Monday, January 19, 2015

Marion Co. GOP Anoints Little-Known Downtown Business Owner To Run For Mayor


"Indianapolis businessman and Iraq War veteran Chuck Brewer is the Marion County Republican Party's choice to run for mayor," reports the Indianapolis Star. That's interesting. I'm an elected precinct committee person who is supposed to have a say in the matter when the county party holds its slating convention later this month, and I've never heard of the guy, let alone been asked to lend my support to him. Is there any purpose of PCs attending the slating convention to cast a vote for the slated candidate if the party leadership announces in advance it has already anointed its chosen candidate, an unknown candidate to this life-long Republican who has been an active Republican voter in this county for nearly a quarter of a century?

Just who is Chuck Brewer, you might ask? Well, as of last week he was running for the Indianapolis City-County Council in District 23 on the south side, which leads one to wonder how much thought was given by the candidate and our esteemed party leaders before anointing him as the party's mayoral candidate. According to news reports, the Iraqi veteran only moved to Indianapolis three years ago to open up a Potbelly Sandwich shop on Monument Circle and Soupremacy on Market Street just east of the Circle. "I wanted to become my own boss and invest in a company with a strong reputation," Lt. Col. Brewer told Inside Indiana Business in 2011. "So, I invested the Small Business Administration loan that I received as a returning veteran, into making my dream of entrepreneurship come true and creating jobs in my new hometown."

"I love this city, and when I was researching cities to open up my Potbellys, I chose to call Indianapolis home, and now I want to make it a place that even more people want to call home," Brewer told The Star. Brewer reportedly earned master's degrees at Northwestern University and Harvard and formerly worked for Sears before moving to Indianapolis from Chicago. Does someone who has only lived in the city for three years possess the knowledge, experience and ties that justify elevating him to the highest elected position in City-County government?

Brewer is proud of his military service, which is understandable, and boasts of doing tour tours of combat duty in Iraq as a Lt. Col. in the Marine Reserves. Oh, great, another Marine like Ballard. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, approximately twenty percent of all returning combat veterans from the Iraq War suffer from post traumatic stress disorder ("PTSD"), nearly double the reported rate among combat troops who served in Afghanistan. Is it unfair to ask Brewer about his mental health, particularly since he's such an unknown quantity to Indianapolis residents?

So much for the claims of local Republicans that they found a well-heeled businessman to run for mayor who was capable of self-financing his campaign. I'm presuming he's not a multi-millionaire since he required a federally-guaranteed small business loan to open up his small sandwich shop. Chuck may well be an okay guy. I don't know, but I'm not convinced he's qualified to serve as Indianapolis mayor--not by any stretch of the imagination. Being a downtown business owner is enough alone to give anyone pause in supporting him due to the concern that Indianapolis city government already spends far too many public dollars and resources supporting the mile square at the expense of the rest of the city. Republicans are going to have a difficult time convincing voters they should choose him over the veteran statewide officeholder, attorney and former federal prosecutor, Joe Hogsett.

Incidentally, my good friend and lone real Republican member of the Indianapolis City-County Council, Christine Scales, has chosen to seek re-election and bypass the slating process altogether because of the despicable manner she has been treated by her fellow Republicans on the council and by the corrupt and morally bankrupt leaders of the Marion Co. GOP. They drafted Tim Craft, a CB Richard Ellis associate, who didn't even reside in District 3, to move into her district a few months ago simply so he could run against her in the primary. Scales is one of the most thoughtful and hardest working members of the council who not only represents her constituents well but also stands for traditional Republican principles the party's leadership and other Republican council members are clearly lacking. She'll handily defeat Craft in the primary election with or without the Marion Co. GOP's support.

Here's the reaction of Joe Hogsett's campaign manager to the choice of Chuck Brewer:

24 comments:

MikeC said...

Gary, did you approach and/or get the approval of the GOP when you ran for PC? Or did you just file? I'm thinking of doing that next year. Maybe file on the last day. lol

Anonymous said...

Who is this guy?? It's odd someone like yourself who is active in the party has no idea who he his - sorry to say Mr. Welsh I don't think the party leaders give a damn about your opinion (no offense - they probably don't care about mine either). He's got an interesting background. Can someone who's only lived in Indy 3 years legally run for mayor? Would have thought there'd be a few basic requirements such as age and years of residency.

Anonymous said...

They probably got a few drinks into P.E MacAllister and then guided his hand as he rewrote his last will and testament donating millions to the Marion County GOP/Kyle Walker/Chuck Brewer.

Gary R. Welsh said...

You may recall that Ballard's power grab bill reduced the residency requirement for running for mayor to three years and only one year for council candidates. I believe there used to be a five-year residency requirement for mayoral candidates, and a 2-year residency requirement for council candidates.

No, I didn't get their permission to run for PC, and they ran a candidate against me just for spite to try to keep me from getting elected, who I beat by a 5-1 margin. Frankly, I really don't care to be a PC any more because the party stands for nothing but graft for a small group of sleazy insiders.

Anonymous said...

Is this the Charles W. Brewer who owns a condo in the Athletic Club downtown he moved into in 2011? It seems odd he would have been filing to run in District 23 on the south side if he lives downtown, assuming it's the same person.

Gary R. Welsh said...

I don't know, anon. 8:29, but if he's the same Charles W. Brewer who was cited last summer for an ordinance violation for conducting outdoor sales without a license, he was served at an apartment complex down in Perry Township (1452 Dakota Ridge, Apt. #A). Service of process was returned on November 20, 2014 because nobody by that name lived at the address. The case was dismissed on December 29, 2014. Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

Cue Matt Tully to write a glowing column about this guy after spending 45 minutes with him over coffee.

Gary R. Welsh said...

The statement of candidacy he filed on December 31 to run in District 23 listed his address at an apartment complex off of Banta Road on Slate Drive. Phil Borst was listed as his campaign chairman, and the Indy Chamber guy Mike Biberstine was listed as his campaign treasurer.

Anonymous said...

Why are they using a 2011 photo of the candidate with his son? This is 2015. Why no recent family photos?

Anonymous said...

Smell a rat? or many? See something, know something, say something...

Anonymous said...

Follow the money...collect the dots and then blow us away with investigative journalism that the main media ignores and at the end of each article ask your folk to post to their twitter, facebook, likes and more. Spread the word on Commerce picking this guy...

Anonymous said...

From Ogden Williams post:
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Update: The Chamber has a candidate too

6:21 PM GMT-5

Anonymous said...

Scales is wise in her decision. Her treatment by the entire Marion County GOP is a hard dark stain that will have negative results for the crony Republican insiders who invested more time and money to locate a willing pawn to use against her than they would to win most of their election races.

David Brooks' ploy of using Dennis Fishburn for the sole purpose of blocking Bart McAtee comes to mind. Fishburn was really a decent guy - I don't have that feeling about Craft from what I've read and heard about him... and I believe it was at the end of Fishburn's campaign when he realized he had zero real support from TJ and, of course, zero money. He was totally used by DB to stop Bart and that reality sure had to sting.

Lord knows what they've promised Craft for him to cooperate in such a dastardly and devious scheme against Scales.

Anonymous said...

A Haliburton solider of fortune for mayor? No thanks.

Anonymous said...

If you're going to pick an unknown puppet, pick one whose last name begins with a letter near the beginning of the alphabet because of Indiana's idiotic rule of always putting candidates on the ballot in alphabetical order. Is Indiana the only state in the country with this rule?

Anonymous said...

Gary, Your 9:30 post mentioned Mike Biberstine as campaign treasurer. He was once on Sheriff John Layton payroll at the same time that he was Director of Public Policy for the (Liberal) Indy Chamber.

The Marion county GOP looks like any other political party from a totalitarian state. The voters and party rank and file members have no voice.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Yes, Biberstine received payments out of Sheriff Layton's commissary fund, better known as the sheriff's slush fund. He was on the payroll of the Marion Co. Republican Party before that. They're all in bed together. People who believe the Democrats and Republicans don't rig elections are living in a dream world. Elections are mirages meant to make voters think they have a say in who runs our government. The entire system is rigged.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Biberstine wasn't the only Republican who has been on Layton's payroll.

Flogger said...

Maybe the GOP will bring in the Rombot to perform a bit of campaigning. I agree with one of your commenters we will begin to see glowing columns from Tully et.al, on this American Dream come true. He will need to have his Christian Values analyzed. So then we will meet the GOP Blueprint for a candidate: Veteran, Business Owner and Christian.

Question - does he pay his employees a Living Wage, or minimum wage?? Does he provide any benefits to his employees??

Anonymous said...

I was not going to pursue filing updated voter registration at my new Marion County address as the voting process is made a total mockery with the types of backroom shenanigans employed by both Democrat and Republican political honchos.

Information about Tim Craft and Chuck Brewer changes my mind.

I look forward to casting votes in Marion County for anyone NOT connected with establishment cronies like David Brooks, Kyle Walker, Jennifer Hallowell Walker, Samantha DeWester, etc.

Anonymous said...

Wonder if Brewer considered impact on his business. Hospitality business and politics don't always mix well. Just ask Papa John!

Anonymous said...

Harvard? Northwestern MBA? Are we looking for an educated Mayor these days?

Pete Boggs said...

His resume is impressive, laudable & patriotic; falling short however on residency / community familiarity, not in a provincial, but Hillary NY Senator kinda way.

The Chamber / Commie Core / Statism / Damnesty connection is of paramount concern. The Chamber has unfortunately become liberty's traitorous auctioneer; not its guardian or vanguard.

"Crazy Larry" is a more credible spokesperson for free enterprise than the chamber; considering his repeated concern about TIF spending & its known hollowing effect on organic, free market development; not crony schemes that loot the public treasury. And in fairness to Larry, he doesn't hide his crazy side; as the pretentiously sane establishment classists do...

It's not the candidate's fault, but how is there a reported "Republican" candidate prior to the slating- or is it really a process of slighting?

TMelvin said...

He's divorced. His ex lives in Chicago with their son.