A year after the Bayh earthquake shattered Indiana Democrats, Evan Bayh sits in his fancy Washington office, enjoying morning lattés and perhaps afternoon white wine. Doing little work for lots of money.
Meanwhile, the state and party he selfishly abandoned reels under a ferocious blitzkrieg, which Democrats, progressives and African-Americans haven’t seen in a long time.
Labor unions here, like those in Wisconsin, are under siege. Led by the state Chamber of Commerce, the legislature is pushing to make Indiana a right-to-work state, which proponents claim benefits workers.
But organized labor built and nurtured the American Black middle class. Right-to-work proponents have yet to provide any data that demonstrates that Blacks in right-to-work states fare better economically.
To their credit, House Republicans haven’t agreed with Gov. Mitch Daniels’ draconian cuts in needed Medicaid benefits, but GOP legislators continue their misguided assault on Hoosier voting rights and township government in an egregious case against plain common sense.
The radical Republicans are out to emasculate early voting in Indiana. Despite its popularity in most states, the radical tea drinking legislators want early voting to occur in a single county location.
The paradox is that the legislature earlier OK’d the voting center law. That law enables counties to allow, on Election Day, voters to vote at any county’s polling place, not just the one nearest your home.
Yet these same Republicans want to make it harder for you to vote outside of Election Day.
The state Senate passed an outrageous bill, sponsored by Sen. Jim Tomes R-Wadesville, who lives in rural southwestern Indiana, where the Wabash and Ohio Rivers meet. Tomes’ bill eliminates local laws governing where gun owners can carry weapons. His proposal would, using perverted tea party logic, allow guns, weapons of human destruction, into Lucas Oil Stadium and the Indiana Convention Center.
Last time I looked, birds and animals of prey don’t inhabit those buildings. Children and other defenseless humans do. But, Tomes, and a majority of the radical Republican Senate sent this horrid proposal to the Indiana House.
To his credit, Colts owner Jim Irsay blasted the proposal.
But, to his discredit, Indianapolis’ Mayor Greg Ballard stayed silent.
This is what he’s pretty much done during this entire legislative session. Not once has the mayor been to the Statehouse to testify on legislation impacting his city. And he stayed silent when this outrageous proposed law surfaced.
Public education as we’ve known it in Indiana is under attack. The school districts where the majority of African-Americans attend will see additional cuts under the Republicans proposed two-year spending plan.
As expected, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ school education reform proposals are sailing through the GOP legislature. And the looming education cuts confront school districts, like IPS, with a major decision.
The size of the cuts will be in the tens of millions of dollars. But, while I’m sympathetic to those districts and don’t want their funding cut, it’s time these districts place some of the burden of the cuts on the districts’ high priced administrators.
Now, if I’m wrong, I’ll be prepared to stand corrected, but I don’t believe any school district in Marion County has frozen or reduced administrator salaries during these years of reduced state aid.
Teachers and other school support staff have been laid off; but administrators’ cushy salaries and deals (like that outrageous retirement package for former Wayne Township Superintendent Dr. Terry Thompson) have continued like the cash would always be there.
Before any teacher is laid off because of Daniels’ budget cuts this time, administrators, starting with the cadre of superintendents in our school districts, need to start with pay cuts (10 percent to 20 percent would be appropriate) and salary freezes.
They need to feel the pain before the classroom teachers do.
What I’m hearing
in the streets
Some thoughts on the mayoral primary contest.
Over the next 10 weeks of this primary campaign, Sam Carson, Ron Gibson and Melina Kennedy must clearly spell out their vision and plans for Indianapolis by providing specifics, not platitudes.
My concern over Carson’s entry into the mayor’s race is this: Has he spent the time needed to learn about the city/county, understand its problems and craft solutions? Time his two opponents have spent these past several months. Carson must also demonstrate that his is a serious campaign; not an exercise in vanity.
Ron Gibson must demonstrate that he has the expertise to run a billion dollar enterprise, which is the city of Indianapolis. And can he appeal and garner support from non-Black voters. Carson also must show the same.
If there’s an overriding issue this year, it’s that we can’t elect an inexperienced rookie as mayor. Look what happened last time.
Melina Kennedy must connect with voters. They must feel and believe that she cares about people like them and will stand up and represent their interests; not just the interests of the power law firms and businesses downtown and along I-465.
Kennedy, Gibson and Carson need to bring their “A” game to the primary. Attack, not each other, but the true enemy, the Ballard administration and its policies that favor the favored, not our neighborhoods, and gives jobs to those who don’t live here while our neighborhoods deteriorate.
The Department of Public Works (DPW) PR mavens took extreme exception to our Feb. 11 column criticizing DPW’s lack of effort in cleaning side streets of ice so buses could get kids back to school.
This column has always acknowledged criticism and objections. Except DPW’s spinmeisters didn’t want them in print. They wanted to respond to a newspaper column over a radio show.
A seasoned, professional PR person would’ve known that you don’t respond to criticism in one medium in another medium. But, the Ballard administration keeps hiring PR folks who haven’t a clue how media works; much less how to be a professional.
During this administration, most (not all) of the city’s PR folks have demonstrated a lack of understanding of their jobs. And more ominously, they’ve displayed disdain, almost contempt, for the city’s African-American media.
Asking to respond to a newspaper column by responding on the radio is the latest example of the Ballard’s PR mavens’ ineptitude. Sad.
See ‘ya next week.
You can e-mail comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
