UPDATE: Mayor Ballard responded to the FOP endorsement of his opponent by saying it doesn't surprise him because he has brought about for "greater accountability":
"The news of the endorsement doesn’t surprise me. As Mayor, I have brought changes and greater accountability to IMPD through performance standards, merit-based promotional policies, and stronger behavioral policies. Constantly improving IMPD is the right thing to do and I am concerned that my opponent may undo important and necessary changes that we have made."As if there hasn't been enough exploitation of the tragic killing of Officer David Moore, Ballard's campaign is featuring his father, also a police officer, in a new TV ad endorsing his re-election reminding people of his son's death. I swear, some people are totally shameless.
7 comments:
1) I'm not a bit surprised that Layton would do that. Typical democrat politics.
2) Ballard did this to himself.
Election night was the happiest night for IPD in several years. The department was decimated after the Peterson/Anderson CONsolidation. When Ballard arrived at the FOP celebration, it was deafening (the roar of applause). He spent hours there, talking to any officer that wanted to talk, answering questions, etc.
Then Ballard surrounded himself with people who did NOT have his or the citizen's best interests at heart, and it has gone downhill since then.
Change is/was needed, but not the type being perpetrated by megalomaniac Herr DOK-TOR Straub (he's a dok-tor, you know).
Gee, do you think Herr Straub may have had something to do with the vote?
Abdul needs to buy a clue.
So by Shabazz' reckoning, the real vote was merely 75 to 36 against Ballard.
That must make he and the mayor feel much better.
I'm not so sure that this vote was a vote FOR Kennedy as much as it was a vote AGAINST Frank Straub's employer!
Let's see: Ballard said public safety is job 1, but he no longer has police helicopters (first Indy mayor in decades not to have police helicopter). He stopped hiring police and is now telling Indy how we must do without as many police and they will be spread into "zones" instead of beats. He allowed Frank Straub to implement New York Style politics and hire his cronies at high salaries. He allowed Frank Straub to create the biggest personal staff ever in the history of the Dept of Public Safety. He allowed Frank Straub to remodel a suite of offices (with personal shower) at a extravagant cost to taxpayers. He did not provide toilet paper or hand sanitizer at police stations. He allowed Frank Straub to waste public safety funds on extravagant think tanks like Police Executive Research Forum and a recent $71,000 no-bid contract to an East Coast crony to investigate Straub's own "professional standards" unit a/k/a The GeStraubo.
It sure seems like NY style politics. And why doesn't the biggest city in the state have a police helicopter???
Straub's antics also give rise to a belief that crime stats may not be.....well, "honest."
No, Mayor Ballard, you campaigned on Public Safety is job One but your actions proved you don't care about our safety. You reduced the number of police and take away essential crime fighting tools. But your Public Safety Director has some Assistant Directors, an Accountant, an Attorney, Public Relations staff.
I think the FOP Vote is NOT a vote for a Liberal Democrat who didn't give the State Police a raise under Bayh, & didn't give the police a contract under Peterson. I think the FOP vote was a repudiation of Frank Straub's "New York Way!!!"
I believe the FOP may have erred in endorsing Melina. I understand why they did what they did, but they will regret their endorsement; especially if Melina wins. If Ballard wins, the friction between the FOP and his administration will remain - even if Straub leaves. By the way, all indicators point toward the fact that Straub does not plan on returning even if Ballard is re-elected. Indianapolis has served it's purpose and he will "move along" to piss off a whole new set of unsuspecting citizens.
By the way, of the 26 council candidates the FOP endorsed, 19 were Republicans. That shoots a hole in Abdul's theory.
Yeah, it sure does, Paul. The endorsement of Ben Hunter's opponent was quite interesting. I thought it was just me that was getting sick of watching Ben enjoy listening to himself talk but apparently that view is shared by his fellow law enforcement friends. Watch the look on Ryan Vaughn's face at those council meetings when Ben is speaking on public safety issues. You can tell by the look on Vaughn's face that he wants to tell him to just shut up.
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