"I think he has called on very capable people with experience, decades of experience in government," said John Cochran, transition chairman.
Former City-County Council member Toby McClamroch is leading Ballard's public safety transition team. Pat Kiely is leading the Capital Improvement Board team and former state Secretary of Commerce Mickey Maurer is leading the waterworks committee.
"High profile individuals who add immediately add credibility," said Joe Loftus, former deputy mayor during the Goldsmith administration, is the transition director which includes 24 teams and 150 volunteers.
Let's take a look at some of these folks:
- Toby McClamroch is a former Republican city-county councilor who is the managing partner of Bingham-McHale. His law firm has made millions off its legal work for the City of Indianapolis the past eight years. Its largest contract is providing legal services for the Capital Improvements Board of Managers. Yes, it played an intricate role in that lousy lease negotiation with Jim Irsay and the Colts, which is costing the taxpayers dearly. While McClamroch's firm raised lots of money for Peterson's re-election, it did absolutely nothing for Ballard's re-election, and that includes McClamroch. On election night, as a commentator on a local TV station, he dismissed Ballard's chances of pulling an upset.
- Pat Kiely is a former legislator from Anderson who is president of the Indiana Manufacturers Association. He is lobbying hard against efforts to repeal property taxes. Ballard pledged to support a repeal of property taxes during the campaign. Kiely is also against proposals like Gov. Daniels', which might require businesses to pay more taxes to reduce the burden on homeowners. His big corporate buddies are all in favor of taxing the little guy to finance stadiums for wealthy team owners on the backs of the little guy so they can entertain their business friends in luxury at sporting events. Does anyone recall Kiely advocating Ballard's election as mayor?
- Mickey Maurer, although he served as Gov. Daniels' Commerce Secretary, is a Democrat. He was viewed as a supporter of Mayor Bart Peterson's re-election like many of Indianapolis' leading business figures. Maurer is the owner of many businesses, including large real estate holdings in the city. His business dealings often require approvals from various agencies of city-county government. As Daniels' Commerce Secretary, he was a proponent of big government handouts to businesses in the form of direct subsidies and tax breaks, which helped contribute to the huge tax shift in Marion County from business to homeowners over the last several years.
The bottom line is that it's business as usual. The same people who have called the shots in this town are still calling the shots. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Mayor-elect Ballard, I ask of you, why are you turning your back on the people who worked so hard to elect you?
29 comments:
You're alive, Wilson. We were wondering where you had gone.
They are the only smart people in town; don't you know that.
Nothing has changed...there are just Rs by the names instead of Ds..at least, it is only for 4 years I hope the city can survive.
When will www.Greglikes.org start working...I want to list a specific lie that Greg has already told.
Ignore the dumpster diver.
Wilson was busy trying to think up how he can tell people that Julia's tragic disease is a story made up by the racist-homophobic republicans.
Nice BS blog, Wilson. TDW has a lot more credibility than crap.
The new blog, "Accidental Mayor", is just Wilson46201 crying in his Wheaties.
He knows that Greg hasn't lied. He knows that the people wanted a change. Greg is not "dragging his feet" on making appointments, he is being cautious, unlike Peterson, who picked his friends who could barely spell "deputy mayor".
I may disagree with who Ballard put on his team, but it is HIS team. If these people are setting him up for failure, then it's his own fault.
He didn't listen to the people who have seen the actions of his team in the past.
Ballard was out serving the country, away from Indy politics, to know that the back stabbers on his team will make him look like the idiot that Wilson has made him out to be.
Ballard will have to learn from his own mistakes.
Toby, Pat, and Mickey are all out for themselves.
Greg, remember you wanted LOYAL people. You HAD them. They worked on your campaign. You have now shunned them in favor of those who are "in the know".
You want to talk about "loyalty"?
You don't even know the meaning of the word.
Congratulations, Gary. You're demagoguery has made you looney as Wilson.
Bart's Nemesis wrote melodramatically:
Greg, remember you wanted LOYAL people. You HAD them. They worked on your campaign. You have now shunned them in favor of those who are "in the know".
You want to talk about "loyalty"?
You don't even know the meaning of the word.
9:50 PM EST
Well, some folk might disagree with you about whether a retired Marine Lt. Colonel knows about "loyalty" -- "Semper Fi" doesn't mean "Screw You"...
You measure people by simple acts. I was happy to make a not insignificant donation (by my finances) to Ballard's campaign. Not a word; no thanks; no nothing. I have made contributions to others in the past and have always received a simple thank you note. Here, nada.
Before everyone jumps on me, I did it because I believe in the change. I did not do it for a reward. But a simple thank you....might not have been a bad thing.
All I see are the good ole boys coming in to take over. Sad, but confirming.
Hey Gary - instead of just bitching and assuming the worst about these people - some of whom I know and consider to be good, smart, honest people - how about some suggestions as to who Ballard should choose?
Greg lies!!!
Gary,
Have you read the posting on Ms. Williams' blog which appears to be a thinly-veiled attack on you and your role in the Ballard election?
http://www.indianaminorityreport.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=425&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1628&hn=indianaminorityreport&he=.com
"I'm very disappointed that white republican bloggers and republican party leaders couldn't wait to place a spear in the backs of these black soldiers--they were still on the battleground too. Loyalty and trust in your leader's direction, and decisions are essential elements and the basic foundation of a successful team."
Yes, Ralph I saw it. It was written by her brother.
Are you talking about Darla again? The one who couldn't be bothered to pay her property taxes again? She owes over $2000 but she wants a cushy job in the Ballard Administration?
Darla dear: taxes pay salaries. Pay your taxes and then go for the patronage and spoils!
Wilson back off of Darla.
You live off of tax payer monies and you didn't pay your taxes.
Gary, have u seen the full list of transition team? Can you publish it? I heard its over 100 almost all lawyers & lobbyists. Over 30 lawyers from Barnes & Thornburg
Wilson, why don't you just admit that you would "switch" for a night to be with Darla?
anon 9:56, I haven't seen a published list of all the team members. The news media should be demanding a complete list. I couldn't believe they didn't publish a list of the 21 team leaders Ballard hand-delivered to Peterson last week. They filmed him walking into the mayor's list and saying that was what he was doing but didn't ask for a copy of the list. The public has a right to know.
I'm not at all surprised about Ballard's "transition team" if that's what you call it.
What does surprise me is the total lack of gratitude Ballard has exhibited. I contributed financially and otherwise to Ballard's efforts early on in his campaign and received not so much as a thank you from him or anyone else connected to him.
I'm retired and I sure as hell didn't want to get back into politics after 27 years of being away from it but dammit, I thought Ballard to be a better man.
Pay back's a bitch Mr. Ballard so go ahead and run your show just the way Mr.Peterson did and I will personally see to it that you go down in flames on the east side of this city.
Pass the word on to the Mayor-Elect, if I wanted the Downtown Klan still running this city I would have saved my damn time and money.
Here's a thought. Ballard is a pretty smart guy and this very thing is covered in his book.
Maybe just maybe he's keeping the snakes in place so government doesn't fall apart before January 1.
Personally, I don't think he trusts anyone except the people who have shown (by action/not words) that they are loyal.
Give this whole thing a minute.
And Gary, thanks for putting this out there. If Ballard is not loyal to the people, you need to know that the activists will demonstrate at city hall every day if we have to do so.
Last summer I said as much to Greg outside the city council building during one of our protests.
By the way, whose getting our tax dollars on the Phoenix apartment section 8 housing? Fox 59 reported that it's $751 a month that squalor!!
Since when did this Akindele character take over speaking for the black Republicans in Indianapolis.
So this is Darla William's brother and he's an expert now on all things Indianapolis while he lives and presumably works in DETROIT!!??
Do yourself a favor Darla and let your brother deal with the gawdawful mess in DETROIT and leave Indianapolis to people who know what the hell's really going on. You don't need hired gun.
I had seen Akindele refer to Darla as his sister, and she to him as her brother. I'm not sure if they meant "sista" and "brotha", or if they're actually related. I've seen Akindele refer to other Black women in other parts of the country as his sister, so I'm thinking it's a "sista" type thing.
Until Darla pays her property taxes, she needs to be ignored.
I think the Indiana Minority Report blog still looks good and reflects what is going on. Who cares who is the editor. I'm just glad the blog is going to go on. Evidently, Darla doesn't have a lot of time to edit it anymore. Kudos to Darla for finding someone she trusts to publish it.
It was good that he mentioned the FoxSports article.
The Indiana Minority Report blog is well............a minority blog.
It's extremely self-serving and racially motivated yellow journalism at best.
I don't need someone from the Nation of Islam telling me which way the wind blows in this town. Maybe Darla should move to Detroit where her actions might be condoned.
Melyssa,
Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. How much research have you done on the person she has turned her blog over to?
You may want to GOOGLE Akindele Akinyemi.
This city doesn't need Black Supremacists and more than it needs White Supremacists.
Choose the friends you want but choose wisely.
I think living in the house of evil for 30 days might be a good way to figure out what's really what.
Remember, it's a TRANSITION team.
Don't you think Greg needs intel from the inside instead of from the outside? Selecting a bunch of disconnected outsiders or selecting all the well-connected insiders - which makes more sense if you want to know what you have to deal with come January?
Ballard was enjoying filet with the fat cat insiders tonight in Chicago. Good times!
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