Public Access Counselor Contradicts Itself, Permits Marion County To Withhold Voting History Information

The Marion County Board of Voter Registrations is the only county that we know of in the state of Indiana which blatantly flaunts public accessibility to voter registration and voter history information. The BVR illegally redacted information on the voter's registration form, and it refused to provide me the voter's voting history, relying on a policy adopted by the Marion Co. Board of Elections, the sole purpose of which was to make it impossible for candidates who run against the party's slated candidates to obtain lists of registered voters, along with their voting history, in electronic format. That information is delivered in bulk to the political parties and made widely available to party operatives and political consultants for use in campaigns.

In an opinion last year, the state's Public Access Counselor sided with me in determining that voter registration and voting history I requested on an individual voter was a public record subject to disclosure, notwithstanding the Board of Elections policy. Specifically, the Public Access Counselor wrote:

The Board has not alleged that any record you seek is confidential, but rather the resolution passed by the Marion County Election Board ("MCEB") prohibits the Board of Voter Registration from releasing the record pertaining to the individual. I agree with your interpretation of the law and find the Marion County Board of Voter Registration is misapplying the policy in regard to your request. 

The statute allowing the MCEB to pass the resolution (Ind. Code § 3-7-27-6(c)) strictly applies to lists of names and addresses (See Ind. Code § 5-14-3-3(f)). You did not seek a list but rather an individual record. The Board has not stated any authority declaring an individual’s voter registration record or voting history to be confidential. (emphasis added) 

If the Board maintains a copy of the record you seek (and apparently it does based upon the representations at the end of their letter dated October 8, 2014), then it must release the information to you upon request.

After that ruling, the BVR produced to me the voting registration information without impermissible redactions for IMPD Chief Rick Hite. The BVR confirmed to me there was no voting history for Hite to produce because he had never cast a ballot in any election in Marion County after registering to vote. In a disturbing opinion, the Public Access Counselor has contradicted its November 14, 2014 opinion (14-FC-247) in a newly-released opinion (15-FC-38) based on an identical complaint I filed against the BVR when it refused to release the voter history of two voters seeking election to public office.

I opined in 14-C-247 (sic) that Ind. Code § 3-7-27-6(c) allows the policy to cover lists of names and addresses and individual voter registration records were public record. After reviewing the law yet again, I see no reason to depart from my analysis.

Voter history, however, is a different animal. Ind. Code § 3-27-26.4-8 excludes from disclosable information, among other things, voting history on an individual , in effect, rendering the voting history confidential. While that particular statute applies exclusively to the Indiana Election Division, the APRA states what is confidential to one public agency is confidential to any other agency receiving that information . . . Therefore, voting history is nondisclosable.

This is the most absurd public records request opinion I've ever read. I clearly pointed out to the Public Access Counselor the fact that voting history is shared in bulk to the political parties, the four legislative leaders and even the media can obtain the same information in bulk if it so desires. The political parties upload the bulk electronic data they receive into proprietary databases accessible to thousands of party leaders, party workers and political operatives for use in political campaigns.

If a registered voter casts his or her ballots by absentee ballot instead of voting in-person, the Marion Co. Board of Elections will produce upon request a copy of that person's absentee ballot application. The BVR denied me the voting history for GOP mayoral candidate Chuck Brewer, but the Board of Elections produced to me two absentee ballot applications he completed for the 2014 primary and general elections, which is part of his voting history. Similarly, if you have a the name, date of birth and county of registration for a specific voter, anyone can look up that person's voting registration information on the Statewide Voter Registration System database and learn what, if any, past elections that voter has cast an absentee ballot.

What the Public Access Counselor is saying is that voting history is only confidential with respect to average citizens in some circumstances--namely, when the corrupt party leaders don't want the public to have access to that information. If a private citizens wants to challenge a person's qualification for office based on residency or some other reason, the political appointees of the BVR want to play hide the ball with public information to prevent the challenger from meeting his or her burden of proof in challenging a person's candidacy. The party elites are super citizens who have access to voter history information for their own self-serving purposes the Public Access Counselor claims is confidential to ordinary citizens like me to use against people it wants to bar from participation in the political process. You cannot under any interpretation of law claim a record is confidential if you disclose it in bulk to some citizens. I can drive up to Hamilton County or any other county in the state and obtain the information I requested from Marion County, but there is a different set of rules that apply only to Marion County that block the public from getting information that is clearly a public record. And then they wonder why people have so much distrust and disdain for their government. 

One Former Bloomington Employee Pleads Guilty To Taking Bribes As Another Is Charged With Stealing $430,000

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced new charges against one former Bloomington city employee as another former employee pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme. The city's former parks department officer manager, Judith Siegle, has been charged in a scheme that involved the theft of $430,000 from the city and parks foundation over a several year period. Separately, a former manager of engineering services for the city, Justin Wycoff, pleaded guilty to accepting kickbacks from a local concrete company.

Siegle's embezzlement scheme allegedly spanned a period of 13 years. Siegle is accused of using a credit card of the foundation the parks department oversaw to make purchases for her personal use and caused numerous transfers to be made to her personal bank and credit card accounts from the foundation and city funds. Siegle allegedly concealed her scheme by creating fraudulent bank statements. The 51-year old Siegle faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted of wire fraud.

Wycoff, who was responsible for bidding and awarding contracts for public works projects, admitted he solicited and accepted substantial cash bribes and kickbacks from Roger Hardin and Zach Hardin, owners of Reliable Concrete and Construction Company. In exchange for the favors, Wycoff assisted the Hardins in obtaining over $800,000 in construction contracts over a several year period. In some cases, Wycoff never bothered to obtain bids from other companies. In other cases, Wycoff approved payments of about $300,000 to the Hardins for work that was never performed. Wycoff and the Hardins took steps to conceal their scheme according to the U.S. Attorney's Office by creating false bid proposals after the fact. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Wycoff could face a prison term of 51 to 63 months. He will also be ordered to make restitution of more than $446,000.

Three Indianapolis City Workers Plead Guilty To Stealing Scrap Metal

Stealing is stealing, but not all stealing is equal. In Indianapolis, only public officials and employees engaged in small-time theft will be prosecuted. That's what three Department of Public Works employees learned the hard way. David Herre, Terry Lee and Edward Lawson, all mechanics at the DPW's Belmont location, pleaded guilty to stealing brake drums, brake rotors, fire apparatus pumps and copper wire to sell as scrap metal.

Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry, who is unable to see the larger elephants in the room, commented on today's guilty pleas. "Employee theft causes significant loss for businesses, and in cases such as this, taxpayer funded agencies," Curry said. "I encourage anyone to report employee theft to a police agency and hold the individual responsible."

All hope isn't lost for these three city workers. The three men will be suspended from DPW for just one year and be able to return to their jobs if they complete the required 80 hours of community service and pay restitution to the city. The amount of restitution is $395.80 for Herre, $628.68 for Lee and $240.00 for Lawson. That will put a real dent in the hundreds of millions of dollars Mayor Ballard has pilfered the past seven plus years for the benefit of his political cronies.

Ballard Administration Tapped Downtown TIF Fund For Nearly $1.6 Million To Pay Consultants For Justice Center Project

Advance Indiana has learned City-County Council members were just informed by the Indianapolis city controller's office that it made payments to consultants in late December of last year totaling nearly $1.6 million out of the downtown TIF district. Even worse, the payments were made by the Ballard administration without first seeking approval of the Metropolitan Development Commission, the first known instance of a vendor being paid TIF funds without the MDC's prior approval. Additionally, it has been learned that the law firm of Bingham Greenebaum Doll has been paid at least $600,000 more than the $1.5 million the city was contractually obligated to pay the firm under the terms of an October 2013 legal engagement agreement.

The City-County Council learned last year that the administration had illegally entered into contracts with various consultants on the proposed Marion County Criminal Justice Center in late 2013 totaling at least $12.6 million without first obtaining an appropriation from the council or even bothering to notify the council of the significant encumbrance. The administration skipped one month's lease payments in the 2013 budget and transferred money between funds in order to free up enough money to pay the unauthorized consultancy fees without the council's knowledge.

In addition, only Advance Indiana has reported the fact that the administration in an unprecedented move agreed to pay up to $1.5 million to the two losing bidders who competed against WMB Heartland Justice Partners for the 35-year, $1.75 billion contract to build, operate and maintain the criminal justice center. Advance Indiana's reporting has shown that the flawed bidding process undertaken by the administration for the P3 agreement was nothing more than a rigged bidding process intended to give the public the false appearance a competitive bidding process had been undertaken. The Ballard administration unilaterally decided this project would be undertaken as a public-private partnership agreement, likely because it allowed the administration to skirt any public referendum process for the massive project, without first consulting the council. If the council turns down the proposal at this point, taxpayers will be out at least $15 million in wasted expenditures, but that may well be the council's only choice given the much larger amount of public money at stake if it goes forward with the badly-flawed proposal.

UPDATE: Here's an informal opinion just released by the state's Public Access Counselor in response to inquiries by Bingham Greenebaum Doll of the propriety of redacting certain information from the proposal submitted by WMB Heartland Justice Partners' winning bid to build, operate and maintain the proposed criminal justice center. The Public Access Counselor says it was allowed to review the redacted information in camera and determined it complies with APRA. The opinion does not state the basis for the redacted information, which would help in analyzing the compliance with the law. I guess we'll just have to take their word for it. I've not had the opportunity to review the proposal documents just uploaded to the City's website, but if you click the link, you can see that the financial proposal document is so heavily redacted that it provides little benefit to anyone from the public trying to make sense of it. Essentially, we're paying millions of dollars to this law firm to figure out any way possible to hide anything of value from the public about this extremely corrupt deal brokered by an organized crime syndicate known as the Downtown Mafia.

The Indianapolis Star has published a rather lengthy story about the possible benefits/downside of the proposed criminal justice center project. Unfortunately, the story barely touches the surface and ignores the overwhelming evidence Advance Indiana has presented to prove this and the Long Beach Courthouse project in California upon which the Marion County project is based were both rigged deals engineered by the same suspect group of bidders. To demonstrate just how flawed the story is, it relies upon the one-sided Ohio River bridge projects the Daniels administration entered into with the state of Kentucky and a group of politically-connected contractors, including Walsh Construction, a key partner in the winning justice center project, as an example of why this P3 project will succeed:

The administration’s go-to example of this sort of deal done right is the Ohio River Bridges Project in Southern Indiana and Louisville, Ky. Indiana law allows for public-private partnerships. Kentucky law doesn’t. 

Using a traditional procurement, Kentucky has shaved $41.8 million off initial costs estimates of $1.31 billion — a 3 percent savings, according to the project’s last financial update in September 2014. 

Using the performance-based private model, Indiana blew Kentucky’s bridge savings out of the water. Indiana is now expected to spend $1.06 billion — down 17 percent from pre-construction estimates of $1.28 billion. 

That’s not the only perk. Indiana’s contract includes a 35-year maintenance agreement. Will Wingfield, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said that should cover three major repavings, plus joint work, bridge inspections and plowing when it snows.

“On a traditional bid contract they’re competing over who can get concrete and dirt and steel to the site the least expensive way possible,” Wingfield said. “This, they’re looking at costs in the long run.”

That example is so misplaced I don't know where to begin. The fact is Indiana is paying a disproportionate share of the costs for those two bridges. Motorists will be hit with tolls for the first time to cross the Ohio River to enter Louisville using one of the two new bridges. There is plenty reason to believe the traffic studies were badly flawed just like the traffic studies used by the original buyers of the Indiana Toll Road, which is being bought out of bankruptcy less than a decade after the deal was executed. The P3 operators of the two bridges bear no risks. If the tolls are insufficient to cover debt service on the bonds, money will have to be diverted from road funds used to pay for maintenance and new projects elsewhere in the state. Until the bridges are completed and the P3 operator starts collecting tolls, we won't know just how much of a success or boondoggle this project will turn out to be. The latter, however, to the least of the discerning seems to be the more likely outcome.

Jeffersonville Council Candidate Won't Get The Charlie White Treatment

John Perkins

The Clark Co. Election Board ruled correctly when it bounced John Perkins off the ballot for Jeffersonville city council last month. Perkins served as a member of the Clark Co. Board of Commissioners through the end of last year, claiming he resided in a home in Bethlehem in the Third District on which he claimed a homestead exemption. Perkins now claims to be shacking up with Diane Swank in her condominium located in Jeffersonsville's city council District 1 when he filed to run in January. Under Indiana law, Perkins must have resided within the city limits for at least one year prior to this year's November election, and at least six months prior to the election within the district he is seeking election.

Clark Co. Circuit Court Judge Drew Adams, who heard Perkins' appeal of the election board's decision, overturned the election board's decision and concluded the challenge to his residency failed to satisfy the burden of proving Perkins didn't meet the residency requirement. "It is the opinion of this court that the challenger did not meet his burden to dispute the residency of Perkins ... and the Clark County Election Boards [sic] conclusion is contrary to the evidence presented as well as contrary to the specific findings issued by the defendant,” Adams’ order states. "The order also refers to several similar cases in Indiana as precedent for his decision," the Jeffersonville News & Tribune reported.

In order to find in Perkins' favor, the evidence would have to show Perkins served as a county commissioner and drew a salary for that position after he moved out of his home in Bethlehem and into the condominium owned by Swank at least one year prior to the November election. What do you want to bet that Perkins won't be charged with theft or vote fraud for relying upon his Bethlehem residence as his voting residence so he could continue to serve as a county commissioner through the end of last year like former Secretary of State Charlie White was? Perkins, by the way, voted to name Swank as the county's insurance agent of record while he served as a commissioner, although he claims he was not romantically involved with her at the time.

Perkins' attorney, Mickey Weber, agreed with Judge Adams' decision but differed on the rationale for the ruling. Weber asserted that the citizen complaint against Perkins only mentioned he failed to satisfy the 6-month residency requirement for living in District 1, not the city's municipal boundaries. "A person could move to the first district in May and still meet the district requirement," Weber said. The news story doesn't mention if or when Perkins removed the homestead exemption he claimed on his Bethlehem home. State law required him to make application to remove it within 60 days after he stopped claiming it as his primary residence. Perkins claims the home he relied upon for residency while serving on the county commissioners is now just a vacation home.

Schock's Financial Success Tied To Campaign Donors

This is pretty common stuff in American politics today, but the media is for whatever reason bringing it into sharp focus with the meteoric rise to political fame of Aaron Schock, the GOP cake boy turned congressman who now appears to have been cast out by the ruling elites. An AP story pieces together how Schock managed to score so much financial success in real estate deals which started as early as when he was in high school and purchased farmland he flipped with a sale to to a local sewage district for a profit of more than $100,000 two years later. Here's a sample of what the AP's Jeff Horwitz writes about:

Schock’s business career began early. In high school, he bought 107 acres of farmland near Peoria - property he sold to the local sewage district two years later for more than $100,000 in profit. As a college student, he bought three rental properties across the street from Bradley University, selling them to the school a few years later for a profit of more than $120,000 . . . 

In 2007, Peoria businessman Samuel Hoerr obtained permits to build a home on a Schock-owned vacant lot in the luxury golf course development called Augusta Estates. Schock and Hoerr - himself a financial contributor - have been both listed as owners in varying local real estate records. Sam Hoerr did not respond to a telephone message left at his business. Members of the Hoerr family - a prominent Peoria family with interests in real estate and construction - have donated nearly $80,000 to Schock’s campaign and supporting political committees since 2007. Schock’s sister and campaign manager, Tania Hoerr, married into the family . . . 

His financial records show that Schock also earns between $50,000 and $100,000 each year in rental income from a Peoria apartment complex, once owned by an advocacy group that supports many conservative causes like opposing gay marriage. The National Christian Foundation received the stake in the apartments as a donation from a Schock contributor, then sold the investment to Schock and Hoerr family investments in 2007, according to tax filings reviewed by the AP. The foundation declined to comment on its role in the transaction.

Schock emerged from the deal with a 16 percent stake in the apartments, his share valued at $684,000 based on the purchase price. Financial disclosures show he borrowed more than $500,000 to pay for the apartment investments. Schock then switched that loan to Backlund’s bank as well . . . 

In 2008, according to financial records, Schock took out a loan worth between $500,000 and $1 million from Better Banks, a local banking chain controlled by Schock campaign contributor Steve Backlund. Schock told the Peoria Journal Star late that year that the loan actually was for $720,000. The property sold in late 2012 for $925,000 to a Peoria couple who also donated to Schock's House races . . . 

Not bad for someone who has been on a public payroll since almost the time he reached puberty. Read the whole story here. Politics and business in America is rigged for the chosen few. At an early age, the powers that be decide who will find success in this country and who won't. It doesn't happen by chance. The financial success of several of Indiana's congressional delegation, past and present, is quite eye-opening--if the media ever dares to go there. Wake up, America.

Sun-Times: Obamas Plan To Live In New York, Not Chicago

The fake First Couple are making plans to live in New York City, not the Second City when President Barack Obama's two terms come to an end according to the Chicago Sun-Times' columnist Michael Sneed. According to Sneed's sources, the Obamas prefer the Big Apple because it's "a happening place" and they don't "think the emotional tie to Chicago is what it once was . . . not sophisticated enough." "New York is what they want," a source told Sneed. "They are both going to be traveling; being on boards; making speeches; earning a lot more than a White House salary. It’s called the presidential gravy train." Sneed's sources tell her Obama only picked Chicago to launch his political career because it was "easier to get into politics here."

Sneed hints that a decision on the future location of a presidential library hangs in the balance. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose own career hangs in the balance, has been lobbying hard to locate Obama's presidential library in Chicago. "It all depends on who comes up with the most money to get the project done the way the Obamas want it done — and how hard the Obamas are willing to work to raise money to get it done," a top political analyst told Sneed. According to Sneed, the Obamas have been having hush-hush dinners with billionaires they plan to rely upon to raise the money required to establish the library.

How disgusting. The man's biographical narrative is based upon one lie after another. His presidential library will be the first to house nothing but fiction. When will some one in the American news media get the courage to tell the American people who this man really is--a totally manufactured character created by the Central Intelligence Agency?  He is the biggest political fraud in the history of the United States and is the surest sign we are headed the way of Rome.

Retired Ball State Professor And Journalism Hall Of Famer Accused Of Molesting Boy

Dr. Melvin Lee Sharpe became somewhat of an institution at Ball State University "where he molded the public relations sequence [within the university's journalism department] into the highly regarded program it is known" over the 25 years he taught there before his retirement in 2007. Now the 78-year old retiree stands accused of molesting a boy over a five-year period which began when the boy was just 7 years old.

Dr. Sharpe, who faces charges of child molestation and solicitation, is the recipient of many awards, including the Outstanding Professional Service Award and the Outstanding Faculty Service Award. He was inducted into BSU's Journalism Hall of Fame in 2006. According to a probable cause affidavit, Sharpe told police he had nothing to hide, including taking showers with his accuser. Sharpe said he was just trying to teach the boy how to bathe, and the physical contact he had with him only occurred once.

Deep Budget Cuts Required To Pay For Marion County Criminal Justice Center

The Ballard administration has been feeding this lie for the past year about how it's possible to get a brand new criminal justice center costing at least a half billion dollars to construct for no more than the city-county government currently spends on its current facilities. They actually claim it will cost $3 million a year less. "Really, where we've succeeded and where everyone else has failed in looking at this is we've found a way to make the finances work,"  says David Rosenberg, one of the cake boys working for Mayor Ballard who doesn't know his ass from first base.

The reality is that deep budget cuts are required to make that pipe dream possible because the supposed savings claimed by the Ballard administration are purely illusory. A "confidential" document claims $50 million in savings annually according to an Indianapolis Star report. Where do are those savings attributed? The biggest savings is eliminating annual payments made to Corrections Corporation of America to operate Jail II, which are projected to be $22.8 million by the time the new jail is ready for use, which is $4 million more than the CCA contract currently costs.

The other savings are highly speculative. The administration believes $10 million will be saved through staff reductions. Remember the large savings promised from law enforcement consolidation back in 2005? Yeah, none of those savings ever materialized. Ditto the merger of township fire departments into IFD, which only increased the cost of providing fire protection. Nearly $10 million is claimed in savings from rent paid on the two jail buildings, both of which are owned by the Marion Co. Building Authority. There will also supposedly be over $4 million in health care cost savings from treating inmates in-house rather than sending them over to Eskanazi Hospital. There's also projected new revenues of nearly $4 million from parking fees and another $2 million for a possible contract to handle federal inmates.

Time is running out, and the administration wants the City-County Council not to waste any time kicking the tires before driving off with this one. There's only a little more than nine months left for this administration to steal everything that's not nailed down. Why not just one more big round of payoffs, kickbacks and bribes before the most corrupt mayor in the city's history calls it a day?