this point has been one of fear of change. Similarly the City Council has been lopsided for so long, so consumed by their agendas that little if any progress has been made in our city over the last four years. The Democrats are extremely comfortable in power and feel like their control is a mandate rather than a privilege. They would also like you to believe that someone other than them controls tax rates and they really have very little impact on how the money is spent. They too believe that they are protecting the uniqueness of Bloomington by remaining in office.

Regardless of the lack of suspense from all of the candidate forums and with all things considered this could make for a very interesting election come November. Sabbagh’s campaign has picked up some curiously unusual support for a Republican, the local Fire Fighters Union and a group of Democrat’s calling themselves Democrats for Sabbagh, a group of individuals that even has an elected Democrat on it, what does that tell you. It appears Sabbagh has transcended the divide in the local political arena and has a great deal of appeal and respect on both sides of the fence. In the last thirty days Sabbagh has also positioned himself as a strong force to be reckoned with and as a serious threat to stronghold that Democrats have held on the local government over the last twenty plus years.

Hold Onto Your Wallet!

2007-05-04T23:23:00.000-04:00

The Democrats are coming the Democrats are coming! That should be the outcry across the state as the Democrat controlled legislature passed a bill late last week that allows local governments to raise the County Option Income Tax or COIT. Since our county government was overrun with Democrats in the 2004 election they have been attempting to convince our citizens that Monroe County is in need of a juvenile treatment facility. The cost to build such a facility has been speculated to run well into the millions and even more millions to operate. Similar facilities in other counties are rarely operating at full capacity and offer their services and facilities to other counties in an attempt to make ends meet. Facilities like these are consistantly a drain on available resources.

Throwing all caution to wind we have a stampede of Democrats hell bent on having a “facility of their own” as they say. At the forefront of this stampede is none other than Judge Welch, you know Peggy’s husband? Interestingly enough no one has been able to develop a realistic budget for this project up to this point. Everything is highly speculative even to the point that the paid experts don’t really seem to know how much it will cost. Due to the variety of the qualifications required to properly staff a facility like this and the need for highly specialized treatment for its occupants the treatment “our” children receive might just end up being far inferior to that of a properly trained and staffed facility in another county or state. Building a facility also goes against the advice of many experts that have indicated there is no way one community can afford to staff a facility with enough professionals to handle the wide variety of specialized treatment required to truly help these children. In order for some of these children to be adaquately treated they will still need to be sent to outsourced facilities. Just because the facility is not in our county or for that matter in our state doesn’t negatively impact the quality of treatment the children receive. As a matter of fact, in many cases the children need the separation from their parents and "friends" to get them away from a destructive environment that many times compounds and prolongs their rehabilitation.

What we need are elected officials that can manage to prioritize the County’s actual needs and then set a long-term course of corrective action in place and then put a funding mechanism in place that avoids raising taxes. What we currently have is a knee jerk reaction to a problem that hasn’t been fully explored. We have people that are looking for ways to spend our tax dollars when real problems like the jail are starring them in the face. Before it’s all over we will be saddled with paying for both a new juvenile facility and a new jail. Everyone should think twice before voting another Democrat into office.

Prosecutor's Office Under Gaal's Leadership Lets Convicted Sex Offender Off the Hook!

2007-04-08T00:41:00.000-04:00

Wednesday April 4th a local jury acquitted Terry Nelson of charges of child molestation and sexual misconduct with a minor. Nelson a registered sex offender with two prior convictions for child molestation walked free after deputy prosecutor Jeff Kehr failed to convince the jury of Nelson’s guilt in another similar crime. The jury returned their verdict after barely more than an hour of deliberations.

By letting Nelson go free Gaal has managed to keep one of his campaign promises of reducing the jail population, unfortunately I don’t think this is what the citizens of Monroe County had in mind. Gaal had promised to be tough on serious crimes and find ways to reduce recidivism with counseling and rehabilitating on crimes that he deemed less serious. Hopefully Mr. Gaal doesn’t consider heinous actions like child molestation and sexual misconduct with a minor to be categorized as non-serious offenses worthy of counseling and rehabilitation? If Gaal does consider these crimes to be serious offenses then it would leave but one conclusion, that his staff lacks the prosecution and trial experience to get a conviction. The latter is certainly more likely as Gaal did exactly what Sandy Newman did when she took over as Auditor, fired everyone that had any experience and replaced them with inexperienced cronies.

If this is what the citizen’s of Monroe County have to look forward to for the next four years then so much for having a safe and civil community. Furthermore if this is the “transparency” Gaal and other Democrat’s have been preaching that our government needs I would have to say that we have just been given a glimpse behind the curtain and it scares the hell out of me. What’s more if Mr. Gaal wants to persecute Carl Salzmann by parading his head around on a stick for running the Prosecutor’s office the way he saw fit then I would have to say to Mr. Gaal, at least Mr. Salzmann was able to put criminals like Nelson where they belong, in jail. If a good meal and a clean room at a nice hotel was what our former Prosecutor needed for him and his staff while seeking additional training to keep deviates like Terry Nelson off of the streets of our county then as a taxpayer I would be more than happy to pick up the tab for the next steak dinner!

Time for a watch Dog Committee

2007-03-17T12:02:00.000-04:00

In light of recent complaints and editorials about misuse of taxpayers money by elected officials I think it would be fitting that a Watch Dog Committee be formed to scrutinize all of the current city and county elected officials travel and expense claims, not just our former Prosecutor. Carl Salzmann’s use of county money for training, lodging and meals I think would unfortunately prove to be more common than unusual. It’s common knowledge that department heads scan the available training opportunities for the most desirable venues and many times passing up identical training within driving distance. Not too long ago I recall one of our appointed officials taking advantage of an economic development training program in California even though the identical program was offered in Louisville. Between airfare, hotel accommodations and meal expenses is that really a “good” use of public money.

Lets’ put all elected and appointed officials on notice that someone is going to be critiquing each one of their departments expenses, only then do I feel we will get a clear picture of the level of abuse. This is another tried and true strategy of the local Democrat party. Tar and feather the opposition in the media by ambush not allowing them ample opportunity to defend themselves. Did anyone call Mr. Salzmann and give him the opportunity to defend himself before the County Council or was it just an opportune time for the heavily weighted Democrat Council and the new Democrat Prosecutor to throw stones without fear of retribution. Mr. Salzmann, have you always traveled to these far away exotic locations to take training and indulge in the finest cuisine at the taxpayers expense? Oh, and by the way when did you stop beating your wife? Wait a minute he wasn’t there to respond, how convenient! Isn’t it curious that expenses from December were being brought up for a topic of discussion in March? Isn’t it also curious that one of the Counties most notorious abusers of public funds during his tenure was our former Prosecutor Bob Miller and now he’s been plugged back into the funding stream as Deputy Prosecutor by none other than our current Prosecutor Chris Gaal. Who’s better at highlighting the abuse than the biggest abusers themselves?

Using a well-worn phrase from the Democrat’s playbook, let’s bring “transparency” to all of these areas of government. I would love to see a monthly report highlighting each trip an appointed or elected official took at the taxpayers expense along with a detailed description of where they stayed, what they ate and drank. Along these same lines let's have a nepotism report showing who is employed in the various government departments and if they are related in any way to their employers. We can start that investigation in the Auditor’s office. I think this would all make for some interesting reading each month. At least Mr. Salzmann managed to run his department for twelve years within its budget, that’s more than can be said for most of the current officials.

Local GOP Retains Franklin Andrew as Chairman

2007-03-04T20:39:00.000-05:00

Local Republican precinct committeepersons turned out a huge contingent to select their new leaders for 2007 and beyond. The Party faithful had two good choices; current Chairman Franklin Andrew and longtime Republican ally Gene Moncel. Both nominees had their reasons for wanting to lead the GOP and both packed the house with their respective supporters. With just one ballot Franklin Andrew came out on top 65 to 47. Andrew has done a commendable job over the past couple of years but his tenure has not been without its problems, the largest of which is being able to post only a couple of wins in the win column in the past election. Probably the singular most important aspect of re-electing Andrew to the post is the continuity of leadership and experience he will carry into the '07 election and beyond.

A few individuals had recently spoken unfavorably of the election challenge that Andrew spearheaded. They were undoubtedly influenced by the opposition doublespeak and the local media coverage. Had a Republican in the Clerk’s office been caught with a key to secure voter records with both access and a handful of ballots on their person its safe to assume the Democrats would have more than likely called for a public beheading of the offender. The final report indicates there is several areas of concern that need addressed to prevent ineligible voters from influencing our elections. Little things like felons being allowed to vote and individuals that haven’t lived or voted locally for a decade mysteriously reappearing to cast an absentee ballot. Talk about disenfranchised voters, let’s at least follow the law! Maybe these ineligible votes are not enough to alter the outcome of most elections but there has been more than one local election that was decided by a mere handful of votes. Maybe the recount was oversold and maybe a few followers of good candidates like Pat Haley and Jim Billingsley were hanging their hats on the outcome; who knows. The bottom line is Franklin Andrew fulfilled his obligation as County Chairman because if he didn’t seek to correct these concerns, who would? He uncovered some issues and definitely put the Democrats on notice that someone is paying much closer attention today than in the past. At the very least the GOP now has more data than ever to discourage future improprieties from tainting our elections.

It’s apparent that at least for the time being that the local GOP is fighting an uphill battle. So many factors influence our local elections, so many beyond the local Party’s control. Bloomington and more recently Monroe County has been bucking the trend in Indiana with its more liberal voting record. A highly organized and almost militant local opposition party that has a blatant disregard for any ideas or opinions other than their own. The fear of involvement of many highly qualified individuals, which leaves the local government, to be ran by what could be described as almost a fanatical minority. Too many voters are influenced by local media coverage and are too easily swayed by the headlines. Maybe, as Franklin Andrew mentioned Saturday, “It’s time for the local GOP to start being for something” instead of always being on the defensive. Maybe, as Gene Moncel pointed out that it’s time for the local GOP to get more involved in social issues that face our community. Who knows, it might just be a combination of all the above. I don’t think any one person has all of right answers and for that matter shouldn’t be expected to. If the level of interest in Saturday’s central committee election was any indication it’s obvious the local GOP is alive and well. I think it’s obvious they’re hungry for a victory and who knows with a collective and unified effort they might just surprise some folks!

County Council Languishing Under Poor Leadership and "Extenuating Circumstances"

2006-12-31T01:07:00.000-05:00

The County Council had scheduled a precautionary meeting this past week to assure they had all of their “T’s” crossed and their “I’s” dotted on the 2007 budget, specifically pay raises for the county employees. The only members of the council that fulfilled their obligation and showed up at the meeting were the three Republican’s, returning member Marty Hawk and outgoing members Sue West and Trent Jones. Each of the Democrat members offered some excuse as to why they failed to fulfill their obligation and attend this important meeting which now leaves some doubt as to whether or not the previous vote on the pay raise complied with the State statutory requirements.

Needing a unanimous vote for the amendment to pass Michael Woods opted to stay away because he did not support the proposed pay raise for the county employees. It was reported Warren Henegar was out of the country. Outgoing member Mark Stoops was reported to be in Ohio. Sophia Travis or should I say Greg Travis communicated the excuse via email that took the prize for the least creative. Indication was that she couldn’t attend due to “extenuating circumstances”. What kind of extenuating circumstances could have prevented her from notifying the other members of the Council of her impending absence? Once again she has proven that she does not possess the necessary qualities that are required of an effective leader. Instead of admitting that her responsibility as President of the County Council wasn’t high enough on her priority list to make the meeting this past week she came up with this lame one-size fits all excuse. She didn’t concern herself with her elected duties and responsibilities and she obviously failed to see the importance of securing the much-deserved pay raises for county employees. If this meeting was truly unnecessary why didn’t she notify all of the Council members and staff that the meeting had been canceled rather than wasting both their time and that of the County staff in attendance.

Travis’ actions are proof positive that she fails to take all of the responsibilities of the position seriously by continuing to play her childish partisan games. When called to task she fails to be able to respond to virtually any question without referring to her prepared statements. To avoid further embarrassment she has resorted to communicating almost exclusively through email where it’s obvious her husband acts as the puppet master. In this latest breach of responsibility she has failed to carryout the duties that she swore to the citizens of Monroe County to uphold and then makes matters worse by making a mockery of the process by offering such a lame excuse for her absence. To make matters worse and for what gain the reasoning escapes me she has been posting and circulating some less than flattering comments on colleagues and various other elected officials of both Parties. Her only possible objective is that she wants to further polarize County government by proving that she holds little regard for any resemblance of bipartisan cooperation. With only Marty Hawk left on the Council to keep the Democrats in check I’m certain the County’s legal department will have their hands full in’07 and unfortunately all at the taxpayer’s expense.

R-BB School Board Member's Actions are Embarrassing

2006-11-25T16:28:00.000-05:00

I couldn’t help but notice that the townies on the Richland Bean Blossom School Board were up to their old tricks as they provided plenty of negative fodder for articles in Herald Times and The Journal. This post election rebuking by Janice Stockton is in retaliation for election of two qualified individuals to the local school board thus denying Mrs. Stockton and Mr. Thrasher the critical mass required to return the school system to the dark ages. Stockton’s remarks at last weeks school board meeting were proof positive she has no intention of cooperating with other board members to find common ground as she has fully alienated the rest of the board and the superintendent. Stockton and Thrasher are throw backs to an era that many in the R-BB school system have run, not walked, away from. They want to return the school system to a time when school board members roamed the dilapidated hallways and micromanaged the day-to-day operation of the corporation. Where teachers and staff made alliances with board members to protect their jobs and where nepotism ran rampant.

Larry Thrasher the former pool janitor was elected in ’02 and Janice Stockton a former elementary teacher with the school system was elected in ’04. They both ran on a low key agenda to get elected however once elected it was quickly evident they were not as interested in educational improvement as they were in having a controlling interest in the day-to-day operations of the school system. It was widely known that Thrasher was no fan of Brad Tucker the former Principal at the High School and this was most certainly a contributing factor to his early departure. Thrasher and Stockton reverted back to habits of previous boards when board members routinely overstepped their roles and responsibilities by meeting with staff, parents and groups outside of their official authority of the collective school board. Evidently their activities have managed to fan the flames with the contract bus drivers, an already volatile situation. Repeatedly the superintendent has reminded them that individually board members have absolutely no authority but this hasn’t curtailed their activities. Board members are also entrusted with information that needs to be held in strict confidence especially when it comes to matters of personnel, reportedly this trust has been breached by these two on a routine basis.

In the comment portion of the meeting Stockton made several unsubstantiated accusations and offered up a lot of innuendo that indicated a very negative overall mood and general working conditions within the school corporation. By highlighting certain policies and guidelines she was somehow attempting to validate her authority all the while refusing to support a board member code of ethics that Superintendent Edington had suggested just a few weeks earlier. As she spewed her venom the superintendent and other board members were obviously caught off guard by her accusations, all except Larry Thrasher that is, earlier he had deferred his comments to Mrs. Stockton by saying she had enough to say for both of them. What Stockton’s tirade was really about is she now finds herself all alone with the ouster of Larry Thrasher. She doesn’t have anyone on the Board she can manipulate and consort with. The old townies worked very hard to take control of the school system with this election and fortunately they failed. Stockton was obviously so upset with the outcome of the election that she couldn’t restrain herself from venting and letting her true colors show through. The old townies would have liked nothing more than to chase off another superintendent and throw the school system in complete chaos. Thank goodness the voters reversed the trend toward reverting to a bygone era by returning Randy Wright and electing Dana Kerr to the R-BB Board. However, they will all have to tread lightly as it is obvious there is still one snake in the grass.

Animals Have Taken Control of the Zoo

2006-11-12T20:28:00.000-05:00

The platform the Democrats used in the’06 election was one based on breaking up the Republican stronghold on the State and Federal government. This message was obliviously well received as the majority of voters agreed that one political party shouldn’t have unchecked control. They agreed that a system of checks and balances should be in place that would prevent unbridled power and greed. That message rang true, everywhere but in Monroe County that is. What the voters in Monroe County have failed to realize is they have now relinquished total control of both the City and County offices to one party. Once again and similarly to the ’04 election many lesser-qualified candidates were swept into office by the shear fact they were on the Democrat ticket. After being on a mission to obliterate the control of Republican Party on a state and national level what can we expect now that one party has total control of our local government? Is it somehow better because it is the Democrats in control, I think not? At least before there was somewhat of a check and balance in place when at the County Council and Commissioners we’re in the hands of opposing parties. Now this avant-garde attitude will permeate throughout both the City and County virtually unchecked. Furthermore if the Auditor’s office is any indication of what we have to look forward to the future looks pretty bleak!

What is disturbing is voters ignored the conflict of interest in electing someone like Charles Newman to the County Council, an office that is part of a checks and balances to Auditor’s office where his wife’s performance has certainly been less than acceptable. Another conflict that emerges out of this election is Pat Stoffers being elected to the Commissioners office. Stoffers is employed by the City Utilities, the Commissioners have to interact, coexist and represent the County’s interest on the Utilities Services Board, obviously a position that will be difficult for him to remain unbiased. Electing a Prosecutor that has never worked in a prosecutor’s office or for that matter ever tried a criminal case. How is this even possible? Is this really what people want? Good people that have maintained the integrity of our County government for years now are without a say, they have been silenced by a mandate that is at odds with issues far beyond our County. We can now look forward to more buffoons wearing chicken outfits to meetings and making a mockery of the serious business of running our lives and livelihoods. We can look forward to more proclamations against world events that are occurring on the other side of the globe all the while affairs right here in our own backyard go unheeded.

Yes, the animals have taken control of the zoo and what is a person with a conscious and morality supposed to do? Republicans really have no one to blame but themselves. Why do Democrats keep getting elected I ask, because Democrat’s get elected and then take steps to load the system with more Democrats? They develop commissions and advisory boards that are made up of more Democrats and before you know it they have a huge machine in place that is dependant and feeding from the same trough. They help each other out during the election by supporting other Democrats. They actually have a unified agenda and they all manage to play from the same playbook. They’re not afraid to take positions on issues that oppose their own agenda. They are not afraid to play dirty all the while calling to question every one else’s ethics. During the election process Democrats don’t fight amongst themselves in public. Their party and elected leaders all help each other out, they stump for each other and they’re not afraid to be seen in public with each other. Democrats have learned that you can over promise and under deliver and nobody really notices where Republicans typically come from businesses where results matter. Democrats are used to working for a cause where Republicans seemingly always want something other than a job in return. Most Republicans don’t like to get their hands dirty with grunt work and would rather hire out the manual labor or write a check instead of getting involved and rolling up their sleeves. Republicans like to make other Republicans look bad and in doing so somehow believe that makes them look better. Republicans always seem to be running their campaigns alone when most Democrats are part of a collective effort. Democrats usually don’t have to worry about taking out their opposition because Republicans at all levels typically shoot each other in the foot whenever possible. I could go on but I think you get the idea. There is a place for the two party system, if only the local voters would recognize it.

It's No Big Surprise The Herald Times Endorses Hill

2006-10-29T18:12:00.000-05:00

The Herald Times under the misguided direction of its editor Bob Zaltsberg today sold out and broke a long standing tradition of not endorsing Congressional candidates by endorsing Baron Hill in the 9th District over incumbent Mike Sodrel. The reasoning behind their endorsement was as stale as Baron Hill’s talking points. Its highly disappointing that a newspaper has to stoop to such a low point by encouraging people to vote for a candidate that has failed to gain any traction with his own campaign. Baron Hill has not shown any indication that he has any new ideas or plans that would give the citizens of the 9th District any hope that things would be better if he is elected to serve. The only thing he has offered to date has been personal and professional attacks on Mike Sodrel, George Bush and the entire Republican agenda. Mike Sodrel on the other hand has shown leadership, direction and intelligence in his short time in office. He has shown that he has the ability to get things done and has been truly effective at representing the citizens of his district.

In the HT's endorsement they coincidentally managed to hit on every single one of Hill’s talking points. They even bought into excuse that Hill uses when he is asked why he voted for the war while serving in Congress. Hill and other Democrat talking heads continually spew the line that they were lied to. In other words a Congressman that doesn’t have the backbone to stand up for what everyone believed to be true at the time when he represented us. If he is so sure that he has what it takes to represent us why he is so ashamed of his past voting record? I think we would all like to have the luxury to recall our decisions but that is the very reason we elect people to represent us, they have to make tough decisions and then we expect them to defend their choices. I would like to have the assurance that all elected officials are making the best-informed decisions they possibly can with the information available to them at the time and then I want them to defend their position with credible facts and data. The fact that Hill doesn’t want to be held accountable for his voting record not only on the war but on several issues is reason enough for me to discount him as a viable candidate for such an important position and proves that he has absolutely no credibility.

Excuse me if I don’t feel that HT’s endorsement carries any validity. When a newspaper goes beyond reporting the news to making the news it looses its validity as an unbiased source of information. For the HT to weigh in with an opinion on something as important as a Congressional race without maintaining its objectivity it looses all credibility in my mind. Everyone should be disappointed that Bob Zaltsberg and crew cannot keep thier opinions to themselves. Why this small group feels compelled to attempt to sway the opinions of voters in a race that would be better served by simply providing fair, honest and complete reporting is a mystery to me. Unfortunately we have all been subjected to this type of journalism for far to long in Monroe County and that is why most people discount the HT as a credible newspaper. The only solace people can take in this is if the HT's past track record of endorsements is any indication of their prow ness in picking winners Mike Sodrel won’t have anything to worry about on election day.

Watch List Indeed

2006-10-08T17:04:00.000-04:00

Recently the Herald Times ran an editorial indicating some of the ongoing mismanagement of the Auditor’s office. Their editorial was concluded by indicating the Auditor’s office should be watched closely and they even went so far as to suggest the County Council should not rule out the possibility of calling in an outside agency to review or even perform an audit of the misdeeds of Sandy Newman’s office. With the control of the Auditor’s office tightly in the clinches of the left wing neophytes running the Council the likelihood of that occurring is about as likely as Rush Limbaugh turning into a flaming liberal. The likes of Stoops and Travis have been pulling the strings on the Auditor’s office since Newman took office in ’05. Newman’s lack of understanding in running the Auditor’s office shouldn’t come as a surprise because she has had absolutely no experience in the office she currently holds. The citizens of Monroe County are getting exactly what they asked for so if blame is going around shame on the voters for electing her in the first place.

If it weren’t bad enough that since she has taken office Newman’s blundering has created chaos for businesses and citizens of Monroe County she has never once taken responsibility for her actions. She always has someone else doing all of the talking and when she does speak its only to point the blame in someone else’s direction. Come on, we didn’t hire the Deputy Auditor and we sure as hell didn’t hire the Auditor’s staff, she did. So why can’t she assume any of the responsibility? Let’s face it; she is way out over her skis! While on the subject of being way out over their skis did you get a stomach full of Sophia Travis and Andy Ruff being a part in the frivolous lawsuit against I-69? Travis, the poster child for the right wing extremist allowed herself to once again be used to defend the ludicrous position of small minority of vocal individuals that can’t seem to grasp the realities of simple economics. Their only hope is to throw as many obstacles as possible in the way of progress in an attempt to disrupt and delay the process as much as possible when in fact the only thing it is going to do is create additional hardship on the tax paying citizens of the State of Indiana. It is shameful that elected officials are making the assumption that they can speak for all of Monroe County by lending their names and titles to such a laughable lawsuit. If they would only expend that much energy and put that much emphasis in fulfilling their responsibilities as elected officials we would all be much better off.

Another report that has filtered out of the County Council recently is that they’re patting themselves on the back and taking credit for managing to cut the operating budget for 2007. Now the real story, they managed to set the budget for 2007 just a tick under 2006 however, they also managed to borrow two million dollars that will have to be repaid. The reality or net effect is a budget that is two million dollars higher than this year’s with the uncertainty of the revenue figures that support the budget that was recently passed. Furthermore the employees of Monroe County had to forgo even a basic cost of living increase all the while the cash reserves will be tapped to shore up the Council’s spending. I think voters are beginning to see for themselves what a mess they have created by electing individuals without any relevant work experience and you know it must be bad when the liberal editorial staff of the Herald Times puts the public on notice and the Auditor’s office on their watch list! Looks like it's about time to elect a few Republicans to get our house back in order.

Hill No Match For Sodrel In Recent Debate

2006-09-03T19:58:00.000-04:00

For those of you that happened to take in last week’s debate between the three candidates for the 9th District Congressional race on WTIU you witnessed the vast differences between Mike Sodrel and Baron Hill. Mike Sodrel was armed with facts, he was able to articulate his responses to the questions with ease and he was on point throughout the debate. Baron Hill on the other hand was often off topic, he had absolutely no data or figures to back up his responses and honestly after serving six years in Congress should be ashamed of his poor performance. Even the Libertarian candidate, Eric Schansberg seemed better prepared and was able to articulate his thoughts far better than Hill throughout the course of the debate.

The opening remarks were indicative of the their overall strategies, Sodrel pointing out his understanding of world as it exists today and his overall grasp of how to deal with its complexities. He took the opportunity to highlight that the debate was the third time he and Hill had opposed each other, the first time he lost his bid for Congress he went back home to southern Indiana doing what he had been doing, running his trucking business and contributing to the states economy. He compared that to the 2004 election where after his victory over his opponent, Hill blamed everyone but himself for his loss and then took a job with a special interest lobbying group in Washington DC once again laying proof of Hill’s status as a career politician. Hill opened by strafing Sodrel with a variety of opportunistic talking points that he hopes will offer him some political traction in the next couple of months. Ironically many of the troubles that face the citizens of the 9th District were born or at least matured during Hill’s six-year tenure in Congress.

Hill made several references to the fact he would have preferred a” single topic” debate where a single topic could have been thrashed about for an hour versus the spontaneity of a variety of topics where his weakness and vulnerability shown through. Hill’s obvious topic of choice was gasoline prices and high costs of energy. His supporters should be reminded that his strategy is rather disingenuous since it was none other than Baron Hill that in 2003 and 2004 repeatedly voted against bi-partisan energy legislation that required higher use of ethanol and bio-diesel fuel now seen as a clean renewable alternative that will help ease our dependency on foreign oil.

With each question whether the topic was fuel costs, the war in Iraq or the No Child Left Behind Act Mike Sodrel offered facts and figures that supported his position and proved he has a thorough grasp on reality and the challenges that face our nation. Hill sounded confused and often retreated to political pandering without offering any data or relevant facts to back up his position. At one point Hill indicated the No Child Left Behind Act was a failure all the while he had to recall that in 2001 he voted for it. He also indicated that he thought the war in Iraq was a mistake, again another one of those I voted for it before I voted against it situations.

My advice to Baron Hill and his handlers is don’t agree to any more debates, single topic or otherwise as its quite obvious Mike Sodrel will flat out eat your lunch. If the debate were scored it would have put Sodrel with the gold at about a 9.4, Schansberg would have taken the silver with an 8.7 and Hill would have taken the bronze with about a 6.8. It was truly revealing to watch Hill stumble around sorting through his notes trying to find his talking points while Mike Sodrel looked straight ahead offering up facts and figures. At one point when he was providing his reasoning for supporting the war effort he recited the words of John F. Kennedy without once looking down. Sodrel’s knowledge, passion and depth of feeling came through crystal clear throughout the debate and proved he truly is the best man for the job because of his understanding of the issues that face the citizens of the 9th district.

County Auditor and Council President Should Step Aside

2006-08-06T11:53:00.000-04:00

The recent events leading up to last weeks revelation from crisis to no crisis is just another blatant example of why you elect people for their abilities not their likeability. Since Sandy Newmann took office in January of 2005 the Auditor’s office has been adrift in a sea of complexity that has overwhelmed not only her but her entire staff. Since the departure of Barb Clark the department has been awash with a lack of experience and wrought with nepotism. This combination has resulted in ongoing internal strife and the current County’s budget woes. Misinformation flows in and out of this office like the tides and leaves everyone involved with a feeling of unrest. Last year Newmann didn’t have a clue what she had gotten herself into when she went about her duties like blind person in a sand storm. The Democrat controlled Council took advantage of her naivety and pushed through a number of excessive spending measures that caused the Auditor to dip into the County’s cash reserves to balance the budget. Newmann went along with virtually every request in an effort to tow the party’s line.

This year the budget process ramped up again only this time the Auditor’s office posted a gloom and doom picture going from boom to bust in just under a year. She insisted the Council must find a way to slash existing budgets by as much as a million dollars if 2007's budget was going to be balanced. The Council President with full faith and confidence in the Auditor’s capabilities laid down the gauntlet to the County department heads to cut their 2006 budgets by 5%. By this time the ship of fools is so far adrift that able minds like Council members Hawk and West were satisfied with letting them aimlessly float about throughout the process waiting for the right time to drop anchor. This past week they did just that by exposing the deficiencies in Newmann’s funding calculations, which turned a million dollar deficit into a nearly balanced budget. Quite a turnabout wouldn’t you say? Newmann’s miscalculations caused the funding streams to be underestimated by almost $750,000, then she returned to an familier trick by buoying the remaining shortfall with cash reserves.

This on again off again management by crisis is typical of individuals that lack the knowledge and expertise to fulfill their duties, elected or otherwise. The credibility of the data that is being used to adopt the upcoming 2007 budget is absolutely useless. The County Council should call for a complete and thorough financial audit of the Auditor’s office to find out exactly what condition the County’s finances are really in. If they adopt the budget with inadequate or inaccurate data they are breaching their elected oath to every citizen in Monroe County. Council President Sophia Travis acting as captain of the ship of fools showed her lack of experience in these matters by setting the course for the exercise in futility that she put the entire County staff through in the budget workshops. Her lack of understanding of the County’s funding and financial resources has caused serious damage as her ship continues to take on water. She is sinking amid a myriad of mistakes and misdeeds and has attempted to deflect blame and make lame antic dotes that somehow excuse her lack of knowledge. She made the statement that this was a good exercise to have gone through because it caused all of the department heads to turn in tighter budgets. In other words it’s all right to lie and mislead not only your staff but also the citizens of Monroe County as long as you can justify it? Elected officials should be held accountable for their actions and I grow tired of people in roles of leadership attempting to divert blame to their subordinates for their own shortcomings. They took the office, they took the oath and it is high time some of them take responsibility.

Some of the statements that have come from the recent budget process simply defy all common sense and logic. One of these was Mark Stoops wanting to spend down the cash reserves to have only enough in reserve for one month. Even a neophyte in government funding understands that you should never let your reserves fall below three months for the simple fact that things regularly happen that cause funding to be held up. When this happens the cash reserves are what the County depends on to make up the shortfall to make payroll and pay their obligations. Another illogical statement was made by Sophia Travis which was “you’ll just have to find a way to cut 5% from each of your budgets” as if it were as easy as stroll down Kirkwood. Her total lack of understanding that people were going to loose their jobs because of her edict defies comprehension. Time and time again department heads outlined the same outcome during the work sessions and all to the same result, a blank stare and antic dotes. Like her comment “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings”. These actions and comments are an embarrassment and should be followed with nothing less than their resignations.

Kennedy playing to win, but who's getting played?

2006-07-02T23:03:00.000-04:00

Jim Kennedy is all of the things a good Republican should be, oops I mean Democrat or wait a minute which is it? Some time back I wrote about the sheriff’s race and how it would be interesting to see how a known Republican like Jim Kennedy would do in the primary on the Democrat ticket against a dyed in the wool Democrat like Larry Smith. That question has been answered, as the race wasn’t even close. Kennedy was embraced like the polka at a Polish wedding. Probably the most interesting thing about this new found love affair is that Kennedy appears to be everything the local Democrats loath. His past management style has always been more aligned on the side of the conservative, he has money, his entire career has been spent as a part of the institution and his past leadership style leans toward being almost autocratic.

For all of the wrong reasons it appears Kennedy has made a choice to be a part of the Democrat party. His only logical reasoning could be that he sees it as his only opportunity to win as sheriff of Monroe County. What happened to ethics and morals and standing up for what you believe in? What would people have said if Michael Jordan would have defected to the Pistons during the height of his career or if Roger Penske ended his longstanding relationship with Marlboro, it just wouldn’t be right? Yet here we are with a Republican on the Democrat ticket, please say it isn’t so! Oh well you can’t help but like a guy that was appointment as a US Marshal by George H. Bush even if you are a Democrat. I certain having a name like Kennedy doesn’t hurt either!

Obviously in the fall election the Democrats will be expected to mindlessly almost catatonically align themselves behind all of the candidates on the ticket and if the last election is any indicator they will. This along with the fact that local Republicans tend to vote with some degree of independence and conscience and will almost assuredly guarantee a majority of Democratic victories. I would go so far as predicting the fury that will arise from the Sodrel / Hill Congressional race will further be utilized to polarize local citizenry regardless of whether Sodrel has been an effective representative of the 9th district or not. This fury will undoubtedly carry down through the ranks and usher a number of locals into office.

As a side note it was reported that Kennedy recently showed up to campaign at a rural fire department fundraiser. Evidently his mode of transportation was a very expensive car and reportedly he was dressed to match. Needless to say that rose more than its share of eyebrows. Apparently he has the bling bling and is not afraid to flaunt it! Now any good Democrat knows that you should show up at these events riding a bicycle in hemp clothes and sandals. I can’t wait to see Kennedy show up at the Farmers Market to campaign in his Polo’s and Allen-Edmund’s and sporting a golf sweater.

"We have seen the enemy and it is us"

2006-06-30T23:59:00.000-04:00

After a long overdue holiday I have returned to the place that I call home. It feels good to be back to the daily activities that feed my passion and sustain my livelihood. Unfortunately it appears little has changed on the local political scene as many of the same faces are found scurrying about wagging their respective tongues. The more I travel, both domestically and abroad, I realize just how many Monroe County residents have allowed themselves to be hood winked into a seemingly mindless submission. Ironically many of these impendent thinkers find great comfort in numbers as they rally behind some of the most ridiculous causes.

As these poor souls aimlessly wonder about the pathways of life attempting to justify their existence they have managed to lock arms with other like-minded individuals that call themselves liberals. Unfortunately for them the real world passes them by as they busily work to prepare their altruistic utopia where everything is perpetual and self-sustaining. They never seem to realize that they don’t have a realistic plan for the future that will accommodate the populace in a modern and productive society as their mode of operation includes opposing anything that doesn’t fit within their narrow scope of reality. God forbid they should ever produce a constructive plan of action, as they are all too busy attacking people with opposing viewpoints.

This group claims to be both peaceful and civil however all to often their actions are confrontational and aggressive. They flood the media and airwaves with their combative articles and their words leave little room for doubt as they repeatedly show their disdain and contempt for any conservative or centrist idealism. This vocal minority has seemingly set the agenda for the people of the local Democrat party and the followers line up to carry this agenda forward from election cycle to election cycle. Their collective efforts do far more harm than good by constructing barriers to a true social harmony. For some reason far too many locals look upon social activism as a right of passage that grants them the authority to ultimately oppose all common sense and logic. Unfortunately for the majority of the citizens of Monroe County it appears the political pendulum has swung so far left that it will continue to cast a long and dark shadow over us for some time to come.

Naivety has met with reality!

2006-06-25T14:13:00.000-04:00

Monroe County Council President Sophia Travis and company have requested that all of the County departments cut their 2007 budgets by 5%, which on the surface seems like a reasonable request. However simplistic this approach may be it doesn’t bode well when these same individuals threw caution to wind when they pumped tens of thousands of dollars into numerous social service agencies in the 2006 budget. The result of that action has been a budget plagued with deficits and shortfalls nearly from its inception as the accounts have been balanced with funds from the County’s cash reserves. The county has been in what some have called a financial funk since the Democrats took control in January of 2005. Council member Trent Jones coined it a “rudderless ship waiting for the captain to arrive” and Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann likened it to being on a “submarine with screens for windows”. Sandy Newman the County Auditor has been on an eighteen-month learning curve with little or no progress being made, as the Council still does not have adequate supporting data to consider the budget much less decide on one. Throughout the 2006 budget hearing process Newman didn’t have a clue what was going on and this was evident when she towed the party line with her support for spending down the County’s cash reserves to fund all of the additional social service initiatives.

Interesting enough one of Council President Travis’ comments to trim some of the fat from the County’s budget included taking a close look at the possibility of eliminating duplication of county services which Township Trustees were mentioned. The reason this is so interesting is in the summer of 2004 when the Republicans controlled the Council a fact finding meeting was held in the Council chambers that addressed this very issue and it caused quite a fury among the likes of Bloomington Township Trustee and fellow Democrats Nancy Brinegar and her husband Jim which is the Township’s Assessor. Their vocal opposition to the concept sent a message that was loud and clear, don’t mess with my gravy train! Now fellow Democrat Travis has stepped onto this slippery slope and it appears as if she is going to take on the cause as if it were an original idea. Who said that politics is boring?

Another idea that surfaced recently from this brain trust was “you’re just going to have to find a way to use less fuel”. Wow, now there’s an original idea if one was ever uttered! Isn’t it a real shame when those little logistical nuances like fuel for the County’s vehicle fleet gets in the way of funding for our community's indigent population? Isn’t it just a real drag when you have to provide those pesky services like police and fire protection for public safety over socialized medicine? It’s a real shame that everybody doesn’t understand how much better the world would be if people didn’t have to work and everything was free for the taking. This is just another prime example of where naivety has met with reality and unfortunately we are all caught in its vortex. Maybe we should all take a look at the County’s budget through a pair of kaleidoscope looking glasses and we too could see things more clearly but then we would all be Democrats wouldn’t we?

MCCSC Dilemma or Dogma

2005-10-25T22:24:00.000-05:00

The editorial in the October 25, 2005 edition of the Herald Times spins a familiar twist on an old story; blame it on the State. If a person read this editorial and was unaware of the lack of historical relevance one might actually assume that shifting funding for education is something new. The editorial called out the State Legislature and Governor Mitch Daniels but failed to highlight this practice has been going on for many years. This same tactic has been supported through several Democratic administrations including former Governors Evan Bayh, Frank O’Bannon, Joe Kernan as well as Senator Vi Simpson and State Representative Peggy Welch. This crew has shifted and delayed payments to the local school corporations with the best of them, all the while sinking our State into a deeper and deeper financial abysses.

Local governments have been clamoring for years about local control and in this case the State has been more than happy to comply by shifting a larger portion of the tax burden to the local taxpayers and from their position who could blame them it’s a win, win situation. They get to hold the line on their burgeoning State budget while not having to take the blame for shortfalls in education funding. From their perspective if local communities want to continue building crystal palaces for their offspring to be educated in then let them pay for them. This is where common sense and local school boards play their greatest role, as common sense should prevail when a budget increases by 81% in ten years and is still not enough. The simple overruling question remains, has your income increased by 81% over the last ten years? If the answer is no, and I suspect that is the answer of the majority of county residents, then it is easy to see how this “cast of characters” as the HT calls them, can get upset.

The overall cost of living index has gradually increased at a rate of around 3% per year for the last ten years. How can any public entity morally consider increasing their budget in excess of the average cost of living increase? Are taxpayers supposed to somehow feel guilty for not allowing school systems to increase their budgets by twice the cost of living? Herein lies the dilemmas, many costs associated with education are federally mandated especially the stratospheric cost of educating children with “special needs”. The MCCSC or any other school system has no other choice but comply and fund the associated cost therein. Furthermore the general public demands facilities second to none for “their” children. These grand facilities and mega sports arenas cost money, big money, which equates to big debt service funds for school systems. Teacher’s salaries and benefits, although not exorbitant, are basically non-negotiable except for increases and god forbid someone would suggest removing a teacher with tenure for poor performance. The cost of providing health insurance has increased an average of 27% a year. Transportation of children to and from school is certainly not mandatory but it’s expected. Many of the hard cost associated with the educating our children are similar to other governmental ran entities, out of control.

The dogma is all too evident whenever someone or some group suggests holding the line on education funding. The MCCSC’s justification for additional funding is essentially because they lag in funding behind other Indiana schools they should seek an increase thus increasing taxes after all they feel they've got it coming to them. The fact that MCCSC ranks 184th out of 293 school systems in per pupil spending is really immaterial. The total advertised school budget, not just the general fund, is in excess of $89 million nearly the same amount to run both the city and county governments combined. The idea that we have to spend as much as the next school system is ludicrous, this keep up with Jones’ has caused all too many to exceed their means.

The age-old rebuttal is “don’t you care about our children’s education” is simply out of touch with reality. Sure we all care about education and we all want children to get a good education. We all would like to continue to eat regularly and be able to afford a vacation once every two or three years too but that is something that many fail to realize that for the average family it is getting more and more difficult to accomplish. Children deserve to have parents at home once in awhile instead of them having to work two or three jobs to keep a roof over their head. School is but one factor, albeit an important factor in the overall upbringing of children. The MCCSC as well as every other government taxing entity should take a lesson from Governor Daniels by taking a hard look at the cost of providing their service and then make the tough choices that trim the excess. With several of the MCCSC’s administrative staff having salaries that are near the $100,000 a year mark it really wouldn’t take all that long to trim some fat. Don’t be fooled the quality of education is not directly linked to money. The fact remains as long as the taxpayers keep shoveling money their way they will continue to find ways to spend it.

Arts & Cultural Activities Bring $44 Million To Local Economy?

2005-10-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

A recent letter the editor by Lee Williams the director of the Lotus Foundation in the October 8th 2005 edition of the Herald Times included several thought provoking statements. He made the statement that the arts and culture scene add a huge amount to the quality of life to the residents of Bloomington; I think most people would have to agree with that. Another statement included thanks to Mayor Kruzan for his efforts championing for the arts in our community as an “economic growth engine.” He went on to indicate the arts contributes over $44 million dollars to the local economy. This is where I must admit I have a little trouble with the figures. I don’t fault him for repeating what he has heard but the information has been derived from some pretty interesting studies on the financial impact by tourism and travel on Monroe County.

The suggestion that the arts and cultural activities in Monroe County bring in such huge financial dividends is derived in part from the annual report offered by the Monroe County Convention and Visitors Bureau. This same report indicated that in 2004 the Monroe County economy benefited to the tune of $258 million from tourism and travel. According to the Herald Times a recently “completed economic impact study of tourism and travel in Monroe County during 2004 shows that most of the $178.8 million dollars spent by tourists - 34 percent - was for food and beverages. Shopping accounted for 27 percent, lodging for 14 percent, transportation for 13 percent, attractions for 7 percent and souvenirs, 5 percent.” In a February 15th 2003 Herald Times article it was reported that restaurants in Monroe County grossed over a $194 million in sales for the previous year. The most recent report indicated 34% or $61 million of the $178.8 million was for food and beverages. Have food and beverage sales dropped by two thirds since the 2003 report or are the numbers cooked?

Essentially this leaves us with the understanding the $44 million arts related figure represents one-sixth of the County’s total tourism and travel economic impact amount. I guess if you believe the other numbers this one fits right in. It’s obviously easy to question the results of these extrapolated figures however I think very few would question the benefits that arts and culture brings to Bloomington. The reality is that everyone has a different cultural meter scale. Some for instance may rate the cultural importance of the Lotus festival as a one or two on their scale of ten when others may choose to rate it a nine or ten. Some might rank the entertainment importance of Bloomington Raceway’s Friday night races as very high when others see absolutely no socially redeeming value in the events. Bloomington Raceway doesn’t benefit from subsidies from our local government and yet they too bring hundreds of people to the area over the course of several summer weekends. I must admit this is a strange comparison and yet a very valid comparison of how we choose to spend our tax money locally. People can make the impact numbers read any way they want them to read when they reflect positively on the type of programs and entertainment venues that they support. There are many “economic growth engines” within Monroe County and we should remember they are all equally important and make Monroe County a very unique place to live. Fortunately for the taxpayers of Monroe County we don’t have to fuel all the economic growth engines with tax dollars.

Jim Kennedy Running For Sheriff

2005-10-16T11:32:00.000-05:00

It wasn’t a total surprise to see Jim Kennedy make an announcement that he would be seeking the nod for sheriff in next year’s election. What was a bit of a surprise was which ticket he has decided to run on. His announcement to run on the Democratic ticket has sent shock waves through the both party’s camps. Kennedy for all intent and purposes a lifelong Republican obviously made the decision to run as a Democrat for all the wrong reasons. I'm sure it's not because he has had a change of heart or his philosophy in politics has suddenly changed. It is rumored he is running as a Democrat simply because he wants to win. He obviously feels his chances are better running with them than against them especially considering the outcome of the last election. Last years election in Monroe County was heavily influenced by national politics which resulted in what was turned into an anti-Bush, anti-Republican mandate. These feelings although misaligned with the rest of the state, are still quite strong in Bloomington will be considered by some to have somewhat of the same effect on the outcome of the 2006 election.

What will be interesting to see is how hardcore democrat voters accept Kennedy in the primary? In an off year election the primary turnout is usually quite low and the makeup of the average voter is usually informed. For the purist, Larry Smith, another well-liked candidate that has announced his candidacy for sheriff on the Democrat ticket would obviously be the person of choice. He has the support of the regular party faithful even though he has little if any law enforcement experience. As the Technical Services Administrator for Monroe County he is counting on his administrative experience to carry him through. Kennedy on the other hand has vast law enforcement and administrative experience including Chief of Police for the City of Bloomington, Chief of Police for Indiana University and a stint as a United States Marshall. What isn’t setting well with the local GOP is that Senator Dick Lugar reportedly made Kennedy's recommendation for US Marshalls appointment and the appointment was confirmed by President Bush both Republicans.

This opportunistic party shift may not sit well with the voters even though Kennedy’s resume is impressive. He is obviously counting on the average voter being uninformed and looking only at the credentials of each candidate. This might play well in most communities however in Monroe County that’s not necessarily the case as you have to look no further than the results of the last election where several highly qualified candidates were beaten by those with little or no applicable experience. Voters in this county are anything but consistent. How else could you explain Joyce Poling's narrow victory over a person like tree sitter Mike “Moss” Englert in the 2004 general election? If Kennedy does indeed make it onto the primary ballot as the newly elected Democrat Chairman could decide to contest his presence, the primary will definitely be his battleground where he will have to overcome the persona of a Republican running on the Democratic ticket. As for the Republicans I suppose it would be nice to see a Republican elected even if it’s on the Democrat ticket.

Charles Is All Tangled Up In His Own Webb

2005-10-12T07:42:00.000-05:00

I found the cover story interview with retired music professor Charles Webb in the October 4th 2005 edition of the Herald Times particularly offensive and very ill conceived. For someone with his level of education and background to make such preposterous accusations and assumptions through his limited contact with people from mostly Arab / Muslim nations shows how easy it is for people’s opinions to be swayed and manipulated. To make a comment that many people even perceive George W. Bush "as a greater threat to world order than Osama bin Laden." is one of the most maligned and opportunistic assumptions that could have been derived from this report. His comments only show a narrow-minded viewpoint derived from an overly simplistic view of the world’s political and cultural climate, as it exists today. What kind of feed back did these people expect from the very region has birthed and swaddled the terrorist that roam the world today looking to destroy the very life that people like Mr. Webb lead? Until this article was published I must admit I had more respect for Mr. Webb, unfortunately now that respect has been lost. No President in history has been popular during war times and this is certainly no exception. Even Winston Churchill’s wartime heroics were not rewarded with a post World War II reelection. It grieves me to read articles that contain such duplicity especially when people allow themselves to be manipulated by a handful of liberal renegades into spreading this anti-American sentiment. An educated person would never make this type of broad-brush comparison.

Mr. Webb’s assumption is that through cultural exchange and diplomacy the world would be a much better place and that war could be avoided. If he and others would take off their rose colored glasses long enough to look around at the real world this concept is completely out of balance with reality. Where was the diplomacy when the terrorists flew planeloads of American citizens into the World Trade Center killing thousands of innocent civilians? History has proven time and time again that regardless of the amount of cultural exchange between countries people will always have differing views and beliefs and sometimes those differences result in conflict. Conflict and ultimately the resolution thereof often time results in war. It is quite obvious Mr. Webb allowed him self to be manipulated and used as a pawn to help influence and win the physiological battle over the American way of life. The vast majority of the Muslim nation, especially the extremist truly hate the American’s way of life. Their hatred and resentment is deep rooted and goes back many generations and is taught to their children at a very young age. To level the blame on President Bush and his staff makes about as much sense as blaming Churchill for Hitler’s actions during World War II.

There will always be tyrants in this world that seek out power and notoriety and no amount of civic and cultural exchange will ever totally rid us of them. There are also pacifists and others that feel war is never the answer and that we should always turn the other cheek until we have nothing left to offer. There are also those people that understand action is necessary at times and to sit back and allow our country to be attacked is not a time to offer up another cheek. War is never clean or cheap and people certainly will die but unfortunately it’s the only language some tyrants understand. Sometimes force must be met head on with force. It is our right as Americans to be able to hold differing opinions and opposing viewpoints about our government but those opinions should never result in undermining the nations resolve in good times or bad.

Bump Outs and the Buskirk Chumley

2005-10-08T16:29:00.000-05:00

What do both of these things have in common? Many locals believe the City has no business getting involved in either one of them. The Buskirk Chumley Theatre is a beautiful old historic building that deserved to be saved and restored to its present day splendor. With that being said the question arises as to what the limits are to government funding for civic and cultural facilities such as this. When the City of Bloomington decided to get involved in the refurbishment of the old theatre it was a worthy and noble cause for such a grand old building but the money was offered in exchange for and with the full understanding that the City of Bloomington did not want to own the facility. The funding concept was that upon the completion of the remodeling the facility would become nearly self sufficient under the able management of the Waldron Arts Center. Detractors insisted that concept was highly improbable and the project was nothing more than another drain on valuable taxpayers resources.

Several years and several hundred thousand dollars later the City is getting ready to tread down a very slippery slope indeed, taking over the ownership of this relic from the past. The facility has never come anywhere close to being profitable and unfortunately probably never will. This is simply another example of a small handful of elected officials selling unrealistic pie in the sky concepts to the public so they could secure funding for another one of their “causes”. How can this happen you ask? The answer lies in the fact that a high percentage and getting higher all the time, of the elected officials have virtually no background in business or economics. The cost of maintaining such a facility is enormous and with the limited revenues it generates it would give even a risk taker cause for concern of getting involved in this endeavor. The point is it’s a really nice building but at what cost?

This brings us to the second half of the commentary, the bump out debacle on Auto Mall Road on Bloomington’s eastside. Where is the public outrage for this public / private deal made in a complete void of public input or knowledge. It was reported the repairs would cost the City $24,000 however the actual cost of making reparations will probably never be known as it too will undoubtedly be shrouded in darkness. The simple fact remains that tens of thousands of taxpayer’s dollars were wasted for tearing out and repaving this entire stretch of roadway. Mayor Kruzan has taken responsibility for the circumvention of due process and subsequent mishandling of the project and is surely hoping the issue will go away as faster than the city workers patched and repaved the roadway.

This year alone we have endured two major traffic obstructions to facilitate development on the eastside. First the community was force fed an undersized “round a bout” on Moores Pike that cannot even be negotiated by a semi-truck and now we get to pay for the removal of more public impediments installed by this same developer on Auto Mall Road. I wonder just how much Wininger / Stolberg and its principals donated to Mayor Kruzan’s election campaign? This unfortunately is just another example of the all too typical dictatorial style of leadership that we presently have in City Hall, which is all the more reason not to let this be swept under the rug. If this were private enterprise someone would surly loose his or her job and it has been suggested that if you had to start somewhere start with the Director of Public Works Julio Alonso.

What I would like to know is why are we so conditioned to accept this type of incompetence and over site from government officials and furthermore why do the offenders get off without suffering any consequences? There is obviously a vast separation between taking responsibility and being accountable. Responsibility is when you own up to throwing an arrant baseball through someone’s window. Being accountable is when you actually pay for the window. In this case taking responsibility is one thing but who is going to be accountable and repay the thousands of misused and abused tax dollars? Evidently no one!

Commissioners Approve GOP Redistricting Plan

2005-10-06T07:12:00.000-05:00

The Monroe County Commissioners voted two to one along party lines to approve the GOP’s new redistricting plans for both the Council and Commissioners districts. The usual group of talking heads from the Democrat Party provided those in attendance with their standard responses to virtually everything including claiming the redistricting process was nothing more than partisan politics, that redistricting would disenfranchise voters and the process was setting a dangerous precedent. These arguments are getting more mileage on them than a slick set of radials. I really do wish they could be a little more creative.

One of a handful of Democrat operatives that took the podium was Chaim Juliam, he offered a petition supposedly containing two hundred signatures in opposition to the redistricting plan. Mr. Juliam was representing yet another innocuously named political action group called Democracy for Monroe County. This group along with others of similar name and culture regularly camp out in the friendly confines of the farmers market with their petitions and liberal propaganda. Another regular at the podium was local activist Scott Wells, as usual he served up a hearty swig of his typical brand of political indignation delivered in his normal loud and threatening tone. Even the staunchest of the Democrat supporters cringe with embarrassment when he gets up to speak. One individual that for some reason feels compelled to make a statement at these meetings is Pedro Roman. I’m not sure of his nationality or for that matter his citizenship but his English is very broken and must be an absolute nightmare for someone to transcribe into the minutes of the meeting. No one seems to know just exactly what he said but since he hangs around with the other overzealous liberals it’s a safe assumption he was against the redistricting plan. The only new face in the political arena was interim Democrat Chairwoman Lee Jones. She provided a preview of the new Democrat Party leadership and I must say she is no Dan Combs and I know Dan Combs.

Redistricting was absolutely necessary and obviously long overdue. Thank goodness our two Commissioners stood their ground and did what is right for the voters of Monroe County. For the first time in many years the citizens of this county will have the opportunity to cast a vote that will actually have some bearing on the outcome of the election. The new districts better comply with the law and have been calculated so tight in population and compactness that it will be virtually impossible for anyone to redraw them anytime soon even if Democrats should regain control of the Commissioners office. The sad part of this is, besides a few political hacks on both sides, no one even really cares about redistricting and it was obvious from the small turn out at the meeting. The overall effect on the political landscape will be substantial because for once the districts were not drawn to accommodate a particular candidate or opponent this was evident in Commissioner Kilmer virtually voting himself out of a district. If there was a down side to this meeting it was provided by our current County Clerk, Jim Fielder. If you closed your eyes while listening to Fielder you would have sworn a Democrat had taken the podium. He obviously has some fundamental differences with the rest of the Republican Party and if so his silence would have been appreciated. Regardless, his comments failed to gain traction with the Commissioners and the process motored right on through similar to what transgender legislation will pass through the City Council in the near future, but that’s another story altogether isn’t it?

Rebel Without A Clue

2005-10-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

The Wednesday September 28th edition of the Herald Times included a “guest editorial” by Monroe County Council Member Sophia Travis. Still stinging from the backlash she received for her misguided vote against the recent tax abatement request from Cook Incorporated her conscious obviously got the best of her as she made a lame attempt to justify her action. She claimed that her nay vote was tied to the fact that Cook fails to pay a living wage to its workers per the City of Bloomington’s definition and furthermore her philosophy in politics includes a healthy dose of discourse and opposition. Along with that skewed outlook on politics she defended her obligation to the people that put her in office by remaining committed to her campaign promises. That is truly an admirable trait first considering she actually possessed some infinite wisdom that was supported in facts. Being so closed minded that she fails to recognize the benefits of supporting a company like Cook Incorporated only further proves her radical independence overrules her sense of responsibility to the citizens of Monroe County. Reportedly many of her decisions have been overly influenced by others including her spouse, which originally went on record as being against this type of corporate tax abatement. She is obviously going out of her way to make a statement that her decisions are her own as she indicated her husband had advised her that a vote against Cook would be politically damaging, ironically once again she is simply following his lead.

Another interesting issue that arises out of this situation is how quickly the guest editorial appeared in the Herald Times after the Cook abatement vote. Since when has the newspaper been so timely with an editorial allowing an elected official to justify their vote with a written editorial response? In most instances the editorial staff reviews these submissions and subjectively sets them aside until the issue is so old most people don’t even remember what the editorial is referring to. Isn’t it just adding insult to injury when we have to be subjected to the humiliation of having an elected official vote against one of the most prominent and well-respected employers in Monroe County and then we have to turn around and read her slanted editorial in the newspaper? This desire for attention and publicity comes at a dire cost and unfortunately we the taxpayers are forced to keep picking up the tab.

What many have feared is coming to fruition, the off-center ideas that have tainted City politics for so long has now migrated into the County’s political landscape. The County Council recently passed a record budget that included spending down its much needed cash reserves in lieu of increased funding for social services all the while failing to recognize and fund even the most basic of necessities within county government, fuel for its vehicles. Now we have a County Council member utilizing the City’s Living Wage Ordinance to justify her vote against a County tax abatement request. These are dangerous times in local government, as extremists have infiltrated virtually every aspect of leadership. It’s truly a shame when good honest hard working people suggest that the local political scene is too far-gone and they don’t want to get involved because they have lost all hope that common sense and reason will ever prevail. Do we really need someone in government that disagrees just for the sake of disagreement? Do we really want the City’s overtly liberal attitudes governing the citizens of the county? The next election will be a critical turning point in local politics, as we have to confront these issues head on. With this and many other issues facing Monroe County we certainly don’t need any more rebels without a clue.

MCCSC School Board Out Of Line

2005-09-27T22:43:00.000-05:00

At the September 20th MCCSC Budget meeting the Board’s President, Sue Wanzer failed miserably at one of the greatest responsibilities of a School Board Member, listening. Instead of creating an environment that is conducive to open and constructive dialog she created a hostile and unproductive atmosphere that accomplished absolutely nothing. The day after the meeting the Herald Times reported that a group of individuals presented a petition to the School Board that opposed the current budget proposal. What the Herald Times failed to report was the tantrum that Ms. Wanzer threw when she interrupted one of the petitioners asking him for his “source” for the data that was being presented in his handout. She then went so far as claiming the data was invalid because the source was not documented. As if this interruption wasn’t enough what happened next was truly beyond comprehension for an elected official, she ripped the petitioners report in half and threw it in the air in protest.

Several days have passed and the MCCSC or the Board President, which only exacerbates the situation, has offered no apology. Whether or not she agreed with the petitioners has virtually nothing to do with her actions. The School Board is elected and charged with the duty to represent the voters of the community in all school related matters and everyone of the people in attendance that evening that opposed the budget were voters. This “know it all” attitude is so very typical from the MCCSC School Board and unfortunately it only perpetuates the negative feelings many taxpayers have against them. On so many occasions this group has failed and failed miserably at validating their requests and presenting solid evidence and justification for their budget. This failure stems from their lack of even the most basic understanding of the budget. All too often they are simply mimicking what they have been told by engineers of this train wreck, more money equals better education. Rarely if ever do you hear a probing question about the budget from a MCCSC Board Member. They have an inherent fear that people will think badly of them or worse yet label them as unsupportive of public education.

The MCCSC budget is huge and it has an equally huge impact on the taxpaying citizens of this county therefore it is only fair that people have the opportunity to question and even oppose this budget if they so choose. For the MCCSC School Board to digress to a point where it fails to listen to constituents of the community it has failed the community and furthermore it has failed our children. The School Board should be setting the example for the rest of the school community to follow as I am doubtful this type of behavior would ever be tolerated from their students. Ms. Wanzer has proven she does not possess the proper skills and attitude required to be an effective leader. Her “take it or leave it” attitude, first about the sex survey and now about the budget shows she is both closed minded and unyielding, two unbecoming traits of a public official. All too often officials of the MCCSC have taken on an ultra ego that gets in the way of them doing their job. Unfortunately they quickly forget they are supposed to be holding “public” meetings where everybody is treated with respect, whether they agree with them or not. The children of the MCCSC deserve better and should not have to suffer the consequences of a dysfunctional School Board.

GOP Maps Better Than Current Maps!

2005-09-24T12:23:00.000-05:00

The Herald Times recently did a one hundred and eighty degree about face by admitting the new GOP proposed Council district maps were a significant improvement over the current maps. This article validates everything the GOP has been working on by letting the people decide for themselves without the influence of political propaganda. Now that the average citizen has had an opportunity to look at the two maps side by side anyone with half of a functioning brain realizes just how gerrymandered the 2001 Democrat maps were. The outcry from within the Republican Party to correct these maps went on for far too long. The new maps have a significant reduction in the population deviation and make huge leaps in improving compactness. As for the recommendation of map one that would pit two seated Council members against each other over map two that separates the two of them it would appear the HT favors on the side of the voters by supporting map one.

Pat Williams the lone Democrat on the three person Redistricting Committee once again offered her biased views on the subject by indicating she was unaware of a reason to redistrict and further adding she was disappointed that it wasn’t being done with a bipartisan committee like it was done in 2001. First of all its doubtful anyone in the Democrat camp would have complained since the maps were drawn in their favor in three of the four districts, that’s a widely known and accepted fact. The Republicans have been peeved since 2001 but no one in the Party wanted to take on the responsibility to correct it until now. As for the bipartisan committee in 2001 that is as laughable as Bill Clinton’s “define sex” question. In 2001 there were two Democrats and one Republican, which was Jim Fielder, and he had the same amount of input then as Pat Williams had this time around. As for the comments about the mid-decade redistricting setting a bad precedent, it’s widely known that it would be extremely difficult for the Democrats to improve on these maps and that’s why they were making such a big deal about it now. If they make some attempt at redistricting again anytime soon and they cannot make valid argument for their attempt at an improvement they will only be setting themselves up for a legal battle they know that can’t win.

At this point the Democrats will have to retreat and lick their wounds as they have lost all hope of convincing the public of their position on redistricting now that the HT slammed the door in their face. Politics is like chess; some play it better than others and in this instance the Republicans played it like a master. Move after move, timing and strategy were all on their side. Now it’s up to the Commissioners to follow through with what they started and like the HT apparently most people agree with option one for the County Council districts. Politics is politics and the Democrats have had winner take all attitudes for some time, its time the Republicans learn to reciprocate. Former Chairman John Shean was apparently offered little help from the former leadership and in a short while he was able to rebuild the structure of the Party from the ground up. Now, with that foundation in place, the new Chairman will have that advantage should he choose to utilize it. The Republicans in Monroe County are slowly learning you can’t be complacent and play fair when your opposition chooses not to.

Councilwoman Travis Votes Against Cook Abatement / New Jobs

2005-09-19T21:14:00.000-05:00

Last Tuesday the Monroe Council met and took action on a tax abatement request from Cook Incorporated, one of, if not the largest employer in Monroe County. The abatement request was to support a major expansion of Cook at the Park 48 site, which is reported to include up to 250 new jobs. At the meeting Democrat Council President Mark Stoops along with Vice President Sophia Travis and member Michael Woods each took their turn attempting to convince people that tax abatements do not have an impact on jobs. What should have been a slam-dunk took over an hour for the Democrats to test their support for voting against the proposal. The vote eventually came with a six to one count in favor of the abatement with Travis being the lone opposing vote.

With the Democrats posturing against the abatement what kind of message does this send one of the County’s largest employers? Does it say we are as committed to you as you are to us? Does it say we truly appreciate the millions of dollars you contribute to our local economy? It’s appalling this discussion ever took place. The Council members should have each taken their turn at showing their appreciation for Cook and all of the wonderful things they have done and are continuing to do for our community. For Travis to suggest that Cook doesn’t pay enough to its base hourly employees is absurd. Between the pay and the benefit package for these hourly positions it’s certainly up among the best locally and furthermore those jobs are direly needed and should be welcomed with open arms. Who are they to suggest Cook would expand here with or without the abatement? Who are they to micromanage Cook Incorporated by suggesting they should pay more to their employees?

What the opponents to the abatement fail to recognize is the variety of supporting salaried employees that will benefit from this expansion and by including their pay along with the base hourly jobs the average wage per hour will obviously be significantly higher. With length of employment increases and incentive pay even the base jobs stack up well against other local employers. When more and more companies are cutting their cost by eliminating benefits like health insurance Cook remains committed to a fairly generous employee benefit package. Trying to understand why these three Council members felt compelled to disregard all of the benefits this expansion brings and degrade the process is difficult to understand. With this display however it only proves what many have feared for some time. They have little or no understanding of business, how it works, its value to a community or how they have to compete in today’s global economy. While they attempt to convince those with high paying jobs that low paying jobs are not important they should try selling that to the working class people working two jobs without any benefits or health insurance.

These Democrats need to come down off their ivory tower and see how the other half lives by representing the working class that used to make up the majority of the local Democrat voters. They should realize when more people are employed that directly relates to an increased demand for new homes. These employees will need a place to raise their family and buy groceries. More homes equal more property taxes as well as more fuel for the local economy. Voters will not soon forget this blunder!

Saddle Up and Let's Ride!

2005-09-18T11:32:00.000-05:00

At last weeks GOP caucus something interesting happened, something quite unexpected actually. What happened was what some precinct committee persons called a “record turn out” among the eligible voters with several more interested bystanders in tow turned out to elect a new Chairman. This record turn out obviously showed there is a huge amount of interest in the local GOP. Is it possible a sleeping giant has awoken? As expected there were two qualified candidates vying for the hot seat in local politics, Dan Aiken and Franklin Andrew. They both entered the race relying on their own strengths, each possessing their own brand of charisma and style. Aiken was proposing something closer to a corporate business structure or attitude with structure and accountability. Andrew on the other hand was touting more of a bravado “gitter done” style.

Another thing happened that I think surprised many in attendance. The vote wasn’t even close, reportedly sixty votes for Andrew with twenty for Aiken. Many had expected a much closer race with the possibility of two or even three ballots. With the outcome being so lopsided it avoided the typical party split within factions that usually occurs after a close election. In other words the outcome actually provided a healing of sorts and unified most of the party in one camp. I’m sure there are those with a more moderate outlook on local politics that have concerns about the outcome but it appears even they are willing to give someone else a chance to bring home the bacon. With so many party regulars showing up at the election and if they will just stay involved throughout Andrew’s tenure it certainly offers hope for the future.

It’s possible someone like Franklin Andrew is just what the GOP needed. As he lists his occupation as a horse breeder maybe he can utilize those skills and coral the wild mustangs that have pulled the GOP in different directions over the last few years. Next years election is right around the corner and it will be a good litmus test for his brand of leadership especially since he is fulfilling a term that will expire in early 2007. If Chairman Andrew can concentrate his efforts on winning the majority of local races next year by dividing his time and loyalty between that and the Sodrel campaign its possible the majority of the GOP will hitch there horses to his wagon and ride it to victory in 2007 and as we all know that would truly be an accomplishment.

Accountability In Politics

2005-09-10T14:07:00.000-05:00

As many are already aware our county is slated to have one additional Judge / Court appointed by the Governor in 2006. The need for this additional court was sold to the citizens of Monroe County as a virtual necessity with a price tag of around $400,000 a year. The decision to move forward with the request was based on the cost estimate provided by the Judges to the County Council. As the reality of the new Court draws near the actual anticipated cost of the new Court has been elevated to a whopping $1.7 million, four times the original estimate. When questioned about the difference between the original estimate and the real cost few acceptable responses were offered. The reality is citizens and County officials were sold the new court with a seriously underestimated budget and furthermore had the real cost of the new courts been used it is highly unlikely we would be anticipating a new court anytime soon.

It has been suggested the County Council failed to probe the Judges proposal to discover that it only included the cost of the Court and failed to recognize all of the additional support staff and expenses that would be required should the proposal be implemented. The additional costs are to include staff for the County Clerk, Prosecutor, Public Defender, Probation Department and or Sheriff’s Department. That oversight by itself is unacceptable but what is even more discouraging is now the current estimated cost for just the Court’s portion of the budget is $719,000 almost double what was originally proposed. Why do you ask, it appears they failed to properly anticipate the cost of facilities to house the court plus some other associated costs they conveniently overlooked in the original proposal?

What I fail to understand is why we elect individuals to represent us and then fail to hold them accountable for their incompetence. In the private sector businesses are held accountable by consumers through a variety of outlets the least of which is the conscious choice of deciding to do business with any given firm at any given time. If we are cheated or treated badly we tend to decide if the product or service is worth the additional cost and make our purchases accordingly. However, in Government we tend to accept being treated poorly simply because the cost of their oversight is being spread over a larger group. If a local car repair facility provided an estimate for repairing your vehicle of $400 and when you went to pick up your car the actual cost was closer to $719 my guess is the average person would be outraged. Why would someone be upset at the car repair shop when your elected officials do this on a daily basis? The only logical answer is with the car repair the additional cost will be borne solely by you? Should we be any less outraged when our new Court’s estimated cost escalated from $400,000 to $719,000 than we are about a car repair being $719 rather than $400, after all its just a matter of moving the decimal point around?

Elections are unfortunately more about personality than they are about capability and until that changes we will always be faced with near voluntary governance and little or no accountability. People should be outraged when elected officials fail to perform their duties and recognize their responsibility to the citizens they represent. When elected officials reward departmental oversight with the allocation of additional funding beyond the original cost estimate or budget they’re simply perpetuating a system of offering incentives for negative behavior and poor performance. Currently departments are rewarded for submitting false or poorly prepared budgets. The motivation is oversell the concept and undersell the price with the reward being additional funding when needed. In our current dilemma our Council was faced with funding an additional court at a cost that was up to four times higher than the original estimate. Somehow our elected officials feel compelled to make up for this incompetence by throwing additional funding at their feet. Occasionally it would do the system good to just say, we’re sorry but you’ll just have to figure out how to run your department with the funds that you requested, nothing more and nothing less. You told us you need $400,000 and that’s how much you get. We all bear the cost of these oversights and it’s just a matter of moving the decimal point to figure out how much it costs each of us individually.

The County's Budget, Hardly The Bear Necessities!

2005-09-04T22:57:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday evening the Monroe County Council voted to approve the 2006 budget. The budget was approved with a five to two vote, Republicans Marty Hawk and Trent Jones with the dissenting votes. Perennial complainer David Grubb spoke at the public comment segment to castigate members of the Council in his own special way, unfortunately Mr. Grubb was not the only irrational item on the agenda. The Council approved a budget with a $6.9 million increase or 15% increase over last year. Other than Mr. Grubb no one else showed up to oppose the proceedings, just the type of mandate that has lead to this ridiculously inflated budget. The other big disappointment of the evening was Council Member Sue (I’m not a politician) West voted with the Democrats. The budget would have passed without her vote so it is unclear what motivated her to ally with the side of this liberal spending machine.

The Democrats hailed the budget as one of the best in years with an unprecedented level of input and cooperation. With a four to three majority it appears the Democrats provided the input and the Republicans provided the cooperation. The concerns are vast and many as we enter an era under Democrat control. Concern was shown but certainly not heeded about the dangerous practice of spending down cash reserves to the tune of one million dollars. Formerly the Auditors office under the able leadership of Barb Clark provided the County with a healthy cash balance, one that cushioned against the need to borrow to meet the County’s obligations through the lean months leading up to the States mid-year dispersement. If Barb Clark were still the Auditor I'm sure you would have heard her chastising the Council for even thinking of such an ill-advised scheme. Instead with Newmann at the helm in the Auditor’s office the rough seas are rising faster than the Council’s 2006 budget as she offered little opposition to the process.

With the bite of a rabid pit bull one item that is going to take a chunk out of next years funding plan is the county's fleet maintenance budget. Ignoring soaring fuel costs, the council in all its infinite wisdom approved a 2006 budget that is actually $13 less than the current budget. All the while being faced with $3.00 a gallon fuel and knowing the current budget is already on empty with four months still to go. While the Democrats were straining Thursday to pat themselves on the back for this budget it was done knowing it has more holes in it than a roll of Swiss cheese. When the County’s fleet budget is depleted and it can no longer fuel the trucks to plow the roads we can all thank this Council for all of its hard work and then swallow hard when they force an additional appropriation on us.

The newly elected Democrats ran in the last election on a platform of increased spending in the area of social services. They came through on their promises and in a big way with a $300,000 increase in funding for Options for Better Living. Many voters had reasonable expectations their promises would be kept by offsetting expenses or cost savings in other areas but that certainly wasn’t the case. Their vote was never meant to be a mandate for unlimited spending but when the County’s budget exceeds the annual cost of living index by double digits you can bet someone didn’t do their homework. A good question to be asked at this point is how many people will have a 15% increase in their income next year, likely very few? Remember regardless of what the tax rate is in 2006 it is being artificially buoyed by cash reserves. Whether your feeding the budget or feeding a bear, once you start feeding it, it never goes away and it just keeps getting bigger.

The Next GOP Chairman

2005-09-03T18:53:00.000-05:00

Following the resignation of GOP Chairman John Shean, much information is being circulated, some factual and some less than factual, about potential candidates for upcoming caucus when the precinct committee men and women will elect Monroe County’s next GOP Chairman. The one fact that has come out of all of this is the Caucus will be held at the GOP headquarters September 12th at 7:30 in the evening. Another fact that has come out is that precinct committeeman Franklin Andrew has announced his candidacy and is actively campaigning for the opening. Reportedly Mr. Andrew narrowly lost to John Shean in the last caucus about a year and half ago. Another fact is that Vice Chairman and current acting Chairman Amy Marie Travis has made it known she will not be seeking the job full time. Probably a smart move on her part as her job in the Prosecutors office would undoubtedly suffer under the demands of County Chairman. The only other people on the Central Committee currently are Andy Dodds, Treasurer and Bryan Lemonds, Secretary, no official word yet on either of them as a potential candidate. Either would probably be worthy candidates but history has not been kind politically to former Chairman and word is they are both interested in future public service.

Currently with the announcement of just one candidate, Franklin Andrew has got the jump on others at this point as it was reported he was actively seeking support the day after Mr. Shean’s announcement. Some within the Party are concerned about his close ties to Leo Hickman, Bud Bernitt and the far right ultra conservative faction of the party. Mr. Andrew does have an advantage of several years of political involvement with various campaigns including his own although it is reported that his lack of involvement in the local party since Shean took office is a concern.

The only other name with any credence that has currently surfaced in the rumor mill is Dan Aiken, a current precinct committeeman and former campaign chairman for Andy Dodds’ unsuccessful bid for County Council in 2004. Mr. Aiken a relative new comer in local politics has been very visible over the last year taking on many responsibilities within the Party’s structure. His supporters are reportedly more moderate and would probably include most of the current elected office holders.

As Paul Harvey says, and now for the rest of the story, rumors are furiously circulating in both camps as the jockeying among potential candidates are underway. As phone calls are being made and alliances formed word on the street is apparently the Democrats are already requesting background information on current and rumored candidates. I’m sure they would like nothing more than to see someone with a sordid past elected as Chairman. This certainly is something worthy of further consideration, as most people would agree a County Chairman’s past needs to be squeaky clean. Hopefully anyone with a checked past would avoid dragging the party down that road.

The Monroe County GOP is at a virtual crossroads, its lack of success in the last city election and more recently the county election gives serious concern for the direction of the GOP under new leadership. The Chairman’s job is by in large a thankless and horrific drain on a persons time. Everyone has different expectations, some of which are virtually unachievable. Citizens of Bloomington and Monroe County are not as likely as they once were to vote straight ticket which is why many believe its important to find a leader that will appeal to those closer to the center politically. Someone less radical and more moderate would also appeal to a broader range of potential candidates for future GOP tickets. Hopefully those that will get the opportunity to vote will ask the tough questions that need to be asked. What have they done in the past, what are they doing presently and where they plan to take us in the future? Will they have the time and resources to devote to this most important position? Which candidate will give the GOP its best chance to win? Are they seeking the job because they truly want to move the party forward or is there an ulterior motive? It’s possible other candidates will surface at the eleventh hour but regardless it’s a tough post to fill and good candidates will more than likely be in short supply.

Local Democrats Display Uncivilized Behavior At Redistricting Meeting

2005-08-28T22:27:00.000-05:00

Democrat Party Chairman Dan Combs and local Democrat activist Don Moore provided another unbecoming display at the recent redistricting organizational meeting. What people witnessed was the epitome of incivility. During the meeting Democrat Party Chairman Dan Combs was disruptive by attempting to talk over local resident John Newlin while he attempted to speak on behalf of the redistricting process. Mr. Newlin was interrupted several times before he turned to Mr. Combs and asked him to refrain from his interruptions since he was previously allowed the opportunity to speak without interruptions. After the meeting ended Don Moore resorted to finger pointing and harsh words for Libertarian Party Leader Margaret Fette, he took opposition with her for calling the current districts gerrymandered. In an obnoxious and demeaning outburst Moore accused Mrs. Fette and her Libertarian Party of being “insignificant” in our community. The Democrat Party Leadership has once again shown their ugly side by utilizing an intimidating shout down tactic that has worked well for them in the past. Ironically this type of amateurish and childish behavior is from the same group that claims to want civility to resonate throughout the county.

Interestingly enough the Herald Times failed to report either of these incidents in their coverage of the meeting. Kurt Van der Dussen wrote the article, which reportedly was not seen in attendance at the meeting. Since the meeting was not televised someone that was not given credit in the article must have covered it. Instead of balancing the articles’ content by highlighting Mr. Newlin’s support for redistricting Mr. Van der Dussen reported the partisan opposition of Democrat activist Scott Wells. Van der Dussen did however include County attorney David Schilling’s response to Dan Combs’ accusations that the Republicans were "trying to cram this in before the end of the year". Schilling pointed out that back in 2001 the county redistricting panel, which the former Democrat-controlled commissioners had appointed, squeezed its entire process into October and November of that year adding that was less time than the current committee will have. Again Combs’ has proven his total disregard for the facts by throwing out these baseless and unfounded allegations against this legal and necessary process.

The tactics by the Democrat Party is increasingly disenchanting citizens of Monroe County. Their win at any cost philosophy seems to always resort to this type of manipulative brainwashing. They don’t want fairness they want it all and that includes every elected office at every level at any cost. They talk of bipartisanship but they don’t play the part that is unless they happen to be in minority. The voting public deserves redistricting because redistricting will clean up the boundaries; make them more compact and more equal in population. I am hopeful the Republican Party’s proposal will better comply with the law and furthermore, if its done correctly, it will be difficult to improve upon until the next US Census in 2010. With the revised voting districts and the new voter identification laws that will be in place by the next election I am hopeful the citizens of Monroe County will be able to appreciate the hard work that has went into making the 2006 election, what some have suggested, to be the first fair election in Monroe County in years. We will all be able to take comfort in knowing the phrase one person; one vote will truly mean something. Hopefully the disruptive tactics by a handful of local Democrats will be seen for what they really are, insulting.

Just Like A Trip To Disney World, County's Budget Is Goofy!

2005-08-24T19:43:00.000-05:00

Rarely do I agree with the Herald Times’ editorials but hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. In the Tuesday, August 23, 2005 editorial labeled “County council’s funding priorities are questionable” the editorial staff has finally provided local citizens something worth reading. They outlined the high points or should I say the low points of the County Council’s budget process in which the Democrat majority made good on its promises to increase funding for all of the social service agencies that are on their pet list. Anyone with even a minimal amount of financial reasoning should have been able to recognize the dilemma the Council was faced with, a substantial increase in the cost of doing business with only a slight increase in overall funding.

The fiscally responsible and prudent thing to do would be to provide funding for only the most basic of necessities and then if anything was left over, which there wasn’t, divvy it up accordingly. What this Council did was just the opposite, they started with increases in several social services providers and then worked their way backwards by making cuts in other areas that include some of the most basic areas of local government, like fuel money. The Democrats on the Council think the average person doesn’t understand the budget process well enough to understand what they have done, hopefully most people are smarter than they give them credit for. What they have done is balance their irresponsible budget with cash reserves, money that was prudently put aside by former Auditor Barbara Clark. Money that is required to run our County government until the next dispersement from the State arrives. Money that once it’s gone it’s really gone.

This ideology is similar to the average family spending money they don’t have on some discretionary item like “they’re annual trek to Disney World”. Lets say as an example this family has in years past saved the money and was able to make the trip without going into debt. However this year because of expenses beyond their control they were not able to put aside any money. All the while knowing they don’t have the money to cover the expense they go ahead and put the entire trip on a credit card thinking they’ll pay it off with future income. However their income doesn’t go up, as a matter of fact their income doesn’t even keep up with inflation thus resulting in the family having to borrow money just to make ends meet. This is all just basic Economics 101, a lesson most of the members of this County Council obviously missed.

The lesson that we will all learn from their action is next year as expenses exceed budgets for basic items like fuel the Council will be confronted by department heads requesting “additional appropriations” and they will have no choice but to borrow money to fund them. They’ll pontificate on how they don’t have a choice because of increases that are beyond their control but remember they did have a choice and they choose to ignore the facts. Bottom line, with their irresponsible actions the Democrats on the Council have once again proven they really don’t care how high you taxes go. Sometimes government is just like Disney World, just plain Goofy!

League of Women Voters Letting Their Partisanship Show

2005-08-22T22:30:00.000-05:00

A recent letter to the editor in the Herald Times by Patricia K. Harris, President of the League of Women Voters opposing the County Commissioners plan to redistrict goes way beyond non-partisan advocacy. Rather than remaining objective and unbiased about the redistricting process Ms. Harris’ letter positions the local League staunchly in the corner of the Democrat Party. Taking a position so early in the redistricting process proves without a doubt that Ms. Harris has strong leanings toward the Democrat Party and further solidifies the GOP’s concerns about liberal manipulation of this organization. For the last several years it has been widely rumored that the Monroe County Chapter of the League of Women Voters has been under the control of people with strong ties to the Democrat Party. By taking a biased and slanted position on redistricting Ms. Harris has only further damaged the reputation of the local chapter and provides yet another strong reason for the Republican Party to boycott any future League sponsored events or publications.

For year’s Republican candidates have been faced with a dilemma, confront an all Democrat panel at the League’s pre-election forums with questions and topics that are going to be aligned with liberal ideologies or boycott and be labeled with “no response”. Past League sponsored forums have completely avoided important issues that affect our community by grossly limiting engaged conversation thus evading topics that are not on their liberal agenda.

Until there is some resolution to the Leagues partisan behavior local voters should not put much stock in their viewpoints or processes they utilize to disseminate information. Like most organizations the League is open to anyone that wants to join however when a group of likeminded individuals take control of an organization it looses its ability to remain an unbiased source of information and unfortunately this is what has occurred locally. If the League were concerned about the perception of bias, they would take steps to correct these problems. Don’t expect change anytime soon however as it appears they are quite satisfied with the existing arrangement, all the while utilizing the League of Women Voters’ reputation to add validity to their biased duplicity. Regardless of the make up of their total membership, this problem will remain until the local chapter decides to end this charade by appointing committees that are representative of all three parties. You should let the national office of the League know how a few people with a very narrow agenda are manipulating the local chapter. The link is as follows: www.lwv.org/forms/contactus.cfm

Local Environmentalist Are Inconsistent

2005-08-21T16:23:00.000-05:00

At the Monroe County Plan Commission meeting last Tuesday night the usual group of eco friendly activists provided the Plan Commission with letters of opposition to the Shawnee Bluffs project on Lake Monroe. Even the League of Women Voters weighed in with a letter of opposition. The environmentalist all claim to want to protect this area, an area they have described as sensitive and fragile, which boarders Bloomington’s water source. The focal point of their argument is basically any development on the Shawnee Bluffs site will directly lead to the demise of our drinking water. Not necessarily true but certainly an effective talking point. Similar projects have also drawn a lot of attention but typically they have focused on the removal of trees. All of these concerns are certainly valid and merit the close attention of every citizen.

What I found interesting was at this same meeting another petition was heard and passed without even a mention of the destruction of nearly 19 acres of what has been described by the owner as “mature hardwood trees”. The Shaw petition includes almost 26 acres bordered by the sprawling North Park development and the new section of highway 46. This tree-covered site includes a meandering stream that cuts through it and is a natural habitat for several varieties of wildlife and plant varieties. The Shaw’s proposal included a preservation clause that would allow 25% of the sites trees and green space to remain undeveloped. Their hopes for this site include some type of office complex.

What is interesting to me about this proposal is the inconsistency of the people that call themselves environmentalists. I have witnessed discussions that seemed to have gone on forever about projects that posed a threat to our eco system because of the removal of too many mature trees. During the discussion of the Shaw project Democrat Plan Commission member, Sophia Travis, commented it was a “model project”, one that will hopefully be used as an example and followed by others in the future. Deforesting 19 of the 26 acres of mature hardwoods is her idea of a “model project”? Another Democrat Plan Commission Member, Kevin Enright who on more than one occasion has argued over the destruction of trees in excess of eleven inches in diameter, never uttered a word. Were they so focused on their opposition to the Shawnee Bluffs project that they couldn’t see the forest for the trees?

Even when projects seem to follow all of the applicable ordinances to the letter there are always a few that seem to oppose trees being cut down. What I want to know is what happened to them? This type of inconsistency has got to drive developers crazy. I can’t help but remember when the existing Walmart site was proposed a few years back, people lined up to talk for hours about the removal of trees, the displacement of toads and destruction of indigenous snails. It seems to me that these groups are not as concerned about the protection of our environment as they are using the environment as the basis for their arguments to oppose certain projects. If these people were truly concerned about our local environment they would have surely provided some opposition to the Shaw petition. The message is loud and clear, next time a developer wants to clear trees to make way for a new development they need to remember Shaw petition, the new standard of excellence for development in Monroe County.

Mayor's Slush Fund

2005-08-20T09:02:00.000-05:00

There are several line items of note in the City of Bloomington’s proposed 2006 budget. One that is literally squealing of pork is Fund #3970 Mayor’s Promotion of Business. In 2004 the budget was $8,200, in 2005 the budget was increased by a whopping 1800% to $155,500. In 2006 the proposed amount is $198,000, a 2300% increase from just two years ago. It’s up another 27% over last year. This is on top of another $399,000 that is budgeted for economic development. Some have suggested the Mayor’s fund will finally have the accountability of the Mayor’s office behind it, suggesting groups like the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation are not accountable. The Mayor, Democrat City Council Members and other Democrat leaders have had an ongoing feud over funding for the BEDC. They have long argued that they were more qualified to distribute the money themselves rather than giving the money to people that really understand how businesses works and letting them utilize it to bring real results. Interestingly enough they never gave anywhere close to that amount to the BEDC.

This accountability double talk may satisfy those with only a partially functioning brain but it certainly should raise some eyebrows on everyone else. This increased funding will go to an administration that has done more to discourage businesses from coming to our city than any in recent history. Between the two funds, what in the world are they planning on spending almost six hundred thousand dollars on? It is inconceivable that any elected official would approve this type of increase however it is with almost certainty that they will. This money is nothing more than a slush fund that will end up being spent at the Mayor’s discretion all the while excess levy’s are necessary to give our city employee’s a raise. It is shameful what these Democrats are being allowed to do in the name of economic development. The duplicity in the marketing of this budget as responsible or even close to reasonable should fall under the category of Ripley’s Believe It Or Not.

"The Sky Is Falling, The Sky Is Falling"

2005-08-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

The citizens of Monroe County are constantly being bombarded with major concerns that affect the quality of life in our community. The most recent concern that has been raised by the City of Bloomington involves the capacity of our water treatment facility on Lake Monroe. Information was released last week that indicated that our plant was operating at near capacity with an equivalent of a 23.5 million gallon per day demand over a four-hour period. The plants capacity is 24 million gallons per day. Obviously this summer’s heat index has taken its toll on water usage as we have experienced an unusual number of days above 90 degrees. In January of 2003 a report provided by the brain trust at the City of Bloomington Utilities Department indicated that Bloomington’s capacity would be surpassed by consumption in the year 2010. These are the same people that have been in charge of the recent $14 million upgrade that has been plagued with cost overruns.

Systematically we have heard from the City of Bloomington that we are lacking in various fundamental infrastructures including both sewer and water capacity. This message goes hand in glove with the Democrat’s strategy to limit growth in Monroe County. The City Utilities Board has requested capacity and usage documents to determine the actual limitations of our utilities capacity but to date no reports of any significance have been produced. It is questionable why the Utilities Board would approve a $14 million upgrade and improvement plan for the Lake Monroe water treatment facility without at least considering the need for increased capacity. The only rational could be they didn’t have sufficient information to make the decision, which has historically been the case.

With so many serious concerns facing our elected officials the least of which is being able to provide adequate sanitary sewer and water treatment capacity, why do they continually flirt with disaster by wasting time on less important and sometimes even foolish projects. A 2003 study provided by the consulting company of Black & Veatch indicated that a project to add additional water treatment capacity should be underway by 2006, going online in 2008. Why have they ignored this information? It simply does not make sense that we can allocate and spend tens of millions of dollars for the purchase of land and development of projects like rails to trails and yet not be able to provide an adequate supply of clean drinking water to our community. Coining and old line from the movie Cool Hand Luke, “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” If we had rational thinking individuals on the City Council they would be incensed by the mere thought of not being able to provide adequate utilities to their constituents. A simple and yet basic requirement of any governmental entity is to provide these most fundamental necessities.

Do we really have a sewer treatment capacity problem? Do we really have a water treatment capacity problem? Where is the documentation to support these claims? If we really do have these problems our elected officials are not doing their job in properly anticipating the needs of the community. The citizens of Monroe County should be demanding an independent audit of the City of Bloomington Utilities Department. Secondly, it’s never to early for the citizens of Monroe County to be gearing up to raise the money to clean house in the 2007 city elections, if not, just expect more of the same.

Duplication Would Waste Tax Dollars

2005-08-14T14:48:00.000-05:00

Interestingly enough the citizens of Monroe County are being faced with proposals from two fire protection agencies for training facilities. One proposal comes from Bloomington Township fire department located on old State Road 37 North. Research indicates that Bloomington Township initiated its plan to build a training facility two years ago with a $400,000 proposed a budget. Apparently, at that time Jeff Barlow Bloomington’s Fire Chief was on board with the concept of a joint training facility and efforts to build the facility progressed accordingly. The 2006 City of Bloomington’s proposed budget contains $350,000 funding for a training facility, a one hundred and eighty degree turn around compared to just two years ago.

When questioned why there is a need for the City to build its own training facility Chief Barlow indicated the Townships’ old State Road 37 location is to far out and would not allow for adequate response time in the event of an emergency call. This assumption is based on the proximity of the City’s five fire stations located around the city and an ideal response time of four minutes. The logic being if one of the five stations crews were in training at the old State Road 37 North’s facility, their response time to an emergency call would be at least eight minutes which is unacceptable by current standards.

Grants are always utilized to build this type of public project and in this instance it’s no different. A current proposal by Governor Daniels’ administration suggests building ten regional training facilities across the state instead of funding several smaller facilities thus eliminating duplication and wasted resources. The City’s proposal raises several unanswered questions. Did the City of Bloomington decide to get into the fire training business before or after the regional training proposal was announced? Since fireman are constantly undergoing specialty training in locations in and out of state, why is the proximity of Old State Road 37 suddenly a problem? Is it really necessary to send an entire fire stations crew to train at the same time thus leaving that station empty during a training exercise? Regardless of where the training facility is located if a crew is engaged in a training exercise with a majority of the trucks hoses and gear unloaded is Chief Barlow suggesting that his firefighters can pack up and still respond to a call in less than four minutes? Shouldn’t the other four stations be able to cover while one is in training?

It would appear the City of Bloomington’s proposal is based on the concept that tax money is unlimited. The City’s 2006 budget includes several wish list items that bear no resemblance to reality. Building two training facilities in the same county is not responsible use of our tax dollars. Furthermore since Bloomington Township is already two years into a four-year $400,000 plan and it already owns the ground the facility is being built on it would appear the City of Bloomington’s proposal is too little, too late. The City’s 2006 budget includes $350,000 however, my guess is by the time the City purchases property and builds a facility it will cost well in excess of two million dollars. Additional cost would be borne by the taxpayers to staff the facility all the while the Bloomington Township’s facility is being staffed by existing personnel. It appears this budget item will sail right on through the process but it is once again proof that our current administration and several of our elected officials are out of touch with reality.

Democrat Chairman Embarrasses Himself and Party

2005-08-09T23:08:00.000-05:00

Democrat Party Chairman Dan Combs was on the AM1370 call in radio show this afternoon attempting to justify why his party has vilified the redistricting process. Several listeners called in and posed questions to the Chairman of which he either couldn’t answer or talked in rhetorical circles until he was off the point. The listening audience was left with the impression that the only reason the Democrats are opposing redistricting is because they’re not the ones in control of the process. On a couple of occasions Combs was left speechless until he retreated to an arrogant and demeaning dismissal of the caller’s question. You could almost hear him squirming in his seat when one caller asked him why Mayor Mark Kruzan is opposed to the redistricting process proposed by the GOP when he was involved in writing the very amendments to the Indiana Code that allow this redistricting to occur.

On more than one occasion Mr. Combs provided the listeners with his typical Democrat partisan rhetoric that the redistricting would disenfranchise voters. Even host Daryl Neher had problems with that statement. Combs shared his foresight that if the Republicans go through with the redistricting it would lead to a windfall for his Party in the next election. He also threatened that if the GOP goes through with their plans the citizens of Monroe County would be subjected to redistricting again as a retaliatory measure as soon as they took control of the Commissioners office. This threat is once again proof that Democrats will stoop to any level to maintain the upper hand, legally or otherwise. Combs loves to rouse his Party and he played it like a broken record by once again indicating the GOP's actions have motivated his Party better than any speech he could have written. These lame and desperate talking points are getting old as they continually pull them out of the drawer like an old sweater. Combs continues to lay false accusations about secrecy by the GOP, this too is getting old but it does show proof that he must still be stinging over the Brian O’Neil “Busted” mailer where the Democrats got caught secretly attempting to push through an increase in the County Option Income Tax. That debacle cost them dearly by eventually leading up to the Commissioners office falling into the GOP’s control.

Discussions with individuals from both parties have indicated this recent action is nothing more than a smoke screen by the Democrats and they further indicate that people are becoming increasingly suspicious of these desperate allegations. I will agree with Mr. Combs the voters are being disenfranchised; only it is the Democrat leadership that is leading the charge by landing these disparaging claims against the GOP. Voters are becoming increasingly discouraged by these partisan gang wars and are growing weary of the ongoing personal attacks and baseless allegations by the Democratic leadership. As the Democrats continue their maligned diatribe the GOP can present their case for redistricting in the appropriate fashion at the appropriate time and allow the Democrats to fully embarrass them selves in the process.

Redistricting Has Local Democrats Running Scared

2005-08-08T13:58:00.000-05:00

Local Democrats are throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Republican Party for their attempt to clean up the gerrymandered district maps the Democrats drew up when they were in control of the Commissioners office in 2001. It doesn’t take anyone very long to grasp the term of gerrymandering when they look at the present district maps. As an example take District 4, it was created by taking a little wedge from the center of the county north from Bloomington all the way out to take in the far reaches of the northwest corner of the county which includes Stinesville. The county was sliced and diced into districts that would give Democrats a distinct advantage in three of the four district races. The Democrats consolidated the areas they were weak in and gave up District 3 where Marty Hawk has had a cake walk during past elections.

Democrat Party Chairman Dan Combs was at the Commissioners meeting last Friday to stir the pot by claiming that not enough public input or notice was given along with taking the opportunity to take a variety of partisan shots at Commissioners Poling and Kilmer as well as the rest of the Republican Party. Unfortunately no one from the Republican Party was there to provide a balanced viewpoint on why this action is necessary. Without even being given the opportunity to present its case the Republican’s plan to redistrict was shot down by County Clerk Jim Fielder and Councilwoman Marty Hawk. I’m sure Fielder’s concerns center around the work that redistricting will cause his office to develop voting boundaries, records and voting locations in the upcoming elections. Marty Hawk’s opposition to redistricting is understandable and rather self-serving; she is in a district that is heavily Republican, possibly as much as 65%, and who wouldn’t want to run under those conditions? The idea of her being pitted against Mark Stoops, if they were both to seek re-election, would be very interesting. If the newly redrawn lines of District 3 included parts of both of they’re districts, which would include the northern part of the county, it would appear the district would still remain safely in favor of a good GOP challenger.

Obviously the purpose in redistricting is to balance out Districts 1, 3 and 4 and clean up the boundary lines in the process. Spending any time on District 2, which includes all of downtown Bloomington, a heavily Democrat district, would be a waste of time. Many questions should be brought up like, why does District 3 extend from Richland Township on the northwest corner of the county to Polk Township on the southeast corner of the county? Another question that plagues the old maps is what do the residents from the north side of Bloomington have to do with residents of Stinesville, they are not even in the same school district?

When the Democrats oppose something this much you can bet the Republicans have struck a very sensitive nerve, something that is certainly worth exploring further. Its also interesting that when the Republicans start using the same tactics the Democrats have used for years the Democrat Party leaders cry foul. Finally it would seem the GOP has learned that you can’t play fair with the opposition and the only way to beat them is to beat them at their own game. The GOP might get their knuckles bloody in the process but the end result will be for the better. Hopefully our Commissioners will stay the course and not submit to pressure from the left.

HT's Community Columnists Are Too Biased

2005-08-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

In the August 4, 2005 addition of the Herald Times Michael Wilkerson, Community Columnist, provided another daily dose of biased and politically slanted rhetoric labeled “2004 Exit Polls Ask: Do We Still Have A Democracy”. The basis of his commentary was to once again insinuate that elections were stolen including that of the President and the 8th and 9th District Congressional Races. It is really getting old reading the same recycled talking points over and over again as it seems at least once a week the newspaper prints a column by a “Community Columnist” that allows them a platform to dispense their partisan doubletalk. This along with a continual barrage of letters to the editor provides the reading public with a controlled view from the liberal kaleidoscope. This organized and relentless effort is done solely to paint a negative image of our duly elected officials to the uninformed public. Their strategy evolves from the concept that if you throw enough mud some of it is likely to stick.

By indoctrinating the uninformed with a short list of talking points in various medias all without the fear of opposing viewpoints it is easy to see how these uninformed citizens evolve into nothing more than puppet voters. This psychological technique works best when used with negative stimulus. As an example, mention something good about someone and it is usually forgotten within the same day. Conversely, mention something bad about someone and it is locked into memory for weeks if not months. The same holds true for complainers. People are much more likely to complain than to praise. We allow this process to continue because we find ourselves in the group that rarely applies praise. You’ve all heard the reasons why not to get involved, I’m not a good writer, I'm too busy to get involved or it takes too much time. Obviously the liberal opposition in our community has overcome these concerns.

Start today; write something good about our President, and our Congressmen from the 8th and 9th Districts. Every time you read one negative letter see that two positive letters go to the editor and beat them at their own game. Unfortunately we only have one local newspaper, don’t concede without a fight. You should also take the time to email or write the newspaper and let them know how you feel about these politically biased Community Columnists. You can also email Mr. Wilkerson at wilkers@indiana.edu and inform him that you didn’t care for his column and you don’t share in his opinions. Let Mr. Wilkerson know that whether he likes the label or not, any Democrat that keeps beating the same old drum, as he says, is a "Sore Loserman".

Pierce Needs Some Cheese To Go With His Whine

2005-08-02T07:20:00.000-05:00

It’s laughable that Representative Matt Pierce, Democrat from Bloomington, feels compelled to complain about censorship by the Republican Party when the system was just fine albeit when the Democrats had control. Just because Representative Pierce and others in his Party have utilized these taxpayer-funded newsletters to politicize issues to their constituent base for years doesn’t mean the practice is going to continue. Pierce has laid claims that House Republicans heavily edited Democrats’ mailings to their constituents and were “particularly sensitive about any kind of text explaining Republican cuts in education funding and how the new voter ID law will block many people from voting”. Why would the Republicans want to edit the Democrats talking points, because there not true or factual, there just opinions.

When asked about Representative Pierce’s claim, House Speaker Brian Bosma indicated that Pierce is the only member of the House Democratic Caucus and the full House who refuses to comply with a system the Democrats themselves initiated when they ran the House. Bosma went on to say “It is unfortunate that Representative Matt Pierce is unwilling to follow standard House procedure regarding taxpayer-funded mailings,” a procedure that applies to both parties’ mailings. “When language is questioned by either caucus and then proven not to be factual, is inaccurate, or is overly political, staff from each caucus works together to correct the language and reach a compromise that is factual and mutually acceptable,” he stated. “This policy has been agreed upon by both House Republican and House Democrat leadership".

I’m glad that House Speaker Bosma has insisted that Representative Pierce comply with the rules, as we all know he has utilized this technique for far too long. I don’t want my tax money dollars going toward publicizing politician’s opinions or their efforts to sway mine; just give me the facts. Let them spend their own money if they want to campaign. This political posturing by Pierce is an embarrassment to not only to himself but also to his party and it’s very unfortunate that he felt compelled to take this frivolous complaint public.

Stop Disrespectful Bumper Stickers

2005-07-31T23:54:00.000-05:00

I find it interesting there are so many people in Bloomington that are compelled to display bumper stickers on their vehicles with anti Bush slogans. Maybe it’s no more than in other communities but I seriously doubt it. When I’m walking down a sidewalk and see a vehicle with a “Dump Bush” bumper sticker on it, it makes me want to put a post-it note on the window that says, “just get over it”. You might disagree with the President’s policies but really, enough already. Even more of a mystery is why so many people in our town continue to display Kerry for President bumper stickers on the rear of their vehicles so long after the election. After all I would think posting a Kerry for President sticker on your car after all this time, is to me like saying hey look at me, my team lost, I’m a loser, but I could be wrong.

Contemplating the reasons why people feel so compelled to utilize their vehicle to make a political statement turned into a rather interesting exercise. The first reason I came up with was these people are just plain lazy and honestly don’t want to take the time to remove them. After all removing them can be quite a task as they typically leave a sticky adhesive film on the car’s finish, especially after almost a year has gone by. Another possible excuse for not removing these bumper stickers is that it could be the only thing holding the vehicle together. I think this is a distinct possibility with a couple of Volvos and a Subaru I have personally observed. A more profound observation may be that some people are just looking for acceptance and they need to fit in. They want to be sure they’re well received when they pull up in front of their favorite cafe or juice bar. Otherwise it could be somewhat uncomfortable, akin to fitting in with a group of Harley riders when you’re riding a Honda. Or it could be these people just want to oppose something, they’re not always sure what they want to oppose just as long as it’s something. I think this is evident in the individuals with multiple bumper stickers like “Stop I-69”, “Stop Logging” or “Stop Eating Tuna”.

I think its just human nature to oppose people in power especially to those individuals that feel they don’t have a lot of it. Or is it possible there could there be something more to it. My theory is it has something to do with the resentment these people feel over the treatment of President Clinton in the last couple of years he was in office. After all he embarrassed most of the people that elected him with his extra curricular activities and his opponents never let them forget it. The reminders included a whole host of off color jokes and you guessed it, a variety of humorous and less than flattering bumper stickers. You see I think these people are just getting even for all of the abuse we put Clinton through.

Examining this phenomenon further I found it just a little peculiar that people are so quick label them selves when it comes to politics and yet other things they want maintained in total privacy. Driving down any road often time the car in front of you will be adorned with a Christian symbol or bumper sticker with some religious slogan on it. What if that was taken a step further and people started pasting their vehicles with religious labels like Jew, Lutheran or Catholic. I wonder would there also be individuals that fear control by certain religious group and oppose them with negative bumper stickers similar to what has happened in politics. It just makes me wonder, what is considered disrespectful and in poor taste and what is not?

Thanks Mike!

2005-07-30T12:48:00.000-05:00

It seems our new Congressman from the 9th District, Mike Sodrel, knows how to deliver the goods. The 109th Congress approved the $286 billion transportation budget Friday, which includes a windfall for the residents of Bloomington, Indiana to the tune of $4 million. The funding will be dedicated to support new or improved public transportation facilities and or new buses. There is already discussion underway the money could be utilized for a new downtown transportation facility to replace the one at Fourth and Washington.

Included in this new budget bill is more than $800 million per year for Indiana, a 34% increase in the rate of return on the federal gas tax receipts. This is reported to put Indiana number eight on the list of the states with the largest percentage of increase. Also included in the bill is partial funding for the I-69 project with a minimum of $400 million to be shared among the states involved in the highway extension.

In the past our representatives to Congress have done little to fight for Indiana’s fair share of the federal gas tax money. This money is divvied up by the Congress and dispersed in whatever manner they see fit. For years a significant portion of Indiana’s gas tax receipts have been used to fund highway projects in states like California and New York, all the while our roadways and highways have rapidly deteriorated, not to mention become antiquated by comparison. Bringing back our tax dollars to Indiana is a huge step in the right direction. Obviously Congressman Sodrel is a quick study by his ability to succeed where others have failed especially considering he has only been playing the game for a little over six months. Thanks to Mike’s hard work in Washington, Bloomington will soon have a better public transportation system with improved facilities and newer, more fuel efficient buses. This should go along way in assisting with local sustainability efforts of the current administration by making transportation more readily available to a larger segment of the population with a reduction in fuel consumption. Congressman Sodrel is doing a great job and deserves our support and our thanks.

Just Mention Trails If You Want To Get The Council's Attention

2005-07-25T22:00:00.000-05:00

Is a two-mile, twelve-foot wide trail that winds in and around businesses on the west side really an appropriate use for $757,000 of the TIF districts funds? Isn’t it rather ironic that Democrats on the County Council are so quick to appropriate funding for so much impervious surface that will ultimately cover up several acres of natural green space? Admittedly the pathway does provide for alternative modes of transportation, including walkers, joggers, cyclist and roller-bladers. It also happens to fit within the use and intent of the funding source and it even meshes with the County’s overall plan, exactly why I’m not sure. The question is, how many people will truly benefit from the use of this trail and furthermore what are the long-term expenses in maintaining it? Currently the trend in our community seems to be that virtually every land use issue and funding source is tied to trails and pathways. As a result, when these trails and pathways come to fruition has anyone addressed the impact of what it will cost the taxpayers to maintain these amenities?

Most communities consider TIF money as funding for infrastructure within the district to provide for and offset the cost of developing the area. It is typically utilized to attract and provide for existing businesses for the purpose of economic development. Since this pathway doesn’t connect with any housing developments it is difficult to fathom enough people using this pathway to justify the expense. Furthermore, it will be a pathway between industrial and commercial buildings that are constantly exhausting byproducts into the surrounding atmosphere. Does anyone really want to jog or cycle through an area that smells of burning plastics and paint fumes. This pathway proposal makes almost as much sense as the concept of a trail extension on the south side of town that will extend past the City’s sewage treatment plant by following the old railroad system.

There is a reason why communities designate areas as industrial and commercial. What seems to be occurring in our community is a complete oversight as why companies locate to a particular area in the first place. To them amenities include roadway and highway access, sewers, water and other utilities as well as the impact of their business on the surrounding neighborhood. The availability of the appropriate workforce is another major factor. It is difficult to understand why our community leaders continually try to intermix the uses of the land that we have available for economic development. When you look at the potential uses of this money it appears the trail concept should be way down the list. Regardless, the tax and spend liberals see it as a pot of money they can dedicate right now to one of their pet projects rather than leaving it to the more conservative approach of saving it for use when its really needed. You really shouldn’t be surprised.

Blue Ribbon Pork

2005-07-21T23:52:00.000-05:00

If he’s interested, the Mayor could surely win a prize if he entered his budget at the Monroe County Fair as it would easily take top honors in the swine or should I say the pork division. In the Mayor’s 2006 City of Bloomington’s budget there is a $10,000 increase in funding for the local WFHB radio station. The funding is under the category of economic development. Can anyone possibly explain how this local radio station has anything to do with economic development? Is this simply another example of the skewed idealisms Democrats utilize when making their decisions or is it a tactic to expand their liberal message throughout the community? Lets examine the later.

It was common knowledge throughout the Republican Party that during the last general election the WFHB radio station got caught with their preverbal pants down when the shenanigans of one its hosts was brought to the station managers attention. Reportedly one of their talk radio hosts was inviting only Democrat candidates into the station for live interviews and circulating reports that Republican candidates failed to respond to his invitations. This charade obviously provided their listeners with programming that was very timely in nature and extremely biased in content. Fearing the incident would be reported to the FCC the radio station quickly went into the damage control mode and reported corrective measures would be taken to remove any political bias from their programming.

It is difficult to imagine this incident is an isolated case when still to this day you can find vehicles sitting in front of the station with Kerry / Edwards or Kernan / Davis bumper stickers in conjunction with others that contain anti I-69 or anti Bush slogans. My guess is that you would be hard pressed to find a registered Republican on staff at the station but I could be wrong. In his notes on the city’s proposed budget the Mayor’s indicated the funding would help the underwriters get their message to a broader market, I must say truer words were never spoken. The Democrats know the demographics of the listening audience of this radio station and it is their message they want to get out to a broader market and furthermore, they want to do it with your tax dollars. Isn’t it ironic that even in tough economic times when excess levies are necessary the Democrats somehow find a way to justify this kind of pork? Furthermore, if $10,000 wasn’t bad enough now they want to double the amount. The question remains, why does WFHB radio station deserve $20,000 of your tax dollars and better yet how does this fit into the economic development budget. As Desi Arnaz would say, Mayor Kruzan “you have some splaining to do”. What’s next, economic development funding for “The Bloomington Alternative” publication? Wait a minute I better not give them any ideas.

Same Money, Different Outcome

2005-07-20T18:13:00.000-05:00

News out of City Hall reports they're expecting the Living Wage Ordinance to cost the taxpayers approximately $50,000 in the 2006 budget year. City officials reported the Living Wage Ordinance would only affect a handful of city personnel. It is also expected to increase with inflation and as more companies the city does business with meet the ordinances threshold, which are contracts that exceed $25,000.

The County Commissioners 2006 budget proposal included a $70,000 increase, from $30,000 to $100,000 to the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation. $40,000 of this increase is earmarked for the BEDC’s, Life Sciences Initiative that helped attract the new BioConvergence firm that is anticipated to employ as many as 127 people by 2010 not to mention a capital investment of several million dollars in our community.

What I want to highlight is the difference in philosophy between the City Council, which is Democrat controlled, and the Republican controlled Commissioners. The cost / benefit ratio between the two investments is quite clear and regardless of which governmental body the money is coming from it is still tax dollars. In rough numbers the City’s initiative will cost the taxpayers $50,000 next year and will result in an increase in pay for a small number of existing city employees. The County’s proposal includes $40,000 in funding to further promote employment in a unique industry within our community that will result in 127 new jobs over the next five years. The obvious impetus behind the City’s proposal is to provide additional income for; you guessed it, city employees. By comparison the County’s proposal helps bring hundreds of new non-government related jobs to our community.

County Council President Mark Stoops has indicated that the Democrat controlled Council will put the Commissioner’s BEDC funding proposal under the microscope in an effort to find tens of thousands of additional dollars for social service funding. This once again proves the Democrats are more interested in maintaining their stronghold over the socially dependant population of our community and feathering their own bed than they are at bringing good paying jobs that offer a real opportunity for economic independence. It‘s important to understand what motivation is behind their liberal policies and it is even more important to publicly denounce these self-supporting tactics.

Councilwoman Sophia Travis Clueless About 4-H

2005-07-15T08:58:00.000-05:00

At Wednesday’s County Council budget presentation session the County Commissioners presented the Council with its 2006 budget, which included an increase in funding for the Monroe County 4-H program from $1,000 to $4,000. Commissioner Poling staunchly supported this increase in light of the huge increases in social service funding at the request of the Democrats on the County Council. Sophia Travis questioned the increase by asking if 4-H teaches kids “civic engagement”. What Hoosier doesn’t know what 4-H is about. 4-H chapters can be found in every state of the union, additionally 4-H related programs exist in over 80 other countries around the world. It solely exists to provide young people with opportunities to learn leadership, citizenship and life skills. With approximately seven million members across the US alone how does someone not know what 4-H does?

Councilwoman Travis could obviously use a lesson in the attributes of participating in 4-H. The 4H’s represent “Head”, “Heart”, “Hands” and “Health”. Expounding on that “My HEAD to clearer thinking”, “My HEART to greater loyalty”, My HANDS to larger service” and “My HEALTH to better living for my club, community, country and world”.

The National 4-H creed is as follows:I believe in 4-H Club work for the opportunity it will give me to become a useful citizen. I believe in the training of my HEAD for the power it will give me to think, to plan and to reason. I believe in the training of my HEART for the nobleness it will give me to become kind, sympathetic and true. I believe in the training of my HANDS for the ability it will give me to be helpful, useful and skillful. I believe in the training of my HEALTH for the strength it will give me to enjoy life, to resist disease, and to work efficiently. I believe in my country, my state, and my community, and in my responsibility for their development.

Some pretty famous people have been involved in 4-H including astronaut Alan Shepard, former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy-Onnasis and even the inventor of the internet and former Vice President Al Gore. It truly baffles me how a person gets elected to a public office in Monroe County that doesn’t understand the influence 4-H has had on so many of its citizens. The reason she probably doesn’t know anything about 4-H is that she is completely oblivious that programs actually exist that are virtually self-sufficient and still provide an important community service. She is obviously only used to the social service agencies that have their hands out for tens of thousands of our tax dollars. If you happen to see Councilwoman Travis at the Monroe County Fair you might share your thoughts and experiences with her about 4-H, she obviously doesn’t have a clue!

Masterful Budget Work by Commissioners Poling & Kilmer

2005-07-14T19:57:00.000-05:00

Remember the old saying, you have got to watch what you ask for because you might just get it. The Democrats wanted to increase funding for every social service program going and that is just what the Commissioners handed them. The Commissioners budget included raising the subsidy for Bloomington Hospital’s CHAPS health clinic, increased the grants for social service agencies, doubled the subsidy for the Monroe County Historical Center and they even threw in a little additional funding for the Monroe County 4H program. Now along with the increased cost of funding the additional courts and let’s not forget the County employees will need a raise since they didn’t get a raise last year, the County Council will have the task of funding all of these and more with a mere $390,000 increase in the tax levy.

The Democrat controlled County Council ran their last campaign based on promises to increase funding to virtually every social service agency and they didn’t stop there. They also promised the county would get a new juvenile treatment facility and they wanted improved treatment and services for jail inmates. Now let’s see them deliver the goods! The reason they made all of those promises is very simple; they don’t understand the funding process. The County’s budget has been razor thin the last several years and the cold hard fact is there is never enough money to fund everything. Conservative Republicans tried their best to be honest with the voters in the last election about what was realistic and what was not. The voter’s spoke, they wanted pipe dreams and lollipops.

What this basically means is hold onto your wallets folks because I have a feeling what we will see next out of the Council will be similar to the little message on your rear view mirror: Tax Increases Are Closer Than They Appear. Remember the Council has already shown favoritism for raising taxes outside of the frozen levy to cover increased funding for Options for Better Living. The Council is now positioned to do the impossible, make good on their promises or dip into the County’s cash reserves to fund their pet projects. Let us not forget our former Mayor, John Fernandez, used this same budgeting technique to fund the cities current financial train wreck. Actually, I can hardly wait until the official budget hearings when the Democrats have to start making cuts to some of their pet budget items. Hopefully our three Republican Council members will use this opportunity to the fullest and let the Democrats stew in their own juices. They asked for it and baby they got it!

Alternative To What, Consciousness?

2005-07-13T00:16:00.000-05:00

The other day I noticed some printed material lying at the entrance to a local restaurant where I was preparing to eat lunch. Not having anything else to read I picked up a copy of what I first anticipated to be something similar to Wheels and Deals. It turns out to be some cheesy publication called The Bloomington Alternative. If I would have only known then what I know now I could have saved myself a half a roll of Rolaids and two Rheaban tablets. This publication is obviously distributed around downtown Bloomington for the purpose of spreading a special brand of liberal bias to subcultures within our community that subscribe to such reading. Scanning the various articles I quickly surmised that it contained nothing worthy of actually taking the time to read. Knowing that I dearly hate to throw anything away and since I do recycle, I determined that since this publication had little or no other value maybe it should be saved to wipe my backside in the unlikely event that I ran out of the commercially available product. After a brief contemplation of my options I come to the only logical conclusion. Knowing the content of the publication I decided that I really didn’t want to irritate that area of my anatomy either. With little remorse I finally put the paper where it rightfully belonged, in the trash.

From this day forward whenever I see one of these publications in a place of business where I frequent I will suggest to the owner / manager that I will not patronize a business that supports the distribution of this type of fallaciously biased material. Having scanned the various advertisers in the copy that I picked up I am also left with a whole host of businesses that I will not step a foot into now simply because of there support for this brand of political bile. Next time you see a copy lying around I suggest that you do the same.

Oppression Comes In Many Forms

2005-07-11T23:32:00.000-05:00

Something that has always amazed me is how the Democrats have managed to manipulate the poor and oppressed in into thinking they are actually making some attempt at making their lives and living conditions better. Similarities would exist if I would offer a band-aid to someone who is in need of stitches. Subsidized programs and wage controlling ordinances that have little or no effect on the overall quality of life of this segment of our population and can actually be counterproductive to that end. However, programs and subsidies are quite useful when it comes to controlling people. Being able to manage and manipulate them by keeping them right where they want them as dependent followers. Most of these people don’t need a hand out they need a hand up. They need good paying jobs, jobs that are available to people with little more than a high school education. Companies that need such a workforce and a community that supports their endeavors do actually exist if we only did a better job of recruiting them and making them welcome. What the liberal left knows and has utilized to their advantage over the years is the impression that Democrats are the only people in the United States that care about other people. They have realized that by keeping oppressed people dependent and feeding from the government trough they can manage and control this entire segment of the population. They can control how they think, how they vote, how much money they make and where they live.

What this group of individuals doesn’t realize is the Democrats really don’t want them to ever become independent or self-sustaining because if they were, they no longer could be controled. This socialistic type of control is being eased into our community, slowly but surely as we surrender more and more freedoms and agree to ever increasing fees, fines and taxes. Certain individuals within our government want everybody to look the same, think the same and act the same essentially controlling your every move. Remember the old saying, How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time.” Caring for people is not political, its just that Republicans have a different outlook on the cause effect relationship between income and poverty. Which reminds me of the old proverb that goes something like “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him how to fish and he will never go hungry.” Conservatives believe that in order to truly help this segment of the populace you must provide an atmosphere that is conducive to real sustainability and self-sufficiency or in other words, jobs equal freedom. We all know there is a segment of the population that can’t provide for them selves, therefore government assistance will always be necessary.

My focus is on the brainwashing of a group of people that doesn’t understand their being brainwashed. It’s the organization that makes sure their “clients” understand that in order for the gravy train to continue, certain people must stay in office. Or how about all of the local groups that spring up to oppose reform with names like “Citizens for Less Oppressive Government” or “Citizens for Worldwide Peace”. The impact is enormous; the control is absolute. I’m certainly not suggesting that all local organizations that provide social services are being ran this way but unfortunately a great many are. The question exists, why does providing services that truly assist the poor and oppressed in our community have to be manipulated by political factions? True independence is at the very core of Republican values and therefore the battle against oppression must go on.

Bloomington's Population, Among Other Things, Is On The Decline

2005-07-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

A recent report indicated Bloomington’s population is on the decline, a decline that amounted to an exodus of 3% of its total population since 2000. Bloomington’s current population is listed as 68,779. From 2003 to 2004 it is estimated that Bloomington lost as many as 1,863 residents. When asked, Mayor Kruzan said he finds the recent report somewhat of a mystery, going on to say the decline goes against conventional wisdom. I have to wonder, what part of the equation does our Mayor not understand. The law of physics could easily be applied here; for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction. The action, for the last several years the tax and spend liberals have plundered our city. The reaction, people can no longer afford to live within its boundaries.

Lets take a quick scan of what has happened over the last several years to cause this decline. Property taxes have increased significantly while services have decreased. Water and sewage costs have gone up to cover the cities mismanagement and the cost of trash removal has doubled. The plundering liberals that control the city have taken property rights away from the property owners by deciding what they can and can’t do with their own property, not to mention the theatrics developer’s encounter attempting to provide affordable housing for our community. The City Council’s utopian view of our city’s workforce is clearly out of touch with reality by supporting only those companies providing “high tech” jobs and ignoring the many hard working folks that have made Bloomington their home long before the likes of people like John Fernandez and Mark Kruzan.

It is said that sometimes the most obvious things in life are sometimes the hardest to things to see. It is truly a shame that our current mayor and City Council don’t realize what long-term effects their decisions have on Bloomington. The legacy of democrat leadership in our city has had a profound and lasting effect, which now translates into a loss of population and thus the accompanying revenues. It gives cause for concern that maybe our city could have done without the multi-million dollar sludge pond on the north side and all of the extraneous ordinances that stifle growth. Better yet, we could do without the current city administration including the majority of the city council and put a stop to their socialistic rule. When most of the surrounding communities are experiencing a healthy population growth our city is on the decline. Something tells me people simply don’t want to live here anymore, why is that so hard to understand?

Walk A Mile In His Shoes!

2005-06-10T00:54:00.000-05:00

A friend forwarded to me a recent posting from a web site called Assmotax. For those of you that are not familiar with the web site it appears to be a site that is used by several local individuals to banter back and forth among themselves about various topics. Greg Travis, that was recently appointed, with some controversy I might add, to the Monroe County Economic Development Commission, apparently hosts the site. His wife is Sophia Travis, is a member of the County Council. The following excerpt was posted by Greg Travis; By the way, were you in attendance at the event you cite, where National Guardsman Kirk White was, supposedly, "verbally intimidated" by hippies? Not very manly, if true, is it? greg [ This Message was edited by: greg on 2005-06-09 21:30 ].

Initially, I must say that I was shocked that anyone, much less a County representative, could be so callous by questioning the manhood of Kirk White, the same Kirk White that is currently serving a stint in the National Guard and stationed in Afghanistan. I visited the web site to make sure that I wasn’t taking the comment out of context. Reading the posts that lead up to Mr. Travis’ comment was a discussion that was centered on what is considered to be acceptable public activism and issues concerning the recent I-69 protests.

The meeting in question was one where a group of obnoxiously loud anti I-69 protestors shouted down Kirk White and others in attendance to a point where they were concerned for their safety. Travis is insinuating that this type of public discourse is somehow acceptable as long as it’s for a cause he supports. Kirk White by every account is a decent person, a commendable public servant and someone who is currently risking his life to protect the very freedom that allows people like Greg Travis the opportunity to promote their ill-conceived agendas without the fear of government retribution.

People like Greg Travis and others in his party can dress themselves up in a cloak of civility but it is comments like this one that allow their true nature to shine through. I am thoroughly sickened by the prospect of having public officials like him being given the opportunity to make insulting comments about fine and upstanding citizens of our community. As for his comment, the old adage “walk a mile in his shoes” clearly would apply. When it comes to manliness, what Kirk White does in a day defending our country’s freedom and security would most undoubtedly make the likes of Mr. Travis wet his trousers. We should make sure that comments like this one are never forgotten and certainly not forgiven; that's the least we can do for Kirk White and his family.

Roadless Summer or Mindless Summer?

2005-06-08T01:19:00.000-05:00

A small group of anti I-69 protesters calling themselves “Roadless Summer” had their inaugural rally in Indianapolis this past Saturday. In all about fifty protesters participated in what turned into a senseless act of vandalism. As the group’s leaders were whipping the participants into a heightened fervor, someone took it upon himself or herself to spray paint anti I-69 graffiti on the limestone walls of the Capitol building. In looking at the average age of those arrested it appears they were probably to naive to understand what happened but clearly old enough to know better. Obviously this was a conscious act by someone as they undoubtedly came prepared with spray paint. Former Bloomington resident Frank Ambrose that was arrested in 2001 for spiking trees in Morgan-Monroe State Forest was one of the protesters that was arrested Saturday. At the time, Ambrose was thought to be connected to another yet another subversive group called Earth Liberation Front or ELF. Of those arrested at least two others reside in Bloomington.

By every account Bloomington has been doing an exemplary job of breeding and feeding these liberal activists. They are encouraged to be disruptive and uncivil as long as it’s for the right cause. When their prodigy’s happen to get caught in an illegal activity like they did Saturday, all of those that have help fan the flames plead ignorance, condemn the activity and disavow any knowledge of those involved, all the while snickering under their breath. In my opinion spray painting the Statehouse is no different than the type of defacement of public property that is occurring in Bloomington to roadway stop signs or the uncivil protest activities that occur at our local I-69 offices.

Roadless Summer, Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads and Hoosier Environmental Council all in their own way plan to interrupt the process and planning of the new interstate highway in hopes to cause the project to be abandoned. It’s almost laughable that these small factional groups are continuing to oppose a decision that has already been made. They’re insistence on disrupting the process will only raise the overall project cost, which by the way happens to be a major reason for their opposition to the project in the first place. This is nothing more than an infinitesimally small segment of the population that moves from one cause to another finding a method to vent their frustrations with society by manifesting their anger in the form of civil disobedience and discourse. Each of them in their own way must have a need to oppose something, maybe even several things on a daily basis thereby justifying their existence. Rather than a Roadless Summer it could turn out to be nothing more than a Mindless Summer for those that get involved in this charade.

Mayor Kruzan's Comments Troubling

2005-06-05T21:19:00.000-05:00

I recently read an article in the Herald Times that reported the 45/46 bypass widening project will be pushed out again, this time until 2009. It’s not the postponement of the project that bothers me but I must admit, the congestion on this main arterial has caused me to be late on more than one occasion. The most unsettling news out of this article was Mayor Kruzan’s comments regarding the project in general. He was quoted as saying “I’ve reviewed the plans a number of times and am always struck by what a monster the new bypass will be. I think people will be surprised at how much it will change the character of the northern and eastern parts of town.” He added, “given the lack of east-west connectors, the bypass is an obvious asset for that cause.” However, he went on to say “while I see benefits of the project, I have to confess to having the nagging feeling that this is going to be a lot more concrete that will play into the “build it and they will come” scenario” and then added “But I can’t help but think that we can’t always build our way out of problems without creating a whole host of other issues.” Whether he likes it or not the problem already exists and has for some time. Not addressing the problem is a dereliction of duty.

Once again we are lead to believe that building roadways and infrastructure is a bad thing for our community. Somehow he wants us to believe that moving vehicles around the city via the bypass efficiently is going to ruin the feel of that section of town. You know what happens, you build good roads and then someone is going to want to use them. This section of highway is carrying way too much traffic as it is and is well beyond the limits of safety, this is why it was targeted for improvement in the first place. Besides being the only major east west connector this is a primary route used by thousands of vehicles heading to and from Lake Monroe. Whether the Mayor and the rest of the no growth proponents like it or not Bloomington and Monroe County needs people with vision to plan and provide for infrastructure to meet the needs of our community as it exists today and in the future. They should embrace these improvements as a reward for having a growing and vibrant community where people want to work and live. They should accept the fact that not everyone wants to walk or ride a bicycle and therefore they too should have the expectation of traveling on a safe and modern roadway system. Not once have I read or heard what strategies are being put in place by our current administration to plan for growth. We constantly hear about where they don’t want growth to occur but we have never once heard where they would like growth to occur. It’s this lack of concern and absence of forethought about the future of Bloomington that troubles me the most.

Election 2006, A Call To Serve. Part I

2005-05-31T08:46:00.000-05:00

The 2006 election is already beginning to take shape even though the primary is eleven months away. With twelve County offices up for grabs, nine of which are presently held by Republicans, the next election could very well turn out as one the most critical in the history of local politics. A measuring stick of this next election will be whether or not Republicans can change the trends of the last couple local elections. A key component to this will be the Republican challengers for the three State Representatives seats in districts 46, 60 and 61. With the Republicans slogan 56 in 06 it will be interesting to see what strategies unfold as they attempt to achieve their goal and solidify their command of the House. If Republicans can gain four additional seats in the 06 elections they will certainly be in the drivers seat during the next redistricting opportunity in 08.

Let's take a closer look at each of these races. Vern Tincher the State Representative from District 46 is certainly no shoe-in in his district, one that he lost and then regained in this last election. In our County Tincher serves only the Bean Blossom Township, which does tend to support Democratic candidates however, it is unlikely Bean Blossom alone will have a significant impact on the outcome of this race. Serving a larger part of Monroe County is District 60, which is tightly in the grips of Peggy Welch. It is said that Welch commands 75% name recognition throughout her district, something that will obviously be difficult to overcome. On the other hand, her past voting record puts her squarely at odds with some of the core Democrats in the County, however she can usually pull a significant number of crossover votes to bolster her margin of safety. With Baron Hill’s announcement that he will be challenging again for the ninth district congressional seat, that pretty much rules out the rumor that Welch might be up for a congressional run. Since she has been virtually unchallenged in recent years it would be nice to see someone come forward that could really give her a good run for the money. It will require a significant challenger from the Republican Party to have any hopes of reclaiming her seat, one that was gained out of the Bales / Ellington primary debacle. Matt Pierce has had a cakewalk in recent elections but hopefully those days are numbered, as I understand pressure is being exerted to avoid any uncontested races next fall. This is another one of those races where it will be imperative to have a quality Republican challenger, one that will adequately represent our county and be able to work with the Republican leadership at the State level. To date, no contenders have been announced or even hinted for these three offices other than Kurt Van der Dussen of the Herald Times goading Jeff Ellington back during the waning days of the last legislative session, which would obviously not be in the Party’s or Ellington’s best interest. As for the rest of us, consider this a call to serve.

American Flags In Classrooms, What A Novel Idea

2005-05-23T21:15:00.000-05:00

It took an act of the Senate but finally the American flag will be a requirement in all 294 School Corporations across the state of Indiana. Thanks to Senator Michael Young, a Republican from Indianapolis, Senate Enrolled Act Number 332 takes effect July 1st. The bill amends Indiana Code to require the display of a standard “classroom sized” United States flag in every classroom throughout the 2000 plus public schools. It certainly gives reason for hope that we haven’t totally lost sight of the fact that we have a lot to be thankful for as Americans. The American flag represents something we most often take for granted, freedom. The American flag represents our nation, a nation that was founded on one basic principle, freedom. We have freedom to elect our representatives in government, freedom to disagree with our government without fear of retribution and freedom to earn a living within a free market society. This inalienable right resonates within each of us from the richest to the poorest; we are all equal when it comes to freedom.

I am proud that we have Republicans like Senator Young in Indiana that take a stand when it comes to doing what is right. Children should not forget those in harms way each and every day as well as the many brave souls that have given the ultimate sacrifice so that we can continue to live under the protection of freedom. Unfortunately history isn’t being taught like it once was in our schools and often the products of our current educational system lack the basic understanding of how we got to where we are today. In talking to any veteran of a past conflict it’s hard to imagine why anyone would object to displaying the American flag in a classroom. Their sacrifice was as important to our freedom then as the soldiers currently making a sacrifice for our freedom now. In addition to the flag in the classrooms children will also be asked to participate in a daily “moment of silence” and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. This is certainly a step in the right direction for Indiana and it is the least that we can do to honor our veterans and our Country.

How Effective Will Our Local Representatives Be?

2005-05-18T07:46:00.000-05:00

With Republicans firmly in control of the State House and Governor Daniels charting our course for recovery it will be interesting to see how well our local elected officials will be able to adapt to these changes. With Mitch’s overwhelming popularity in the state, it will take something catastrophic in nature to slowdown this Republican juggernaut as he is virtually assured of reelection in 2008. Even in a blue county like Monroe the opinion poll by the Herald Times Online indicated a 65% approval rating. With that, it is obvious that Vi Simpson's gubernatorial campaign will be relegated to taking a back seat until at least the 2012 election, something she will clearly have a hard time accepting. She will no longer have the high profile committee assignments and she will not have the access to State money to pass around both of which will hamper her ability to build support not to mention raising campaign finances. Peggy Welch and Matt Pierce are two other local legislators that will be in for a major adjustment, as they too are unaccustomed to working with Republicans in control.

The systemic improvement process that we are currently undergoing at the State level will be an ongoing education for many. Unfortunately the Democrats are proving to be some of the slowest learners as they are having the most difficultly accepting the fact that we cannot spend more than we take in. Such was the case with our local legislators as they never seemed to concern themselves about a balanced budget as long as they had plenty of bilk Indiana money to spread around throughout their district. However, since working within a tight or severely restricted budget will be completely foreign to them along with the fact they are in the minority at the State House, it certainly gives reason for concern about their effectiveness in representing the folks of Monroe County. We can only hope at this point that good candidates emerge, starting in 2006 that will be more effective at working with our Governor and more in tune with the House and Senate. Our local leaders have been very outspoken in their opposition to the Republican recovery strategy. It is my belief that each time they speak out and are critical of our Governor they are only driving a deeper wedge between Monroe County and the rest of the State. The obvious question is, what kind of support should we expect from the Republican controlled State House with two Democrat Representatives and a Democrat Senator? More than likely we will need a change, starting in 2006.

Stoops Overstepping His Duties, the Law

2005-05-16T17:59:00.000-05:00

Last week on the AM1370’s afternoon talk show County Council President Mark Stoops provided listeners with additional proof of his intentions to carryout his unethical, not mention unlawful, activity on the Council. He outlined an agenda that included setting County Policy, something that is totally out of the purview of the Council’s responsibilities, by controlling the County Commissioners budget, in effect controlling them. Nowhere in the Indiana Code (IC 36-2-3) as it pertains to the County Government structure does it indicate that the County Council acts as an executive branch of local government to set policy. It clearly defines the role and responsibilities of the Council and limits them as the fiscal body of the County. The description of the duties of the County Council on Monroe County’s web site indicate “Appropriates all funds for county use, adopts county budget, fixes county tax rate, and has exclusive power to borrow money for the county”. Stoops has shown a tendency toward this type of improper activity recently at a Council work session where he suggested that he would like to push the Commissioner’s for increased standards for road construction in subdivisions and tying it to the increased vehicle tax. At that point the County attorney told Stoops and the rest of the Council they legally couldn’t dictate policy to the Commissioners. Obviously the title and power has gone to his head, as he evidently believes he is above the law as he has once again proven.

During the last election several of the Democrat County Council candidates took on issues that were well beyond the responsibility of the Council’s legal role in government. This early warning signal should have been notice enough of their intention to push an agenda that was beyond the limits of the elected office. Now with a full compliment of like-minded extremists on the Council, Stoops is leading the charge into shutting down the County’s economic growth engine by stopping all development. Stoops obviously has a real bad case of Commissioner’s envy, bad enough that he is willing to break the law by admitting he is going to force his hand to set policy. It is beyond comprehension why the Commissioners would tolerate this type of nonsense, they should be showing true leadership by letting Mr. Stoops, as well as all the citizens they serve, who is really in control by denouncing this illegal activity. It is interesting that a newspaper like the Herald Times that savors reporting uncivil or unethical behavior would tolerate this type of blatant irresponsibility from an elected official. In Indiana our government structure is clearly outlined to protect its residents from this type of power hungry extremist, everyone should demand that these laws be followed both in content and in spirit.

Governor Daniels, Promises Kept

2005-05-15T20:22:00.000-05:00

It was a historical week for all Hoosiers in the state of Indiana as My Man Mitch signed the state’s first honestly balanced budget in ten years. Throughout his campaign he promised to restore fiscal integrity to our state by cutting the growth of state spending. His budget will account for about a 2.6% increase in spending as opposed to the average 6% over the last several years under the previous administration. Governor Daniels aggressive recovery strategy included 74 initiatives, with 59 of those initiatives passing through the General Assembly, and another 9 enacted through an executive action. What made this Legislative Session so significant is volume of achievements Governor Daniels was able to accomplish considering he has only been on the job five months.

One of his key initiatives was the passage of the Jobs and Economic Growth Package to help strengthen Indiana’s economy. This package created the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) as well as making it easier for small businesses to qualify for tax incentives that promote job growth and investment. It also encourages officials to make sites shovel ready for development. Another significant piece of legislation includes promoting investment in clean coal technology and the production and distribution of bio-based fuels. Indiana will also have its first Department of Agriculture and Office of Rural Affairs to promote economic growth in these vital areas. Recently, I heard this reform package referred to as; “Growing Indiana’s economy at the speed of business”.

Another major accomplishment was in the area of “Government Reform”. Our Governor’s agenda includes improving customer service and efficiency throughout state government, as one example he has already moved the Child Protective Services and the Bureau of Child Support into a new Department of Child Services to better protect our children. It will also provide for an additional 600 child protection caseworkers. Other advancements in efficiency include improving Indiana’s collection of child support payments, shortening lines at BMV branches by extending the validity of driver licenses and allowing titling and registration to occur at car dealerships. It further includes consolidating redundant government offices in areas of technology and state finances. The Governor is also creating the state’s first Inspector General to root out fraud, corruption, and theft in state government. This reform package will include whistleblower protection to encourage state employees to report wrongdoing as well as strengthening state ethics and bribery laws. All of these initiatives, as they are signed into law, will help make a positive change for all of the citizens of Indiana. For a change, it’s comforting to have a elected official that actually keeps their promises and certainly with Mitch Daniels we can honestly say promises made, promises kept.

Truly, Step Into the Light

2005-05-14T10:21:00.000-05:00

I read with interest an article in the Herald Times by community columnist Julia Copland labeled “We should all step into the light” as she described how Bloomington High School North’s production of “The Fantasticks” was interrupted by an impassioned speech by the production director Francesca Sobrer. She took the opportunity to explain how actions taken by the MCCSC School Board to balance their budget would take its toll on four department chairs at Bloomington High School North, one of those in the Fine Arts department. Her plea to those in attendance was simply to get involved and do what they could to prevent the budget cuts from affecting the arts, which could ultimately leave the stage in the dark. The article touched on several topics including the “No Child Left Behind Act” and budget cuts at the State level, all of which have been the talking points of teachers across the state. She also quoted a recent editorial by Vi Simpson that stated “I don't agree with the notion of fixing the state's budget problems on the backs of our kids". I’ll not argue the merits of the appropriateness of Ms. Sobrer’s actions or even the implications of Ms. Copeland’s column, what I will suggest is that people educate themselves on the real issues as they relate to these topics.

Incidents like this are nothing more than a subtle but effective method to erode and undermine the efforts of our elected leaders both at the State and National level. Their narrow viewpoint in this situation is another prime example of; you can make all the cuts you want as long as it doesn’t affect me. For years the fact that our State has been drowning in red ink has escaped the attention of many with the standard excuse being; just wait, things will be better next year. If you want to shed light on the subject, highlight the fact that for the last several years our State has been running an ever-increasing deficit under the democrat leadership of Governors O’Bannon and Kernan as well as Senator Vi Simpson. Citizens of the State of Indiana were obviously tired of their style of leadership and overwhelmingly elected a Republican Governor to reverse this trend. With Governor Daniels’ adherence to his campaign promises one thing was clear, change was inevitable. What is unbelievable in this case is that Vi Simpson’s editorial would be given any merit at all especially since she was one of the engineers in this train wreck. I too say, step into the light, the one of true enlightenment. Remember those that got us where we are today and don’t let them have another opportunity to do it again. We may all have to suffer the short-term affects of balancing our State’s budget, as it is improbable that we could all decide on who should carry the greatest share of the burden when it comes to funding distribution. I too have concerns about shortfalls in school funding but I haven’t forgot where the problems originated. Without keeping this type of information at the forefront we may all be left in the dark.

Not Exactly a Hallmark Moment

2005-05-12T08:23:00.000-05:00

At Tuesday’s County Council meeting the democrat controlled council lead by President Mark Stoops went on the offensive again, this time against Sunrise, a division of Hallmark, one of the larger employers in the county. Their justification of this attack was centered on the failure of Sunrise to comply with terms of their tax abatement, specifically compliance with employment promises. It appears that what perpetuated their ire Tuesday was Hallmark’s failure to respond to inquiries. The obvious question is how much effort was expended to make contact with Sunrise and furthermore what if any efforts are being made to help them meet their employment goals. We certainly can ill afford giving companies like Sunrise a reason to pull up stakes especially in light of the local climate for attracting new jobs. As local companies attempt to compete in an ever increasingly competitive global marketplace it is easy to understand why large corporations are trimming their labor forces. The Council should be aware that one hundred and fifty good paying jobs at Sunrise today beats no jobs at Sunrise tomorrow, any day of the week. If they wonder why Bloomington is considered anti-business, they need look no further as our elected officials should be doing everything in their power to retain our employment base rather than chasing it away.

Council Members Marty Hawk and Trent Jones were the only voices of reason during this exchange. Hawk’s comment was “I wouldn’t want to do anything to jeopardize the jobs that are there”, and rightfully so. Jones’ commented,” Our process is broken down”, obviously referring to the process that which tax abatements are managed. Council Member Sophia Travis weighed in on the subject that Sunrise has been “systematically” cutting jobs and they have been “irresponsible” in their lack of response to the county. In my opinion she should choose her words a little more cautiously as it is this type of loose cannon that could very well be responsible for running off yet another one of our larger local employers. If Hallmark chooses to pull the plug on Sunrise you should thank our County Council, especially Stoops and Travis for managing to chase off yet another one of those capitalistic corporate types that they seem to hate so much. Isn’t it a shame we can’t all work for IU or the Government!

Sustainability Or Subversive Commission?

2005-05-11T13:23:00.000-05:00

Now that the City Council has given unanimous support for the Sustainability Commission it will be interesting to see who gets selected to sit on the twelve-member commission. The Mayor will select six of the members and another six will be selected by the City Council. What will be even more interesting to see is what role they play in local affairs once they become organized. Steve Howard, president of the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce made some interesting observations in the May issue of Business Network. “What does “sustainability” mean?” Getting twelve people from various segments of the community to agree on the definition of sustainability could pose to be the group’s greatest challenge that is unless they load the Commission with all like-minded liberals. If they don’t reach across the isle and select at least six moderates the partisanship of the commission will render it totally useless with the exception of providing a scapegoat for denying our community growth and progress in the areas like economic development. Another extremely important point Mr. Howard brought up is “How can we measure sustainability?” Without some quantifiable method of measuring change how will they know they are effecting change? Without specific measurable goals a commission like this can be dangerous, as the group could exist solely to justify its own existence.

Sustain is derived from the Latin words sus, or under, and tenere, to hold, how appropriate in this case as our City Council tightens it’s hold on our community. It was reported that “While Bloomington is the first in Indiana with a formal sustainability initiative, many other municipalities are well into their efforts”, Dave Rollo, City Council Member offered San Francisco as one example. As a conservative Republican or even a Moderate Republican, San Francisco, one of the most liberal cities in the United States, is not exactly the kind of city I would prefer to emulate. Furthermore, the fact that local activist Lucille Bertuccio supports this project should be reason enough for even the moderate Democrats to be concerned. Piece by piece they’re managing to rip apart the very fabric that has held our community together by forcing their liberal social agenda on the city and rather than fighting people are simply giving up, moving away and in general, disengaging from the process which by the way, is exactly what the liberal extremists want.

Travis on the EDC, Like Mixing Oil and Water

2005-05-09T21:54:00.000-05:00

The Monroe County Commissioner’s were faced with a real dilemma this past week, not affirm the County Council’s appointment to the Monroe County Economic Development Commission and break the spirit of the law or affirm it and appoint one of the most outspoken liberals in the county. When the dust settled, the vote was two to one, with Herb Kilmer in opposition. I’m sure this appointment was like taking a bitter pill, just hold your nose and swallow, as my guess is even Iris Kiesling had trouble with this one. Just because of some quirk in the Indiana Code that reads the Commissioners “shall affirm” the Councils appointment, we will be stuck with, at least temporarily, a hard line environmentalist that will take his marching orders from the local left. As always some people want to place blame however in this instance everyone should look closely before doing so. You really can’t blame Joyce Poling or Iris Kiesling for their affirmative vote based on the wording of the Indiana Code and certainly you can’t blame Herb Kilmer for opposing it, unfortunately in this instance too little was done too late, after all the Council made their appointment in January. No one person is to blame in this instance, as we all should be taking a hard look at why we got where we are at this point. For years citizens of this county have elected the kind of people that managed to keep this brand of liberal fundamentalist at bay however, with the recent trend in local politics, especially in the city, more of the radical left are being elected and appointed, all to the detriment of Monroe County.

Although this far left faction keeps claiming they only want to help, their true intentions are quite the opposite. What they really want is to control all growth in our county by infiltrating as many elected and appointed seats as possible. They claim to want a more compact form of urban development and yet they oppose virtually every project that would facilitate that concept. They claim they’re against urban sprawl and yet they continue to oppose compact rural developments because of environmental concerns. They can spin it any way they want but their game plan is obvious. Greg Travis wrote that he “agreed with Steve Howard of the Bloomington Chamber of Commerce when he defined “Economic Development” as “the betterment of the human condition.” This is of course if it fits within his narrow definition of “betterment of the human condition”. He pretends that he is supportive of economic development by suggesting that he hasn’t done anything to oppose it, I say unlike others on the Economic Development Commission, he hasn’t done anything to promote it either. For the last several years Greg Travis, County Council member Sophia Travis’s husband, has been one of the most vocal individuals in our community with his own brand of far left fanaticism and now he’s on the Monroe County Economic Development Commission, which to me is like mixing oil and water.

Auditor's Chief Deputy Paid While In Las Vegas

2005-05-07T09:56:00.000-05:00

It appears Monroe County’s new Auditor, Sandy Newmann, a democrat, will be keeping the State Board of Accounts busy with recent activities in her office. Just last week it was reported that Newmann had admitted making unauthorized purchases for fixed assets on a consumables supply account, that incident is currently under review by the State Board of Accounts. Also last week the County Commissioners, interestingly enough, pushed through an anti-nepotism provision in the County’s policies to prohibit family members from being hired by County officials. As you recall Newmann has her daughter working for her in the Auditor’s office and with others in that office looking to leave, the Commissioners probably wanted to make sure it stopped there. Now, purportedly Newmann has paid one of her office staff for un-worked hours, a violation of the County’s Personnel Policy. Apparently Cathy Smith, the Auditor’s Chief Deputy, accompanied her husband, Larry Smith, Monroe County Technical Services Director on a recent trip to a Las Vegas Convention on Homeland Security. He was sent to the convention as a County employee on County business, she however took time off from her job in the Auditor’s office to attend the convention on what should have been unpaid leave.

Monroe County personnel policy clearly indicates “Vacation, five days per year, after six months of employment with the County”. Since she started her job in the Auditor’s office on the first of January she obviously was not due any vacation days until June of this year. The County also has a provision for sick leave but clearly that could not be applied either, it reads as follows; “Monroe County provides paid sick leave benefits to all full-time employees for periods of temporary absence due to illness or injury”, she obviously wasn’t ill or injured. It is difficult to imagine someone that touted her vast experience in accounting, like Newmann did, being this negligent. It is unclear at this point what if anything is being done to address this most recent situation however this blatant misuse of public funds must be addressed. What is also interesting is why this hasn’t been reported in the local newspaper. It would appear that Mrs. Newmann’s troubles are far from over and she has only been on the job for five months.

Welch Buying Votes With Tax Dollars

2005-05-06T07:37:00.000-05:00

Peggy Welch was using a tool she and Vi Simpson have used with precision over the last several years, taking Build Indiana funds and distributing them in areas where they want to build a bastion of support. Over the years this dynamic duo have poured millions of dollars into the Ellettsville area slowly but surely converting this once largely Republican stronghold. This time Welch called for a meeting with citizens of Ellettsville to let them know she had another big stash of cash for them if wanted it, all they had to do was revive the once popular Fall Festival. She informed those in attendance that the clock was ticking on the $33,500 grant and if they didn’t hurry and get a project underway soon the money would slip away. She learned early that nothing endears voters to elected officials more than wads of grant money and she worked that meeting accordingly. She also knows that once the Fall Festival is resurrected from the ashes that she will be probably be given most of the credit and who knows they might even make her Grand Marshal.

They say timing is everything and in this instance don’t you think it’s just a little interesting that she managed to convince the town to revive the Fall Festival in 2006? Lets see, it just so happens that Welch will be up for reelection in 2006 but I’m sure it’s purely coincidental. The town’s people took the bait, hook, line and sinker. Surely someone will figure out that they really won’t be able to do much with $33,500, most of which is usually matching funds that costs money to get money, something the Town of Ellettsville doesn’t have much of. It’s a shame that more people don’t understand that it is this very attitude about spending that has gotten our State in such a financial mess. While in control, the democrats spread Bilk Indiana money around the state in areas where they wanted to build their support base, in essence buying votes. This is yet another prime example of a cure looking for the symptom as the citizens of Ellettsville didn’t have an immediate need for this money, Welch just went vote shopping with our tax dollars. It’s shameful when the Republicans are trying so desperately to balance our State’s budget and cuts are having to be made in areas like education that we still have democrats that can’t get over their old spending habits. Concerned citizens should realize Welch is only impeding our states recovery process and just say no thanks, I can't be bought!

County Council Work Session A Total Embarrassment

2005-05-04T23:33:00.000-05:00

The Council’s recent work session proved once again the democrat majority will stop at nothing to impede progress in Monroe County. The vehicle tax discussion started out as just another tax increase from the controlling left but it quickly developed into something more, a growth limiting initiative. Historically the County Council work sessions limit discussion to Council members only, the public can observe but is not allowed an opportunity to address the Council. Mark Stoops has set a precedence by inviting Charles Newmann to not only address the Council but to engage Bill Williams, County Engineer, in a debate about road construction. This bizarre incident culminated in Mark Stoops, Sophia Travis and Michael Woods, the green brain trust of the Council, suggesting they would like to push the Commissioner’s for increased standards for road construction in subdivisions. At that point the County attorney told Stoops and the rest of the Council they legally couldn’t dictate policy to the Commissioners. If that episode wasn’t strange enough, when the discussion refocused on the vehicle tax there was mention of a concern for the low income segment of the county not being able to afford the additional tax, this came from the very same individuals that initiated the discussion on the tax increase in the first place.

These power hungry democrats on the County Council need to undergo a reality check because no matter how much they want to control growth it is not under the purview of Council business. Bringing Charles Newmann, a plan commission member and self-appointed attack dog against developers, into the discussion about a vehicle tax and allowing him to put a county employee through an inquisition is a serious misguided use of the office. What this group is really attempting to do is advance their no growth agenda by leaving everyone with the impression they really don’t want to raise taxes but when the tax increase, that was their brainchild in the first place, sails through, they can pontificate how they were forced to increase taxes because of the over development of subdivisions. All the while, Bill Williams, an expert in such matters, tried his best to make this taxing trio understand that revenues from newer subdivisions actually provide funding for the repair of older county roads. Sophia Travis wasn’t satisfied with the insanity that had flourished throughout the meeting and interjected her own special variety of lunacy by proposing an annual operating permit for all out of town trucks. That one should keep the County attorneys busy for a while. Someone needs to give these misguided democrats on the County Council a good lesson in Indiana Code before they totally embarrass themselves, if that’s even possible.

Auditor Gets Caught, Under State Review

2005-05-01T17:19:00.000-05:00

Sandy Newmann the Monroe County Auditor has been on the job just four months and already she is making the kind of mistakes that many expected from someone with little or no governmental administrative experience. Reportedly she made a purchase of $1,228 worth of office furniture on a budget that is set aside for consumable office supplies. She also ignored a standing directive of the County Council for a direct review of any fixed asset equipment purchases. The purchase is now under the review of the State Board of Accounts and could result in a recommendation that Mrs. Newmann repay the amount in question. Newmann reported that she had her Chief Deputy, Cathy Smith, check out the purchase with a field examiner from the State Board of Accounts prior to making the purchase however, with tight County budgets all purchases of equipment were to be cleared by the County Council, a step Newmann failed to take that would have prevented this mistake. Her response to this situation was; “It’s a learning curve for us and we need to make sure we don’t do it again”.

Other matters of concern at the Auditors office required action by the Commissioner’s recently to amend the County’s personnel policy to prohibit the hiring of relatives after Newmann hired her daughter Sondra Berg as a deputy auditor. Common sense would have prevented most people from making this mistake by wanting to avoid any impression of impropriety in hiring a close relative. To correct this situation Newmann should ask for her daughter’s resignation, what will be interesting to see if she possesses the ethical conscious that will guide her to take the necessary corrective action. Apparently the personnel situation in that office is very tense at the moment with two more people in that office seeking other jobs within other County offices. The obvious concern to citizens of Monroe County should be with all of the mistakes and disorganization in the Auditor’s office right now it brings in to question Newmann’s overall competence in running that office. Keep in mind that office essentially controls the checkbook of the County. Valid accurate information needs to flow from that department in order for the County Council to make proper decisions at budget time. With the County’s budget cut razor thin we can ill afford someone that makes too many mistakes and has too big of a learning curve.

Why Do People At The HT Say Stupid Things

2005-05-01T01:26:00.000-05:00

The editorial in today’s Herald Times newspaper labeled “Ellington doesn’t speak for county” is one of the nastiest editorials that I can ever recall out of the HT and it has Kurt Van der Dussen written all over it. This is the same newspaper that insists that everyone seeking political office or already in office be civil at all times or face their own special variety of journalistic ire. The hypocrisy is so blatantly obvious when they don’t apply their own rules of etiquette and civil tone in their own newspaper. Just a couple of days ago Mr. Van der Dussen was giving credit to Jeff Ellington for defeating the Food & Beverage Tax enabling legislation with his headline “Ellington sticks a fork in the food, beverage tax”. Then in today’s editorial he writes, “The loss of $2.5 million in revenue to our area also doesn’t seem to concern Ellington. Who by the way should not be given too much credit in this episode”. If Ellington is not due any credit in this instance, why write such a demeaning and hateful editorial? Why would a newspaper stoop to calling someone a “loser”, not once but twice in the same article? It went on to state “He is not a politically powerful man” and yet they headline two articles with his name within one week and tied it to the defeated legislation, sounds to me like his efforts were not in vain.

The last sentence of this editorial indicates just how off base they’re thinking is on this subject, “He is a willing player in this political farce, but he’s no mastermind”. The moral to this story is that thank God we live in a country where any citizen can lobby their government to whatever extent their conscious guides them, that truley is what separates US from them. As a taxpaying citizen he should have every right to lobby his government representatives, let’s hope the HT doesn't consider this right to be a farce. In this case Mr. Ellington might just be a better citizen than most as he at the very least fought for what he thought was right rather than sitting at home doing nothing. As the paper so poignantly editorialized, Mr. Ellington is no longer an elected representative of Monroe County but that does not preclude his rights to lobby legislators as a citizen. Two past articles come to mind to reflect the HT’s double standards. The first article was about an email from the former mayor John Fernandez to Council Member Andy Ruff. Andy Ruff’s comments were along the lines that he didn’t need any input from John Fernandez. The newspaper went on to chastise Ruff for disregarding Fernandez; if nothing else he was a citizen of the community. Why is Jeff Ellington any less of a citizen than John Fernandez? Another editorial came out just before the last election when the HT chastised republican candidates for their “uncivil” remarks on the campaign trail, it included a line that went something like “why do candidates say stupid things?” In this instance the HT could not have been more uncivil to a citizen of our community. The question that needs asked in this instance is why do people at the HT say such stupid things?

Bi-partisan Elected Women's Club?

2005-04-27T07:59:00.000-05:00

It was reported last week that democrat Regina Moore, City Clerk and republican Sue West of the County Council held a press conference to announce the formation of a group made up solely of elected women from our community. Supposedly this group was created to work on improving cooperation between various governmental entities by setting aside all political differences for the good of the community. The formation of this club brings several questions to mind. Obviously when they get together there will be discussion about topics and issues that affect our local government. What happens when Joyce Poling and Iris Kiesling, two of the three Commissioners get together, wouldn’t this be considered a quorum? Apparently political caucuses are allowed under Indiana Code, however no provisions presently exist for a bi-partisan caucus, what category does this group fall under? Since a bipartisan, inter-local government committee doesn’t exist at this point wouldn’t a committee have to be established and approved by both the city and county before they could legally meet and furthermore can you legally exempt men? Are they presuming that only women posses the voice of reason and cooperation? What about an elected men’s group getting together, would that be considered sexist or would it be tolerated in the name of good government? Not knowing what topics were going to be discussed at any given meeting, will the meetings fall under the Open Door Law? Why only women, do they feel too intimidated talking in front of men?

The whole concept seems rather contrived and poorly thought out. What possible purpose this group would serve at this point is unclear. Obviously it is unlikely that all of the elected women, both democrats and republicans from the city and county government will ever get together and do a group hug just before breaking into a spirited rendition of Kum-bye-ya, folks it just ain’t gonna happen. I’m just not sure what they were thinking? There are laws in place to discourage this kind of “secret” meeting from occurring, why this group feels they are above the spirit of the law is not clear. Elected officials should leave the posturing to the public meetings where, at the very least, the political process can occur in the light of day, regardless of however dim that light may be.

Sustainability Initiative and the Emperors Clothing

2005-04-25T22:15:00.000-05:00

Mayor Mark Kruzan along with Councilman Dave Rollo made a pitch for yet another piece of legislation under city control called the sustainability initiative. This recent initiative is supposed to promote economic vitality, improve human conditions and preserve and enhance community character. Their plan is to establish a commission to oversee what they call the three pillars of our community, economic development, environmental health and social equity. Interestingly enough this twelve-member commission will be made up entirely of mayoral and council appointees. This partisan commission has all the makings of being an environmental lap dog for the liberal no-growth left by diverting attention away from city hall. By establishing this commission the Mayor and City Council will add yet another layer of bureaucracy to local development and instead of having to oppose projects themselves they will be able to acknowledge the recommendation of the “Sustainability Commission” which will do their dirty work for them.

If our Mayor wants to work on a new initiative that will improve human conditions I recommend one that addresses problems that exist within city hall. Sources from within city government indicate moral is at all time low reportedly due to the Mayor’s tyrannical attitude and his incessant micromanagement. Furthermore he is gaining a reputation for being habitually late to meetings that is if he shows up at all. It was reported that during a recent visit to IU by the ambassador from Korea that Mayor Kruzan, who was scheduled to represent our city, never bothered to show up which was quite an embarrassment for the local and University officials in attendance. His lack of experience in understanding the intricacies of people management are obviously overwhelming him to the point where he is continually failing to meet his obligations as mayor. Several initiatives have come out of the Mayor’s office as of late; most are nothing more than smoke and mirrors seemingly to divert attention away from the real issues. Mayor Kruzan learned along time ago that in government words are stronger than actions and it couldn’t be more obvious than with the proposed sustainability legislation. It must have kept them up nights coming up with all the clichés and syntax to describe a whole lot of nothing. This reminds me of the fairy tale where the emperor is sold a new set of clothes, if you keep talking long enough before you know it people will believe just about anything.

Local Liberals May Derail Welch

2005-04-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

Peggy Welch has snubbed the local democratic core again by voting for the recent Marriage Amendment to the State Constitution, a situation they are growing increasingly tired of. Last year she co-sponsored a similar amendment gaining broad support from the republican side of the isle, a situation she reported caused her a “lot of stress”. This session she voted with the republicans again defending her position by stating she supported the amendment because of her "personal convictions" about marriage. Predictably absent from her web site is any explanation of her vote on the Marriage Amendment. It appears Representative Welch is attempting to ride down the middle of the tracks by letting her Christian moral values influence her voting decisions, a position usually reserved for those on the far right side of the track. Generally the moral left would prefer that government stay out of their bedroom while the liberal left leans more toward anything goes. As she continues to play both sides against the middle it will be interesting to see if she can maintain her grassroots support in a district so heavily influenced by the far left majority. Fallout from her actions evidently peaked recently when organizers of the local Jackson Day Dinner scuttled the event purportedly in response to Welch being the featured speaker.

The liberal left’s tolerance level for Welch’s recent voting record puts her in a very interesting position in the 2006 election year. One possible explanation for her recent decisions is that she is looking beyond District 60 in 2006. Certainly voting a moral Christian conscious bodes quite well beyond the boarders of Monroe County and would obviously strengthen her support base of those voters in the middle. Only time will tell about her true intensions but one thing is for certain, the liberal left is not at all happy with her right now, which is something that could pose to be problematic and eventually derail her efforts.

Gaal Keeps Forgetting, He's on the City Council

2005-04-19T08:58:00.000-05:00

City Council Member Chris Gaal weighs in on a topic that he has absolutely no jurisdiction over in his elected capacity. In the April 15th Herald Times article, headlined “Gaal takes on Bush on Social Security” all I could think of when I read the headline is, dream on! It appears several of our democrat city council members seem to be overly preoccupied with national and world affairs over issues that need their attention right here in their own back yard. It has been interesting to watch them spread their political ire while making their case for whatever position they’re taking on any given day by quoting some obscure self serving resource, usually from some ultra-liberal left wing organization. This article was based on information gathered from the “Institute for America’s Future”, and supported by none other than Milton Fisk, a recent partner in crime to the “Living Wage Ordinance”. This organization is quoted as wanting to“ challenge those who suggest that nothing can be done and expose the conservative agenda that has made things worse”. Gaal and Fisk evidently got so worked up about this issue they decided to hold a local press conference to get their names in the paper in support of the status quo, bankrupting the Social Security Administration.

Although the names of these organizations are creative most lack any real credibility. It’s a shame there isn’t an “Institute for Articles of Journalistic Relevance”, a resource that certainly could be put too good use at the HT. The information provided in their press conference was no more accurate than any other offerings from opponents of Social Security reform. They infused exaggerated numbers that were used simply as means of inciting their supporters and to demonize any type of support for reform. What everyone should know by now is the Social Security Administration has been borrowed from for years and if something is not done soon it is going to collapse within. President Bush is pitching several ideas although no definitive plan is in place. Rather than working toward a solution the democrats have offered nothing in the way of alternatives other than to suggest everything should be left alone. This once again shows it’s easier to promise, postpone and spread fear of change than it is to actually do something. Churchill was quoted as saying “It’s better to do something than do nothing while waiting to do everything”, how appropriate in this case.

More Useless Rhetoric

2005-04-17T12:55:00.000-05:00

In the April 15th copy of Herald Times an article labeled “Simpson fighting for school funding” by Kurt Van der Dussen prefaced his article with the statement “State Sen. Vi Simpson is on the warpath”. First of all let me start out by chastising Mr. Van der Dussen by his callous and insensitive choice of words using the connotation “warpath” in light of Senator Simpson’s American Indian Heritage. It’s any wonder he didn’t go on to suggest she is simply beating her campaign drum across Indiana about a lack of adequate educational funding. Regardless of his choice of words in the article it served no useful journalistic purpose other than allowing a detractor from current fiscally responsible policy a headline that appears to indicate she is fighting for better education. It is easy to step forward and support funding for a single segment of the overall budget, it’s even easier to go around in support of increased funding for every facet of the budget whenever votes hang in the balance. What isn’t nearly as easy is finding the revenues to back up your support.

Devoid in Vi Simpson’s letter was any possible sources of funding for her proposed increases. What she wants people to believe is the State’s financial situation really isn’t all that bad and that going ahead and finding additional funding for the schools is fine with her even though the State has been drowning in red ink under her leadership. Hopefully people will realize the differences between hollow promises and real fiscal leadership. Governor Daniels is trying to right the ship and yes it is going to require that school systems across the state tighten their budgets on a short-term basis. Business as usual in Indiana under Democrat leadership over the last eight years has been a dismal financial failure. Vi Simpson has supported every possible social and educational program that would gain her the necessary votes to secure the Governors seat and this latest diatribe is no exception. She knows that people are passionate about education and rarely will anyone suggest not supporting adequate funding. The real question that needs to be answered by Senator Simpson is, what funding would you like to cut in order to provide the additional educational funding you are proposing?

Voter Reform Should Address Student Voters

2005-04-12T23:23:00.000-05:00

Since our legislators are being asked to consider minor election reform in this legislative session, there is no better time than the present to address another serious problem, non-resident student voters in college towns. In Indiana a person is eligible to register to vote after only 30 days of residency in a precinct prior to the next election. Herein lies the problem; students are eligible to vote in local elections where they have little or no interest in local politics. No one wants to deny these non-resident students their right to vote and with that said, wouldn’t the most logical approach be for them to cast an absentee ballot in their own hometown? Why after only thirty days should a student be allowed to cast a vote and affect the outcome of a local politics for years to come?

For convenience sake, there is certainly nothing wrong with non-resident students being allowed to vote locally for Federal candidates. They should even be allowed to vote for State candidates providing they are from this state however, for them to be allowed to vote for local candidates that will be in office long after they are gone is simply unfair to local residents. Ask any resident in a community with a population of 120,000 if they would like to have 30,000 transient voters affecting the outcome of their next election. Granted, not all of these people vote but the percentages remain fairly constant.

Getting to the root of this problem one doesn’t have to look to far, you simply need to ask yourself, who stands to benefit the most from the student vote, Republicans or Democrats? Obviously, the answer is the Democrats and here is why. According to a recent study by Robert Lichter, a professor at George Mason University found that college faculties are overwhelmingly liberal, even more so than previously considered. According to the data, 72% of those teaching in American universities consider themselves liberal. This same survey revealed that 50% of the faculty considered themselves to be Democrats and only 11 % to be Republicans. This imbalance has created a power shift locally of catastrophic proportions and continues to provide the liberal left a powerful voting base each election cycle. When liberal professors are allowed to impress upon the student body day in and day out their own personal brand of political bias, these biases are adopted by the student body and become reflective of their own political viewpoints. Conservative candidates cannot possibly overcome the impact of the constant bombardment of liberalism on campus no matter how hard they try.

The Democrats cry foul when someone suggests that temporary residents, i.e. students, should not be allowed to vote in local elections. Why do they oppose these reforms, for obvious reasons, the deck is stacked heavily in their favor. They know what they’ve got and they're scared to death that someone is going to take it away from them. When Republicans suggest cleaning up the election process the Democrats immediately decry that people will be denied their right to vote and suggest that voters will be disenfranchised, intimidated and confused. How can anyone be denied the right to vote if they are offered the opportunity to vote absentee in their own hometown? Sure, maybe a handful of students do eventually end up living here and actually are impacted by their vote, but the vast majority of them are here for only a short time. Most of these students couldn’t tell you the name of our local sheriff but the odds are they know who the sheriff is back home. Until this inequity is resolved, our local elections will always be tainted with the stench of impropriety and that truly is disenfranchising to the permanent residents of our community.

Hypocrisy Hath No Limits

2005-04-05T20:57:00.000-05:00

Once again the local democrats have found yet another method of picking the pockets of the tax paying citizens of this community. The democrat controlled County Council will be entertaining discussion today on a draft ordinance to raise the county’s wheel tax and possibly raising the vehicle excise tax surcharge or even a possibility of some combination of the two of them. This proposal was reportedly the brainchild of County Council Member, Warren Henegar. During the 2004 campaign Mr. Henegar repeatedly commented that he vigorously supported raising various taxes including the County Option Income Tax or (COIT) and establishing a food and beverage tax. At one point in the campaign he made the statement that “the citizens of Monroe County are under taxed”. It appears the democrats that cast their vote by the way of the donkey are likely to get exactly what they wanted, much higher taxes.

In itself, a modest increase in a single tax would not be unexpected especially if it were properly justified. However, what is happening is beyond comprehension as we are being showered with various new taxes and significant increases in others with hardly enough time to digest one before they hit us with another. Add up all these increases including paying more for our drinking water and you have imposed a significant hardship on the average citizen in our county. The most disturbing part about this situation is that no one has ever made a valid argument for the need for additional revenues. If the democrats go unchecked they will eventually manage to get a little bigger piece of your paycheck withheld by your employer along with the fact that they are not going rest until they raise your tab at the local eateries. Furthermore, they would like to see you pay more to plate your car, truck or RV in Monroe County.

Slowly but surely they are establishing an elitist community with the haves and the have-nots. Those with means are forcing those without to move to neighboring counties where the cost of living is going to be more in line with their income. Isn’t it rather ironic that this is the same group that is constantly claiming to be the ones that are looking out for the lower-income segment of our community? One must ask, when will it stop? Lest we forget, their hypocrisy hath no limits, conversely, their time in office does.

Congressman Sodrel's Masterful Town Hall Meeting

2005-04-03T09:26:00.000-05:00

Even though the Herald Times managed to bury some of the most important news of the day in the “Local” section of the newspaper, the headline said it all; “Sodrel masters town hall crowd”, a fitting headline to a masterful presentation for the freshman Congressman from the 9th district. The fact that the HT chose to print a front page story about tattoos over the grand opening of a local Congressional district office shows their ongoing political bias, never the less, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the detractors left the town hall meeting Friday afternoon impressed with the rooky statesman. Congressman Sodrel could have taken the easy route and called on only friendly faces during the question and answer period, instead, one after the other he called on individuals in the audience that were there for the obvious purpose of making public attacks on the republican national agenda. One by one he addressed their issues with a depth of knowledge and frankness that seemed to surprise even his staunchest opposition.

For the most part the meeting maintained a civil tone but several individuals seemed determined to stir up controversy. It was reported that local democrats mobilized their troops by circulating an email “call to arms” and in response a fair number of local left-wing activist showed up with prepared material to attack Congressman Sodrel’s recent victory over their candidate of choice, Baron Hill. With the precision of a surgeon, Congressman Sodrel dissected their questions and provided straight forward, no nonsense and informed answers, something they obviously didn’t fully expect. Many of these same critics showed a total lack of proper etiquette and protocol by failing to stand and applaud in acknowledgement of the Congressman when he was introduced. Only further proof of how influenced these people are by the flow of propaganda out of the local democrat party. It appears a small minority of individuals in their party continues to fan the flames of hatred and anger toward anyone with an “R” in front of their name. If this town meeting was any indication, Monroe County is obviously going to be a battleground for the 9th district Congressional seat in the 2006 election. One thing is clear, Mike Sodrel appears to have all of makings of a great Congressman, and we can only hope that some of the more rational thinking democrats will give him the opportunity to prove himself before they participate in any further resistance efforts.

BCOS, Another Pet Project

2005-04-02T15:38:00.000-05:00

Once again local citizens are punished with yet another unrelated diatribe from one of our elected city officials. Dave Rollo, a Bloomington City Council Member decided to take advantage of the crowded City Council chamber last week when the Living Wage Ordinance was up for a vote. Rather than confining his remarks to matters on the agenda Rollo went into what seemed to be an hour long rant on the status of the worlds oil production, depletion, exploration and exploitation. If that wasn’t bad enough he sent his narrative to the Herald Times and they printed it as a Guest Column. In it he describes another pet project of the City Council called the Bloomington Commission on Sustainability or (BCOS) that is reportedly up for a vote sometime in April. This commission is described as working on the subject of “peak oil” and working toward adapting our community to a post-peak petroleum world.

I don’t know about you but I really wish our City Council would put half as much time in managing the affairs of our city as they do in attempting to solving the world’s problems. Peak oil is so far down the list of important issues that face our city right now it should be a serious concern when they waste time discussing such matters and slight more important topics. When our city is neck deep in red ink and we have a utilities department that can’t calculate a flow rate or manage a budget, it would certainly seem more prudent if they spent their time finding resolution to these issues before running off on some other tangent. Why do they continually seek out the obscure when the obvious stares them in the face? Maybe it’s just me but I thought we elected them to represent us on the City Council not in the House of Representatives. If I could offer them a suggestion it would be, if their passion is for issues of a global nature run for an office that could actually have an impact on those issues and leave the city council seats to someone who can focus on the needs of our community. One by one the members of the democrat-controlled council take their turn at pushing their social agendas through the City Council, each one with its own burden on the budget. Most of these new projects require addition administration and overhead, something that most of them don’t understand or simply don’t care. After all its just tax dollars, something they seem to have no problem extracting more and more of from this community. Along with discussing the worlds shrinking oil supply I wish they would discuss ways to shrink local government to reduce their dependence on our tax dollars, an issue we could all support.

Obscene Or Simply Poor Taste

2005-03-31T23:19:00.000-05:00

Thumbing through today’s Herald Times I couldn’t help but notice two totally contrasting items in the newspaper. One article was titled “Nude concrete statues: Art or obscene?” The story was about a police action in Edinburgh forcing a local business to remove “obscene” concrete statuary from public view along a roadway. This action was required after local authorities received two complaints. Action was taken on behalf of Indiana’s obscenity law, which prohibits the display of nudity where children might see it. This law also stipulates that such material is harmful for minors if, “considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors”.

The contrasting item was an advertisement for a lecture at Indiana University, School of Fine Arts by Vivian Green Fryd titled “the ghosting of Incest and Same-Sex Relationships in Harriet Hosmer’s Beatrice Cenci”. Talk about opposite ends of the spectrum. Now I must admit the potential positive educational value of this lecture is certainly questionable but removing nude concrete statuary from sight, that’s going to far. Strolling down the streets of Florence, Italy one can’t help but appreciate the beauty of the many sculptures and statuary that adorn that city, some clothed and some less clothes. In Edinburgh the only possible offense in this situation is one of questionable taste in having a concrete copy of Venus di Milo in the yard next to a concrete yard gnome. Certainly living in Bloomington is not without its challenges but I must admit, there are more times than not, that I am glad that I live in such a culturally rich community.

Sit Down, Shut Up and Hold On, The Council Is In Session

2005-03-25T10:01:00.000-05:00

As I watched Andy Ruff fumble around the legalities of running a public meeting I must admit the entire process was quite amusing. Not only are seven of our City Council Members oblivious to their fiscal responsibilities under law, they are also unaware of time. Several of them took the opportunity to make “brief” statements about their support for the LWO, condemnation of our nations leadership and a host of other non-related city issues. As they rambled on and on all I could think of was I’m glad we didn’t get the long version. I would liken the whole experience to sitting through a bad movie, constantly hoping the plot would change and the movie would somehow get better. Everyone knew how this movie was going to end but for some, that didn’t stop them from watching.

The coverage in the HT Thursday included a description of one individual that spoke up; “Would all of the people that support the living wage ordinance please raise your hand”. I kept waiting for someone to promptly follow that request with; those of you with your hand up, I have some great land in Florida that I would like to sell. I’m quite sure if the announcement were to have been made, the person would have definitely had several takers that evening because as I listened to the supporters of the LWO, the best word I can use to describe them is, naïve. They are truly under the delusion that the LWO is the beginning to the end of all social ills that befall our fair community. They have bought in to the fairy tale that the LWO is not really going to cost anything. One after the other the supporters made their passionate pleas and painted a picture of compassion, benevolence and moral righteousness. All they while, cognitive and clearer thinking individuals were asking pointed questions about who is covered, who is exempt, how many people will it help and how much it’s going to cost? The amazing thing, no one knows the answer to any of these questions. The deputy Mayor admitted he doesn’t know and it’s obvious the Mayor doesn’t have a clue with his enlightened statement, “if the LWO is passed we will just find the funding somewhere, we always have”. Of course they have, they have found it in the pockets of the hard working, taxpaying citizens of this community.

The Council has empowered themselves with the ultimate authority over the LWO by deciding who gets exemptions and who doesn’t. One can only imagine how politically biased and discriminatory those future decisions will be with the partisan politics that was played out Wednesday evening. Without a price tag attached the ordinance should have never been up for a vote. Fundamentally speaking, when was the last time you were able to go car shopping and not be concerned about the cost of your purchase? Ironically the supporters for this ordinance are the very same people that are constantly clamoring about un-funded State and Federal mandates. You and I can’t live that way and yet the City is getting away with it and furthermore, this type of leadership is being encouraged by a few, vocal zealots. In other words, sit down, shut up and hold on.

Have You Had Enough Yet?

2005-03-25T00:53:00.000-05:00

The City of Bloomington Utilities has proposed an 11% rate increase in water rates. With the Utilities Service Board painted into a corner they will have little choice but to succumb to demands of the poorly managed utilities department. This increase will supposedly help erase a $2.5 shortfall involving improvements at the Monroe Water Treatment Plant. “This is the second time this board has faced a shortfall,” board president Tom Swafford said this past week at a joint meeting of the board’s finance and engineering subcommittees. He was referring to a shortfall of $2.5 million less than two years ago on the Miller-Showers Park project.

As the City government implodes around itself with absolutely no leadership or direction from the Mayor, the taxpaying citizens will once again be left to pay the piper. While fiscal impotence flourishes within the City government our illustrious Mayor and City Council are ignoring all the warning signs of a major fiscal meltdown as they plunder ahead with yet another costly and totally useless concept, the Living Wage Ordinance. Recently City Council Vice President Chris Sturbaum weighed in on the issue with a HT guest column. His opening statement indicated, “There has been much misinformation regarding the living wage issue”. I will agree with that statement and it has been coming from the likes of Andy Ruff, Mark Kruzan, Milton Fisk, and now Chris Sturbaum. His most reveling statement in his guest column was, “Interestingly, the opponents of the living wage are almost exclusively high wage workers. I kept waiting for an underpaid social worker to plead with us not to force a higher salary on him or her, so as to avoid the loss of government subsidies”. Of course thats not going to happen and the reason is, most of the people that will be affected by the LWO are oblivious to the controversy, so don’t expect them to come forward and speak for or against it.

There was also mention that opponents are almost exclusively coming from “high wage workers”, excuse me, what about the likes of Milton Fisk and his Coalition, aren’t most of them from also in that “high wage workers” category, why choose to listen to them? Local governments or should I say local taxpayers cannot make up for the fact that the Federal Minimum Wage may be set too low or that Federal subsidies are being cut. This ordinance is nothing more than socialism, didn't work then, won't work now. Our democrat controlled City Council has ignored several highly educated constituents of the community that have made far better arguments than their own. Whether you like it or not, they are going to show you what’s best for you. Its obvious, they quit listening to reason along time ago.

Voter Reform, It's About Time!

2005-03-20T21:24:00.000-05:00

Isn’t it ironic that the democrats won virtually every local race in the past election and yet they’re still clamoring about voter fraud? They can’t seem to adjust to the fact that fortunately for the rest of us, the republicans took everything else, including the Presidential race, the Governors race and the Congressional race in the 9th district. The democrats want their followers to believe in a great conspiracy theory that voting machine malfunction caused votes to be wrongly applied to the republican ticket. There are several key issues to be addressed about potential voter fraud but obviously the most important legislation to echo through the halls of the State house include HB 1439 which requires picture identification prior to casting your vote at the polls.

Representative Pierce and other democrats have come out in opposition to this legislation with the argument that it will disenfranchise the elderly and poor voters. Third world countries require identification prior to voting however, in Indiana we let virtually anyone that can identify him or herself with a registered name, past or present, to vote without question. Just prior to the last election republican Chairman, John Shean announced that he was considering posting individuals at the polls to contest any suspicious voters. Local democrats used a media blitz just after Shean’s announcement to rally their “poor and homeless” disenfranchised voter base. I’m sorry, but honestly I fail to see their reasoning.

Any logically thinking individual can see the advantage of picture ID. With such strong democrat opposition to the voter reform it really gives reason for concern and makes one wonder, just what are they hiding? Various polls, including the Indystar.com, indicate an overwhelming support for picture ID legislation; at last count over 80% of the respondents were in favor. Voter apathy could be markedly improved when voters know full well that their vote does count and there are no games being played. If credibility were even an issue with voting, why would this legislation even be questioned? It takes a photo ID to cash a check in most establishments, and you cannot get on a plane without photo ID these days, so what is the big deal? The poor and elderly voters of Monroe county should be insulted by the comments of the likes of Matt Pierce and other democrats who are suggesting they are too stupid or too lazy to acquire a picture ID. Maybe they know the gig is up and all of those students that have registered over the years that no longer live here will soon be ineligible to vote. Who knows, maybe the republicans will even have a chance to win a city election next time around. Yes, we too have our conspiracy theories however; with the new voter ID legislation in place we will eliminate this long-standing source of voter fraud and we will have to find another basis for our conspiracy theories.

Living Wage Ordinance, Listen To Reason

2005-03-06T21:36:00.000-05:00

Local democrats took the opportunity last week to blast President Bush’s 2006 proposed budget, which included funding cuts to the Community Development Block Grant programs. It was reported “Bloomington alone has received $126,000 less this year in federal block grant dollars than in 2002, when it got $1.086 million”. Ironically, it is this same group of democrats that is hell bent on instituting a Living Wage Ordinance that could cost the Monroe County United Ministries nearly that same amount of funding in its first year under the new ordinance.

Meri Reinhold, executive director, Monroe County United Ministries has warned that if the LWO is enacted, the cost to MCUM “could be as high as $109,000 per year, which is far beyond the funding levels available to us from the city, even if they do assist us with transition funds (such assistance, if any, is not clearly defined). Therefore, we would have to reduce our services either due to increased costs or to accommodate the loss of city funding because of our ineligibility. Reducing our services means that fewer children can come to our program, fewer children means that reductions in staff are required. Whichever course we choose, children lose, our employees lose, and in our opinion, we all lose”.

IUPUI economics professor Martin Spechler and fellow economics professors, Lloyd Orr and Gerhard Glomm, conducted a one-hour seminar on the LWO, labeled “unintended consequences” Friday afternoon at the Monroe County Public Library. Spechler called the living-wage idea “a fad” that will do more harm than good. All three suggested the city council could do more with the money by subsidizing health, housing and food programs for the poor that don’t raise their taxable incomes or decrease their eligibility for other benefits.

Now, several of the supporters, including the Mayor are attempting to salvage the ordinance by watering it down with exclusions and exceptions. Face it, this is a lousy ordinance, let it go, get over it. The people that can least afford it will suffer the most under this ordinance and frankly it’s not worth the cost just to be able to put up a billboard stating “Bloomington, the first city in Indiana with a living wage”. We can only hope that Mark Kruzan and Andy Ruff listen to reason and pull the plug on the LWO before it goes to the Council for a vote.

Utilities Service Board Gets Another Bath In Red Ink

2005-02-27T21:35:00.000-05:00

News this week out of the City of Bloomington’s Utilities Service Board (USB) indicates the Monroe water treatment plant is $2.5 million short of funds to pay for ongoing improvement projects. Less than two years ago this same Board approved financing to cover a $2 million shortfall on the Miller-Showers Park debacle. After approving the bailout two years ago, the board was assured they wouldn’t be put in this situation again. The Board has indicated a total lack of communication on the part of the City and stated it has been left in dark up to this point. Board of finance chairman Sam Vaught said he was “totally embarrassed” by this situation. Tom Swafford, Board President said “I don’t recall ever hearing from anybody that we’re going to be two million short on these projects”. Board Vice President Tim Henke added it’s a problem the City has known about “for months and months”. Concerned about the ongoing absence of the utilities director Vaught suggested “I’m almost inclined to completely shut down financing for the utility until it comes to me and this board. It’s obvious that you guys cannot handle the engineering and financing of these projects.” Pat Murphy, Mayor Kruzan’s appointment as director of the USB has been unavailable for comment.
Mark Kruzan might have been labeled an effective Legislator but as a Mayor, he has fallen flat on his face. Granted, he has been left cleaning up a tsunami of red ink and fuzzy accounting practices from the previous democratic administration but let’s face it, he has failed the citizens of Bloomington miserably in his first fourteen months. This is just another blatant example of an administration that is out of control. The mayor should have been on top of this issue months ago but it seems that when he is in his office his management style is more one of crisis management than anything else. It is obvious that the citizens of Bloomington are on a need to know basis only, and that is usually preceded with a request for additional funding. This is just another prime example of irresponsible actions by King Kruzan and his court of merry jesters, the City Council. The democrats have proven that they have no concept of responsible fiscal management and yet they continue to author ordinances and support legislation that adds to the problem, not to the solution. The responsible thing for the USB to do at this point is withhold approval of any additional funding to the utility until a complete audit of its practices be preformed by the State Board of Accounts.

Don't Reward Monroe County Democrats

2005-02-24T16:42:00.000-05:00

The question is why would House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jeff Espitch offer his blessing to a food and beverage tax for Monroe County? What possible motivation does Governor Daniels have for supporting this legislation? Furthermore, have these two forgotten that Monroe County was a blue speck in a sea of red this past election and what’s more, it simply doesn’t make sense to reward Peggy Welch and other local democrats for their vocal opposition to republican reform. All the while, King Kruzan is wringing his hands in anticipation of the thought of getting his hands on another chunk of our local tax money. Local democrats have come out in full support of a food and beverage tax and they have suggested several methods of spending it once they get it.

After their failed attempt to get State wide legislation through this session they have now resorted to an end run with legislation allowing just a couple of counties to adopt the tax. The Supreme Court recently ruled against special legislation but the authors of this bill have made the argument that Monroe County is at a disadvantage when it comes to raising funds to finance projects because so much of Monroe County is nontaxable State owned property. The only disadvantage Monroe County currently has is being in the control of a group of like minded individuals that want to raise our taxes without any input from the local citizenry. No one really seems to know whether or not we need a larger convention center and if we have one will it be profitable or will it be another Buskirk Chumley? Do we really need a juvenile detention / treatment facility and a larger jail? Currently no one in our local government has the answers to these questions. If this tax is so good for us, let’s put it on the ballot as a referendum and let it be a government by the people, for the people.

The Unions Givith, The Democrats Takith Away

2005-02-22T22:23:00.000-05:00

In the Mayor’s guest column printed in the HT on February 21, 2005, our illustrious mayor provided his reasoning for not allowing the Gentry East project sewer extension. His reasoning focused on the assumption that nobody seems to know for sure how much capacity our treatment facilities have to spare and how quickly the land under the city’s domain will be developed. Makes you wonder what all of those people that work for the city do all day doesn’t it? What this really is all about is Mayor Kruzan and the democrat controlled City Council want to dictate all planning and zoning, not just in the city but in the entire county. Since this project is outside the city’s planning jurisdiction the mayor has decided that he doesn’t like it, and thus, he has the power to deny it a sewer extension.

Kruzan was quoted as saying “Since becoming mayor, no developer has sought a sewer extension outside the planning jurisdiction on the basis of jobs that would be created or the income that would be imported into the community”. In one fell swoop Mayor Kruzan has cast aside everyone that is involved in development in our community as though they were a pair of old shoes. I wonder; does he not realize that the property development is a big segment of our local economy and it is a source of employment for several hundred people within our community. The last expansion to the Dillman Road treatment facility was based on the concept that future needs could be met. Growth in our community is inevitable and with it, we will need additional sewer treatment facilities, additional schools, roads and larger hospitals. No matter how much our local elected officials try, they can’t stop growth and honestly why would they try? Growth fuels the union and non-union construction segment of our local economy and quite frankly that equates to jobs. With healthy growth, supply and demand are kept in balance which also helps to keep the cost of living check. Growth and new development also correlate to an increase in the tax base which helps pay for needed infrastructure improvements.

In the recently released election finance report local unions came to the aid of several democrat candidates. For some reason unions continue to provide financial support for local democrats, all the while their jobs are being eliminated by the very individuals they seek to elect. Instead of these no growth “green” democrats we need people with vision, planners with rational forward thinking skills that can anticipate and prepare us for the future, without them; this segment of our local economy will have no one to blame for its decline, but itself.

If You're Not Outraged You're Not Paying Attention

2005-02-18T22:10:00.000-05:00

Lets face it, Commissioner Kilmer did nothing more than verbalize what many rational thinking individuals in this community have been thinking since the November 2nd election. Radical environmentalists now control every facet of local government and with that, all economic development in Monroe County will undoubtedly grind slowly to a halt. If they happen to like your project, you’re in, if they don’t, your out and whether or not you’re in compliance will have very little to do with the decision. They equate growth with capitalism, and in their book, both are bad. It’s a mentality that runs deep in our community and quite frankly it’s a concept that’s very difficult for most logical thinking individuals to accept and or understand. When a republican speaks out it is considered incivility and when a democrat speaks out it is considered passion. Local democrats excused the incivility of the likes of Brian O’Neal as he routinely vented his anger as Commissioner and now they do the same with Andy Ruff who insulted an INDOT official in one of his many anti-69 diatribes. If they can have their angry outbursts why then can’t Herb Kilmer? This double standard exists because the democrats utilize the local media to their advantage; the republicans rarely get the chance. The fact is the democrats are already working on the 2006 election where they have their sights firmly fixed on Herb Kilmer’s Commissioner’s seat.

In this past election local democrats mobilized their voters with a message of hatred and ire toward President Bush. Voters on the IU campus turned out in record number to vote for John Kerry with little concern for any of the other candidates on the ticket and with that, local democratic candidates simply road the wave into office. No other reasonable explanation could exist when a person like Kevin Enright can get elected? Commissioner Poling surely recognized how far left things have swung. She was given an ultimatum by Mr. Kilmer to appoint a moderate to the Planning Commission, or else. She decided to side with the greens and the rest, as they say, is history. Mr. Kilmer is simply suggesting that you made the bed, now you get in it. If anything is a mystery out of this situation, it is why any elected official or for that matter anyone seeking an elected office would waste even one minute of their time talking to Kurt Van der Dussen of the Herald Times. Talking to him is like having unprotected sex with a total stranger, you never know what you’re going get from it. Kilmer’s level of frustration should be understood, and if its not, your not paying attention.

Living Wage Cost & Benefit Unknown

2005-02-13T13:59:00.000-05:00

Here we go again! The democratic controlled City Council is going off half-cocked into another touchy feely social program that even they admittedly have no idea what effect, if any, it will have or how much it will cost. The Bloomington Living Wage Coalition invited Mark Brenner a professor from University of Massachusetts to speak; he has published studies on the effect of the living wage ordinances in various communities. Brenner reported the effect was mostly positive in the 130 larger cities that have living wage ordinances. The closest comparison to a small rural college town like Bloomington was Boston, in which Brenner pointed out the full degree to which numbers could be applied to Bloomington, was difficult to determine. He also reported that the financial impact to cities was fairly minimal, about $150,000 for Pasadena, California in its first year under the living wage ordinance. Milton Fisk, the local author of the proposal also has admitted that his organization has no idea how much this program will end up costing the City however, their best estimate is somewhere between $150,000 and $200,000 the first year. When the question came up about the projected cost to the city, Andy Ruff was quoted as saying “Dollar for dollar, there was no comparison between money in the city budget to that in the pocket of low wage workers”, or in other words, I have no idea and I really don’t care. With all of the financial ills that face our city, why do our elected officials continue to come up with proposals that simply add to the problem? Furthermore, in a city that has to apply for an excess levy to get enough money to give it’s employees a minimal cost of living increase isn’t it rather ironic that its Council would come up with yet another proposal to siphon off some of these much-needed funds.

With the absence of a sustained cost versus benefit study on small cities such as Bloomington, it is careless and irresponsible for elected officials to commit the taxpayers of our community the status of guinea pigs for their own ego feeding desire for press and notoriety. Of course another possible motive behind this proposal is that the Democrats are simply championing another taxpayer-funded employment benefit program for their voter base. What makes them think social ills are so easily solved by programs like this one and if they were, wouldn’t there be a lot more cities adopting the living wage ordinance? Social programs like this rarely provide the desired effect and when they don’t, they are usually expanded to encompass a larger group or area to bolster results. What makes people think this ordinance won’t be expanded to include all of Bloomington, what about all of Monroe County? In a college city such as ours that depends on a lot of part-time student workers, isn’t it possible that such an ordinance could have a profound effect on their ability to find employment. Since the living wage proposal includes a benefit provision for part-time employees, isn’t it possible that higher skilled individuals seeking part-time or second job employment with benefits could actually displace lower skilled employees? Unfortunately this ordinance proposal has more questions than it has answers and furthermore, now is not the time to risk hundreds of thousands of tax dollars on an unproven social program.

Local Democrats Keep Raising Our Taxes

2005-02-09T07:26:00.000-05:00

Here we go again, the Democrats seem all too eager to raise our local taxes. Over the course of the last few years our former Mayor, John Fernandez, and the Democrat controlled City spent more than it was taking in. Recently Mayor Mark Kruzan and the City Council managed to push an excess levy request through the State House to compensate for their inability to live within their means. Now Peggy Welch and Mark Kruzan have teamed up to saddle the local taxpayers with yet another tax to help pay for their spending habits. This latest tax will come in the form of a food and beverage tax that is being sold to the public as an obscure tax that will hardly be noticed by the average citizen, yeah right! This mentality of “tax them and we can spend” has got to stop! For many years the Democrats have been in control of the City Government and now, with this past election, they have taken control of the County Government. It is painfully obvious to me that at this point we can only expect more of the same. Hopefully the Republican controlled House and our Governor will put a stop to all this nonsense. It reminds me of the quotation, “a million here and million there and before you know it your talking about real money”. Someday maybe local voters will wake up and smell the coffee, but meanwhile be aware that your coffee could soon cost just a little bit more thanks to these Democrats.

The Irony To Vi Simpson's Recent Political Posturing

2005-02-08T23:52:00.000-05:00

After sixteen years in control the Democrats are still smarting from this past election. Now that Governor Daniels is beginning to fulfill his campaign pledges by shaking up the “business as usual” attitude across the State, the Democrats are utilizing every opportunity to demonize his efforts. Locally, Senator Vi Simpson was quick to the draw. With her sights clearly set on the Governors office in 2008 she took the opportunity recently to blast Governor Daniels for refusing to release millions of dollars in funding that had been promised to the State’s school systems by the previous administration. Politically speaking, it was a great opportunity to criticize the new administration for not funding education; after all, supporting education carries a very high approval rating with the voters. If you recall, it was the Democrats lead by Senator Simpson and the State Finance Committee that failed to adjust spending throughout the 2001 - 2004 recession, during which time the budget surplus disappeared faster than ozone layer. The budget surplus quickly turned into a budget deficit and guess what, the Democrats faced with a millions of dollars of red ink decided to, you guessed it, delay payments to the school systems. In 2002 they devised the scheme of making only eleven payments to the schools rather than the usual twelve, the twelfth payment was pushed into the next biennium. At the same time they gave the local school systems the ability to transfer funds from various accounts like Transportation and Capital Projects to help make up for any shortfall. Faced with the reduction in funding most schools systems simply increased their Tax Anticipation Warrant, or in other words borrowed more money. The Democrats tried to discount the notion that they were somehow cutting funding by suggesting it was simply a matter of timing. To understand this concept more clearly, try delaying one of your house or car payments and see what happens. Which brings us to today, the State is faced with a $600 million dollar deficit and wouldn’t you know it, these same elected officials still want to give money away that they don’t have. Senator Simpson recently implied that Indiana’s financial situation is not as bleak as it is being painted. Senator Simpson you can’t have it both ways, either you were wrong then or you are wrong now, which it is?

Goat Farm Developer, Like Church, Doesn't Have A Prayer

2005-02-08T01:50:00.000-05:00

At today’s Bloomington Plan Commission meeting a draft of planning considerations meant to govern future development of the property will be discussed. In 2001 a proposal by the Church of the Good Shepherd ran into environmental issues that will surely be a roadblock for the current proposal. The property near the High Street / Winslow Road roundabout has been purchased and the developer would like to build a residential development there. However, the City Planning Department doesn’t see the current proposal fitting within their concept of the way this area should be developed. They are proposing an amendment to the Growth Policies Plan to designate this area as a “critical sub-area”. They want the development to be designed to protect wildlife habitat and safeguard the environmentally sensitive features, such as the floodplain. The developer questioned the timing and added, “The city needed to be more detailed and direct about expectations”. Why on earth would the City want to be more detailed and direct when it routinely gets away with dictating what your property rights will be? Of the three items on this evenings agenda, all three are getting negative recommendations due to environmental concerns, so what’s new? As the City gradually amends the Growth Policies Plan into it’s No Growth Policies Plan, the citizens of Monroe County will soon understand the true meaning of urban sprawl. I’m sorry, but this developer has nearly as good a chance playing tidily winks with his butt cheeks as he does getting the necessary approvals to convert this area into a housing addition.

HT Manipulated Into Character Assassination of Vic Farkas

2005-02-08T00:14:00.000-05:00

Kurt Van der Dussen and the Herald Times once again show their lack of journalistic integrity by printing a smear story about Vic Farkas, the former County Surveyor. The article was based solely on information that was produced at a recent County Council meeting by Kevin Enright, the new County Surveyor. It is interesting how his report managed to be the only newsworthy story to come out of that meeting. Obviously character assassination plays well in Mr. Enright's circles as he attempted to destroy the credibility of his predecessor. Mr. Enright’s actions were both inappropriate and unprofessional. Unfortunately, if Mr. Enright’s past is any indication of what the future holds, we will more than likely have to endure this type of political mudslinging for the next four years. It is even more unfortunate that the HT editorial staff didn’t recognize or didn’t care that it was simply being manipulated into delivering this political propaganda to the masses. Kevin Enright was the most caustic and denigrating of all the candidates in this past election. He has personally and professionally attacked Vic Farkas on several occasions with slanderous if not libelous accusations. Vic Farkas’ spending was within his budget, a budget that he managed to reduce each year to save the taxpayers of Monroe County money while serving as the County Surveyor. The recent accusation of a “spending spree” is rather ironic since it is widely known that Mr. Enright did the same thing to Vic Farkas upon his departure four years ago only to the tune of several thousand dollars of unbudgeted and unencumbered funds. This type of petty behavior is unacceptable as an elected official and furthermore, this type of information is certainly not material for a front-page expose’.

Attitudes Fueled By Hatred

2005-02-07T23:58:00.000-05:00

On January 31st at the Sample Gates on the IU campus two groups with opposing viewpoints about the war squared off against each other in simultaneous protest rallies. On one side there was the group calling themselves “Against the Occupation of Iraq”. The opposing viewpoint was provided by a group of College Republicans. The liberal bias that typically flows from the IU campus can sometimes be overwhelming and in this case it was obvious they didn’t like the competition. Members of the group “Against the Occupation of Iraq” were heard yelling obscenities along with other gestures of aggressive behavior. IU professor emeritus Jim Hart encouraged those in attendance to use anger and to stay angry with the statement, “The most powerful emotions we have are love and hate. We have to keep our anger and indignation white-hot”. At one point he told the College Republicans to “keep quiet, you might learn something”. What Mr. Hart and others in our community need to realize is that they too might learn something if they didn’t allow their political viewpoints to cloud their ability to keep an open mind. The basic principles of freedom allow us the opportunity to participate in social activism and we should remember these same freedoms are applied to everyone, even if they don't share our opinion. We should always be cognizant of differing opinions and respect them as we do our own. Having differing opinions is not a bad thing and certainly not on a campus where students should be challenged to think about important issues on a daily basis. It should concern every citizen of this community when individuals or groups perpetuate their attitudes or agendas with hatred and anger. Isn’t it ironic that the very people that oppose the war and protest to give peace a chance would happen to be the very same people that perpetuate local incivility against those with differing opinions? In this instance, I must admit, that I admire the College Republicans for their peaceful and civil approach to their protest and furthermore it seems Mr. Hart and his group could take a lesson from them. I wonder where our “Safe and Civil City Coordinator” was that day?

Local Democrats Show Their True Colors

2005-02-07T00:58:00.000-05:00

In January the new Democrat controlled County Council convened for their first regular meeting of the year and they made some very concerning appointments. Their appointment of three radical environmental activists is an obvious indicator of the direction they intend to steer the County over the next few years. Michael Englert or "Moss", to those of him that know him best, illegally trespassed a couple of years ago as a tree setter in an effort to stall a local housing project on the West side, has been appointed to the Metropolitan Planning Organization. Environmental activist and I-69 opponent Bill Hayden was appointed to the County Traffic Commission. Rounding out this radical anti-growth trio was Greg Travis, County Council member Sophia Travis’ husband, with his appointment to the County’s Economic Development Commission. These appointments should concern every citizen of Monroe County as they come from the same democrats that ran on a platform of diversity in the last election. They pledged to apply diversity and all the while their appointments are coming in the form of like-minded radical “green” activists. So much for diversity!

Day One

2005-02-07T00:16:00.000-05:00

This blog will be dedicated to provide the citizens of Bloomington and Monroe County with factual information and rational opinions about issues that affect us all. The viewpoints that will be offered will be derived from a common sense perspective and provide the reader with another source of information about local issues. Hopefully, it will be informative and thought provoking.