Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Brizzi Determined To Destroy GOP's Chances

The deadline for candidates to compete for next month's GOP slating is January 14. Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi has still not announced his intentions concerning the prosecutor's race. This is quite different from the way he approached his 2006 re-election race as the Star's Jon Murray notes in a blog entry:

A check of The Star's archives reveals that last time around, in advance of the 2006 election, Brizzi was openly talking publicly about running for a second term at least as early as September 2005, 14 months out. This time, we're already four months past that. And if Brizzi decides not to run, I'm sure the county GOP would appreciate a head's up ASAP. Its deadline for candidates to file candidacy for next month's slating convention is Jan. 14.

That's not exactly a hard deadline for Brizzi, though Marion County Republican Party Chairman Tom John acknowledged to me this afternoon that Brizzi would be making it tougher for the party to field alternatives if he waits beyond that date just to announce he isn't running.

... There are different considerations that go into seeking a third term vs. a second term. But the math certainly looked a lot simpler just a couple months ago, as even Brizzi has acknowledged. (See the trouble surrounding Brizzi's pal Tim Durham and questions raised by media outlets and blogs about several investments by Brizzi that are related to Durham ventures.)"
It is my firm belief that Brizzi made a decision in his own mind not to seek re-election months ago before the Durham scandal erupted. His decision to take a seat on Fair Finance's board of directors was the first step in piecing together a comfortable six-figure income for his post-prosecutor days. Brizzi, like his predecessor Scott Newman, counted on a big law firm like Barnes & Thornburg making him an offer. Now that the Durham scandal has broken, Brizzi finds himself in a desperate position. No big law firm would want to hire Brizzi now. Based on the evidence that has been publicly disclosed, it seems pretty obvious that Brizzi will be spending a lot of time talking to lawyers, federal investigators, grand juries, etc. If he's lucky, he won't be indicted along with Durham for securities law violations. If he's lucky, he won't face an audit by the IRS. If he's lucky, the Indiana Supreme Court won't open up a wide-ranging investigation of abuses and misconduct within his office. And . . . I think you're beginning to get the picture. If the Marion Co. GOP leadership cared about the integrity of the Prosecutor's office, they would have asked him to resign his office.

It is puzzling that the leadership of the Marion County Republican Party would just sit on the sidelines and watch Brizzi let the future of the party flap in the wind. I suspect Marion Co. GOP Chairman Tom John has already been told by Brizzi that he isn't seeking re-election. The two have chosen to keep this news quiet until the last possible moment. The only person who will be poised to file by the January 15 deadline will be the handpicked candidate of John, Brizzi and David Brooks, who doesn't even reside in Marion County but is allowed to hold a leadership position in the party. Their strategy, while self-serving, will ensure the defeat of the candidate they pick and ram down the throats of committeepersons at next month's slating. Shifting demographics are already making it difficult for Republicans to win countywide in Marion County. Having Carl Brizzi remain in office until the end of the year ensures that no GOP candidate will be able to hold on to this office.

5 comments:

Cato said...

The GOP, through Newman, Ballard and Brizzi is nastily anti-gun, back-room dealing, incompetent and shady.

The GOP, through Mitch, is high tax, pro-war, big government and corporate welfare.

No, thanks. Not my brand.

karma09 said...

Brizzi's involuntary lame-duck status should have already prompted any sincere Republican candidates to announce anyway, and not wait on whether Brizzi accepts the inevitable or not. It is telling and disappointing that nobody appears to have the courage to make the leap ahead of time -- they probably fear for their jobs if they do so.

Time to clean house, which won't happen with a Brizzi-approved clone. Close ties to Brizzi will be one of the first campaign issues any Republican candidate will have to address and attempt to explain away. Such is the legacy.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Karma09 says:

"Brizzi's involuntary lame-duck status should have already prompted any sincere Republican candidates to announce anyway, and not wait on whether Brizzi accepts the inevitable or not."

That isn't necessarily true. Have you ever been through a countywide slating convention? They are brutal...and easily manipulated by party bosses. Although it appears like it woud be a wide open field with Brizzi gone, slating makes it difficult for a true outsider to have a shot at the position.

Nobody said...

I really do not know what Brizzi is thinking. The public is clearly going to part ways with him if he runs again and in my circles of friends who are all Republicans, they won't vote for him again because they feel he is too damaged and they also believe that his relationship to Durham smells to high hell.

Paul K. Ogden said...

I'm not sure why people think it's a big mystery about Brizzi's intentions. I think it is pretty obvious he's not seeking a third term and he made that decision a long time ago. The delay was so he could knight a successor at the last minute so an outsider would not come in.