The signs were there.
Five days before an election that made history, Mayor Bart Peterson received only polite applause when he addressed the annual NAACP Life Membership Dinner. In earlier years, the applause would’ve been enthusiastic and energetic.
And that’s why the wheels came off the Peterson re-election juggernaut. The mayor and his campaign failed to generate enthusiasm and energy among African-American voters and the mayor and three African-American City-County Council members paid the price for that Black voter ennui.
Why were Blacks unenthused about Peterson?
Mayor-elect Greg Ballard’s been criticized because of a lack of specificity in his campaign. But Mayor Peterson said nothing that excited or enthused Black voters. His campaign’s vague talk of reducing high school dropouts was matched with talking up the income tax hike and saying it would fund crime reduction programs. But Peterson never gave specifics.
When Black voters asked about progress in their neighborhoods, the mayor and his campaign minions talked up Fall Creek Place and an amorphous great neighborhoods program. That didn’t address Black voters’ neighborhood concerns.
There weren’t exit polls of this election, and since 40 percent of Black voters live in white-majority precincts, it’s impossible to fully track and analyze the African-American vote.
But that front page colored map in Sunday’s Indianapolis Star showing where Peterson won and lost is a good geographic roadmap of the election.
Peterson won in areas of the city where most Black voters live; Pike Township, the southern Washington Township, northern Warren Township and southern Lawrence Township. Peterson, of course, won Center Township, but that area contains only a quarter (24.5 percent) of the city/county’s Black voters.
Peterson did poorly in Black areas of Wayne Township outside of Haughville and was murdered on the Southside.
Peterson’s problem was a lower than expected turnout in some Black neighborhoods; again that lack of enthusiasm. With public polls showing between one-fifth and one-sixth of Black voters undecided weeks before the election, I believe many undecided Blacks eventually voted for Peterson, but that many also stayed home. And there went Bart’s victory margin.
Some disgruntled Democrats, who didn’t carry their precincts for Democrats, are saying that the Center Township machine failed. This hogwash is also being repeated by clueless Democrats with obscure Web sites and blogs.
First, there is no “Center Township” machine. There is an organization that reaches out and touches Black voters wherever they live throughout the city/county. That organization did its job.
But, the Peterson campaign didn’t.
Its message to Black voters was disjointed, disconnected and diffuse; not effectively targeted to motivate and drive Black voters to the polls. Peterson’s campaign waited very late to advertise to Black voters. They were inept in explaining to Blacks (and all voters) that the property tax mess wasn’t really the mayor’s fault.
Worse, when the tax crisis hit, the mayor spent precious days and weeks virtually out of sight from voters. Instead of listening and addressing concerns, Peterson seemed aloof, while people raged.
And his campaign never explained how the last four years had benefited our Black community and what the next four years would be like.
Incoherent message, tepid advertising strategy, equals unenthused voters, equals defeat!
Did Peterson lose because of white backlash?
Peterson decisively lost the white vote as white independents and Democrats fueled Ballard’s shocking victory. The anti-Peterson vote wasn’t just anti-tax, but a white backlash against Black politicians, notably City-County Council President Monroe Gray.
Just read the anti-Black comments in the Black-hating-Black Internet blogs other media Web site comments and you’ll understand that for all of Indianapolis’ progress, deep seated anti-Black racism and bigotry remains under the surface. That hate also did Peterson in.
Did Monroe Gray’s troubles hurt Democrats?
On a countywide level, Gray’s ethics troubles, and Ron Gibson’s controversial confrontation with a sheriff’s deputy, I believe, helped fuel the white backlash against both Mayor Paterson and Blacks running countywide. A backlash that doomed Gibson, the venerable Rozelle Boyd and Lonnell “King Ro” Conley.
It also didn’t help that Republicans targeted Conley by pushing Kent Smith who they made into an attractive “acceptable” Black candidate for whites to vote for. Conley hurt his cause by failing to respond to radio ads on white stations calling him the “King of Taxes” and falsely accusing him of voting for “19” tax increases.
The number was an unmitigated lie. But Conley’s failure to answer the GOP’s false charges violated a basic political rule and caused Conley to drown in a sea of angry white voters.
Gray’s troubles hurt the at-large councilmen, but seemingly didn’t hurt Democrats in the district races.
Just one Black incumbent, Sherron Franklin, lost; caught in the whipsaw of Lawrence politics in a district just 23 percent Black. Yet, Franklin got more votes than in 2003.
Despite Franklin’s loss, Democrats actually gained two district seats. Democratic council candidates whose districts included Pike precincts garnered more votes in 2007 than 2003. Black Pike voters were responsible for Councilman-elect Jose Evans victory; Councilwoman Cherrish Pryor got more votes this time than Greg Bowes did in 2003 as did Councilwoman Angela Mansfield’s day late victory.
Black Warren Township votes fueled Councilman Vernon Brown’s re-election.
Black Washington Township voters aided Mansfield, made Gray’s win easier than expected and nearly caused Carey Hamilton to win a close contest.
Did Julia Carson’s illness hurt Peterson?
No and yes. Her illness and absence spurred her organization to exert their best efforts. But an active Carson could have broken down the issues in language Black voters would’ve understood.
What’s the real deal about the interview with Rep. Carson?
I was able to air the only interview with Carson since her illness because, I’ve earned Julia’s trust over the years.
Julia looked good, was alert and in good spirits. Her physical condition isn’t 100 percent, but her mind, wit and verbal reflexes are sharp as ever. To me, her recuperation will take at least until the middle of December.
It’s also obvious that Carson has a very difficult decision to make as she wrestles between her duty to her community and her country and her physical well being.
Besides praying for her to resume her strength and duties, our community needs to pray that God will grant Julia Carson the guidance and wisdom to make her most difficult decision ever with grace and dignity.
I’ll have more to say on the election’s aftermath next week. See ‘ya.
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or by e-mail at ACBROWN@AOL.COM.
