Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Citizen-Inspired Protest Works: Abduallah Resigns

My City-County-Councilor Patrice Abduallah (D) told the Star's Brendan O'Shaughnessy he was resigning from the council because a few citizen protestors and a few blogs like this one were willing to call out a gross injustice which left voters of my district without an elected representative on the council. Abduallah explains he was living in his mother's house outside his district while he was renovating his own house. O'Shaughnessy picks up on the unpaid taxes Abduallah owes on the house, first reported here, but makes no mention of the problems city inspectors had with tall grass, weeds, trash and an abandoned car on the property. While the story notes the issues were raised on "Internet blogs", no specific attribution is made to the investigative work of this blog. I take particular offense to Abduallah's complaint in an interview with O'Shaughnessy in which he complains that the issue was raised by blogs and not his constituents. Excuse me, Councilor Abduallah, but I am one of your constituents, but I should know better. You already told me you only represent your people and I'm clearly not one of your people. O'Shaughnessy writes:

City-County Councilman Patrice Abduallah said he plans to resign his seat today after critics hounded him about whether he moved out of the district he represents.

Abduallah, 61, a Democrat elected in the 15th District in 2003, said he made an honest mistake when he listed his mother's home as his residence in council records and on his 2007 candidate forms.

His mother's house, where he is living while rehabbing his own house, is on the west side of the 1100 block of North Warman Avenue in the Haughville area. That puts the home in District 14, represented by Republican Marilyn Pfisterer.

"If it was on the other side of the street, it wouldn't be a problem,'' Abduallah said. "This technicality has cost me my council seat, and I'm upset about it. This situation is a tremendous blow to me."

Local Internet blogs have simmered recently with accusations that Abduallah moved out of his district. In an interview with The Indianapolis Star late Wednesday, he said Democratic Party officials asked him to resign.

Abduallah said it's a shame that pressure from the blogs and the media, rather than his constituents, led Democratic Party leaders to question his residency.

Marion County Democratic Party Chairman Michael O'Connor said he will hold a news conference this morning to address the situation. He said Wednesday evening that he did not know about Abduallah's decision to resign. O'Connor said he couldn't speculate on replacing Abduallah until today.

Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell said past case law indicates Abduallah's recent votes on the council will not be in jeopardy because of his residency status.

"Case law is pretty clear (that Abduallah's residency problem) won't overturn his votes," Campbell said. "It's not the first time it's happened in the history of legislatures.''

But Tom John, the county GOP chairman, said Abduallah's declaration of residency on his candidate form in January raises a host of questions. While stated residency can be difficult to challenge, John said the signed form with an address outside the district makes the case different.

"It's either sloppy or arrogant to not check if your stated address is in your district,'' Tom said. "Either way, he left the residents of District 15 without representation.''

John said council votes since January could be questioned and that Democrats may have lost their chance to name his replacement because of legal time limits.

The home Abduallah previously listed on his candidate and council forms was in the 900 block of North Sheffield Avenue, which is in the 15th District. Abduallah said he has been fighting for months with city inspection officials over the permits he needs to complete the rehab work. He said the city has stopped work 13 times.

While that work ran into city roadblocks, Abduallah said he has run into serious financial problems that kept him from paying his property taxes last year and again on Friday. Treasurer records show he owes $1,084 in taxes on his house on Sheffield.

"I'm delinquent on those taxes,'' Abduallah said. "I've really been going through some financial hardship recently."

He said the rehab work has been "a nightmare," but he recognizes that someone who decides how to spend tax money must also pay it.

"I'm going to pay my fair share because that's how we run the country," he said.

Abduallah said he didn't see any reason to fight to hold on to his seat until after the election because he doesn't want to misrepresent the district. He said Democratic officials want him to resign as soon as possible.

"I don't have an opportunity to correct my mistake," he said.

"It's bad for my family and community. But I'll live on for another day. I'll go out with grace, so maybe I can come back to the council later."

64 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well done Gary!

Sir Hailstone said...

Nice Job. I am amazed Brendan even bothered to mention this came from blogs in the first place. Channels 6 and 13 didn't mention blogs at all AFAIK. Small victories and all that.

I think now its 15 days or so the Dems call to caucus for their District 15 PC's and pick their replacement. If the replacement shows up with an address of "300 East Fall Creek Parkway N. Dr" then we'll know something is up ....

BTW - check the time setting on your Blogger dashboard you're set to GMT-5 should be -4. It makes you appears you are clairvoyant and you wrote this before it was posted to the IndyStar online.

Anonymous said...

Clairvoyant, no. Smart, yes. Excellent work, Gary.

If we want to make the news media a little more responsible, we can all email the mainstream media, and their bosses, and finger-wag them for not crediting AI and/or other blogs. Failing to do so is reprehensible.

Patrice is toast. Good riddance. Come back later? Yeah, riiiiiight. No constituents complained? Sure, Patrice. Regardless who complained, you were wrong. Nice try.

Somebody get a fix on Andre Carson.

The mayor's fingerprints are all over this. He knew little or nothing about nit. The Dem caucus met with him and the chief deputy mayor Tuesday afternoon. Voices were raised...Patrice was there...and the wheels fell off the bus for Patrice.

What a complete tool. As I predicted here yesterday, he went down loudly, whining mostly because this is his only income. Always was his only income. Which is pathetic in and of itself.

Here's hoping the replacement is not a public emmployee. Please.

Anonymous said...

Good job AI!

Anonymous said...

WTG - One small step for AI - one GIANT Step for the people ! And one BACKWARD step for the MSM !

Pike Voter

Anonymous said...

If Julia Carson's grandson is going to be the replacement. Where does he live? You can be rest assured the Ghetto Mafia will support one of their own. Bart Peterson will have no say in this fight.

The question of his residency was threatened last year during the 300 East Bar controversy if he didn't support it. They used him this year to avoid a scandle while Mayor Peterson pushed his agenda through the council.

The plan was to replace him after the November Election. The Democrat leadership won't admit it now, say it isn't so.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Sir Hailstone, that's a glitch in blogger. I've set it to the right time zone, but it always records my posts an hour ahead.

Gary R. Welsh said...

According to the county's property tax records, Carson lives on N. Alabama Street in the district. I don't know if he meets the 2-year residence requirement.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Thanks, everyone, for your kind comments. I still recall Dennis Ryerson complaining a couple of years ago that blogs were just "noise."

Anonymous said...

Hasn't anybody figured out that ex-Councillor Abdullah was hired on June 15th as a "Chief Neighborhood Liaison" for the city?


Just kidding.

Anonymous said...

And the Democrats had the nerve to challenged the Voter ID law. Why?

Gary R. Welsh said...

For all those mainstream reporters who stop by this blog daily, please be prepared to ask the Democrats at their press conference this morning what they knew and when they knew it. It is clear Marion Co. Clerk Beth White's office knew about the residence problem but allowed the deadline to pass for challenging Abduallah's candidacy and presumably would have never done anything about it had this citizen protest not brought attention to the issue. Why? We deserve an answer to this important question.

Anonymous said...

Oh don't start the ID thing. This has nothing to do with that.

Relish in the moment without raising Todd's nonsense, OK?

Oh yeah, Gary--from a voice of experience--be careful the next few weeks. Seriously. This mob does not like to be called out. Retribution is their byword.

No, I'm not paranoid. Just practical. Sad, isn't it?

Gary R. Welsh said...

Well, anon, for the time being I'm safe. I am actually in Ft. Lauderdale attending my legal fraternity's convention. It is wonderful looking out at the ocean on one side and the marina on the other side from my hotel room as I watch all of this unfold.

Mike Kole said...

The next problem to fix: District 15 goes from an incompetent to nepotism.

Anonymous said...

I am the only one to notice Wilson's deafening silence? I guess he really does know when to keep his mouth shut after all. A small battle won in an even bigger war, dismantling the Machine in Marion County. November is just around the corner. Good work Gary!!

Anonymous said...

Ahhhh...lone of my favorite spots, Lauderdale...have a nice burger at Alibi's for me.

Gary R. Welsh said...

anon 7:36, it's Long Island ice tea night at Alibi's tonight. The Elbow Room was great last night. The place was still rocking like it was when I first stepped foot in it in 1984 during spring break

Anonymous said...

Where's Waldo...I mean Wilson?

Anonymous said...

Thank you so very much Gary! You have done what no one else cared to do. You have also energized many of the citizens to question the integrity of those who represent them.

William Duke Oliver, you're next!

Anonymous said...

does anyone know what pay for being on the council is? it apparently was abduallahs only income. is it really enough to live off of?

Anonymous said...

You won't hear from Wilson on the issue of Patrice stepping down.
Wilson knew this deal was coming down and he knew that Andre Carson was going to be the replacement.

My advice to Andre, he better have a flawless backgrond and nary a skeleton in his closet. If he doesn't pass muster the blogs that did in Patrice will do the same for him.

Good reporting AI but real work is just beginning.

Anonymous said...

Interesting to read that he's got financial hardships, but was able to purchase Super Bowl tickets and travel to the game.
Anyway, thanks for doing the job the newspaper used to do.

Anonymous said...

We need to recognize the fellow who was thrown out of the CCC session where Bart glossed over his budget plans for 2008. I wish I had his name, but I don't.

He was tossed out for speaking up to ask Abduallah why he had two residences.

This fine citizen is the one who really sparked the rest of us, and eventually the mainstream media, to look into Abduallah's situation

Anonymous said...

"It is clear Marion Co. Clerk Beth White's office knew about the residence problem"

Beth White and the Clerk's Office could not have done anything. A citizen has to bring up the challenge, and the Election Board handles it from there.

Anonymous said...

Hats off to the courage of the two gentlemen who stood up at the August 6th CCC meeting and spoke out about this fraud perpetuated on the people by Patrice Abdullah.

It should be noted that the two gentlemen who stood up in that CCC meeting to call out this fraud, were promptly removed from the meeting for excercising their right to speak out about corruption in their government.

Those two gentlemen probably tried in vain to complain through "proper" channels only to be shut out, ignored, or denied access.

Hats off to you, Gary, for following up on the tip, doing the research, and presenting it so completely that no one could deny the truth. I respect very much how hard you work, Gary. I also very much respect the Mission of Advance Indiana.

I hope this confirms with people, just how important these public rallies are and how they are helping us take back control of our local government.

Everyone needs to remember that the laws are there to protect us and that our politicians MUST be held accountable to the rule of the law and that it is the duty of the People to hold politicians accountable. If we don't watch them like a hawk, demand they obey the rule of the law, most of them will take advantage of the People they are supposed to serve.

Anonymous said...

good job, Gary. Power to the people!

Anonymous said...

I was at the council meeting where two "gentlemen" rudely shouted over the (equally rude) president.

One of the "gentlemen" is a fellow named Larry who calls Abdul's radio show all the time, and who is alternately on/off probation with Abdul.

His screaming rant was that certain black members of the council were slaves and thus not real citizens. He sounded completely dillusional. He's definitely in his own little world.

The other "gentleman" did shout about Patrice's residency, and ended with "Why Did You Lie To Me, Patrice?" I knew about Patrice's residency problems in about 2004, but he told fellow councillors, and me and the party, that he had "taken care of" those problems.

What an idiot.

And the other spectator couldn't raise that concern in a dignified manner? WIthout being led from the room shouting like a fool? Just because the chair behaved like a goof (no surprise), doesn't mean the spectators had to, also.

Gary gets all the credit here, in my book. And shame on the mainstream media who cannot bring themselves to admit a part-time (and out-of-town!) blogger beat the pants off them time-wise, as well as with complete facts.

Anonymous said...

does anyone know what pay for being on the council is? it apparently was abduallahs only income. is it really enough to live off of?

Roughly..$11,200.00!! Not enough to live, but enough to pay the taxes he owes.

Anonymous said...

10:46, i have to disagree with you. i was also at the CCC meeting where this all occurred. dignified? no. embarrassing? yes. neccessary? i think so. sadly it has come to the situation where the only way to get the CCC or the main stream media to listen or react is to cause a scene.

i personally have experience trying very hard to politely go thru the appropriate channels to get information or to ask questions related to our city government. they are dismissed if they even bother to respond. sadly, the star does not seem to care to do real investigations or follow up.

while the tactics are distasteful, these citizens did what they had to do to bring an important issue to light. btw, "crazy" larry is a well known and often dismissed figure because of his style. sometime have a personal conversation with him. you might be surprised at his depth of understanding and incredible intelligence. wasn't he a guest during abdul's vacation?

Anonymous said...

Blogs are powerful.
Good work Gary. One less crook in charge of this city. Now, lets get the rest of the ghetto mafia out of office.

Anonymous said...

Gary will Abduallah be forced to repay his salary to the city?

Anonymous said...

APB... APB>>>>
Be on the look out for Wilson Allen. A short heavy set man, probably with "different" colored hair. He is missing.
He is the self appointed spokesman of the Center Township Democrats, defending ALL of their illegal activities. He has been missing since this story about Patrice was issued.
Maybe Wilson is crying in his Kool-Aid because one of his protectors is going away!!!

Anonymous said...

As for no comment Wilson,

He never comments when the truth about the corrupt Democraps is exposed. His job is to trash anyone who speaks out against them.
They covered for him as Center Township Clerk. He was allowed to campaign on the taxpayers time for Carson and he knows it. Ask Trustee employees who worked with him. He is not 100% either. Now that he has retired from that office he is allowed to dumpster dive full time searching for dirt on the competition.

One of the protesters at the council meeting was A. Henderson, an elected Democrat Committeeman in Duke Oliver's council district and the former president of Brightwood Neighborhood Assn. He has ran unsuccessfully for township assessor and is not part of the Ghetto Mafia. They would not support him.

Anonymous said...

And the other spectator couldn't raise that concern in a dignified manner?

I doubt they could have. The simple fact is that all "media" outlets are more skewed toward fluff. You can't turn to the print or TV media for government problems until _after_ the blogs have done all the work for them. They are good for police/fire/ems issues and local government issues. They don't want to make enemies, for fear of getting pushed out of the loop. You only hear the negative stuff about government on local TV and local print media (except maybe Nuvo) well after the fact.

My advice to Andre, he better have a flawless backgrond and nary a skeleton in his closet. If he doesn't pass muster the blogs that did in Patrice will do the same for him.

Someone said he is a police officer (or was) with the state excise police. Hopefully he was not involved when they were busted for running around with strippers. There were reports of some shaddy behavior. From what I recall, the former Chief of excise was a court bailiff for a Democrat judge, I think his name was Gene Honeycutt. After that judge left the bench, the state Dems put him in charge of Excise Police. There is some stuff out there on the internet. If I recall, they never really named individual officers who were involved. My guess is they couldn't really do anything to the officers as long as they were not doing anything illegal and just doing whatever the Chief was doing. Should be interesting.

Also, didn't someone post that a person has to live in the district for two year prior to running? Does Carson even live in this district?

Anonymous said...

Wilson's not the only absentee here.
Jen is also silent on the subject.
Something’s up.

Expect fireworks with appointment of Abdullah's replacement.

Anonymous said...

i don't recall if it was on this blog or another but jen wagner actually provided the exact ordinance citation for the residency requirements. that and the collective non-wilson silence would indicate that the demo establishment wanted him gone.

do they get to appoint someone or do they have to wait until after the election?

under these circtumstances, do we really think they would be so bold to chose a carson? i would think that the choice would have to be unimpeachable. the mayor would have to know that would be highly controversial . . . in an election year. he's going to get the carson-aligned vote anyway.

Anonymous said...

10:06, I've spoken to Larry, and listened to him often on Abdul's radio show.

I think he's under-medicated. Seriously.

Dillusional.

Ever heard his ranting on slavery and current-day black officeholders? OMG it's priceless.
Perhaps very intellegent, but it's buried under a lot of BS. He makes sense in the John Birch Society definition of sense. Which is, wild-ass theories with a thread of historical fact blown into a full-fledged bruhaha.

I understand those who think the shouting men at the last council meeting, were only doing what they felt they had to do.

Sometimes complaints take a long time to get action. Sometimes the complaints are baseless.Sometimes, as in the Patrice case, when properly aired, action is swift.

And yes, sometimes we are off base. And, in some instances, the asppropriate persons aren't caught fr a long time, or are caught for the wrong reasons. Never forget, they put Al Capone in prison for tax evasion, not murder/RICO.

At no time is it appropriate to be led from a meeting shouting like a wild man. Regardless how stupid the presidign officer acts, or how stacked the crowd is. We are, after all, still civilized.

Or at least I hope we are.

Anonymous said...

11:21, i actually agree with everything you say except that i do think it has gotten to the point where we being led from the CCC meeting for protesting is necessary albeit unfortunate behavior. it seems to have gotten the ball rolling on this matter and look at the outcome. was anyone investigating this matter seriously prior to those outbursts?

Anonymous said...

this is SO hot ghetto mess.

Anonymous said...

Can someone verify this information?

This is a new blog, but he seems to be on to more about this.. homestead exemptions at both places? etc.

http://indycorrupt.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Being a curious sort, I google for "andre carson" and hit andrecarson.com. As I said, I am a curious sort, so I looked at the HTML on the page. It shows 'Wilson E Allen' as the author of the page. Now that's an familiar name, isn't it?

Why is it gramma seems so displeased to stand next to her grandson? Should we be concerned that not even SHE tolerates him, or joyuous that he's not a cookie-cutter of her?

Anonymous said...

To Anon at 10:52:

Spot on regarding Wilson....he won't come out and comment now that Abduallah has been outed.

As far as him working in the trustees office: I wonder how much work he did for the city as opposed to how much work he did for his PAC?

Care to comment Wilson?

Anonymous said...

There was a Carson-controlled PAC for mny years called Democrats United for Victory (DUV).

It handed out tens of tousands of dollars in "WAM" (Walking Around Money) on election day to certain hacks and politicos, whose job it was to round up the vote. I witnessed it with my own eyes.

Before you ask: No, I never once saw them haul in folks to substitute for another voter, a.k.a. Voter Fraud. It was honest-to-goodness GOTV efforts. But DUV funded it, big time. And you sohould've sene some of the people who got moeny, and how much they got.

Andre Carson won't get this seat. Not even.

Hot ghetto mess...LOL...hilarious comment.

If you're interested in piling on: Patrice lists his education as an IUPUI degree on one site, and "attended" IUPUI on another. The latter is true, the former, I doubt.

Look, this guy has had a problem with the truth for a long time. He's on the Star website now whining about "20 feet cost me my council seat."

No, Patrice, your stupidity cost you your council seat. And it cost you your only known income, as well as any opportunity to be credible in the near future.

Batter up!

Anonymous said...

2:00 PM: You don't think this WAM would have come from something like profits and proceeds from a pea shake would you??

LEO Supporter said...

By law, his home should have already been sold at a Sheriffs auction. I have posted the actual information now, see for yourselves.

http://indycorrupt.blogspot.com/

Great job AI, WAY TO GO!

Now, let's get another one!

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:00:

Quite right on the DUV group...not many people know about that.

Guess what their mailing address was......Well, for a while it went to the Queen Julia's house....then it started going to......drum roll please: Wilson's house.

Now there is a shocker- Wilson involved.

Not to out do myself, but care to guess who the Treasurer of that group was? Mr. Carl Drummer.

Take a guess what the contact phone number was for that group- during the day? (317) 633-3610- that would be the the Center Township Trustee's Office.

Wilson46201 said...

Some folk (mainly just one bitter, obsessive loser with no eyebrows) are fixated on ancient history. DUV hasnt been active for over 10 years now...

If AI would check I.P. addresses, I'm sure he'd find he has been sock-puppeted.

Anonymous said...

DUV disband date: 2006. Not exactly ancient history.

Nice try wilson.

Wilson46201 said...

There was no activity in DUV since 1996. The name lived on...

Anonymous said...

Uh, there has been DUV activity since 1996. That's coincidentally the first Congressional year for Julia, and she had to distance herself...what with federal reporting laws so much more stringent than state laws.

I'd say 50% of that money, from what I could see, and I'm talking thousands, tens of thousands, went to inner-city ministers for "Get Out The Vote."

Translation: car payments.

Anonymous said...

Wasn't Gene Honeycutt Julia's campaign manager? And then he hired both of Julia's grandsons to be excise police with no police background or experience.

Anonymous said...

My advice to Andre, he better have a flawless backgrond and nary a skeleton in his closet.

In his early youth (late teens, early 20s), Andre Carson was a well-known member of the Nation of Islam when he worked a security detail for grandma Julia while she was Center Township trustee.

He once sought an appointment to fill a vacancy on the IPS School Board a couple of years ago. Board members chose Barbara Knight-Coleman, a real rocket scientist (not). He was married to a school teacher who worked for Pike Township Schools, I'm unsure of hsi current marital status.

Anonymous said...

Look, I hate to cast out qualified people, based solely on their names, but...

I've had enough of the Maherns, Carsons and the whole Bayt-Corsaro cabal (Frank Short).

Can't we find some fresh faces?

And, please--PUH-LEASE--no public employees. Their brood is over-represented on the council.

Speaking of district residency issues, Frank Short is pretty damned glad no one got overly curious ab out his residency the last two years of his council stint a few years back. He actually lived nowhere near his district. But that was back in the days of Republican control.

(sigh) the good old days?

Anonymous said...

2:05, The WAM cash came directly from the illegal numbers operations (pea shake houses) directly into the DUV.

The numbers racketeers ALWAYS close the shake houses on election day so that they can get out the vote using WAM as well as other means of bribery, for lack of a better word.

I'm not going to outright accuse Wilson of any direct involvement with the illegal numbers racket but I know damn well he knew where that $$ was coming from into the DUV of which a large amount of cash was NEVER reported. Can't trace cash.

Yes, DUV was last active in 2006 but there is still cash kept at the Cash Houses (where the pea shake money goes to get counted) for election day WAM.

WAM in Marion as well as in the other 91 counties is against the law. A few years back a sheriff in I believe Dubois County was nailed for handing out pints of whiskey on election day.

We'll see if the black mafia gets away with it again in November when the watchers for Ballard will be out in full force.

Anonymous said...

And Mary Milz from channel 13 claims that "she broke the story"

If she ever broke her own story, it would be a flipping miricle

Anonymous said...

Sorry Wilson you are wrong again. Pointing fingers at the wrong person. The employees of the Center Township Trustee's office complained about having to contribute money on payday to the PAC, and a compalint was filed with the county election board. Carl Drummer went around on payday to collect the money when he worked there. Intimidation and the threat of being fired was used to raise money.

Julia Carson was reprimanded by the board when Faye Mowery was county clerk because of poor recordkeeping and failure to report. Check the record. You were involved. Politics on taxpayer's time.

Wilson46201 said...

"Watchers for Ballard"? The broken GOP couldn't even provide a single poll worker for my precinct on Election Day. Now somebody imagines there will be a flock of GOP "watchers"? Hah!

Wilson46201 said...

"poor recordkeeping and failure to report"???

Poor paranoid Jocelyn Tandy is obsessing again. That never happened. Ever.

Once again, Ms. Tandy is fabricating again and accusing folk of felonies with no evidence. She's always been the mistress of the poisoned pen...

Anonymous said...

Obviously Wilson did't know about the complaint filed with the election board. Ask Julia Carson, and the members of her posse that came with her to the hearing. You were not there. I am sure she will remember.

I could name names. If you are such a good dumpster diver, go dig up the filed complaint.

The board did sanction her, and by the way Jeff Modisett [D]was prosecutor and did nothing with the sanction.

Wilson46201 said...

I was in that "posse". (Teehee!)

Jocelyn Tandy, you are simply making stuff up again! People in the African-American community know you - that's why you've never been elected to anything despite your numerous attempts. Perennial candidate - perennial loser!

Anonymous said...

It goes to show that you were not privy to all of the political manipulations of this group of Democrats you so blindly support. The black community does not recognize you as their spokesperson. Wake up. You were used Wilson.

Anonymous said...

So Wilson, were you, Julia, and Carl taking phone calls for DUV while at the Trustee's office?

Anonymous said...

Wilson...you are in denial like the mayor. The day after the election will be tough to swallow, but you will finally have to come to the realization that your Township is broke, not the GOP...your machine is over...and mother Carson is played out!!!

And you know who is going to fund it? The Repubs from the surrounding counties and the good people of Marion County from all sides of the aisle!

Hahahah!!!!!