Near the end of a debate that was preordained, Marion County’s 10 Democratic House members, along with Democratic Minority Leader Rep. Scott Pelath ripped into the odious proposal which I and others call the mayor’s power grab bill.
That’s the legislative abomination which strips Indianapolis of its at-large council seats, radically changes the eligibility to run for mayor and City-County Council, forces constitutional county elected officials to kowtow to an unelected bureaucrat to beg for their budgets and makes Indiana the only county to have to count their absentee ballots by hand.
Said Rep. Pelath, “This is the kind of dangerous and stupid bill you do when you think you’re invincible. You’re nakedly grabbing power away from the people of this county. You’ve told them they don’t matter. You’ve told them they voted for the wrong party.”
But it was comments by Rep. Ed DeLaney that struck a chord with me.
DeLaney told the Republican super majority, “You’re turning Marion County into Lake County south. I’ve watched for 40 years as Lake County is played with in this body and now you’re gonna play with Marion County.”
DeLaney and Pelath’s words distilled what happened in this year’s legislative session and lays bare some of the motivation of Republican leaders both in Indianapolis and in the Legislature on why they openly showed their visceral disdain for the changing nature of our city.
First, those of us in Indianapolis must understand that we’re a minority in Indiana. Unlike New York, Illinois and California where those living in cities are the majority of their state’s residents; in Indiana big city dwellers are a minority.
Indianapolis/Marion County’s current 2012 estimated population of 918,977 is just 14.1 percent of Indiana’s current population of 6,537,334. The new Indianapolis/Carmel/Anderson metro population of 1,928,982 is slightly less than a third (29.5 percent) of the state.
DeLaney’s line about watching the Legislature play with Lake County is true. Successive General Assemblies have passed special laws that only apply to that part of the state. Over regulating and micromanaging the state’s second largest county.
The 40 years that DeLaney described is also significant because it came just after Richard Hatcher became the first Black mayor of a major Hoosier city – Gary. Then and still today one of Indiana’s 10 biggest cities. While overwhelmingly Democratic, Republicans have won offices in Lake County. In some races they’ve been competitive.
Now, there are other major counties and cities in Indiana where Democrats rule the roost. But you don’t see the Legislature micromanaging St. Joseph County and South Bend or Monroe County and Bloomington.
At the request of Republicans, a Republican supermajority Legislature micromanaged Indianapolis/Marion County when they created UniGov in 1969. Now, 43 years later, another GOP supermajority substantially changed the UniGov system, with no public demand or clamor, in a fit of partisan retribution and mean-spiritedness.
But did they do it because Indianapolis/Marion County has turned increasingly Democratic since the mid-1990s? Or is something more sinister going on?
Interestingly, the Republican’s unwitting foil, sometimes Indianapolis Recorder columnist and radio gadfly Abdul Hakim-Shabazz said something to me Friday. He said the speeches by the Black legislators from Marion County “turned Republicans off.” Implying that if they hadn’t spoken in the final debate, they’d have won GOP votes.
During the debate, our Black Democratic lawmakers spoke truth to power with restrained anger and bitterness. Like the restraint Jackie Robinson showed those first years in major league baseball when confronted with naked bigotry.
But despite our Black legislators’ elegance and DeLaney’s and Pelath’s warnings, Republicans were going to OK their power grab.
Now, it may not have been DeLaney’s intent with his words, but saying the Legislature’s “playing with Marion County” while not doing the same with other Democratic controlled counties makes you wonder what the common denominator is between Marion and Lake counties?
Maybe it’s the demographic fact that Lake and Marion counties are the most racially diverse of Indiana’s 92 counties. Lake County is 44.8 percent minority. Marion County is 40.6 percent minority. African-American elected officials occupy powerful offices in these two counties. African-American legislators represent those areas.
If the power grab was just about partisanship, then why not eliminate at-large council seats in St. Joseph and Monroe counties. Why not mess with the governing structure in Bloomington or South Bend? Is because St. Joseph County’s just 24.7 percent minority; or Monroe County’s 14.6 percent minority?
What happens if the real potential of Indianapolis electing an African-American as mayor in the next decade occurs? Will Republicans then repeal the extraordinary powers they’ve just given Indy‘s mayor, to keep a Black from exercising them?
My friends in the business community won’t like the next paragraphs, but I found it odd and disconcerting that an Indianapolis business community that always speaks out on issues that impact the well-being of this city/county and metro said nothing about the odious power grab. They didn’t defend it or oppose it. They just ignored the most extensive change in the structure of this city since UniGov’s creation.
Why?
Does the business community believe there are too many Black and minority elected officials with power and responsibility? Is the business community, like some Republican politicos and legislators, greatly nervous that over 40 percent of Indiana’s capital city is minority?
Fortunately, the provisions of the odious power grab of our cricket loving, can’t develop jobs here mayor doesn’t inhibit our community’s ability to rise up off our backsides and get out and register and vote next year and in 2015.
Since our mayor loves to travel overseas and loves exotic foreign sports, it’s time to start working hard to make sure he’s permanently retired on Nov. 3, 2015.
The last word about this reprehensible power grab goes to the gentleman from Michigan City, Rep. Scott Pelath. His words should burn in the conscience of Republican legislators and Gov. Mike Pence if he signs this garbage into law.
Said Pelath: “I’ve never seen a group so insecure with all the power they have. It’s an embarrassment for this chamber. It’s an embarrassment for the state of Indiana. One day you’ll see how dangerous this measure was.”
Yes, Indiana will.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
