Council Committee Advances $25 Million CIB Tax, Spend & Borrow Bailout Scheme

I'm glad I didn't waste the time to go over to the City-County Council meeting tonight to listen to more than three hours of BS from high-paid downtown elites who've been doing the same song and dance for the past couple of decades that got the CIB in the financial mess it's in today, and each of whom has a personal financial stake in the outcome. There was absolutely no opposing, substantive testimony allowed at tonight's council meeting by the Rules & Public Policy Committee Chairman Robert Lutz, and I'm not talking about the handful of citizens who were allowed to provide rushed statements near the end of what turned into a more than 4-hour meeting or the excellent presentation Sean Shepard made on behalf of the Libertarian Party, although he drifted away from the central issue later in his discussion.

Despite the yeoman's work blogs like this one have done to try to inform the City-County Councilors on this topic tonight, I didn't hear a single good question from a single member of the committee tonight. These people are hopeless. On a voice vote motion, the Committee voted to advance a proposal that everyone concedes is at best a band-aid solution to the CIB's financial woes. Councilor Angela Mansfield (D) cast the only dissenting vote. Contrary to Chairman Lutz' comments tonight, this proposal is not about a single increase in the hotel tax. It sets in place the wheels to borrow and spend another $27 million the CIB has neither justified nor has any way of repaying short of more tax increases by 2013.

I can only conclude that CCC President Robert Cockrum is totally shameless. His son is an executive at White Lodging and his hotel under construction, the J.W. Marriott, is a direct beneficiary of tonight's council action. He participated in the debate and supported the resolution. I've long since given up on members of the City-County Council adhering to any sense of ethical propriety so I can't say I'm surprised by his actions tonight.

I heard councilors falsely claim that they are given no other choice than to pass this lousy proposal or let the CIB reach a point that it is no longer able to operate the facilities and begin cancelling conventions. The CIB doesn't own Lucas Oil Stadium. It doesn't own the expanded convention center facility. The state of Indiana owns both. If the CIB cannot afford to operate these state-owned facilities, it seems pretty simple that the CIB needs to turn back over one or both of these leased facilities to the state. That doesn't require closing facilities. That doesn't require cancelling conventions. That doesn't require raising taxes. That doesn't require borrowing more money. And it doesn't jeopardize the City's bond rating. It does require having common sense and, unfortunately, nobody on the council seems to have any common sense. Bankrupty is an absurd suggestion, and I wish Ed Coleman and others would stop making a complete fool of themselves by beating that dead horse. And for those of you who doubt the viability of my idea from day one to turn LOS over to the state, you may be interested to know that some of Mayor Ballard's closest advisers urged him to do just that. The only reason he didn't go forward with it was because certain attorneys with a vested interest in protecting their legal work represented that the CIB could not legally do that. To them I say, baloney. If Mayor Ballard had followed my wise counsel, he would have put this monkey back on Gov. Daniels' back where it belongs and bolstered his own standing with the good citizens of this county.

One final comment on tonight's hearing. I heard one councilor after another beating the drum that somehow or another Marion County residents are getting a raw deal and have to give more to the State of Indiana than it gets back. That claim could not be more inaccurate. The reality is that Marion County makes off like a bandit when it comes to enjoying the largess of the State of Indiana. Taxpayers across the State have pumped billions into this county over the years. Thousands of state employees are amassed in the county. Thousands more are based here to lobby and represent interests of hundreds of trade associations based here by virtue of our capitol city status. Large amounts of privately-owned real estate is leased from Marion Co. property owners to house the activities of these employees. State taxpayers have helped finance our sports palaces and our Circle Centre Mall. They've helped build expansive highways, bridges, streets, sidewalks, canal and sewer improvements. No other county in this state does as well as Marion County when it comes to state funding and support. I hear about all of these employees from the suburbs coming to the City and taking their tax dollars back to their suburban counties. Has anyone noticed how many people are now commuting out to the suburban communities from Marion County for employment who bring their tax dollars back to this county? Give me a break. Enough of beating this dead horse already.