St. Joseph County Council Member And GOP Chairman Resigns After Abortion Measure Fails

A member of the St. Joseph County Council and Republican county chairman, Dan Herbster, announced he was resigning both positions last night after a controversial abortion measure he had pushed failed on a 6-3 party line vote. The ordinance authored by Herbster imposed greater restrictions on abortion providers by requiring them to have admitting privileges at local hospitals or an agreement with a doctor who does. Herbster told the South Bend Tribune his resignation had nothing to do with the defeat of the measure. He plans to attend officer training school for the U.S. Army at Fort Benning, Georgia next month after he says he felt a called to join the arm services. Herbster is a Mishawaka attorney.

Tim Berry Out As State GOP Chairman

The Indianapolis Star's Tom LoBianco is the first to report on the planned departure of Tim Berry as Indiana State Republican Party Chairman. Berry resigned his statewide Auditor's office early to assume the party chairmanship after party leaders asked him to make the move so Gov. Mike Pence could name his replacement in an effort to block former State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who was term-limited from seeking another term as Treasurer, from running for Auditor.

LoBianco's report says Jeff Cardwell, who currently runs Pence's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, is Pence's likely choice to replace Berry. Sources tell Advance Indiana that Berry will be offered a job in the administration in exchange for stepping down as chairman. Some party leaders were highly critical of Berry's ineffectiveness as state chairman. His critics complained he was doing little more than sitting around the office gossiping and keeping the chairman's seat warm.

Hillary Clinton's Top Aides At State Used Private E-Mail Account As Well

Clinton with Huma Abedin

The Weekly Standard's Stephen Hayes and others are reporting that Hillary Clinton's top aides at the State Department also shared private e-mail accounts using the computer server she set up at her personal residence. That blows a major hole in Clinton's argument that her e-mails were officially preserved because other State Department officials with whom she communicated used government e-mail accounts.

Aides identified include her long-time executive assistant, Huma Abedin, the wife of the disgraced former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner of Sydney Leathers sexting fame, and Cheryl Mills, her chief of staff at the State Department. The Gawker also separately reports that Phillipe Raines, Clinton's top communications strategist at State, also had one of the clintonemail.com e-mail addresses.

Clinton was already caught in a lie when she claimed at a press conference yesterday that among the 30,000 e-mails she did not turn over to the State Department were personal e-mails she exchanged with family members, including former President Bill Clinton. whose top aides say he has only sent two e-mails his entire life, both of which occurred while he was still president.

Clinton's problems were compounded after the AP filed suit today to force the State Department to turn over e-mails Clinton exchanged with State Department officials during her tenure, along with other government documents accumulated during her tenure as Secretary of State. The AP had requested the documents before it was made known that Clinton had exclusively used a private e-mail account hosted on an e-mail server in her home. Clinton only recently turned over about 50,000 pages of e-mails she sent from that private e-mail account after deleting e-mails she claimed were of a private nature.

Australian Company Pays $5.725 Billion For Bankrupt Indiana Toll Road

This is the definition of insanity. An Australian company, IFM Investors, has paid $5.725 billion to purchase ITR Concession Co.'s interest in the Indiana Toll Road from the bankruptcy trustee. Yes, that's nearly $2 billion more than ITR paid for the toll road in 2006 before it racked up nearly $6 billion in debt before going bankrupt. The Indiana Finance Authority, which oversees the toll road, has given its blessings to the deal. Can someone explain to me how IFM can turn a profit with nearly $6 billion in debt when ITR couldn't make it happen with annual revenue projections of $230 million?

Judge Tosses Westfield Open Door Lawsuit

As expected, Hamilton Circuit Court Judge Paul Felix tossed a lawsuit filed by Westfield mayoral candidate Jeff Harpe challenging the city's $53 million plan to allow the politically-connected Holladay Properties firm to develop an indoor soccer arena based on the council's violation of the state's Open Door Law in approving the one-sided deal. Judge Felix's ruling was based on Harpe's failure to bring the lawsuit within the 30-day time period required by law. Now maybe his attorney will actually file a lawsuit that will stand up in court--like the fact that Mayor Andy Cook bypassed the mandatory RFP requirement set forth in state law in handpicking Holladay Properties to build the indoor soccer arena.

Little Media Coverage Of Indy Land Bank Corruption Trial

How corrupt business is transacted as a matter of course by the City of Indianapolis is not newsworthy for most of our local media, particularly the Indianapolis Star. The IBJ's Cory Schouten appears to be the only local reporter spending much time at the federal corruption trial taking place in Judge William Lawrence's courtroom. This is the case involving members of the Ballard administration using the Indy Land Bank, which is supposed to help turn abandoned homes and properties throughout the city back into productive use, as an opportunity for kickbacks, bribes and payoffs. The former director of the Indy Land Bank, Reggie Walton, is the one in the hot seat in this trial. Several other co-conspirators, including former mayoral aide John Hawkins, have already pleaded guilty.

Schouten had an interesting item in an updated story yesterday in which he said testimony by an undercover FBI agent revealed for the first time that the land bank corruption wasn't the original target of a public corruption task force assembled to combat rampant corruption in Indianapolis, an investigation to date which has been largely a big bust. Schouten describes the failed investigation:

The Land Bank, and Walton, were not the FBI's initial target. The undercover agent, who entered and exited the federal courthouse through private entrances, acknowledged Thursday during cross-examination by Walton's attorney that he had come to town on a separate case that "went in another direction."

The agent, posing as a private investor, had come to Indianapolis as part of a public-corruption task force to investigate a tip about alleged bribes tied to an energy deal at the Indianapolis International Airport.

Foreman was introduced to businessman Gene McFadden, one of the high-profile partners in BHMM Energy, which in 2006 won a 10-year contract in partnership with Citizens Energy Group to operate an energy plant serving the airport's new midfield terminal.

The other principals in BHMM: Vicky A. Bailey, former president of PSI Energy Inc.; Barrett Hatches, former CEO of Northern Indianapolis Public Service Co.; and the late Indianapolis business leader William G. Mays, of Mays Chemical.

(The airport canceled the deal and sought new bids in 2012, but it wasn't clear whether a new deal was struck. Airport officials did not immediately return an email or phone message. A phone number listed for McFadden was disconnected.)

The government's investigation into the airport deal went nowhere and was dropped. No one was charged.

But McFadden suggested the eager-for-deals undercover FBI agent meet Walton, a city employee he described as well-connected and capable of making things happen for investor partners.

In a Feb. 14, 2012, meeting with McFadden, Walton and the FBI agent, Walton admitted his government position had allowed him to get paid a little extra on the side.

Oh yes, the Indianapolis International Airport that its former board president, Lacy Johnson, blatantly used to enrich all of his cronies. Businessman William Mays, who died recently, was a frequent beneficiary of Johnson's deal-making around state and local government in Indiana. You can take it to the bank that the investigation went nowhere because, like every investigation that threatens the powerful in this town, some one inside the investigation tips them off and compromises the investigation. So instead of seeing the big fish behind public corruption in Indianapolis getting their comeuppance, we're treated to show trials involving low-hanging fruit like Lincoln Plowman and Reggie Walton. I'm still trying to figure out why Mays and other big shots never got prosecuted for the blatant insider trading they engaged when First Indiana Bank on whose board Mays served was being acquired by Marshall and Isley.

Politico: Schock Not Sure If He Broke Any Laws

The high-flying Illinois Republican congressman, Aaron Schock, tells Politico he's unsure if his questionable congressional office and campaign spending crossed legal boundaries. The 33-year old congressman has already repaid the government tens of thousands of dollars he improperly billed taxpayers. "Well, I certainly hope not," Schock said. "I’m not an attorney." Schock told Politico in a face-to-face interview he does his "best" and takes his responsibility to comply with the law "seriously." "That’s what we can all do, is our best effort," Schock said. Spoken like the overly worshiped millennial he is.

Schock knows he's guilty as hell when he starts playing the "everyone else is doing" excuse for his actions. He complained that if reporters spent as much time digging into other members of Congress as they have him, they "could find a story to write about any member of Congress." Yes, after going out of his way to draw media attention to himself anyway he could, including stripping down to show off his six-pack chest, he's now whining that he's being unfairly targeted by the media.

Conservatives within the Republican Party long ago were turned off by Schock, who pretended to be a conservative when he first ran for Congress but has been anything but since he started casting votes. Not surprisingly, columnists for Redstate Blog and the National Review have already called on him to resign. Ironically, the likely benefactor if he resigns is State Sen. Darin LaHood, son of Schock's predecessor, U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, who served as Transportation Secretary in the Obama administration and now works for Meridiam, the multi-national infrastructure firm that Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard awarded the bid to build a new criminal justice system for Marion County. Darin LaHood also works in Schock's congressional district office and is even more of a RINO than Schock.

State Rep. Justin Moed Busted Sexting Sydney Leathers

If you thought former U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) would be the last politician to see his political career shaken over sexting allegations involving Indiana's own Sydney Leathers, the Democratic political activist turned porn star, think again. She's now ensnared State Rep. Justin Moed (D-Indianapolis), and the gossip website The Dirty has the NSFW pictures to prove it. Leathers claims the 31-year old single (but engaged) lawmaker sent a number of sexually graphic text messages to her in which he refers to himself as her "Bitch Boy." Moed also supposedly sent gifts from Amazon to Leathers, including a collar with a leash. Leathers claims Moed wanted to be forced to wear a French maid outfit and clean house while she degraded him. He also allegedly wanted to be tied up and left in a closet to watch her having sex with her boyfriend.

Local news reports in Indiana are now picking up on what the New York Post's Page Six first reported last week that Leathers was about to out another lawmaker from the Midwest.  

This time she’s exposed the kinky fetishes of a Democratic state legislator in the Midwest who responded as “Bitch Boy” when she advertised for a submissive she could “financially dominate.”  

Leathers, who lives in Evansville, Ind., said Bitch Boy was careful to never give her his name — he sent money to her through a prepaid PayPal card — but didn’t realize his name was on the shoes and lingerie he sent her through Amazon. 

“I’m a little speechless,” Leathers told me. “I Googled him and found out he’s a lawmaker. Apparently only politicians can pick up on my pheromones.” 

Leathers has never met Bitch Boy, or even talked on the phone. Their entire relationship has been via text messaging. In honor of “Fifty Shades of Grey,” here is a sample: Bitch Boy: “I am your property to do with as you wish, Mistress.” Sydney: “Yes, because you are weak and pathetic and useless.”  

“This guy is into some really freaky stuff,” Leathers said. “He liked the idea of buying me a strap-on to use on him. He wanted to be forced to wear a French maid outfit and clean my house while I degraded him. He wanted to be tied up and left in a closet to watch me have sex with my boyfriend.” 

Leathers, who describes herself as “about as liberal as you can get,” said, “I’m really sad. I was really hoping it was a Republican.” And she hopes he doesn’t lose his job. “Is he displaying poor judgment by sexting me of all people? Obviously. But should sexual situations define politicians? They are human, after all.” Some apparently are more human than others. 

"Apparently only politicians can pick up on my pheromones.” - the infamous Sydney Leathers http://t.co/t8ZNzJ6j5R pic.twitter.com/P7YaohZvnH
— Page Six (@PageSix) March 5, 2015

UPDATE: Rep. Moed releases a statement through Bose Public Affairs Group according to WISH-TV confirming what we already knew as he went into hiding from State House reporters today. Why is he paying a high-paid lobbying firm at the center of no good over at the State House to speak for him? And who was going to pay for the hotel room he promised to find for Leathers and her boyfriend at the Conrad Hilton?

 “I am truly sorry I have hurt the ones I love most with my poor judgment. I am committed to rebuilding trust with my family and my community. This is a private matter and I ask for it to be treated as such. I apologize to my constituents and to everyone I have let down.”

It's interesting that Moed is engaged to Rachel Ranz, a pharmacist at Roudebush VA Hospital, which was already in the news nationally this week over the controversial e-mails a manager, Robin Paul, sent to co-workers mocking suicidal veterans.

Moed with his fiance, Rachel Ranz

Nobody should be surprised by this, least of all the State House media, since the topic of this year's Gridiron Dinner was anything related to sex. Rep. Moed sure gives new meaning to being a Minority Whip.

VA Manager Now Placed On Administrative Leave Following National Media Uproar

The manager at Roudebush VA Hospital in Indianapolis who created an uproar after the Indianapolis Star revealed e-mails she had sent containing images mocking suicidal veterans has now been placed on administrative leave following the viral news coverage over the past 24 hours according to multiple media reports. WTHR-TV has this statement from the hospital's director, Tom Mattice, on Robin Paul, manager of the hospital's Seamless Transition Integrated Care Clinic, being placed on administrative leave.

"The email message that was sent out by Ms. Paul is completely and totally unacceptable. It in no way reflects the attitudes of our staff toward our patients. We take great pride in the quality of care and the empathetic outreach we provide to the veterans we have the honor of serving," Mattice said. 

"Let me emphasize that the staff at the Roudebush VA Medical Center have the highest regard for the veterans we serve. We fully understand it is an honor and a privilege to be able to serve our nation's veterans, and we take that responsibility very seriously. Our core values of Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence must be reflected in everything we do. I ask Veterans to accept my apology for this failure, and to allow us to continue to demonstrate to you our commitment to your health and well-being."