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Thursday, August 12, 2010
Dumb Quote Of The Day
The candidates for Marion county sheriff and prosecutor appeared last night at a community forum to express their ideas about running the respective offices. GOP sheriff candidate Dennis Fisburn, according to the Star's Jon Murray, said "he'd trim the budget and rid the [sheriff's] department of cronyism and nepotism." Democratic sheriff candidate John Layton, who is second in command under Sheriff Frank Anderson responded to Fishburn's criticism of the sheriff's budget by saying, "You're not going to be protected on the cheap, folks. . . . There is no fat on the Marion County Sheriff's Department." For the record, the Marion County sheriff's office no longer has policing responsibilities. He's a glorified jailer and process server. And yes, Fishburn is correct. There is a lot of cronyism in the office, too many take home cars and out of control spending.
There are take-home motorcycles, too. The Officers who have them can get up and decide which vehicle to take to work each day.
ReplyDeleteTerry Curry D candidate for Prosecutor made a remark about gun control. When confronted he stated that "its too easy for citizens to get guns" He then admitted that he himself had firearms.
ReplyDeleteI still don't understand what he was saying.
Did either one of them say why the sheriff budget is higher than it was before they lost over 600 deputies/salaries/uniforms/benefits/iinsurance/vehicles, etc.?
ReplyDeleteI doubt fishburn will be elected, but if he is, it will be wonderful for us, if he keeps that campaign promise. Hoorah for his pledge!
ReplyDeleteI believe Layton's family is benefiting from nepotism at this time and on the Sheriff's payroll.
ReplyDeleteJust why does the Sheriff have motorcycles? I have never seen a motorcycle deputy serving court papers, evicting someone, collecting taxes, or pulling up to visit someone on the sex registry!
If Layton says there is "no fat" in the Sheriff's dept, it shows just how arrogant he really is. The Sheriff's safety responsibilities are in keeping criminals in the jail, not in providing a car to every crony on the payroll!
So to be fair Fishburn has a TON of family also on staff. For Christ sake the man is running off the name recognition of his son...
ReplyDeleteAnd many of the Motorcycles were not purchased by the Dept, but were purchased with Private funds raised through the performance of the Marion County Sheriffs Depts Drill Squad.
I'm a republican that is praying to god the Layton gets elected. Fishburn is an idiot plain and simple. Layton may have some stupid ideas but at least he has experience running a dept, managing a budget and managing personnel, something that Fishburn has none of.
In November. there needs to be a third line on the ballot for:'
ReplyDeletenone of the above.
MCB -- I agree totally. AND there should be a little "i" next to all incumbents' names.
ReplyDeleteLarry:
ReplyDeleteI challenge you. Provide proof or reference to a private donation for the motorcycles at the Sheriff's department. It is not true. They were paid for from the budget of tax dollars and the Sheriff has NO legitimate use for them, except as a political tool (funeral escorts for cronys/campaign donors, paid escorts to the 500, etc).
This is strictly from memory -- but I want to say that the motorcycles were to be purchased with commissary fund money. I think money from that should be used to lessen the amount of tax dollars needed by the Sheriff's Department, and not for stuff that is not really necessary or just for fun or to supplement perks.
ReplyDeleteHad Enough Indy?, The employees that you are talking about are assigned both Harley Davidson Motorcycles, and Dodge Chargers. The two of them run escorts during the three races every year, and I wonder how much money this brings into the department each year, but more importantly where does that money go? I remember well Kerry Forrestal flat out LYING to the council when explaining that the officers were just assigned the motorcycles, and I would love to see just how many papers they have served when riding those motorcycles. The “fuel savings” that Forrestal touted was supposedly the reason why the motorcycles were purchased.
ReplyDeleteLarry, there has not been a Sheriff’s Drill Team since 2006 or 2007, so that funding source you state is not accurate. In fact they were purchased out of the inmate commissary fund. If WRTV would have asked for those commissary records as well, that would be easy for you to see. Fishburn has family members on the force, in that fact you are correct. However, he has never been a higher rank that a Sergeant and in the way of things that really is not a high rank with influence to get others hired. Layton on the other hand has been number 3 in the sheriff’s department, and had his daughter hired right before the merger. He already had one of his sons on by then, and his other son had a cushy job with the sheriff’s department. The sheriff’s department even ran a special class so his daughter would be hired pre-merger. The sheriff’s department also has many Layton relatives, neighbors, friends, and political hacks (Sam Carson) working in the department. As for your prayer, I hope you are a sad man in November. Layton has done nothing but run the department into the ground. As far as his budgeting, word is the sheriff’s department was already over 1 million dollars in the red for the year in June or early July. It seems the making of their new law enforcement division has caused some little money flow problems. Remember they have no law enforcement responsibility anymore, but choose to ignore that fact. Fishburn worked in the jail, so he probably knows what needs to be done, or more importantly will ask those who know, and have them do their jobs. Layton is one of the most arrogant people on the planet, and deserves nothing more that to go down in flames.
Notice I said "were" paid for. I'm well aware that their is no longer a MCSD Drill Squad. As to providing proof, well I dont have access to 3+ year old records of keeping. So I challenge you to prove me wrong. I'm sure you cant do that either.
ReplyDeleteMotorcycles use less gas and require far less maintanance. They also keep miles and wear and tear off of police vehicles forcing them to require less maintanance. They (bikes) are also cared for by the officers themselves for the most part. I know this because I run by several former MCSD Drill team houses and I have personally saw them washing the bikes in thier driveways.
Fishburn has never managed anyone, nor managed a budget. I'm not saying that Layton is the end all or be all, but he is certainly more qualified then Fishburn. Look what happened when we elected another official without experience (Ballard). Certainly you see how that worked out?
And Fishburn has other family members besides his son on staff. I have no desire to "out" these people who dont neccessarly share a last name with him because they are for the most part good employees. The point I was trying to make is who cares if you have family on staff if they are good employees?