Sunday, March 26, 2006

Marion Co. GOP Gets A Blog

The Marion Co. GOP has decided to enter the blogosphere. Fix Indy Now ("FIN") takes a look at the political world of Indianapolis and what needs to be done to fix our city the site says. The Blogger in charge is "Brody", but that's all the site gives up about "Brody." The site is no doubt a counter to Taking Down Words, which is a mouthpiece of sorts for the Indiana Democratic Party. One of its bloggers, Jennifer Wagner, serves as communications director for the state party. Brody admits to reading TDW. He says, "Everyone needs a little laughter in their lives."

So what's FIN talking about? One of its posts on St. Patrick's Day took aim at Melina Kennedy, who is running against incumbent Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. FIN complains that someone always ruins the fun--in this case it was Melina Kennedy. FIN criticizes Kennedy for distributing campaign literature during the parade against "non-partisan" parade rules, which earned the site a mention in Matt Tully's column in the Star today. Tully calls it "one of the silliest political flaps in memory." For the record, Indiana State Treasurer Tim Berry (R) also handed out frizbies promoting his re-election during the parade, if it even matters.

Kennedy became the target of FIN's most recent post, which informs us that Kennedy held a press conference on Friday, the same day as President Bush's visit, and only one reporter showed up. It doesn't say what the subject of the press conference was. Another post pokes fun at Kennedy for "shopping around in other counties looking to be appointed as a special prosecutor to gain some experience." For the recond, she has no previous prosecutorial experience.

Kennedy is not FIN's only target. Marion Co. Sheriff Frank Anderson is hit for the city's high crime rate. Mayor Peterson takes a hit for the "sucking noise" of the shrinking savings from his law enforcement merger plan. And his plan to plant more trees in Indy was an easy target for FIN as well. FIN writes:

Our fearless leader Bart seems to think that the best way to move our city forward is to spend a bunch of money Indy doesn't have on trees. We will lay off tens of police officers, we will let criminals out of the ever crowded jail, we will turn a blind eye to potholes to make our city look greener.

Advance Indiana welcomes FIN to Indy's growing blogosphere. It's always good to have another perspective, particularly since the Republican perspective has been noticeably under-represented in the local blogosphere.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

But wait a second. While TDW at least attempts to report news, it seems like all FIN exists for is to slam, slime, and attack Democrats.

Anonymous said...

Your wrong. Kennedy DOES have experience. You need to check your facts.

Anonymous said...

TDW is also regularly updated, has no comment moderation (allowing the "FIN" to not publish comments he doesn't like) and is generally, well-read. The "FIN" seems to be nothing but a GOP spout...

Anonymous said...

Hello. I am still waiting for Advance Indiana to take back the statement about Kennedy's experience. Where are you Advance Indiana?

Gary R. Welsh said...

Anonymous--if you bother to check out Kennedy's website (www.melinakennedy.com), you will find her qualifications listed there. She lists no criminal experience other than her work clerking for the Supreme Court reviewing criminal cases on appeal as a clerk. That hardly qualifies as prosecutorial experience. If she has the experience you think she has, she isn't disclosing on her own website. It describes her experience as follows:

Melina Kennedy was appointed as Deputy Mayor of the City of Indianapolis in 2004 by Mayor Bart Peterson. As Deputy Mayor, she helped develop stronger, safer and thriving neighborhoods through community and economic development.

Kennedy started her career in public service as an attorney that worked at the Indiana Supreme Court, where she helped review scores of criminal and civil legal appeals.

She joined Mayor Peterson’s team as assistant deputy mayor in 2000, where she worked on several important public safety initiatives, including combating domestic violence in our community. She coordinated efforts that led to the “Mayor’s Domestic Violence Roundtables,” which developed the first-ever “Family Violence Communitywide Plan” to identify the gaps in local domestic violence services and to propose strategies for reducing family violence.

In addition, she worked with Mayor Peterson to push for a new state law to enforce out-of-state protective orders and to eliminate filing fees that domestic violence victims had to pay to obtain protective orders against their violent partners.

She then took on the job as the city’s Director of Economic Development, where she oversaw the city’s effort to grow high-tech, high-wage jobs in Indianapolis. She helped lead efforts to create BioCrossroads, the central Indiana life sciences network, and BuyIndyFirst, a plan to promote the use of local business in the greater Indianapolis area. Prior to joining Mayor Peterson’s team, she practiced law in a local Indianapolis firm.

Anonymous said...

So when did Carl Brizzi start paying Advance Indiana.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Carl Brizzi paying Advance Indiana? Not hardly. In fact, someone from his campaign complained to me just a few weeks ago that they thought I was being unfair for criticizing him for not pushing the hate crimes legislation this year.

Anonymous said...

Check this out. A letter to the editor in the Star from a Republican Insider named Barton. Should put to rest who runs FIN.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Katz--I don't follow your logic. The letter was written by someone who dislikes Murphy and Marendt. The person who writes FIN doesn't share those views.

RLW said...
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