This has to be a first and is not a good development at all for the taxpayers of Marion County. Democratic City-County Council candidate Kostas Poulakidas is holding a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. that is being co-hosted by U.S. Rep. Andre Carson and a former Republican congressman and now a fat cat Washington, D.C. lobbyist for Rolls-Royce, Ed Pease, according to a report in the latest edition of Ed Feigbenbaum's Indiana Legislative Insight. Poulakidas has been drafted by the downtown elites of both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party to take on one of the lone independent voices on the City-County Council who doesn't take her marching orders from the big law firms, Christine Scales.
Poulakidas is a partner at Krieg DeVault who specializes in government bond work, tax increment finance districts and economic development-related incentives that are handed out to businesses who bankroll the politicians. Naturally, his clients include governmental entities, including the City of Indianapolis and Marion County governmental bodies over which he would have oversight if he is elected to the City-County Council, creating many potential conflicts of interest. According to his campaign finance reports filed with the Marion Co. Board of Elections, Poulakidas has raised more than any other candidate for council with contributions topping the $40,000 mark as of the April 15th filing.
I can't begin to emphasize the danger in continuing this trend of putting people who are totally beholden to powerful law firms on the City-County Council. We've already seen what happens when you put an attorney from a big law firm in as the council president. We long ago lost control of our federal government in Washington to the K Street influence peddlers. Now we see a city council candidate actually going to K Street to raise money for his campaign for local political office. It's no surprise that a lobbyist for Rolls-Royce would be hosting his fundraiser. Mayor Greg Ballard recently announced the City of Indianapolis was granting more tax abatements and economic development incentives to the major defense contractor for its local operations. Although Scales is a Republican, Ballard has brushed her aside because she won't vote down the line with him as other members of the Republican council do. Make no mistake about it, there is a bipartisan effort on the part of the downtown elites to bounce Scales from the City-County Council because she dares to think for herself. If she loses her re-election bid, it's the average, hard-working taxpayers of Marion County who will lose. Scales is the only independent Republican voice on the council. We can't afford to lose her.
10 comments:
Former Republican Congressman Ed Pease is holding a fundraiser for a Democratic council candidate? I can understand Carson, but Pease?
This is unfortunate. Christine Scales is the most thoughtful, open-minded councilor in the Republican caucus. She votes for her constituents and refuses to be a rubber stamp. Unfortunately her district is one of the three R districts that the D's have a majority in and are targeting to take.
Only those living in Never Never Land would be surprised at any of this.
We already know how low democrats have sunk over the years.
The republicans seem to be doing all they can do to catch up with them.
It seems as though no one's word is good, anymore. And since there is no organization (such as the Indy Red Star Rag) to keep them in check, both parties have free reign to do whatever they want.
Kostas looks like a guy who could have been Sean Penn's stand-in in "Milk."
He always has this carefully rumpled, informal-but-not, engrossed and harried look to him, like he's heading from a congressman's office, fresh papers in hand, fast-marching down the corridor to make a delivery to his congressman for the start of the latest Watergate hearing. All the while deluding himself into thinking that he's doing something real, productive and helpful.
He'd have been in high cotton in 1974.
I put it at short odds that he fantasizes about being on Bill Maher's panel.
I think "metrosexual" is the word you're looking for, Cato.
Other co-hosts for the K Street fundraiser include former congressmen turned lobbyists Baron Hill and David Evans, D.C. lobbyists Brad Queisser, John Pappas, Stefan Bailey, Daniel Trope and Ryan Guthrie, PR flacks/hacks Alan Hogan and Jennifer Wagner.
Robert Raben is hosting the fundraiser in his home. "Robert Raben helps his clients identify and achieve complex public policy objectives. He brings a nuanced understanding of the intersection of law, policy, politics and media to his work." Raben formerly worked as Barney Frank's counsel. Yeah, I understand now why Kostas used to spend so much time hanging out at the Metro on Mass Avenune.
If government and marketing firms vanished, what would Democrats do for work?
I don't see these people being able to run a press brake.
What is going on? A Washington DC fundraiser for city council! Watch out for this one.
I will stick with Scales!
By the way, remember a while back when I suggested that Indy was being run from D.C.?
Indy government is a huge organized crime endeavor. The money comes in the front door as tax revenue and goes out the back as publicly financed projects.
They couldn't do this in smarter cities, but I suspect that they have a roster of cities that run similarly to Indy.
Get a gun, and try to rob one million people. It's hard. Get a government to do the robbing for you, and you walk off with the cash after paying some tip money to the street crew. Indy people are raised to obey authority, so they can run this scam, over in over, in broad daylight.
They just have to make sure that the right boys stay on the Council and in the Mayor's Office.
To "Derek", I'm not posting your comment trying to out Republican lawmakers by name or accusing others of unproven sexual misconduct. Referring to a young urban professional man as being "metrosexual" isn't an offensive term.
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