This past Friday, President Barack Obama sat down with Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, along with Democratic legislative leaders to talk about the looming Federal “fiscal cliff.” Even though the staffs of the president and GOP leaders had met about possible solutions, the face-to-face encounter was critical to any potential solution.
At every level of government, Democratic and Republican elected officials sometimes put aside personal animosity to meet face to face to solve critical issues.
That brings me to a subject I’ve been hesitant to write about, but the time has finally come to raise this critical question publicly.
Why is Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard reluctant, afraid and unwilling to meet face to face with Democratic elected officials? Including high profile African-American ones?
The mayor has been in office nearly five years and his “I’m not a politician” shtick has worn off. It’s time to ask why this mayor consistently and steadfastly refuses to meet personally with elected officials of the opposite party.
In the four decades Bill Crawford served in the Legislature, he had face-to-face meetings with the mayors of that time – Richard Lugar, Bill Hudnut, Steve Goldsmith and Bart Peterson.
But the past five years, despite trying to push major initiatives through the Legislature, Ballard never once had a face-to-face meeting with the respected senior lawmaker (of either party) that represented Ballard’s city.
Not only did Ballard snub Crawford, he’s snubbed all the Democratic legislators of our city.
Though the mayor’s minions and lobbyists cajole and lobby Democratic Indy lawmakers, Ballard’s deigned to meet them.
After the election of Maggie Lewis as City-County Council President, the mayor’s chief of staff and other aides met with her; but never have there been one-on-one mayoral meetings with Lewis to deal with critical city/county issues.
In the looming local fiscal cliff crisis, precipitated by the mayor’s illegal impounding of nearly $32 million in local option income tax money allocated to Marion County agencies, Ballard refuses to meet with the county’s constitutionally mandated, independently elected officials whose budgets Ballard is unilaterally and illegally eviscerating.
So what’s the reason for Mayor Ballard’s refusal to meet with Democratic elected officials?
Does the mayor think he’d contract a communicable disease if he sat down with them? Does this former Marine have a pathological fear of elected members of the Democratic Party?
The fear the head of the nation’s 11th largest city has with officials of the city/county’s majority party presents a growing crisis for Indianapolis.
And as I pointed out my column eight weeks ago about the failings of Indianapolis leadership, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce doesn’t want to show leadership and get involved in solving this problem.
Chamber President Scott Miller literally wanted to flee from my studio when I asked on our WTLC-AM (1310) “Afternoons with Amos” program would he try to bring Democratic elected officials and the mayor together to reach common ground.
Bringing leaders together has been a major role played by the Indianapolis Chamber. But it seems Miller suffers from the same fear factor that Ballard suffers from.
Finally, the mayor’s fear of sitting down with Democratic elected leaders; many of whom are Black, raises the perception of many in our community that Ballard doesn’t want to meet Black leaders.
He never meets with NAACP leaders. He only meets with Blacks who agree with him.
Mayor Ballard’s fraidy cat posture towards the leaders of the city/county’s majority political party is foolhardy, insensitive and threatens Indianapolis’ stability!
What I’m hearing
in the streets
With southern charm and a desire to “listen,” new Public Safety Director Troy Riggs impressed many last week in his first live interview with Black media. On “Afternoons with Amos,” Riggs indicated that he’ll listen to community concerns, but speak frankly and honestly to the community.
Riggs said he wants more officers on the streets and wants them to be respectful and courteous. Concerned about the rising tide of violence, Riggs said we “must look at the number of crimes committed that use guns.”
Riggs is open to examining Indy’s police discipline review system and understands that the police and fire departments must reflect the city/county’s changing diversity.
Unlike Frank Straub’s New York brusqueness, Riggs’ Kentucky easygoingness initially played well with those who heard the interview. Riggs’ actions will be his true test.
The combined 1,177,962 population of Hamilton and Marion counties is 22.7 percent African-American. So why were there virtually no African-Americans at last Thursday’s launch of the new effort to get Indiana’s Legislature to allow a referendum to expand mass transit in those two counties?
There were a few Black folks at the event at the ArtsGarden, including IPS School Board member-elect Sam Odle, but I could count them on less than 10 fingers. And conspicuously absent were African-American members of the City-County Council and Indianapolis’ legislative delegation.
Getting the new Republican super majority to OK mass transit expansion for this area isn’t going to be easy. The new GOP lawmakers were elected to not raise taxes; theirs or anyone else’s. Gov.-elect Mike Pence is concerned whether the Indianapolis area will support an expanded transit system.
Generally our African-American community supports mass transit expansion. But with Mayor Ballard’s visible snubs of Black and other Democratic lawmakers, including those from outside Indy, support among Black state lawmakers for this project will be an uphill struggle.
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When will Indiana Black Expo release its 2011 financial statements and tax returns? After the debacles of Summer Celebration and Circle City Classic this year, serious questions are being raised about IBE’s financial health, especially after the organization’s 2010 profit was just $6,364, a 90 percent decline from 2009.
Unlike reputable non-profits, IBE hasn’t released any information on its financial health for 2011. Black Expo has submitted to the IRS its 2011 Form 990 tax return for 2011. That document is a public record and should be released immediately.
Given that Expo’s credibility in our African-American community is just a tad higher than Mitt Romney’s, its way past time for Expo to rebuild the organization’s shattered credibility. See ‘ya next week!
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
