In December, 1997, at a conference of politicos, lawyers and lobbyists, I bet WISH-TV/Channel 8’s Jim Shella $20 that then Mayor Steve Goldsmith wouldn’t run for a third term. Eleven months later, I collected when Goldsmith stunned the political world with his announcement that a third term was out.
I’m not yet ready to prognosticate Mayor Greg Ballard’s future. But, the sudden announcement that Ballard’s Chief of Staff Ryan Vaughn is quitting to run the Indiana Sports Corporation has me thinking Ballard may not seek a third term.
Third terms can be tricky for big city mayors. Potential third term mayors usually amass obscene amounts of campaign cash. They face underfunded token opposition.
Here in Indianapolis, Mayor Ballard currently faces a leading Democratic opponent, Joe Hogsett, who’s well known and will have a robust campaign war chest.
Also, the decisions, stances and controversies during a mayor’s second term present problems for any mayor running for a third term.
Despite Mayor Ballard and the mayor’s minions proclaiming Indianapolis’ economy to be great, a number of national studies have pointed out gaping income disparities and rising poverty in Indianapolis; especially among families with children. Incomes are stagnant; and unemployment in many neighborhoods, and among African-Americans, is obscenely high.
Regarding Vaughn’s departure, being chief of staff to a president, governor or big city mayor is a high-pressure job. You’re the one making sure the wheels of government run smoothly; the one who has to say “no” to people. Since 2008, Mayor Ballard has had three chiefs of staff, each averaging 24 to 30 months in the gig.
In my opinion, it’s not easy being chief of staff to a mayor who dislikes talking to people. Especially Ballard who has a severe aversion to talking with – neighborhood leaders; ministers (other than members of the Ten Point Coalition); Democratic elected officials at all levels; Black community leaders and anyone in the media not named Abdul.
Given his boss’ predilection for being inaccessible, uncommunicative, hostile and standoffish, my sympathies to Vaughn for lasting this long.
For those saying politician Ryan Vaughn isn’t qualified to run the Indiana Sports Corporation, I remind that Susan Williams, a politician, did a great job several years ago. My best to Ryan Vaughn.
Meanwhile, as of last week, Governor Mike Pence continues to give out signals that he seriously wants to be considered a potential 2016 Republican Presidential candidate. Pence has been making a bunch of out of state political speeches, including one in Iowa two weeks ago.
Then there’s what happened downtown last Wednesday.
As a 40-year radio broadcaster, I was in the Sagamore Ballroom of the Indiana Convention Center for the opening of the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Radio Show Convention. Pence was there delivering a welcome speech.
Drawing upon his background as a former Indy talkshow host in the 1990s’, Pence spoke eloquently about the power of radio and his pleasure at the radio folks from across the country present for the convention.
Then, unexpectedly, Gov. Pence began talking about President Barack Obama’s upcoming speech that night about the ISIS terrorist group.
Usually the only politics talked about at broadcasters’ conventions are media-centric issues broadcasters want Washington to deal with. Never foreign policy, unless a politician wants to make news.
And Pence did just that. His remarks were widely noticed outside of Indy.
In an interview on WTLC-AM (1310)’s “Afternoons with Amos” explaining why he’s not running for governor in 2016, I asked Evan Bayh, who’s run five statewide campaigns and a brief Presidential campaign, what he thinks Pence is doing.
Bayh told me it’s about the money.
“The Republican Party doesn’t have an heir apparent,” said Bayh.
“The process (is) a little different. (There’s) the role of big money. If you’ve got one or two billionaire supporters who are willing to spend 20, 30, 40 million dollars on your behalf then that changes the entire dynamics,” Bayh remarked.
Bayh continued, “It’s no secret that Gov. Pence is out speaking before the Koch Brothers conference and their political action committee. If he happens to get support like that; that can be pretty transforming. If you’ve got that you can afford to wait a little bit longer.”
We’ll see…
What I’m Hearing in the Streets
There’s been more hype and enthusiasm about next year’s elections in Indianapolis than this year’s. It seemed Republicans had a strong candidate in Emmitt Carney who’s running against Sheriff John Layton. But Carney’s campaign hasn’t caught fire with contributors or voters.
The Marion County GOP ticket, with three of its five candidates African-American, has been surprisingly invisible to the mass of Indy’s Black voters.
I thought the GOP would heavily push Carney, Prosecutor candidate Duane Merchant and Recorder candidate Terry Dove in ads and marketing to try and siphon off 15 percent to 25 percent of the Black vote.
But with some seven weeks left, there’s more hype about Ballard’s preschool proposals than the GOP’s countywide ticket.
I’ve had a number of conversations over the years with the editors and owner of the Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ) about their lack of an African-American journalist on their staff. In those conversations, instead of excuses or platitudes, the IBJ folks were honest and direct about their difficulty attracting quality Black journalists.
Their biggest obstacles were being a locally owned weekly competing for quality Black journalists with major local and national daily newspapers.
So imagine my joy this week when I learned IBJ has hired their first African-American journalist, Jared Council, who is covering technology, banking and finance.
Council comes to Indy from Inside Business, a weekly newspaper covering business issues in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach market. A graduate of Hampton University, Council also worked at a small Philadelphia newspaper, then covered government for the Evansville Courier-Journal.
See ‘ya next week!
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
