Yikes! Only 100 Show Up To See Ted Cruz In Plainfield

About 100 people here for @tedcruz in Plainfield. pic.twitter.com/BoIDENnpP5

— Abdul-Hakim Shabazz (@AttyAbdul) April 23, 2016

Ted Cruz returned to Indiana to make stops in Plainfield and Lebanon today. His first stop at the Oasis Diner in Plainfield was sparsely attended with about 100 on hand to greet him. Early reports don't suggest the turnout at his stop at the Boone Co. Fairgrounds is drawing a large crowd either.

Acting Hamilton Co. GOP Chairman Cries Foul As Outgoing Chairman Appointed More Than 70 PCs Prior To Resignation

A battle for control of the Hamilton Co. Republican Party was set in motion late last year when Pete Emigh informed party leadership of his plan to resign as the county chairman. Nobody was more surprised than the party's vice chairman, Laura Campbell, who automatically succeeded Emigh as acting county chairman upon the tendering of his resignation to state and local party officials. Campbell was even more surprised at Emigh's desire to hastily convene a party caucus to elect a new chairman to fill out the remainder of his term. Emigh desired to hold the caucus election on the first day of the legislative session. Campbell, who was interested in running for chairman, also learned from Emigh that the party's treasurer, Pete Peterson, desired to succeed him as chairman and that the two of them should talk.

Things got more interesting days later when Campbell learned from a party source while attending a political function that Emigh had recently appointed many PCs shortly before he resigned. Campbell sought a list of the PCs from Emigh and, much to her surprise, discovered he had appointed as many as 71 PCs on November 29, 2015, including his daughter, his mortgage broker who co-signed on his family home, Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness, vendors who do business with the City of Fishers, a number of Fishers city employees and other persons clearly disposed to casting votes in favor of Peterson. According to Campbell, most of the newly-appointed PCs have had little or no past involvement with the Hamilton Co. Republican Party organization.

As acting chairman, Campbell knew state party rules required her to convene a caucus to elect a new chairman within 30 days of Emigh's resignation. Campbell also knew that party rules allowed her to remove from their positions any PCs or vice PCs appointed by Emigh. As it turned out, Emigh had not notified either the state party or the Hamilton Co. GOP's secretary of the 71 appointments he made on November 29. Under state party rules, appointed PCs serve at the pleasure of the county chairman. Campbell exercised her authority under state party rules and terminated the appointment of the 71 PCs appointed by Emigh.

Peterson's camp rushed to radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who quickly broadcast the termination of the appointments as "firings" and reported that Mayor Fadness had filed a formal complaint with the state party, claiming Campbell lacked authority to terminate the appointment of him and 70 other pro-Peterson persons as PCs. The Indiana State Republican Party is meeting in an emergency rules committee meeting today to rule on the matter.

Campbell maintains that state party rules require PCs to have been a PC or a vice PC at least 30 days prior to a vacancy in order to participate in a caucus election and the persons must be a PC or vice PC at the time the caucus election is held. Campbell claims some of the 71 appointed by Emigh had no idea they had even been appointed as a PC or vice PC. In a letter to Indiana Republican State Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell, Campbell claims that the last-minute maneuver by Emigh was intended to dilute the vote of the elected PCs and their vice PCs in order to stack the deck in the county chairman's race for Peterson. Stay tuned. This could get interesting.

Senate Republicans Expel Another Member Over Gay Rights Battle

If a story authored by Abdul-Hakim Shabazz at Indy Politics is true, State Sen. Jim Smith (R-Charlestown) becomes the second member of the Senate Republican caucus to face expulsion after being accused of sharing information publicly that was discussed in caucus. Shabazz claims information Smith posted on his Facebook page about the LGBT civil rights legislation introduced yesterday on November 5 led to his expulsion. "The Indiana senate republican leadership is pushing a homosexual civil rights bill . . . What to do you think?" Smith is quoted as posting on his Facebook page.

In 2014, Senate Republicans stripped State Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) of his leadership position and expelled him from the caucus after he was accused of sharing information discussed in caucus regarding the heated debate over the leadership's plans with respect to a proposed amendment to the Indiana Constitution banning same-sex marriages. Delph was later re-admitted to caucus the following year.

Senate President David Long and House Speaker Brian Bosma said they were perplexed when Advance America's Eric Miller put out a video recently claiming Republican leaders planned to move on an LGBT rights bill on Organization Day in what he described as a "sneak attack." In fact, Senate President Pro Tem David Long unveiled legislation introduced on Organization Day which adds protections to the state's civil rights law based on a person's sexual orientation or gender identity. Gay rights advocates immediately assailed the bill, claiming it was a "wolf in sheep's clothing" because of provisions in the bill protecting some organizations, businesses and individuals from claims of discrimination while exercising their religious beliefs.

Regardless of your political beliefs, everyone should be concerned when people are censored while exercising their free speech rights. Because of the super majority Senate Republicans hold in the Senate, what is decided behind closed doors in the Senate is the de facto outcome in public deliberations on the Senate floor. I would argue that caucus meetings should be subject to Indiana's Open Door Law. Caucus leaders adopt these rules of confidentiality to which it subjects caucus members with the threat of expulsion for violating. The truth is that virtually ever caucus member, including the leadership, leaks information to friends and lobbyists in the State House hallways. Someone in the caucus couldn't wait to leak Smith's expulsion to Shabazz as a case and point. It's only when the leader takes personal offense to a leak that a member is punished for leaking those caucus discussions.

Browning E-Mails Prior To Abrupt Resignation Prove No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

WRTV Call 6's Kara Kenney obtained the e-mails of former INDOT Commissioner Karl Browning in the months leading up to his abrupt resignation, an announcement which was made public the very same day Gov. Mike Pence announced his successor. The logical inference one can draw from Browning's abrupt departure from the agency was that it was precipitated by a policy change he planned to implement to bar former former employees who go to work for INDOT contractors from performing work on contracts with their former government employer for a period of two years. Presumably, push back from engineering firms that contribute handsomely to Pence's campaign committee in consideration for no-bid contracts with the department led the governor's office to oust Browning from the top job at INDOT before the policy could be implemented.

. . .  In emails throughout the months leading up to the resignation, Browning expressed frustration about private contractors and consultants hiring away INDOT employees, sometimes referred to as “poaching.”

On April 15, a week before the resignation, Browning exchanged emails with Beth Bauer, executive director of ACEC Indiana, a trade association representing professional consulting engineers.

“I think you should formally address my contention that your members who are indulging in this practice are damaging their client’s business and in violation of ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) ethics,” wrote Browning.

When asked about the email exchange, Bauer said Browning was considering adopting a new policy that would prohibit INDOT employees hired by consulting engineering firms from working on INDOT projects for up to 2 years.

“No such policy was ever implemented,” said Will Wingfield, spokesperson for INDOT, on September 9.

Bauer said there were some concerns about enforcing such a policy.

“There’s a lot of reasons why someone leaves a position,” said Bauer.

Other emails also illustrate the frustration with INDOT employees leaving, including an April 10 email from Kim Pearson, INDOT Commissioner of Human Resources, to Browning that said the agency needs to “stop the leak” and revamp its exit interview procedure to “capture the right data.”

Notes from a March 23 meeting show other INDOT staff were concerned about consulting firms “poaching” INDOT staff, and warned that such behavior was unacceptable.

Emails from March 24 and April 2 listed names of at least 19 INDOT employees who left to go to firms such as RQAW, Primera, HW Lochner, and [American] Structurepoint . . . 

A key fact missing from Kenney's report was the possible role a factually incorrect item radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who is also a political contributor to WRTV, wrote in his Cheat Sheet, a paid subscriber newsletter he touts as "gossip, rumor and innuendo." Two days before Browning's abrupt resignation, Shabazz wrote the following item with the heading "INDOT Wants to Close Exit Ramp," based on a tip he received:

We're hearing that the folks over at INDOT are getting really worried about their engineers leaving for the private sector and going to work for better pay somewhere else. We had several reliable sources tell us yesterday that INDOT is implementing a new rule saying that if a company tries to recruit an INDOT employee/engineer that they will get blacklisted from doing business with the agency until the next administration takes over.

TCS is told this new rule would not only impact about 1000 skilled engineers, but also has been applied retroactively to a couple of Hamilton County firms. Keep an eye on this one.

Shabazz' Cheat Sheet item clearly misstated the proposed rule, which would not have barred the firms from doing business with INDOT; rather, it would have barred the former employee, not the firm, from doing work on an INDOT project for that two-year cooling off period while employed by the contractor and not until the next administration takes over as misrepresented by Shabazz. He also claims without substantiation that two Hamilton County engineering firms had already been barred from doing business with INDOT, a claim not borne out by Browning's e-mails produced to WRTV in response to a public records request. Shabazz doubled-down on his misrepresentation after Browning's resignation was announced two days later.

Governor Mike Pence announced today that INDOT Commissioner Karl Browning has resigned and named named Brandye Hendrickson as his replacement. Hendrickson has served as Deputy Commissioner for the Indiana Department of Transportation, specifically overseeing the agency’s Greenfield District Operations which encompasses East Central Indiana, including Indianapolis. 

The Governor’s news release did not specify as to why Browning resigned. However we reported in Monday’s “Cheat Sheet” that Browning was reportedly said to have been developing a policy that was tantamount to blacklisting contractors who hired away INDOT engineers.

Shabazz' false reporting in the Cheat Sheet had definitely been circulating around the State House before Browning abruptly resigned. Among the e-mails produced to Kenney was an e-mail dated April 21, one day before Browning's resignation, from Indiana Finance Authority CFO Dan Huge to Browning forwarding the high-lighted item that appeared in Shabazz' rag.

If Pence did in fact oust Browning because he was trying to make attempts to clean up the agency to the detriment of INDOT contractors, that's a very disturbing revelation. The agency had been the subject of numerous news reports of ethical lapses by top officials, along with the revolving door problem that has been plaguing the agency. It was in need of a good house-cleaning to restore public confidence in the agency.

When the agency's former chief of staff, Troy Woodruff, couldn't get a waiver of the state's weak one-year cooling off period to accept employment at RQAW, he simply skirted the law by going to work for the firm as an independent contractor. RQAW was involved in one of the rare instances where an engineering firm got barred from performing work for INDOT because of shoddy work it performed on a couple of bridges up in Lake County. Interestingly, Woodruff had voted to reinstate RQAW's right to do business with INDOT not long before he accepted a job with the company, a fact overlooked by other media stories that focused on his other ethical lapses while employed at INDOT.

RQAW was identified as poaching three INDOT engineers in a March 22, 2015 e-mail Robert Tally prepared for Browning detailing 16 former engineering employees who resigned their state jobs to go to work for the agency's contractors in response to Browning's request for that information. Some suspect that another former INDOT administrative employee who recently went to work for RQAW was responsible for the leaked information about the proposed policy inaccurately reported by Shabazz.

WIBC Talk Radio Show Host Still Reaching For The Bottom

Weather like this makes me appreciate undocumented guest workers.

— Abdul-Hakim Shabazz (@AttyAbdul) July 29, 2015

Who can forget this tweet from the past:

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz ‏@AttyAbdul 20h Guys came by & offered to shovel snow for $20. English wasn't their 1st language. I offered $10 and promise not to call INS. America rocks!

Rev. Charles Harrison Not Running For Mayor As An Independent

Rev. Charles Harrison has announced he is not going to seek election this year as an independent candidate for Indianapolis mayor after someone paid an out-of-state firm money to collect thousands of signatures on petitions to place him on this year's municipal general election ballot and put up a website, RunRevRun.com. Apparently Rev. Harrison mistakenly thought he could continue working his regular job preaching from the pulpit at the Barnes United Methodist Church while running for mayor. Rev. Harrison said consideration of his young children and concerns expressed by church leadership led him to his decision not to run for mayor.

This news must come as a big disappointment to Marion Co. Republicans, who were counting on Harrison's independent candidacy siphoning off enough black votes from Democrat Joe Hogsett to provide a path to victory for their unknown, untested candidate, businessman Chuck Brewer, who only moved to Indianapolis less than four years ago from Chicago. Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who is filling in this morning for WIBC's Tony Katz, had expected Rev. Harrison to appear live on the show this morning to announce his candidacy. Instead, Harrison sent him and other media a text message announcing he was not a candidate.

Why Is Abdul-Hakim Shabazz So Interested In Rev. Charles Harrison's Independent Mayoral Campaign?

There is probably no other local figure more despised in Indianapolis' African-American community than radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz. People are still scratching their heads as to why Emmis Communications' WIBC-FM provides air time to the ethically-challenged political commentator booted from his former morning talk show gig at WXNT-AM, who once anonymously authored and published the controversial IndyUndercover blog and lied about it. We are well past the point where people know his political views are entirely driven by whoever is paying for his words, which consists primarily of people within the corrupt local Marion Co. Republican Party.

Shabazz stepped aside briefly from his agitator role as of late promoting Bill Levin's First Church of Cannabis to propagate some real whoppers this week regarding news that an out-of-state firm with ties to the Republican Party had been paid to procure enough signatures to place Rev. Charles Harrison on Indianapolis' municipal ballot this year as an independent mayoral candidate. Shabazz' musings were as incredulous as Rev. Harrison's claim that he has no idea who was behind the petition drive to place his name on the ballot and create a website, RunRevRun.com, to promote his candidacy.

Shabazz would have his readers believe that local Democrats commissioned a poll in the mayoral race that shows their party's mayoral candidate, Joe Hogsett, with only a single-digit lead over the relatively unknown minister of the Barnes United Methodist Church, a small black church on the city's north side. Shabazz, of course, had no specific numbers to report, just pure "gossip, rumor and innuendo" as he describes his own musings. Shabazz, who supports the election of Republican Chuck Brewer for mayor, made no mention of Brewer's showing in the poll. Are we to conclude that Brewer actually polled below Harrison in this supposed poll?

To the extent Harrison is known by Indianapolis voters, it is as the titular leader of the Ten Point Coalition. You may recall that one of the Ten Point's employees, Byron Alston, was charged with income tax evasion and perjury charges last year. When local law enforcement officials raided Alston's home earlier last year, Rev. Harrison accused them of engaging in a political witch hunt led by the Democratic-controlled prosecutor's office because of the group's support of Mayor Ballard's re-election campaign. Alston's case, incidentally, is scheduled to go to trial next week. Harrison's comments were intriguing given that his nonprofit organization could not legally endorse and provide political support to any political candidate.

The second big whopper Shabazz reported was a claim that Democratic leaders have approached United Methodist Church officials in an effort to get Rev. Harrison fired from his job as minister of the Barnes United Methodist Church. Hogsett is a member of the Roberts Park United Methodist Church downtown and was implicitly linked to those efforts. Shabazz would have people believe Hogsett and Democrats are in full panic mode at the prospect of a Rev. Harrison candidacy. And if you believe this meme, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Rev. Charles Harrison Claims Ignorance Of Who's Buying His Independent Candidacy



When Rev. Charles Harrison's name popped up late last year as a potential candidate for Indianapolis mayor, it was clear for all to see those behind the push to put him on the ballot as a third party candidate for mayor were Republicans who know their novice candidate imported from Chicago just a few short years ago, businessman Chuck Brewer, had no chance of defeating Democrat Joe Hogsett in a head-to-head match-up. Harrison was game for the third party bid until his old friend, Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams, expressed interest in challenging Brewer for the Republican nomination. Rev. Harrison eventually bowed out of the race after forming an exploratory committee. As it turned out, Williams' candidacy was very short-lived following a quick trip to the woodshed with his boss, Mayor Ballard.

What was very peculiar about Rev. Harrison's earlier aborted campaign for mayor were the discussions of him running as the Libertarian candidate despite him having no political leanings at all in the direction of what Libertarians supposedly represent. There was also a lot of talk of a very wealthy, mystery California businessman willing to invest $2 million into Rev. Harrison's campaign. I'll leave it to others to speculate why this mystery businessman would be willing to invest that much money in a little-known minister's campaign half-way across the country from his home state. For whatever reason, the Libertarians have fielded very few candidates for office in this year's municipal election, including the mayor's race. To the outrage of conservative Republicans and some Libertarians, the party at the behest of the Marion Co. Republican Party fielded a candidate in the Third District City-County Council race as part of Kyle Walker and his corrupt leadership team's effort to ensure that the most principled incumbent Republican council member, Christine Scales, loses her race for re-election.

As news came the Libertarians were not fielding a candidate for mayor, someone hired a California-based firm with ties to the Republican Party, Star Petition Group, to circulate petitions to collect enough signatures to place Rev. Harrison's name on this year's municipal ballot as an independent candidate. A paid mouthpiece for the local Republican Party, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, was fast to announce enough signatures had been collected to place Harrison's name on the ballot should he file a statement of candidacy with the Marion Co. Board of Elections by July 15. Incredibly, Rev. Harrison tells the Indianapolis Star he has no idea who is behind the effort to put his name on the ballot, which includes a website, RunRevRun.com. Whoever registered the domain address for the website chose an Arizona company, Domains by Proxy, which registers names on behalf of clients who wish to keep their identities secret.

It's difficult to imagine someone would waste money to pay an out-of-state firm to gather signatures to place Rev. Harrison's name on the ballot unless the would-be candidate knew of the effort and approved of their actions. It's also quite apparent the local Republican Party is behind the effort to get Rev. Harrison's name on the ballot. This is typical of their cynical view towards black voters and how they believe they can be easily manipulated to switch their allegiance to the Democratic Party simply by fielding a person of color to run against a white Democratic candidate. Clearly, local Republicans believe Rev. Harrison will siphon enough black votes from Hogsett to allow Brewer to win with a minority, plurality vote. It never works for them, but it's a tool they repeatedly reach for in their trick bag in election after election. Their greater problem is with independent and some Republican voters, who have no intention of voting for this unknown, untested man who spends half of his time in Chicago with his son. Brewer is also still an active reserve officer in the U.S. Marines, who could get called up for active duty service on short notice and be out-of-pocket for an extended period of time just like has occurred with South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was called up for a six-month tour of duty this past year in Afghanistan. That's unacceptable for a city the size of Indianapolis, which requires a full-time mayor who is fully-engaged in our community. Chuck Brewer is not that candidate.

Ballard Accuses Republican Council Members Of Voting To Sue Him Over Vision Fleet Deal Because Of Gay Pride Support

Mayor Ballard and Winnie at gay pride parade (Star Photo)

Just when you thought Mayor Greg Ballard couldn't stoop any lower, he goes and proves you wrong. During an interview this week with radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, Ballard attributed a majority of the Republican caucus' decision to abandon him on his controversial Vision Fleet deal to a retaliatory move on their part over their supposed anger that he agreed to serve as grand marshal for this year's gay pride parade.

For those of you who haven't been following the discussion of this issue, Mayor Ballard's administration illegally entered into a contract to lease a fleet of electric and hybrid vehicles. Upon realizing the errors of its way, his administration made matters worse by executing a new contract that attempted to recast the same agreement as a contract for services instead of a lease agreement to circumvent public bidding requirements. It then backdated signature pages on the new contract to make it appear it had been executed at the time the original contract was signed without actually rescinding the original contract. When council members attempted to obtain copies of the contract, the administration heavily redacted it to the point nobody could understand what was in the contract. Under mounting public pressure, the administration finally released the multiple copies of the agreement without redaction. Compounding those missteps, the administration illegally transferred money from the storm water fund to make payments under the contract.

The council's attorney, who opined the contract was either void or voidable, found there had been no fewer than five state and local laws broken in the process. The council voted 23-6 to take the administration to court to overturn the illegal contract. That bipartisan vote included the votes of 8 Republican council members. To hear Ballard explain it, those eight Republican members acted out of politics as opposed to the need to uphold the rule of law.

There are a couple who just really hate electric cars . . . They don't understand where the world is headed on this . . . There's been talk a few of them didn't like me being grand marshal of the parade and this is all retaliatory . . . It was not about the real process . . .  I don't know how we could have been more open. . .  Here we are five months from the election and they do this . . . To me it's pretty obvious . . . We all know what the Dems are trying to do.

Ballard went on to describe Indianapolis as earning a "business unfriendly" reputation because of the actions of the City-County Council in killing his controversial P3 plan to develop a new criminal justice center and its decision to take him to court over the Vision Fleet deal he insists is "highly innovative." "The whole country is talking about [the Vision Fleet deal]," he said. "They do what they do . . . They're trying to score political points." I can think of more than a couple of those Republican council members who have to be infuriated by Ballard's insinuation they voted to sue him over the Vision Fleet contract because of their alleged disapproval of his participation in the gay pride parade. You can hear Shabazz' full interview with Ballard by clicking here to here the musings of a sad and pathetic man who is unfit to hold public office.

Big Media's Feeding Frenzing Over Birth Of Bill Levin's First Church Of Cannabis Reaches Israel

Bill Levin (Photo/CJ Parker)

UPDATED: The mainstream media in the United States has been conducting a war on Christianity for many years, and it seems to have shifted into high gear in particular following the flash mob riot the media created over the passage of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Indianapolis' Bill Levin has achieved his fifteen minutes of fame by testing the bounds of religious freedom through his creation of the First Church of Cannabis, and the sectarian dominated media has been more than happy to hype Levin's stand-up, parody of religion not only on a national level but an international level as well. A former Christian church will serve as a new home to Levin's House of Pot.

These characters like Levin don't appear on the scene by accident. Our country seems to have a long history of producing agent provocateurs used by their hidden puppet masters to exploit feeble-minded and non-discerning Americans. The anti-Vietnam, anti-government protesters of the 1960s, such as Bill Ayers and the infamous Chicago 8 crowd, including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Tom Hayden, have all been exposed by historical researchers as paid agents of U.S. government intelligence agencies. The renowned, leftist feminist Gloria Steinem was financed by the CIA's Cord Meyer. Even their go-to civil rights attorney, William Kunstler, got his start as a spy for the OSS. There's a common thread to these folks' background if you bother to check it out.

Today, the Times of Israel has a big feature story on Levin titled, "Meet the Jewish Grand Poobah of the First Church Of Cannabis." Levin tells the Times of Israel that he grew up attending the Indianapolis Hebrew Congregation, which donated to the infamous cult leader, Rev. Jim Jones, its former synagogue near downtown for his People's Temple cult. Respected researchers have confirmed Jones' work for the CIA. Jones, who made a mockery of the Christian faith, was recruited into the CIA by another fellow Hoosier, Dan Mitrione. The land where Jones' cult members met their fate in a CIA-run, human mind control experiment in Guyana had originally been leased by the CIA to train guerrilla fighters for its operations in Angola referred to as "Shalom Project." Levin tells the Times of Israel he'll be serving as Minister of Love at his First Church of Cannabis.

. . . The Times of Israel caught Levin in a phone conversation in his new premises on the south side of Indianapolis. The area, known for tattoo parlors and head shops, is home to a 150-seat sanctuary that has been used as a church for the past several decades.

Levin, a 59-year-old reluctant carpenter/head shop clerk, and his team of volunteers were in the midst of taking down all the crosses in the building.

“We’re nondenominational. We don’t want the responsibility of saying who, what, where and why God is,” said Levin. To the Cannabiterians, God is love, “and we celebrate love in our life’s great adventure.”

He said the church is basically “teaching the same things that JC and all the other good Jewish rabbis taught, but without the burden of the magic books.” In his church, there is no guilt, and no sin.

There are other revolutionary anomalies: Church dues are minimal. The 700 or so members have paid some $50 for a year. And grand poobah Levin doesn’t draw a salary.

At this point in my life, I don’t need money… I don’t need more stuff in my life… I have clothes that have gone in and out of fashion three times,” said the hipster father of five daughters — and grandfather to a three-year-old.

To free up weekends, services will be held on Wednesdays. (“We don’t want to take away business from the other guys,” laughed Levin.) Instead of a confessional, the sanctuary will have a “life podium,” upon which church members will celebrate lessons they learned in seven categories — live, love, laugh, learn, create, grow, and teach — one for each day of the week.

Instead of a Ten Commandments, the church offers a Deity Dozen, including: Don’t be an asshole; the day starts with your smile every morning; never start a fight, only finish them; and laugh often, share humor . . .

It looks like Levin will be kicking off his church with potentially one less member of his faux church congregation. Levin's good friend, 37-year old Chaz Bennington, was found shot to death a little more than a week ago in his apartment. IMPD arrested a 24-year old woman, Ashley Daker, whom Bennington apparently met through an online ad soliciting adult services. "He had a wonderful adventure in life, and it has been cut short by some random insanity," Levin told the Indianapolis Star. "He was a loving father and son that always grasped every day of life by the hand for its great exploration. "His love will go on forever in the hearts of his friends and families. We will all miss him so."

It's too bad Levin's timing wasn't a little better so he could get an even better ride out of this staged production. How can he compete with the media histrionics Caitlyn Jenner has stirred up for the cause of switching genders? If it feels good, do it. Right? About one in four Americans are already hooked on psychotropic drugs administered by Big Pharma to make them feel better. What harm could come from getting more Americans to get their daily stone on from toking and calling it a religion?

I should have mentioned Bill Levin's new church was a featured story in The Daily Mail (a/k/a The Daily Pill) across the pond as well. Apparently, Levin is crediting the infamous disinformer, radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, with inspiring him to create the First Church of Cannabis.

Cannabis church founder Bill Levin credits @AttyAbdul with the inspiration to form the church, and Abdul wasn't there....

— Vic Ryckaert (@VicRyc) June 10, 2015

Levin pretends that his ability to form his First Church of Cannabis was only made possible by the passage of Indiana's RFRA law, which is an absolute lie. His constitutional right to the free exercise of his religion was bolstered when President Bill Clinton signed the federal version into law nearly two decades ago. The fact he only decided after the passage of Indiana's law to make this statement is a clear indication to me that this is part of a much bigger agenda on the part of people higher up the food chain who are pulling Levin's strings. He's an actor, folks, who has always longed to make a living on a stage entertaining folks.

Former Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Dead At 34

Evansville attorney Joshua Claybourn posted some sad news on his Facebook page of the passing of former Marion Co. Deputy Prosecutor and Republican Party activist Terry Record of Evansville at the age of 34. Long-time readers of this blog will probably recall Record's highly-publicized and tragic fatal drunk driving arrest and conviction that claimed the life of 47-year old Jimmy Cash on the city's Southside in 2007. Here's Claybourn's Facebook thoughtful posting on Record's passing and his efforts towards redemption:

It's with sadness I let my friends know of the passing of Terry J. Record at the young age of 34 years old. Terry was a contemporary of mine. He graduated from Harrison H.S. in Evansville, Indiana University in Bloomington, and law school at Southern Illinois. He had many gifts and talents, including public policy and law that eventually landed him a brief spot on the staff of Indianapolis prosecutor Carl Brizzi and then as attorney with the state. But his high profile involvement with politics also made his demons more visible as well. Terry's public struggle with the law culminated most notably with a DUI crash that killed another driver and resulted in over a year in jail. Sadly, this aspect of Terry's life is what many will remember. But I will remember his courageous path toward redemption and a renewed faith, particularly through the Catholic tradition. He worked hard to cross the bridge of forgiveness toward a new hope. I do not know if Terry ever found that in this life, but I pray and trust that he has found it in his new one.

Record received a two-year sentence, which he served on home detention. He also lost his license to practice law. Record had blogged at one time at radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz' blog, Indiana Barrister, for a period of time prior to his arrest. Unfortunately, his struggle with alcoholism was no doubt exacerbated by a poisonous work environment former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi fostered for those like Record who worked on his campaigns and in his office during his two terms as prosecutor. It's unfortunate he didn't get the help he needed before such a tragic set of events played out eight years ago. Our condolences to the Record family on the loss of their son.

State House Lawmakers And Press Corp Like Crude, Sexual Humor

Indiana Gridiron Dinners have long been known for presenting edgy humor at the annual gala affair where members of the State House press corp, state lawmakers, staff, lobbyists and politicos come together to have plenty of food, drinks and humor for a charitable cause. This year's event dubbed, "Beat The Press," pushed the edgy humor a bit far according to some attendees, One attendee complained about often-repeated crude, sexual references throughout the event.

Produced by former Indiana Democratic Party spokeswoman Jennifer Wagner and emceed by the Indiana Fiscal Policy's John Ketzenberger, the NSFW humor in the minds of some went too far over the edge. The state's legislative leaders played along with two back-to-back skits titled, "Dicks On The Left" and "Dicks On The Right." Just in case you were too dense to pick up on the double entendre references, visual references on the large screen of "dicks and balls" helped point the way.

A funny and self-deprecating video recorded by Gov. Mike Pence got high marks, making up for his aborted JustIn state news service that failed to amuse the State House press corp who saw his move as an affront to the beat. State Rep. Ed DeLaney and Ketzenberger poked fun at Pence's failed effort as the Pence News Service, or as they preferred to call it, "PNS." Get it? Hah hah. And if you're going to select music to play, what's better than AC/DC's "Big Balls"?

The lawmaker hit with the lowest blow was State Sen. Brent Waltz, who was likened to former Olympic gold medalist-turned reality TV show star Bruce Jenner of Kartrashian fame, who is now launching a new show documenting his transition from the male to female gender. Terre Haute lawyer Jim Bopp was a little more than red-faced when radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz suggested his former client, ex-Secretary of State Charlie White, should go over to Bopp's table and pay his "f_ _ _ ing bill." That one didn't get many laughs.

Do not heckle the executive producer. Your free wine will disappear. #BeatThePress
— Indiana Gridiron (@IndianaGridiron) March 3, 2015

Best @IndianaGridiron in years ..well done!
— Kip Tew (@kiptew) March 4, 2015

@LWeidenbener you did great! So did @shellawish @tomlobianco and @AttyAbdul - nice cameos from the #INLegis #reporters @IndianaGridiron!
— Tory Flynn (@ToryFlynn) March 4, 2015

You know it was a good @IndianaGridiron dinner when the only person complaining is an irrelevant wingnut blogger.
— Jennifer Wagner (@JenniferAWagner) March 5, 2015

Meet The Woman Meridiam Infrastructure Sent To Sell Ill-Conceived P3 Criminal Justice Center Project

She's one of those consummate bureaucrats and political insiders who always seems to land on her feet no matter how badly she performs in her job. She also is a master of leveraging her high-level government jobs for well-paid jobs in the private sector no matter how smelly it looks. Meet Jane Garvey, the chairman of Meridiam Infrastructure of North America, who is currently pimping for her masters across the big pond in France who want Indianapolis taxpayers to entrust them to build, operate and manage the proposed $1.75 billion criminal justice center for which Mayor Greg Ballard is seeking approval as his final foray in auctioning off every public asset that is not nailed down.

Garvey is a teacher by training, but she first cut her teeth in the big leagues in Massachusetts where she served in two substantial roles as Director of Logan International Airport and Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Works. During her tenure in the latter, she supervised one of the nation's largest public works boondoggle in history. That would be the infamous Big Dig, the 3.5 mile tunnel that was supposed to cost $2.8 billion but wound up costing taxpayers over $14.6 billion. Despite that colossal failure, Garvey went on to become Administrator of the Federal Highway Administration. Garvey takes credit for the FHA's Innovative Finance Initiative, which paved the way for federal highway dollars to be used for public-private agreements ("P3") by allowing private invested dollars to count as a local match for federal highway dollars. Garvey's current employer, Meridiam, has specifically benefited from that initiative. Some of these privately-funded highway projects have gone bankrupt, leaving taxpayers holding the bag, such as the San Diego South Expressway project. Federal highway authorities gave up on efforts to collect $80 million in pilfered funds from the bankrupt company.

Garvey is best known for her role as Administrator of the Federal Aviation Authority, a post to which former President Bill Clinton appointed her. She became not only the first woman but also the first non-licensed pilot to run the FAA. Garvey's role running the FAA at the time of 9/11 has been the subject of much interest since that role placed her at the center of airport security. The 9/11 Commission Report criticized her for being "unaware of a great amount of hijacking threat information from her own intelligence unit, which, in turn, was not deeply involved in the agency's policymaking process." Both American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, which were flown into the World Trade Center, were boarded by terrorists at the airport Garvey formerly ran, Boston Logan, many attribute to lack of airport security.

On September 11, 2001, arrangements had been made for more than 2,000 senior airport administrators to be gathered in Montreal at an aviation conference, some say by design. Air traffic controllers were confused when the first reports of hijackings where brought to their attention because of the concurrent Global Guardian exercise being conducted by U.S. Strategic Command, Air Force Space Command and NORAD to test U.S. air defenses on 9/11. A phantom flight 11 was being used in the exercise at the same time the real Flight 11 was reported hijacked. Conspiracy theorists, including retired United Airlines pilot Field McConnell, contend Garvey played a key role in making the events of 9/11 possible. They point, in particular, to the Clinton administration's decision in 1994 to contract out the management and operation of 52 FAA control tower centers to a British company, SERCO, making it possible for a "man-in-the-middle" attack. Conspiracy theorists allege the piloted Boeing jets were hijacked remotely, not by terrorists on board the planes, and turned into decoy and drone maneuvers.

Whatever Garvey did or did not do correctly as FAA Administrator, she managed to escape any blame for 9/11 but was able to successfully leverage her job to become a multi-millionaire in the private sector. Major airlines received about $5 billion in direct payments from the government to assist them in recovering financially from 9/11, including United Airlines, which lost two of the hijacked planes. After leaving the government, Garvey became a board director for United Airlines. That's just one of many corporate boards on which she has served, including Sentient Jet, Inc, SpectraSensors, Inc., Advance Navigation & Positioning Corporation, Bombardier Aerospace and Metron Aviation, among others. She's brought others from the government along with her. Former Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has joined her at Meridiam as an adviser in helping push P3 highway projects.

Garvey and another Meridian employee, John Dionisio, were interviewed today by WIBC radio talk show host, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, someone the Ballard administration could rely upon to roll over and ask nothing but puff ball questions. Garvey made the astonishing claim during that interview that the 35-year deal with her company is not privatization. Either she doesn't understand what a public-private agreement is or she's just a bald-faced liar, take your pick. She claimed the P3 model "gives the public sector more control over the project." Hah. She says her company will be penalized if the performance matrix established by the City aren't met, although she didn't specify what those penalty provisions would entail. Garvey says Meridiam is "drawn to projects that transcend politics" and that her company is looking for "the opportunity to improve the fabric of the community." "This is a team that sees itself as a part of this community," she said. "This is a hallmark of the work we've done in other communities." She says that whatever her team builds, it will be in at least as good of condition when it turns the keys over to the city in 35 years as the day it opens. And I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Garvey's sidekick, Dionisio, says he's now living in Indianapolis full-time. Dionisio emphasized the Meridiam-led team came in below the city's affordability limit of $50 million, a figure at which we still have no idea was arrived. What we know is that the size of the project was scaled back considerably by not including office space for the prosecutors and public defenders or the juvenile court and juvenile detention center as originally required when the administration first put the project out for bid a year ago. Dionisio emphasized that their construction plans allowed for future expansion at the site by adding those facilities, as well as the civil courts and other public safety-related agencies.

Dionosio bragged about one of its partners, Cofely Services, the French company that will be contracted to manage the facility during the 35-year term of the P3 agreement. Dionosio made no mention of my recent report on Cofely's entanglement in one of Spain's biggest public corruption scandals in which bribes were allegedly paid to dozens of local officials, including mayors, for public projects that primarily benefited Cofely. Dionosio also bragged about the involvement of Walsh Construction, former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley's go-to construction company, and its local subcontractor, Hagerman Group. He also claimed a vote on the proposal would be taken by the City-County Council on March 2, which is contrary to public statements made by the Democratic leaders of the council, who say they are holding up approval of the proposal until more information is furnished on not only this proposal but also the controversial Regional Operations Center. Not surprisingly, neither Garvey nor Dionosio addressed allegations made by Democratic mayoral candidate Larry Vaughn at Monday night's City-County Council meeting that ten members of the council had been paid $10,000 bribes in the form of annuities in exchange for their vote in favor of the project.

Another Brawl At Castleton Square Mall: Is It the Next Simon Mall To Fall?

It looks like it's only a matter of time before Castleton Square Mall goes the way of three other Simon Property Group malls the Indianapolis-based company has disowned (i.e., Eastgate, Lafayette Square, Washington Square). Police were called last night after multiple fights broke out inside the mall between the teens who loiter there, which spilled into the parking lot where shots were fired. Tony Katz, the no-talent radio talk show host Emmis Communication hired to work an expanded morning entertainment show masquerading as news on WIBC-FM, just happened to be watching a movie at the time. Guess which movie he plugged during his interview with WRTV about what he witnessed? I'm surprised Katz, a recent transplant who is clueless about anything regarding Indianapolis, even knew where Castleton Square Mall was. Of course, the movie he plugged was the lastest of CIA mind-control author Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games trilogy, "Mockinjay." IMPD claims it had advance intelligence of possible violence at the mall based on social media conversations. Whatever.

UPDATE: I spoke too soon.

Somebody tell @tonykatz of @93wibc that Castleton Mall is located in Indianapolis not Fishers. He's supposed to be knowledgeable media type?
— Amos Brown (@Amoswtlcindy) January 4, 2015

Major event at Castleton mall in Fishers. I was evacuated out of the AMC movie theater. @93wibc
— Tony Katz (@tonykatz) January 4, 2015

WIBC's other radio talk show host shows his back side.

They start as "mall brawls" and then end up like this. http://t.co/x5BetBO8CL
— Abdul-Hakim Shabazz (@AttyAbdul) January 4, 2015

 
WRTV obtained this amateur video of the chaos inside the mall last night.

Ballard's Embarrassing Fail On Selling Pre-K Tax And Spend Plan

Photo/Amos Brown

Mayor Greg Ballard decided to hold a town hall meeting last night at the Pike Performing Arts Center to pitch his plan to create a new city-funded pre-K education spending plan financed with higher property taxes on Marion County residents through the elimination of the homestead property tax credit. Ballard used radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, a pariah in most of the city's black community, to lead the panel discussion that aired live on WIBC-FM. According to black radio talk show host Amos Brown, the outreach effort was an utter failure. Only a handful of people showed up, many of whom weren't even black. "If purpose of this Mayor Town Hall at Pike was to reach black community, it failed miserably," tweeted Brown, who counted only 58 people in attendance. Ballard's mouthpieces in the local news media were livid when the council's Rules & Finance Committee voted last night to table his proposal to eliminate the homestead property tax credit over the opposition of committee Republicans, who can't seem to find a tax increase they  oppose these days.

Hogsett Dodges Answering Questions About Worthiness Of $750,000 No-Bid Contract Ballard Awarded To His New Firm

Now former U.S. Attorney Joe Hogsett was still unpacking boxes in his new office at Bose McKinney & Evans today when he told reporters that he was going to be forming an exploratory committee as the first step in launching his campaign for the Democratic nomination for Indianapolis mayor next year. While other reporters treated Hogsett with kid gloves in interviews today, radio talk show host Amos Brown wasted no time in putting Hogsett on the spot over news reported in the Star this weekend that incumbent Mayor Greg Ballard has awarded a $750,000 no-bid contract to a member of the public affairs arm of Hogsett's new law firm who formerly served as a top aide in the mayor's office to handle public relations for a proposed half billion, privatized criminal justice center being pushed by Ballard on behalf of the downtown mafia, whose members stand to profit in the tens of millions from insider real estate deals made possible if the proposal moves forward.

Brown could not have found a more difficult question to toss at Hogsett on his first business day as a private citizen working at a large downtown Indianapolis law firm. Naturally, Hogsett skirted answering the question directly. Instead, he deflected attention away from the issue by discussing his record of reducing the size of his office budgets each year when he served as Indiana Secretary of State and U.S. Attorney. He said he had always been an advocate for transparency and openness in government when Brown pressed him on whether more information should be made available to the public to explain exactly what services Bose Public Affairs Group performed for the outrageously large $750,000 consulting contract, a figure some public relations representatives thought was probably as much as five times higher than what would have been a reasonable fee to charge for similar services.

Hogsett did hit on a theme I've emphasized to readers of this blog in noting that the past three tax increases enacted by the City of Indianapolis all promised more money to hire additional police officers. Yet the number of police officers has actually shrank rather than grown despite taxes being increased for that purpose. He hinted that his support for raising taxes to hire more police officers at this time is not a given until he is convinced all is being done to squeeze enough revenues from existing sources to adequately fund IMPD.

Hogsett wisely cancelled an interview he was scheduled to give later today to radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who is nothing more than a paid mouthpiece for Mayor Greg Ballard. Marion Co. GOP Chairman Kyle Walker was quick to take a swipe at news of Hogsett forming an exploratory committee to run for mayor. Walker criticized Hogsett as "a career politician" who broke his pledge to serve the remainder of his term as U.S. Attorney. "Just a few months ago, Joe Hogsett declared he had a 'moral obligation' to serve his full term as U.S. Attorney and now he turned his back on that commitment," Walker said. Hogsett told Brown that he decided to step down as U.S. Attorney and run for mayor because he thought he could do more to address the city's crime problem, which he saw getting increasingly worse during the past few years, as mayor rather than as U.S. Attorney. 

Mahern To Co-Sponsor Ballard's Rebuild Indy II Proposal According To Source

A reliable source informs Advance Indiana that Brian Mahern, who has become a thorn in the side of the Democratic caucus as of late, has agreed to co-sponsor Mayor Greg Ballard's Rebuild Indy II proposal rather than support the Democratic alternative plan announced by Democrats yesterday. The source indicates that Mahern has had a change of heart about seeking re-election and now plans to run against at-large Councilor Zach Adamson in his newly-drawn district next year. Mayor Ballard convinced state lawmakers to eliminate the four at-large council positions originally written into state law by Republican lawmakers to ensure Republican control of the council. Adamson intends to seek the district seat currently occupied by Mahern in next year's municipal race. With Mahern supporting Ballard's Rebuild Indy II plan, that will once again put independent Republican Christine Scales in the driver's seat to determine which party's plan has enough votes to pass the full council.

UPDATE: Funny thing happened. After I posted this earlier this afternoon, the egomaniac radio talk show host, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, read our post and then tried to claim credit for breaking the story. The guy is as shameless as he is unethical.

Kelly Mitchell Prevails On Third Ballot As GOP Nominee For State Treasurer

Kelly Mitchell entered the state treasurer's race as the least known and undisputed underdog among the three candidates seeking the Indiana GOP nomination for state treasurer. After months of mud-slinging between the two leading candidates, Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold, who had the backing of the party establishment, and Don Bates, who enjoyed significant support from Tea Party activists, both front-runners began to look unelectable to the party faithful in what should otherwise be an easy win for a statewide Republican candidate running for a down-the-ballot office. As Bates and Seybold tarnished one another's images, Mitchell appeared to grow on the party's rank-and-file as the safest choice.

Mitchell entered the race with the endorsement of her boss, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who many blamed for his own defeat in the 2012 Senate race against Democrat Joe Donnelly after resoundingly defeating six-term incumbent Sen. Richard Lugar in the Republican primary much to the chagrin of the party establishment. Mitchell has worked for the past several years in the state treasurer's office as the director of the local government investment pool. Unlike her boss, Mitchell was not linked to the Tea Party or the establishment for that matter, which worked to her advantage. Many rank-and-file delegates frown on being told by establishment folks like Bob Grand who they have to support for statewide office. Grand, who co-chaired Seybold's campaign, uses his extraordinary clout within the state party apparatus to direct millions of dollars in public funds to his law firm and even larger sums to the clients and political cronies his law firm represents, a fact that rubs many the wrong way for good reason. Grand's support of Seybold's candidacy may have had as much to do with his undoing as the perceived corruption and cronyism in Seybold's city administration that has dogged his campaign.

The first round of balloting proved how evenly divided state GOP delegates were. All three candidates received more than 30% of the vote on the first ballot with only 62 votes separating the first-place finisher, Seybold, and the third place finisher, Bates. But on the second ballot, support for Seybold and Bates hemorrhaged, while Mitchell surged into first place. Still, no candidate had reached the magical majority vote required to be nominated. By party rules, Bates was dropped from the third round of voting. Bates opted against endorsing either of his opponents, although it had become clear for all to see that Bates and his strongest supporters wanted nothing to do with Seybold. Mitchell easily won the third round of balloting by a margin of 860 to 497 over Seybold.

Mitchell's victory comes as a big disappointment to Indiana Democrats, who had hoped that the GOP would nominate either Seybold or Bates, both perceived as having enough personal foibles to make an otherwise unwinnable race within the party's reach. Democrats last week turned to a newly-arrived career politician from Illinois, Mike Boland, who had previously served as a state representative in Illinois for 16 years. Boland only moved to Indiana after losing a state senate race in the 2012 Illinois Democratic Party. This is the Democrats' worst nightmare. The GOP has nominated an all-female ticket. Mitchell joins Secretary of State Connie Lawson and State Auditor Suzanne Crouch, both of whom were unopposed, as the party's statewide candidates this year. Democrats have nominated Beth White for secretary of state. Mike Claytor, who recently left his retirement home in Florida and moved back to Indiana, is the Democrats' candidate for state auditor.

Perhaps the most absurd comment during the balloting came from the obnoxious, egomaniac radio talk show host, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who declared in a Twitter post, "The Indiana Tea Party is Dead!" following Bates' loss, which is a bit ironic given that he wooed Tea Party activists during his earlier radio career in Indiana after moving here from Illinois before he started accepting payola from party establishment folks to blather propaganda that contradicts his past musings. Shabazz also tried to seize on Richard Mourdock's comments to further marginalize and drive him out of the party. Shabazz couldn't explain why party delegates were so outraged by Mourdock's comments to delegates warning about our country's drift towards a Nazi-styled government that they nominated his employee and his personal choice to succeed him as state treasurer. Shabazz, by the way, still drives a car with an Illinois license plate after moving to the Hoosier State nearly a decade ago, a blatant violation of Indiana vehicle registration and tax laws. Emmis Communications must be really hard up for radio talent to hire an ass hat like Shabazz after he was fired from his last radio job at WXNT after one too many ethical lapses.

Former GIPC Executive Director Charged With Forgery And Theft

The former executive director of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee, Matthew Hendrix, has been charged with 26 counts of forgery and one count of theft by the Marion County Prosecutor's Office for funneling more than $96,000 from the government-funded nonprofit to phony vendors. The alleged payments were made between September 2012 and February 2014. Hendrix became GIPC's executive director following Mayor Greg Ballard's election to office in 2008. GIPC's offices are housed in the City-County Building and has traditionally relied, in part, on funding from the City of Indianapolis for its more than $330,000 annual budget.

GIPC's chairman, J. Murray Clark, Jr. told reporters last week when first confronted about the embezzlement allegations that Hendrix had been fired in early March for an unspecified reason. Clark said that GIPC officials did not become aware of missing funds until after Hendrix was paid a $17,000 severance payment by the nonprofit organization. The IBJ now reports that the nonprofit's discovery that Hendrix had billed the organization's credit card account $5,000 for a personal cruise was the incident that led to his firing. Last week, WRTV reported that the $5,000 charge was for a cruise. The IBJ reports that Hendrix was taken into police custody this afternoon and booked on the charges.

According to the prosecutor's office, the misspent funds were intended to be spent on the Mayor’s Celebration of Diversity Award, Bank On Indy, Indy’s Campaign for Financial Fitness, Volunteer Tax Assistance and the Office of Education Innovation. In December, GIPC launched Mayor Greg Ballard's effort to privatize the building, operation and maintenance of a new, half-billion dollar proposed criminal justice complex the administration would like to see built at the site of the former GM stamping plant on West Washington Street. In Hendrix' role as GIPC's executive director, he worked closely with Mayor Greg Ballard and his executive staff on city-related projects and frequently attended meetings in the Mayor's office. When news of the allegations against Hendrix first surfaced in a WRTV report, most of the Indianapolis news media shunned coverage of the story. Except for WRTV, all other local TV stations have senior management employees serving on GIPC's board of directors.

UPDATE: The Indianapolis Star has provided more sordid details of Hendrix problems, including problems with his marriage, gambling, strippers and possibly even drug use.

In April, investigators interviewed Shayna Jo Morales, 26, at the Marion County Jail, where she was being held on an unrelated charge. She told them she had met Hendrix at Club Rio, where she worked as a stripper, but it was not clear when the first meeting occurred. 

Morales said Hendrix asked her to cash some checks and gave her a few hundred dollars, according to court document. She told investigators that she didn’t have any idea what she was doing was illegal. She cooperated with investigators and has not been charged in connection with any fraudulent activities. 

“She stated that Matt Hendrix told her that the checks were from his business and he was entitled to the funds. He stated that he had experienced a bad divorce and his wife had taken him for everything he had and if these checks were made payable to him she and her lawyers would get part of his money,” according to court document. 

Separately, some of the checks and payments went through a firm called “Caraplace Home Health” and variations of that name. Jennifer Armstrong, Lebanon, who told investigators that she was Hendrix’s former girlfriend, is listed as the only principal. Armstrong, 34, also cooperated with investigators, according to court documents. 

Armstrong told detectives “Hendrix approached her about making some extra money.”  

"She advised that Hendrix complained that he wasn’t being paid what he was worth by GIPC and allegedly told her that he could make some extra money by performing the task that a vendor would perform for GIPC,” according to court documents. 

Armstrong also said she and Hendrix broke up because he was seeing another woman “and she thinks he is snorting drugs.” She also told investigators that Hendrix had become increasingly abusive, and she had sought a restraining order against him in Boone County, the affidavit said.

Hendrix' lifestyle pretty much characterizes the lifestyle led by this younger generation of the Marion County GOP and Indiana Republican State Party. They're into fast women, strip clubs, heavy drinking, gambling and living as high as possible. Only the people into that scene seem to flourish in the party. Honest people with principles are persona non grata. Their unethical conduct has now permeated throughout state and local government where it is costing taxpayers dearly through various scams and schemes designed solely for self-enrichment. Hendrix follows the same sad and disgusting path led by Tim Durham, Carl Brizzi, Lincoln Plowman, John Bales, Tom John, Mario Massillamany, John Hawkins, Reggie Walton, Terry Record and their favorite self-worshiping radio talk show host, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz. Mayor Ballard sets a very poor example at city hall with his addiction to handouts from city contractors and influence peddlers to finance a high lifestyle that is in sharp contrast to the very modest life he and his wife led on the very modest income he earned before he was elected mayor.

I'm still trying to make sense of the $17,000 severance payment GIPC's leadership foolishly made to Hendrix when he was fired. I'll bet that was at least the amount of the retainer he had to pay to his high-paid criminal defense attorney, Jim Voyles.

Still A Tax Scofflaw After All These Years

As opinionated as radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is about how much our taxes should be in Indiana, one would think he would at least have the common decency to comply with the tax laws that apply to all other Indiana residents. How many decades does he have to live in Indianapolis before he starts paying taxes here like all the rest of us?