Despite the fact that three candidates for Indianapolis mayor are non-Hispanic white males, you knew eventually this year’s election campaign would evolve into a campaign targeting Black candidates.
It happened when last week the Marion County Republican Party shifted from spending their resources for their mayor candidate Greg Ballard and shifted to a campaign of beating up on a couple of Black men.
Usually Republicans accuse Democrats of playing the “race card” in the last weeks of a campaign. But again, the Marion County Republican Party has gone into their attack Black elected officials mode, trying to frighten whites into voting Republican.
In past elections, Republican tactics have included scurrilous fliers and direct mail ads with sinister, darkened, doctored photos of Congresswoman Julia Carson and Sheriff Frank Anderson. This year, expect the same. Except the targets will be City-County Council President Monroe Gray and Council Majority Leader Lonnell “King Ro” Conley.
Last Tuesday, Ballard held a press conference blasting Mayor Peterson on crime. The same day, county GOP Chairman Tom John held a press conference blasting Monroe Gray.
Guess which story got the front-page Star headlines and top treatment on TV? Not Ballard’s crime criticisms, but John’s fullisade against Gray.
“A vote for Democratic council candidates is a vote for Gray,” John warned. I can’t wait for the direct mail to hit mailboxes in predominantly white neighborhoods. Though they’ll have to use plenty of Photo Shop computer tricks to turn the light complexioned Gray into a dark, sinister, scary, boogieman to frighten white voters.
Besides Gray, Republicans included Conley in their Black attack, with ads on the city’s AM radio talkshows featuring a carnival barker-voiced announcer complaining that Conley is “the king of taxes.” The ad claims Conley’s “never seen a tax he didn’t like” and that “over the past two years Conley has voted to raise your taxes 19 times.”
The anti-“King Ro” Conley spot isn’t original. I’ve heard those exact same words in other Republican commercials in Indiana over the past three decades. Similar language has been used in ads by both parties from coast to coast.
Saying one’s opponent raised taxes x-number of times is a fair campaign attack ad. But, it has backfired.
In the 1996 governor’s race, Republican Steve Goldsmith’s campaign accused Democrat Frank O’Bannon of raising a certain number of taxes. But the Goldsmith campaign falsified the facts and was caught by the media.
Because of incidents like that and the airing of inaccurate ads in recent campaigns nationwide, candidates now routinely document and share with media their ad claims, especially those accusing their opponents of voting for “x-number” of tax increases.
So, first thing Monday morning, at 8:44 a.m., I sent e-mails to Kyle Walker, executive director, and Dan Tierney, communications director of the Marion County Republican Party, asking them to document the charges in their ad. I asked, “What were (Conley’s tax) votes, when were they, what taxes were raised (and) were these votes procedural, votes on amendment, or votes on final passage of fiscal ordinances that raised taxes”?
I held up submitting this week’s column to my editors for 24 extra hours to allow Walker and Tierney to respond to my simple request; a request the media routinely make.
Sadly, neither responded.
I must assume the ad’s charges can’t be documented. And that raises questions of the anti-“King Ro” ad’s truthfulness.
The emphasis on Gray and Conley marks a shift in GOP strategy as they’ve left their mayoral candidate to fend for himself.
The anti-Conley ads lift up council candidate Kent Smith, not Greg Ballard. The anti-Gray attacks are coming from the party, not from Ballard.
It’s obvious that the top leadership of the Republican Party has abandoned their mayor candidate instead focusing on winning back control of the City-County Council.
The math is basic. Two. The GOP needs to win two seats from the Democrats to retake control.
But, even with the anti-tax, anti-incumbent feeling, that’s going to be a tall order for the GOP.
The council math begins with Democrats already winning four uncontested seats – Districts 7, 9, 10 and 15. Republicans have already won three uncontested seats – Districts 5, 24 and 25.
To gain control, Republicans must hold all their open seats, which may prove most difficult in District 1 on the Northwestside and District 4 on the Northside. If Democrats capture one of those two GOP seats, then the only way for the GOP to regain council control is picking off some at large races.
Since the dawn of Uni-Gov, the party winning the mayoralty captures the four at large seats. Despite the mayor’s diminished popularity, Democrats Rozelle Boyd and Joanne Sanders will lead the at-large races. The dropping last week of misdemeanor charges against Ron Gibson gives his campaign a needed boost.
That’s why Conley has become the target. In each of his two council elections, Conley won by some 2,000 votes over the closest Republican.
But spending thousands to beat Conley, while ignoring the other three at-large candidates, assumes that the Republicans will win all their open seats. Which in Districts 1, 4 (and possibly District 6 which is trending more Black and more Democratic), could be a risky bet. Oh, if I eventually get the documentation of those anti-tax Conley ads, I’ll let you know. But I’m not holding my breath.
What I’m hearing in the streets
Moving. Emotional. Heartfelt. Those were my emotions the other week upon my formal induction into Indiana’s Broadcasting Hall of Fame. I joined over 100 other distinguished men and women recognized for their outstanding contributions to broadcasting in our Hoosier state.
A who’s who of Indiana broadcasting legends were on hand for the ceremony, including Indiana’s two other African-American Broadcasting Hall of Famers – Channel 6 reporter legend Barbara Boyd and former Channel 13 art director Charlie Haynes, a behind the scenes, unsung Black broadcast pioneer.
The others indicted with me were a mix of the best in Indiana broadcasting – a couple of station owners, some Hoosier TV legends from the 1950s and 1960s, and my former WTLC colleague Gene Slaymaker, who created the legendary, award winning news department in WTLC’s Golden Age.
I’m humbled and honored to be in their company.
See ‘ya next week.
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or e-mail him at ACBROWN@AOL.COM.
