Who said there was a constitutional separation of church and state? The Indiana Legislative Insight's Ed Feigbenbaum is reporting that the Indiana Department of Homeland Security awarded a more than $28,000 grant to an Indianapolis orthodox Jewish synagogue, B'Nai Torah, on the city's north side to install a closed circuit television system to "correct a vulnerability that had allowed an individual to enter the building undetected during the day or after hours." According to Feigenbaum, the grant is being used for the "installation of an alarm system connected to a central monitoring system facility," the "repair and replacement of entry door hardware"; and "staff training on how to identify and handle threats and respond to emergencies." I'm guessing you can attribute this misappropriation of public funds to Gov. Mike Pence's advisor, Tom Rose, who is a member of the B'Nai Torah congregation. The Indiana Constitution could not be more clear, if the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution misses the mark: "No money shall be drawn from the treasury for the benefit of any religious or theological institution." Of course, our Supreme Court essentially read that provision out of the state's constitution when it upheld public financing of religious schools through the state's school voucher program.
UPDATE: Please see the link to the document approving the grant money. This money comes from the federal Urban Areas Security Initiative Nonprofit Security Grant Program made available by the federal Department of Homeland Security. The purpose of the grant program is to provide "target hardening and other physical security enhancements to nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of terrorist attack" and located within eligible urban areas. There was $13 million appropriated for this federal grant program in FY2014 for grants of up to $75,000 that are awarded through the approved state agency. Nonprofit groups must be 501(c)(3) organizations exempt from taxation in order to qualify for the grants. Indianapolis is the only designated urban area in Indiana. There are supposed to be substantiated prior terrorist threats against the applicant based on their ideology, beliefs or missions, or some symbolic value as a national or historic site. What a total waste of taxpayer dollars. This was nothing but a corrupt congressional appropriation made to funnel money to favored interests to pay for security costs that churches and other nonprofits could and should easily assume financial responsibility. I wouldn't be surprised if some institutions stage threats simply to qualify for the federal grant money.
Friday, August 08, 2014
List Of Highest State-Paid Officials Reflects Indiana's Obsession With Sports
The Star has posted a list of the 20 highest-paid officials in Indiana. Naturally, four of the top ten are coaches at state universities, starting with the highest paid, IU basketball coach Tom Crean who earns $2.943 million. Purdue basketball coach Matt Painter earns $2.079 million, followed by Purdue football coach Darrell Hazell at $1.886 million and IU football coach Kevin Wilson at $1.276 million.
Seven of the top 20 paid officials work for Citizens Energy, which helps explain why your water and sewer bills are skyrocketing. CEO Carey Lykins is pulling down an absurd $1.932 million to maintain his permanent, year-round suntan. Senior Vice President William Tracy earns over $981,000 a year. Vice President of Water Operations Lindsay Lindgren is paid $904,770. The nonprofit's CFO pulls down close to $700,000 a year. A pair of senior vice presidents, Margaret Richcreek and Jeffrey Harrison, are paid $670,000 and $569,000, respectively. I wish someone would expose how much money Citizens wastes on suites and tickets for Colts and Pacers games to entertain our corrupt politicians and all of the wasteful consulting contracts with other members of the downtown mafia who support their racket masquerading as a public benefit corporation aimed at keeping utility rates low.
Seven of the top 20 paid officials work for Citizens Energy, which helps explain why your water and sewer bills are skyrocketing. CEO Carey Lykins is pulling down an absurd $1.932 million to maintain his permanent, year-round suntan. Senior Vice President William Tracy earns over $981,000 a year. Vice President of Water Operations Lindsay Lindgren is paid $904,770. The nonprofit's CFO pulls down close to $700,000 a year. A pair of senior vice presidents, Margaret Richcreek and Jeffrey Harrison, are paid $670,000 and $569,000, respectively. I wish someone would expose how much money Citizens wastes on suites and tickets for Colts and Pacers games to entertain our corrupt politicians and all of the wasteful consulting contracts with other members of the downtown mafia who support their racket masquerading as a public benefit corporation aimed at keeping utility rates low.
Thursday, August 07, 2014
Don't Try Confusing Mayor Ballard With The Facts On His Pre-K Tax And Spend Plan
Mayor Greg Ballard has completely failed in his biggest campaign promise when he first ran for mayor in 2007: To make public safety job one. After the recent spike in the homicide rate and other crime stats, Ballard rushed to announce a plan to plug holes in his crumbling dam with wads of chewing gum. The centerpiece of his plan is to raise $25 million over the next five years to provide $5 million a year to fund early childhood education programs for about 1,300 children from lower income households. That will match $25 million the state has agreed to provide during that same period locally as part of a pilot program. Ballard's plan calls for the elimination of the homestead property tax credit, which will provide the City about $7 million a year in additional revenues from higher taxes on property owners.
What Ballard and the news media don't want you to realize is that the elimination of the homestead property tax credit actually reduces property tax revenues collected by local school districts in Marion County by at least $3 million a year. The annual hit to IPS is at least $600,000. That's money the school districts use to fund transportation and capital projects. During a photo op at an IPS pre-school with Supt. Dr. Louis Ferebee this week to tout his plan, radio talk show host Amos Brown sought to draw attention to this issue. Dr. Ferebee didn't challenge the revenue loss from the elimination of the homestead property tax credit. He attempted to deflect the issue by saying IPS would be able to divert money from its general operating budget funded by state tax dollars to offset any potential revenue loss. Interestingly, Dr. Ferebee noted that part of the problem IPS had in getting better participation rates in its current pre-K program is the inability to provide transportation for participating children. On a hope and a prayer, he thinks new matching funds will make-up for any lost revenues.
Amos Brown questioned Ballard about the fairness of raising property taxes on just some homeowners to pay for his pre-K plan as opposed to all city taxpayers. Ballard was dismissive of Brown's fairness suggestion, saying they're still working on a long-term funding plan for expanding early childhood education opportunities. "We know generally what we want to do . . . what's fair is that these kids get educated." The fact that no additional taxes will be collected from renters, homeowners who have already reached the property tax caps and businesses was inconsequential to Ballard. The media and the press have already forgotten the property tax increase enacted last year that raised an additional $5 million by extending IMPD's tax levy outside the old city limits. Ballard will also raise your income taxes another 10% this year to raise another $20 million supposedly to hire more police officers, a promise he will no more keep than the one made to you when your income taxes were raised 65% in 2007 to hire more police officers. We actually wound up with fewer police officers than we had before that tax increase.
In Ballard's mind, spending more money on early childhood education without question improves overall academic achievement standards and leads to a reduction in juvenile crime. "The data is pretty clear on all of this," Ballard said. "These kids have a lot better shot of having a successful life if we do this . . .We're taking a bold step here." Really? Early childhood education has been around since LBJ's "Great Society" plan to end all poverty in the country was introduced in the mid-1960s with the birth of Head Start. As that program has been remade and grown over the past 50 years, along with added new programs at the state and local level, education standards have fallen and juvenile crime has skyrocketed. Some of the dated studies relied upon by the Ballard administration to tout the benefits of expanding early childhood opportunities has been thoroughly discredited by other more recent studies. Fellow blogger Paul Ogden discusses one of those studies here, which summarizes the point well.
At least one reporter didn't ignore the elephant in the room at Mayor Ballard's photo op this week: "How is this going to help crime now?." Again, Ballard could offer no defense to the point that any new spending today on educating three and four year-olds will have absolutely no impact on crimes being committed by junior high and high school-aged children. "I don't listen to things like that," Ballard said. "This is just so obvious." No, it's not at all obvious, Mayor Ballard. If early childhood education was a panacea for reducing the drop-out rate and juvenile delinquency problem of at-risk youth, then why has the nearly $10 billion a year in federal funding and billions more in state and local spending annually across the country for Head Start and early childhood education failed so miserably? Let's just admit what all early childhood education spending has always been about--spreading childcare costs around to the population at large. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't reduce poverty. It doesn't reduce the number of children being born into single-parent families. It doesn't improve long-term academic achievement. And it sure as hell doesn't reduce juvenile crime.
UPDATE: U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Carmel) and U.S. Rep. Andre Carson (D-Indianapolis) joined Mayor Ballard for a press conference today where both appeared to endorse Ballard's tax and spend plan on early childhood education to reduce crime. After the press conference, however, Carson put out a statement distancing himself from Ballard's proposal and criticizing him for not applying for continued federal COPS grant funding. Brooks' unabashed support proves once again that she's as fake of a Republican as Ballard is. It's even more insulting that she endorses raising taxes on Marion County taxpayers when she and her husband, who have become multi-millionaires through political insider trading that has allowed them to move on up into a two million dollar home in a gated community in Carmel, won't pay a dime of those higher taxes.
What Ballard and the news media don't want you to realize is that the elimination of the homestead property tax credit actually reduces property tax revenues collected by local school districts in Marion County by at least $3 million a year. The annual hit to IPS is at least $600,000. That's money the school districts use to fund transportation and capital projects. During a photo op at an IPS pre-school with Supt. Dr. Louis Ferebee this week to tout his plan, radio talk show host Amos Brown sought to draw attention to this issue. Dr. Ferebee didn't challenge the revenue loss from the elimination of the homestead property tax credit. He attempted to deflect the issue by saying IPS would be able to divert money from its general operating budget funded by state tax dollars to offset any potential revenue loss. Interestingly, Dr. Ferebee noted that part of the problem IPS had in getting better participation rates in its current pre-K program is the inability to provide transportation for participating children. On a hope and a prayer, he thinks new matching funds will make-up for any lost revenues.
Amos Brown questioned Ballard about the fairness of raising property taxes on just some homeowners to pay for his pre-K plan as opposed to all city taxpayers. Ballard was dismissive of Brown's fairness suggestion, saying they're still working on a long-term funding plan for expanding early childhood education opportunities. "We know generally what we want to do . . . what's fair is that these kids get educated." The fact that no additional taxes will be collected from renters, homeowners who have already reached the property tax caps and businesses was inconsequential to Ballard. The media and the press have already forgotten the property tax increase enacted last year that raised an additional $5 million by extending IMPD's tax levy outside the old city limits. Ballard will also raise your income taxes another 10% this year to raise another $20 million supposedly to hire more police officers, a promise he will no more keep than the one made to you when your income taxes were raised 65% in 2007 to hire more police officers. We actually wound up with fewer police officers than we had before that tax increase.
In Ballard's mind, spending more money on early childhood education without question improves overall academic achievement standards and leads to a reduction in juvenile crime. "The data is pretty clear on all of this," Ballard said. "These kids have a lot better shot of having a successful life if we do this . . .We're taking a bold step here." Really? Early childhood education has been around since LBJ's "Great Society" plan to end all poverty in the country was introduced in the mid-1960s with the birth of Head Start. As that program has been remade and grown over the past 50 years, along with added new programs at the state and local level, education standards have fallen and juvenile crime has skyrocketed. Some of the dated studies relied upon by the Ballard administration to tout the benefits of expanding early childhood opportunities has been thoroughly discredited by other more recent studies. Fellow blogger Paul Ogden discusses one of those studies here, which summarizes the point well.
At least one reporter didn't ignore the elephant in the room at Mayor Ballard's photo op this week: "How is this going to help crime now?." Again, Ballard could offer no defense to the point that any new spending today on educating three and four year-olds will have absolutely no impact on crimes being committed by junior high and high school-aged children. "I don't listen to things like that," Ballard said. "This is just so obvious." No, it's not at all obvious, Mayor Ballard. If early childhood education was a panacea for reducing the drop-out rate and juvenile delinquency problem of at-risk youth, then why has the nearly $10 billion a year in federal funding and billions more in state and local spending annually across the country for Head Start and early childhood education failed so miserably? Let's just admit what all early childhood education spending has always been about--spreading childcare costs around to the population at large. Nothing more, nothing less. It doesn't reduce poverty. It doesn't reduce the number of children being born into single-parent families. It doesn't improve long-term academic achievement. And it sure as hell doesn't reduce juvenile crime.
UPDATE: U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks (R-Carmel) and U.S. Rep. Andre Carson (D-Indianapolis) joined Mayor Ballard for a press conference today where both appeared to endorse Ballard's tax and spend plan on early childhood education to reduce crime. After the press conference, however, Carson put out a statement distancing himself from Ballard's proposal and criticizing him for not applying for continued federal COPS grant funding. Brooks' unabashed support proves once again that she's as fake of a Republican as Ballard is. It's even more insulting that she endorses raising taxes on Marion County taxpayers when she and her husband, who have become multi-millionaires through political insider trading that has allowed them to move on up into a two million dollar home in a gated community in Carmel, won't pay a dime of those higher taxes.
Overpaid City-County Employees Driving Need For Higher Taxes
Fellow blogger Pat Andrews has compiled a list of city-county employees earning more than $100,000 a year. The list is staggering, particularly within the Department of Public Safety, which is loaded down with high-paid pencil pushers sitting behind a desk. There are individuals with higher ranks and virtually no management responsibilities pulling down outrageous salaries. There are now 79 city employees earning more than $100,000 a year, the bulk of whom are within the Department of Public Safety. Public Safety Director Troy Riggs comes in with the highest salary of any city employee, earning just shy of $139,000 a year. A DWI sergeant, Michael Duke, is being paid an outrageous salary of $130,000 a year. He apparently gets bonus for higher volumes of drunk driving arrests. Bart McAtee is getting paid over $118,000 a year to serve as a lieutenant in charge of traffic enforcement. There's a Steve Graham with the title of private first class earning over $103,000 a year. The county has 31 employees earning more than $100,000. Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry tops out the list with a salary over a little over $140,000. Sheriff John Layton is getting paid over $135,000 a year while our clerk of courts, Beth White, earns $80,500 a year.
There are the double dippers that really stick in your crawl. Vernon Brown, who just stepped down as a city-county councilor, earns nearly $100,000 a year as a battalion chief in the fire department on top of the approximately $15,000 a year he pulled down as a member of the council. Brown is a candidate for Warren Township Trustee this year, a job that pays $47,520 a year. Reliable sources say Brown plans to continue working both as a full-time battalion chief and township trustee if he is elected, allowing him to earn over $160,000 a year from two government paychecks. City-County Councilor Mary Moriarty-Adams earns over $70,000 a year from her make-work job in the county assessor's office in addition to the $16,000 she earned as a councilor, providing a combined $86,000 from two government jobs. Her husband, who draws a pension as a retired police officer, is also drawing a big paycheck for a make-work job in the sheriff's department. Councilor Steve Talley gets about $37,000 a year for a make-work civilian job at IMPD, in addition to the approximately $15,000 a year he makes as a city councilor. Like Brown, Talley is running for a township trustee's job in Lawrence Township this year. That job pays $40,000 a year. A new state law prohibits elected council members like Brown, Adams and Talley from serving as city-county council members and working for either the county or the city at the same time.
Chew on some of these figures while these SOBs prepare to raise your taxes again for public safety. In the words of then-candidate Greg Ballard in 2007, there's a lot of fluff in that budget. Folks complaining about the lack of police officers should start by eliminating at least 50% of the dead weight they have in glorified desk jobs paying big six-figure salaries with take-home car privileges.
There are the double dippers that really stick in your crawl. Vernon Brown, who just stepped down as a city-county councilor, earns nearly $100,000 a year as a battalion chief in the fire department on top of the approximately $15,000 a year he pulled down as a member of the council. Brown is a candidate for Warren Township Trustee this year, a job that pays $47,520 a year. Reliable sources say Brown plans to continue working both as a full-time battalion chief and township trustee if he is elected, allowing him to earn over $160,000 a year from two government paychecks. City-County Councilor Mary Moriarty-Adams earns over $70,000 a year from her make-work job in the county assessor's office in addition to the $16,000 she earned as a councilor, providing a combined $86,000 from two government jobs. Her husband, who draws a pension as a retired police officer, is also drawing a big paycheck for a make-work job in the sheriff's department. Councilor Steve Talley gets about $37,000 a year for a make-work civilian job at IMPD, in addition to the approximately $15,000 a year he makes as a city councilor. Like Brown, Talley is running for a township trustee's job in Lawrence Township this year. That job pays $40,000 a year. A new state law prohibits elected council members like Brown, Adams and Talley from serving as city-county council members and working for either the county or the city at the same time.
Chew on some of these figures while these SOBs prepare to raise your taxes again for public safety. In the words of then-candidate Greg Ballard in 2007, there's a lot of fluff in that budget. Folks complaining about the lack of police officers should start by eliminating at least 50% of the dead weight they have in glorified desk jobs paying big six-figure salaries with take-home car privileges.
Greg Oden Arrested In Lawrence On Domestic Battery Charges
Various local news reports say former Lawrence basketball standout and NBA player Greg Oden was arrested early this morning by Lawrence police on domestic battery charges. News reports indicate Oden is accused of punching a female victim. Oden told police he had dated the victim over the past couple of years but had recently broken up with her. Oden has been booked into the Marion Co. jail and is preliminarily charged with battery. Oden most recently played for the Miami Heat this past evening, which recently released him as a free agent.
Wednesday, August 06, 2014
Board Of Public Works Approves Criminal, One-Sided Agreement With Covanta, Refuses To Allow Public Testimony
Either someone had a gun held to their head or intentionally entered into a one-sided contract with reckless abandon arising out of corrupt dealings. That's the only explanation you can provide for the contract presented by the administration of Mayor Greg Ballard to the Indianapolis Board of Public Works today for public approval that locks the City into a 14-year, recycling agreement worth more than $112 million to a New Jersey-based waste management company, Covanta. You can take it the bank that nobody was holding a gun to Mayor Ballard's head when he approved an agreement that would cost taxpayers $4 million a year in liquidated damages to break when it becomes abundantly clear to Ballard's successor just how badly this agreement screws the general public. The mayoral controlled board rubber-stamped the agreement today. Only one member voted against the approval of the contract, Gregory Garrett, an appointee of the Democratic-controlled council. Other members had no other choice than to support the agreement because their personal financial interests dictate that they cast votes in support of whatever the Ballard administration sticks in front of them for approval. Nobody who can exercise independent judgment is ever appointed to any of these boards; only people beholden to the Pay-To-Play corrupt system upon which every significant government decision is made by this mayor. Because the administration structured the long-term agreement as an amendment to an existing contract as opposed to a new contract, the administration is taking the view that the City-County Council has no say in approving the one-sided agreement. Bend over and take it up the butt one more time for the most corrupt mayor in all of the United States.
Someone asked for a listing of the board members. Ballard's director of the Public Works Department, Lori Miser, chairs the board. Other members include: Robert Parrin, Laura Sniadecki, Dennis Rosebrough, John Charleston, Gregory Garrett and Neil Bloede. I believe you will find that almost all of the board members are either government employees or owners/employees of companies that do business with the government. Two of the members weren't present for the vote. The video hasn't been uploaded to Indy.gov yet so I'm not sure who the absent board members were.
Someone asked for a listing of the board members. Ballard's director of the Public Works Department, Lori Miser, chairs the board. Other members include: Robert Parrin, Laura Sniadecki, Dennis Rosebrough, John Charleston, Gregory Garrett and Neil Bloede. I believe you will find that almost all of the board members are either government employees or owners/employees of companies that do business with the government. Two of the members weren't present for the vote. The video hasn't been uploaded to Indy.gov yet so I'm not sure who the absent board members were.
Indiana Gets Its First Female Supreme Court Chief Justice
The Judicial Nominating Commission met today and interviewed current justices of the Supreme Court to determine who would replace Chief Justice Brent Dickson, who recently announced his decision to step down to Associate Justice ahead of his mandatory retirement. The Commission unanimously voted to name Loretta Rush as the Court's new Chief Justice, making her the Court's first female chief justice. Former Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed Rush, a former Tippecanoe County Superior Court judge, to the bench two years ago to replace retiring Associate Justice Frank Sullivan, Jr. Rush will assume her new duties later this month when Dickson officially steps down.
Gov. Mike Pence released the following statement on Rush's appointment:
“I offer my sincerest congratulations to Justice Loretta Rush on being unanimously selected to be the new Chief Justice of Indiana. With this selection, the Judicial Nominating Commission has made history and ensured that Indiana's Supreme Court will continue to have outstanding leadership in the years ahead. With her extensive legal experience, proven character and commitment to public service, I am confident that Chief Justice Rush will serve our judiciary and our state with distinction."
Gaffe-Prone Biden Calls Africa A Nation
Speaking to 50 world leaders attending President Obama's U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, Vice President Joe Biden mistakenly referred to Africa as a nation instead of a continent. The gaffe-prone veep was recently stung by a report in a new book by Ron Kessler that claims female Secret Service agents deplore being assigned to work for Biden because of his penchant for swimming nude in front of them while at his home in Delaware or his official residence at the Naval Observatory in D.C. Sometimes I think that Obama chose Biden as his vice president simply as insurance against impeachment.
Tuesday, August 05, 2014
Hidden Fees Leave Indy Bikeshare Riders Disappointed
Indy's new Bikeshare program, dubbed Pacers Bikeshare because of a small donation the Pacers made to kick start the program, has hidden fees that are catching riders by surprise. I first learned about this when one of my Facebook friends complained awhile back for getting stuck with an $80 fee for taking out a bike one morning and returning it later in the day. The Star's Dana Hunsinger says the sticker shock from hidden fees associated with the bike rentals is catching a fair number of bicycle enthusiasts by surprise, who are being hit by daily charges of as much as $194. The problem is the failure of renters to read the fine print. That daily membership fee requires you to dock a bicycle within 30 minutes after checking it out. Failing to do so results in compounding fees.
You can buy a 24-hour pass for $8 as part of Indy's new Pacers Bikeshare program and get unlimited use of a bike for 24 hours.
But there's a catch. If you don't check the bike in every 30 minutes at one of 25 stations dotted along the Cultural Trail, that $8 bill will skyrocket to $194 for 24 hours.
Why? Bikes, even with a 24-hour pass or an $80 annual membership, still must be checked in at a station every 30 minutes. If you don't, there are overage fees of $2 for the first 30 minutes and $4 for each 30 minutes after that . . .
Mary Ellen Mellitz counts herself among the confused.
"I was under the idea that this was a 24-pass," said the Crawfordsville woman. "And that meant I could have the bike for 24 hours."
So Mellitz and her sister came Downtown last month for a leisurely Saturday bike ride. They were out eight hours, stopping for lunch, going to the library and enjoying coffee.
That 8-hour ride — without checking in the bikes in at a station — cost each more than $60.
"They need to make this much much clearer to people," she said . . .When I started seeing the astronomical revenues the Bikeshare program was generating during its first couple of months of operation, I assumed there must have been a lot of confused bike renters. It was sort of like Mayor Ballard's privatization of the parking meter assets. Instead of getting one $20 ticket for an expired meter, the private company's meter patrols, who are misnamed "parking ambassadors," were writing multiple tickets for the same parking offense in a single day, leaving motorists with parking fines well north of a hundred dollars. According to Hunsinger's story, if you squawk loud enough about the Bikeshare overcharges, you can get a refund. I've only used a Bikeshare once while on vacation in Miami Beach. Their Bikeshare program allowed you to rent a bike in increments of one, two, four or up to 24 hours for a fixed fee without the need to dock the bike every 30 minutes. I was able to rent a bike for 2 hours for a flat $10 fee.
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