IPD Mistaken Arrest Causes Nightmare For Woman

Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Star's Jon Murray reports today on the mistaken arrest of Venus Jones by Indianapolis police. Jones was mistaken for a Tennessee woman with an outstanding arrest warrant. She was held by the Marion County Sheriff until she was extradited to Tennessee where authorities finally figured out she was the wrong woman three weeks after her ordeal began in Indianapolis. Murray writes:

Jones said she repeatedly told police officers in Indianapolis and Henry County, Tenn., that they had the wrong woman. She was arrested April 24 in the 2600 block of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street in Indianapolis and two weeks later was extradited to Tennessee.

A Tennessee judge ordered her released May 17, the lawsuit says, based on differences in the two women's names, Social Security numbers and birth dates.

"Lord have mercy," Jones said Monday, recalling the ride back to Indiana on a Greyhound bus paid for by Tennessee authorities. "I was just angry. I was just so relieved to get back home."

This one is a little hard to understand. How do you confuse the name "Venus D. Jones" with "Venus LeDue?" Not surprisingly, Ms. Jones is suing IPD and the Indianapolis Police Department in federal court for violating her constitutional rights.

Obama's Cozy Land Deal With Indicted Political Fundraiser

I have watched in amazement at how little discernment people have shown when it comes to Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL), who is little more than an empty suit with an inflated ego. Before Democrats get too far out front pushing him for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, they need to remind themselves that he is a product of one of the most corrupt political cultures in the U.S. A story this weekend in the Chicago Tribune about Obama's cozy little land deal with an indicted political fundraiser should give Democrats pause. The Tribune reports:

Sen. Barack Obama expressed remorse Saturday for a series of financial arrangements he made with an indicted political fundraiser to improve their adjoining South Side properties.

Obama has described his dealings with Antoin "Tony" Rezko as ethical and proper, but he now acknowledges the arrangement might have appeared improper.

"It was a mistake to have been engaged with him at all in this or any other personal business dealing that would allow him, or anyone else, to believe that he had done me a favor," Obama said in a written statement Saturday. "For that reason, I consider this a mistake on my part and I regret it."

Obama's remarks came in response to an article in Wednesday's Tribune that disclosed for the first time how he and Rezko's wife bought adjoining properties last year, then worked together to build a wrought-iron fence and make other improvements.

Though Obama answered questions in detail for that article, Saturday's statement marked his first direct expression of regret.The same day that Obama and his wife, Michelle, closed on a $1.65 million home, Rezko's wife, Rita, closed on a $625,000 vacant lot next door. Both lots had once been part of the same estate, but the owner listed them for sale separately.

Obama said he had discussed the home with Tony Rezko, but didn't know exactly when Rezko became interested in the vacant lot. In January, Obama paid Rezko $104,500 for part of the vacant lot to expand his own yard, balancing the space between his house and the fence.

Obama also paid thousands of dollars to an attorney and architects to inquire about the fence with the Commission on Chicago Landmarks, partly because Obama's wife once worked there and because they wanted to ensure it was done properly, Obama said.

Rezko, however, was the one who was to pay for the fence, although that $14,000 bill has not been paid, the fence company told the Tribune.

Obama also pays his landscaper to mow Rezko's 7,500-square-foot yard. Obama said that he intends to have the landscaper figure out a pro-rata cost for that mowing and send that bill to Rezko, but that he hasn't yet done so.

During the 16 months Obama and Rezko cooperated on these matters, Rezko was reported to be under investigation by a federal grand jury.

Obama has been the beneficiary of nearly $20,000 in campaign contributions from Rezko, who was recently indicted on charges "he plotted to squeeze millions of dollars in kickbacks out of firms seeking state business, allegations that put him at the center of a growing scandal surrounding Gov. Rod Blagojevich's administration."

I'm reluctant to believe in coincidences when it comes to land deals and politicians. If Obama expects us to believe it was a mere coincidence that the Rezkos closed on the empty lot next to their million-dollar home on the same day and nothing untoward occurred, he must think we're all pretty stupid. "I haven't been involved with [Rezko] in any legislative work whatsoever or any government activities of any sort," Obama also said. Of course, he's also appearing in a radio ad for Rep. Julia Carson (D) in which he says the two of them teamed up to pass legislation. Note that neither were principal authors of the legislation--just along for the ride. Obama is a show horse and not a work horse. I don't think it will be long before a lot other people start figuring that out.

City Played Hardball With Hollywood Bar & Filmworks Owner

Ted Bulthaup, owner of the now-defunct Hollywood Bar & Filmworks, shares a disturbing account of what the City of Indianapolis did in retaliation for his and other local business efforts for pressing the parking issue in his full-page ad in the Indianapolis Star. This is the passage that really caught my eye:

. . . Just after the meeting adjourned we found that a CIB official had lied to us and we went to the press with the lie. The minutes for that last meeting for the last IDI Task Force meeting were never issued, even though I requested a transcript. [Tamara] Zahn refused because they would have proven that official had lied. That CIB official later told a neighborhood businessman that if we thought we were bad off now; just wait until he was done with us (meaning getting even for the blowing of the whistle). At the time, I received the casket company brochure through the mail which I am sure was an implied threat for someone. My business then also became a target for every state and city inspector available. Within weeks my business was inspected by agencies that had never looked at us before. Anybody who had signed the petition was contacted by either Zahn or the head of the IDI Parking Partnership who tried to pressure them to take their name off the petition. This effort also included both IDI and other government officials contacting the Landlords of many of the restaurants in an effort to solicit their help in suppressing their tenant's vocal unrest with the situation. In two cases the pressure tactics worked and restauranteurs asked (or should I say were forced to ask) that their names be removed from the petition. This was a despicable pressure tactic unethical by any standard . . .

And you probably thought that these kinds of things only happened in Chicago.

UPDATE: Because some people who work for Mayor Peterson have felt compelled to comment on Mr. Bulthaup and his business, I feel compelled to share the story about his little appearance on WIBC the other morning. It seems the Mayor was talking to Terri and the Pidge on WIBC when he suddenly started having trouble hearing after Pidge asked him about the parking question. When Terri jumped in and repeated a question the question to him, the Mayor said he couldn't hear her either and hung up, which provoked laughter and disbelief in the WIBC studio and listening audience.

The Mayor's popularity with the Indianapolis public is a thing of the past. If the Republicans field a serious, well-financed candidate next year, they will be able to defeat him. AI is quite concerned about a rumor on the street that some people are talking up a certain partner at Ice Miller to take outgoing Mike Murphy's place as county GOP chairman. If that happens, Republicans can kiss the mayor's race goodbye. Ice Miller has a vested interest in the re-election of the Mayor. Peterson used to be a partner at the firm, and Ice Miller partner Lacy Johnson is one of the biggest beneficiary's of that relationship--having been handed the keys to the Indianapolis Airport Authority as its board president with control over the billion dollar midfield terminal project.

Are Marion County Democrats Trying To Supress Republican Vote?

Marion County Republicans are crying foul over last-minute changes in the polling locations for ten Republican-leaning precincts. While AI thought polling locations were decided by the Marion County Clerk's office, according to Marion Co. Republicans, the mayor's office is responsible for leasing the space for the polling locations. The Marion Co. GOP further charges that no efforts were made to notify voters in the affected precincts of the last-minute changes. I know that my polling location has never changed in the 16 years I've lived in Indianapolis. I would be pretty upset if I showed up at the regular location and learned it was no longer the polling site. Do Democrats hope to frustrate Republican voters to discourage them from voting in Tuesday's election?

Election Predictions

Here's my best guess at what's going to happen in Tuesday's elections.

U.S. Senate-Democrats Gain 5 Seats
Democrats appear poised to come within striking distance of taking over the U.S. Senate. I'm predicting Democrats will pick up 5 seats, one short of what they need to win control. Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) and Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) will lose. The Democrats will likely knock off either Sen. James Talent (R-MO) or Sen. George Allen (R-VA). Republicans have a 50-50 shot at knocking off Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and defeating Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD).

U.S. House-Democrats Gain 24 Seats
Democrats will win control of the U.S. House of Representatives. The only question is the size of the margin. They need only 15 seats to win back control for the first time in 10 years. Traditionally, that size of a pick up by the party out of power is a cinch in the 6th year of the presidency of the party in power. Add to that Bush's low approval rating, discontent over the handling of the war in Iraq and Republican congressional scandals, and it's hard to imagine anything but a significant Republican loss.

Democrats best hope for gains comes in a handful of northern states, including Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Connecticut, where the Democrats quite possibly could pick up 3 seats in each of these states and surpass the number they need to win. Republicans realistically have only three good shots nationally to knock off an incumbent Democrat. Two of those seats are in Georgia. Indiana's 7th District seat is the other seat where Eric Dickerson is running neck-and-neck with Rep. Julia Carson (D). Republicans once thought they could knock off Rep. Melissa Bean (D) in Illinois, but those chances have faded in recent weeks.

Indiana's 2d, 3rd, 7th, 8th and 9th
Indiana has four House seats in play on Tuesday. I don't believe the 3rd District race between Rep. Mark Souder (R) and Tom Hayhurst (D) will prove competitive. I would agree with Brian Howey that both the 7th and 9th District races are tossups at this point. Rep. Chris Chocola (R) has closed the lead his Democratic opponent, Joe Donnelly, has held for several months and it is by no means certain that he's going to lose. But the added drag from Gov. Daniels' low favorability ratings and opposition to the toll road privatization in the northern Indiana region complicates Chocola's re-election chances. He's probably not going to make it. Rep. John Hostettler (R) has consistently trailed his Democratic opponent Brad Ellsworth by significant margins. His opposition to the Iraq War and independent streak seems to be helping him little this year. He does, however, tend to outpoll the polling predictions based on the support he gets from his grassroots organization, but it doesn't look like that's going to be enough to save him this time.

In the 9th District, this is really the race between two incumbents, making it different from other races. Former Rep. Baron Hill was elected to three terms from this district before he was defeated by Rep. Mike Sodrel (R). Hill also served as a state legislator for many years in the district. Hill won all of his races by narrow margins. He lost narrowly to Sodrel two years ago. Both candidates carry a lot of baggage with voters in this district. Sodrel is the most likely to survive this Democratic election year of the three Indiana GOP seats on the line.

While most of the attention in Indiana has been focused on the 2nd, 8th and 9th District races, the race in the 7th District may be just as close. Voter concerns about Rep. Carson's noticeably declining health and her negative campaign against Eric Dickerson (R) are working against her re-election in what should be a safe seat for Democrats. Despite the fact that she's been in Congress for 10 years, she has not been able to increase her winning margin in elections in successive elections. She has never been popular with white voters, who make up two-thirds of the district, making the district competitive every election cycle. While her Republican opponent has raised less than $60,000 for the race, he entered the race with a household name as a well-known automobile dealer and the same name as a former Colts player. Unlike her previous opponents, Dickerson, as a successful African-American businessman, has a realistic chance of cutting into her rock solid support among black voters. This race will likely be decided by less than 2,000 votes. Carson has the edge because of the district's built-in advantage for Democrats, but Dickerson has a realistic chance of upsetting her. If he does, he will immediately gain national recognition and prominence as the only black Republican in the House of Representatives.

Statewide Races-Republicans Win
The statewide races for Secretary of State, Treasurer and Auditor receive little attention and most voters have no idea who they are, including the incumbent candidates. The results in each of these three races will be very close, with Republicans winning each of the seats by a 52%-48% margin. If Democrats were to upset the Republican candidates, you know it's a very big Democratic year.

Indiana Senate-Democrats Gain 3
Indiana Democrats are not very well-position to gain a lot of seats in the Senate, where they are currently outnumbered 33-17. With retirements and a lack of strong candidates in most of the districts, the Democrats will only make small gains this year. I'm predicting Russell Brown will knock off Sen. James Merritt (R) in Indianapolis and Democrats will pick up the seats currently held by Sen. John Waterman (R) and Sen. Robert Garton (R), leaving the Republicans with a 30-20 margin of control

Indiana House-Democrats Gain 5
Democrats will regain control of the Indiana House after losing it narrowly two years ago. I'm predicting a pick up of 5 seats, giving the Democrats a 53-47 seat advantage. The numbers aren't hard to arrive it. As Brian Howey notes, there are 33 safe Republican seats this year, while there are 45 safe Democratic seats. Several Republican incumbents in northern Indiana are endangered because of the unpopularity of the toll road privatization and Gov. Daniels. The Democrats can easily win enough seats along this northern corridor alone to gain control of the House. Elsewhere, Republicans are very much in danger of losing three seats currently held by Rep. Larry Buell (R), Rep. Troy Woodruff (R) and Rep. Tom Saunders (R). Republicans' best shot at picking up a Democratic held seat may be the seat held by Rep. Ed Mahern (D) where Jon Elrod (R) is running a strong campaign.

My prediction is bolstered by Brian Howey's report that even Speaker Brian Bosma is ackowledging that there are 10 races left within the margin of error, and that Republicans appear safe in only 44 seats compared to 46 seats for the Democrats. In a year that is already trending Democratic and a legislative map which was drawn to favor Democrats, you have to bet on the Democrats winning back control of the House.

Marion County
Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi (R) will defeat Melina Kennedy (D) by a 54%-46% margin. I think the other county races for sheriff, county clerk, recorder and auditor will be surprisingly close because of voter discontent over rising crime and dissatisfaction with Mayor Bart Peterson's administration. These races could well be decided by a razor-thin margin. Democrats have the advantage because of the county's changing demographics, but a Republican win in any of the races would not be a surprise. Except for the sheriff's race, these offices are all currently held by Republicans.

Hill Busted For Puffing Resume

Former Rep. Baron Hill's (D) self-written biography on his website claimed he had been drafted to play football for the New York Giants and held the state high school track record for the 100 yard dash. Neither claim is true--a fact now acknowledged by the Hill campaign. These were facts that Lesley Stedman Weidenbener printed in her glowing feature on Hill's effort to unseat Rep. Mike Sodrel (R) this past Thursday in the Louisville Courier-Journal without questioning. As the Redstate blog is now reporting, the newspaper is now backtracking and has issued this retraction:

Correction

Baron Hill’s athletic accomplishments
A story Thursday said incorrectly that Democratic congressional candidate Baron Hill set and still held Indiana record for the 100-yard dash and that he had been drafted by the New York Giants football team when he graduated from college.

Hill’s campaign biography said he set the dash record while at Seymour High School and continued to hold it. But the Indiana High School Athletic Association lists someone else as the record holder for running a time of 9.5 seconds during the state finals of the 1965-66 school year. According to Seymour High School, Hill ran a 100-yard dash in 9.5 seconds at a 1970 track meet. But because it was not part of the state finals, the IHSAA does not count it as tying the record. The Hill campaign yesterday removed the reference from its Web site. Also, Hill is not listed on the Giant’s official draft list. Through a spokeswoman, Hill said he remembers being contacted by the Giants organization and believed he’d been drafted because friends said they’d read about it. But he said he never followed up with the team.

The news of this fabrication of his record could not come at a worse time for Hill. A new poll taken in the last few days shows that Sodrel has retaken the lead in the closing days of the campaign after trailing Hill for months. The SurveyUSA poll shows Sodrel leading Hill 46%-44% in Indiana's 9th District race.

Elrod Upset In The Making Over Mahern?

While state and Marion County Democrats have focused their attention on knocking off two long-time incumbent Republicans and saving one of their own in a tight race, a Republican upstart in another race may be poised to upset a long-time Democratic veteran. Democrats have been focusing on the legislative races between Rep. David Orentlicher (D) and Kathryn Densborn, Rep. Larry Buell (R) and John Barnes (D) and Sen. James Merritt (R) and Russell Brown (D). Flying almost undetected under radar, is local attorney Jon Elrod, who is challenging Rep. Ed Mahern (D).

The Democratic leaning House District 97 encompasses much of the downtown and nearby southside neighborhoods. The district has been represented for more than a decade by the chief architect of the 2000 Democratic-gerrymandered House district plan which gave Democrats control of the Indiana House through 2004. Little attention has been paid to what is perceived to be a safe Democratic district, but a much younger Jon Elrod has been quietly working the district in a door-to-door grassroots effort which had gone unnoticed by Democrats until the last few days.

Unlike past Republican candidates, Elrod has a philosophy that more closely represents the views of the people of the district. While he is economically conservative, Elrod has taken a much more moderate view on hot button social issues. Elrod, for example, opposes a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages and supports civil rights protections for gays and lesbians just like Mahern. By contrast, Elrod agreed with the position taken by Eric Miller's Advance America organization on just one of ten issues--repeal of the property tax--according to the group's 2006 voter guide.

Until the last few weeks, Mahern had a huge fundraising advantage over Elrod. Mahern in his pre-election report reported raising $61,023 with more than $66,000 in cash-on-hand. By comparison, Elrod's pre-election report showed just $5,140 in contributions and only $2,586 in cash-on-hand. In recent days, however, the Indiana Republican Party and the House Republican Campaign Committee have dumped more than $30,000 into Elrod's campaign, allowing Elrod to purchase valuable TV air time to promote his campaign in the costly Indianapolis market.

The Indiana Legislative Insight's Ed Feigbenbaum also see this race as a possible sleeper. He writes this week, "The Mahern seat is the sleeper in this bunch, with the Republican running a door-to-door campaign under the radar, and needing perhaps to pick up fewer absolute votes to win here than anyone would need in any other district outside of HD 100." He adds, "Only 6,000 or so votes will be cast here this year, vs. about 12,000 in most other Indianapolis districts." The results in this race should be interesting to watch on election night. It certainly has Mahern doing some last-minute scrambling this weekend to save the seat he carved out for himself.

Hypocritical Carson Pleads With Democrats Not To Go Negative

The only candidate in the 7th District congressional race to negatively attack her opponent, Rep. Julia Carson (D), is now pleading with Democrats not to go negative. Feigning outrage at campaign fliers sent out by the DCCC which repeated unproven charges she first raised against her opponent, Eric Dickerson (R), she now professes to support clean campaigning. The Star's Mary Beth Schneider reports:

U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, D-Ind., today called on Democratic campaign groups to stop sending negative attack mail against her Republican opponent, Eric Dickerson.

"I am outraged by the negative mailers sent out by the (Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee) and completely denounce them," she said.

The mailing accuses Dickerson of having beaten his wife and daughter, and of lying about the incident now.

Carson had disclosed the 1991 incident during a meeting with the Indianapolis Star editorial board several weeks ago. Dickerson was arrested 15 years ago, but the charges were later dropped after his wife refused to testify. The couple is now separated.

Carson said she has never sent out a negative mailing in her 30 years of running for local, state and federal officials. But, she said, under new campaign finance laws, political party groups can spend money on ads that the candidate has no knowledge of nor control over.

"The closing days of a political campaign are crazy, and I favor sanity," Carson said. "I hope the remaining days of this campaign signal a return to sanity and the issues."

Carson's hypocrisy is nothing new, but what is equally disturbing is the disengenuous reporting the Star's Mary Beth Schneider has done everytime this issue is raised. I refer specifically to the following passage in her story: "Dickerson was arrested 15 years ago, but the charges were later dropped after his wife refused to testify. The couple is now separated." While the passage is factually true, the facts not mentioned by Schneider in this story and others she has written on the subject greatly alter its meaning to readers. Those include Paula Dickerson's written denials days after the arrest 15 years ago that her husband beat her up and, more importantly, her public statements immediately following Carson's accusation against Dickerson more recently vehemently denying that her husband beat her up.

The omission of these facts almost seem like punishment because the Dickersons refused to grant an interview to the Star, which first entertained its newsworthiness after Carson leveled the unproven charge during an interview with the editorial board where she, as the Star described it, "rambled" and often provided "disjointed answers" to their questions; instead, the Dickersons chose to respond to the charges through interviews on local talk radio programs. Paula Dickerson's interview with Abdul Hakim-Shabazz of WXNT, in particular, was quite compelling.

Whenever a newspaper discusses a criminal charge involving any person where the alleged crime was never proven in a court of law, it only seems fair that it should disclose all the facts that are known, and not just those that paint the accused in the most unfavorable light. The Star's reporting on this matter from the very beginning has been completely unfair to the Dickersons and misleading to its readers. It is practicing the very form of hypocrisy its editorial board has accused Carson of practicing. It attacks Carson's negative attacks, then repeats the unproven allegations in the most unfavorable light for Dickerson.

Ulmer's Shameful Immigrant Bashing

Rep. John Ulmer (R-Goshen) is resorting to shameful immigrant bashing in his campaign for re-election in the form of campaign fliers he is mailing to folks in his Elkhart area district in northern Indiana, claiming that "illegals" are forcing U.S. citizens out of their jobs. Ulmer defends the controversial fliers by claiming "these illegals" are "creating a burden on our public agencies," reports Martin D'Agostino of the South Bend Tribune. "He's trying to appeal to the fears of the people, and he's feeding into those fears," said Zulma Prieto, editor and publisher of El Puente newspaper.

"Under a photograph of four coal miners, one flier says, "Losing your job is bad enough ... but to an illegal?" "Another depicts a Depression-era food line and asks what Democrats will do to stop "illegals." "Nothing," it says. "They have no plan."

As bad as the tone of the fliers is, what is even worse is the four-part plan Ulmer is proposing in them. One of Ulmer's ideas is to require proof of citizenship in order to obtain an Indiana driver's license. That would deprive all immigrants, including legal immigrants, of the right to a driver's license--a clear violation of federal law, not to mention the constitutional it raises. When D'Agostino pointed it this out to him, he said the flier inadvertently left out an exception for legal residents. His plan also calls for a new crime of criminal trespass for any illegal immigrant found in Indiana, would ban "illegals" from receiving any public benefits and impose sanctions against employers who hire them.

D'Agostino says the fliers are creating quite a stir in Elkhart County. "Ulmer's plan has also drawn considerable criticism on Maplepeace, an e-mail listserve that circulates widely in and around Goshen," he writes. I suspect there are many employers in Elkhart County who feel less than easy about Ulmer's ideas as well, including some of his own supporters. Ulmer's vote in support of the toll road privatization has drawn a lot of criticism in his district, and his re-election is by no means certain. Judging by reaction to his immigrant-bashing fliers, this issue may not play well for him either.