Doris Minton-McNeill, a Democrat representing the 15th District, was arrested in June after police said she pushed the officer in her backyard. Police had responded after Minton-McNeill called 911 and reported that an unwanted visitor was carrying a knife in her home, police said . . .
A probable cause affidavit filed with the charges says that Minton-McNeill, whose breath smelled of alcohol, argued with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers when they asked repeatedly where the man with the knife was. She said she couldn't be arrested because she was a City-County Council member and asked them to contact city officials, the affidavit says.
Last year, Patrice Abduallah was forced to resign his seat on the council because he didn't live in my council district. Marion Co. Democrats picked Andre Carson to fill the vacancy, and he immediately began running for Congress and resigned the seat upon his election to Congress six months later. Minton-McNeill was chosen to replace Carson. That makes three different councilors I've had in my district over the past year and none of them were worth a damn. Thank you, Marion County Democrats, for putting your worst foot forward when it comes to providing representation to the people of my city council district.
I find myself in agreement with you to some degree here, AI. I will say, though, that folks are innocent until proven guilty. Doris Minton-McNeil should be given her day in court.
ReplyDeleteWhile everybody should be given their day in court, I hope the Marion County Democratic Party would not use the "anything shy of a criminal conviction is okay" as its code of conduct. Things that aren't illegal can be unethical, and things that aren't unethical can be unsavory and make one unworthy of public trust. This is such a case.
ReplyDeleteI know many in my party will chastize me for saying this, but I'm tired of apologizing for misbehavior of my party's elected officials because it soils the entire brand. I would hate to be a Democrat on the City-County Council right now.
I would be a lot more concerned about conflicts of interest in the Mayor's office and on the council than whether a council member pushed a cop. The former concerns a breach of the public trust that affects everyone. The latter does not. We Republicans campaigned in 2007 on cleaning up ethics in city government. I'm afraid we have permanently given away the issue by our own failure to abide by the very ethics rules we said the Democrats violated.
ReplyDeleteBoth are bad, Paul. I can't explain why the Star cared so much about Monroe Gray's conflicts but not others. I can't understand why our Republican Mayor and Republican-controlled council tossed out the window concerns for ethics and self-dealing. I also can't understand why the Democrats on the council have been silent through it all. I can only conclude that the Republicans want to make sure the Democrats permanently win back the mayor's office and control of the council in 2011.
ReplyDeleteGary, I can tell you exactly why the Democrats on the council have been silent. They are 3 years away from the next municipal election. The last thing they want to do is to point out what the Republicans are doing wrong now so the Republicasn can fix their problems long before the election.
ReplyDeleteThere an old military sayings about waiting until you you see the whites of your enemy's eyes before pulling the trigger. That's what the D's are doing. Make no mistake about it, the D's have the Mayor, the Republican at-large council members, and those Republicans in close districts in their sights. When the 2011 gets closer they will pull the trigger.
"I would hate to be a Democrat on the City-County Council right now."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want to be a democrat on the CCC anytime.
I wanted her to resign after the attack happened. Treacy needs to do something, or the Dems need to boot her from the council. Totally agreement with IPOPA
ReplyDelete"I can tell you exactly why the Democrats on the council have been silent."
ReplyDeleteThose of us who go to the meetings and observe the CCC know. The democrats on the CCC are split.
Just watch them for awhile and it will be apparent to all. They are split along the racial lines.
Gray controls the African Americans and Sanders is controlling the Caucasians. Seldom do both sides vote as a group. The only times that they vote as a whole is when the whole council backs a proposal and those proposals are usually slam dunks anyway.
We have a civil war raging within the democrats on the CCC and it’s going to get hotter before its over.
Ernie, the Republicans would be wise to clean up their own act asap instead of worrying about the Democrats' problems. The GOP's ethics problems are a huge ticking bomb.
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