McCain In The Driver's Seat With South Carolina Win

Sen. John McCain did tonight what he couldn't do eight years ago. Follow up a win in the first in the nation primary, New Hampshire, with a first in the South primary win in South Carolina. McCain beats Gov. Mike Huckabee by several points with Thompson and Romney finishing a distant third and fourth, respectively. Huckabee didn't handle losing well, suggesting McCain won the race dishonorably. He may as well pack his bags and go home. His first and perhaps only primary win will come in his home state of Arkansas. Winning the Iowa Caucus doesn't count for much at this point.

Gov. Mitt Romney scored a caucus win in Nevada, but it doesn't come close to matching McCain's two big primary state wins. Remember, Nevada is one of the few, big Mormon states and nearly half of Romney's votes in Nevada came from Mormon voters. There are no states on the horizon where he is leading in the polls. His campaign is alive, but not by much. If it is a two-man race at this point, it is McCain versus Romney.

And I still maintain that the fat lady is singing for Rudy Giuliani's campaign. He had one of his worst showings tonight, finishing sixth place behind Ron Paul with about 2% of the vote in South Carolina. Polls now show him trailing McCain in Florida's January 29 primary and California's February 5 primary. McCain is tied with Giuliani in his own back yard in New Jersey's February 5 primary. I don't see how Giuliani can afford to lose any of these states and remain viable. His problem is that he has absolutely no momentum on his side, unlike McCain and Romney.

Sorry Hillary, But Obama Won Nevada

The news media very quickly declared Sen. Hillary Clinton the winner of today's Nevada Democratic Caucus. Indeed, she has won the popular vote by fewer than 600 votes statewide with 97% of the votes counted. However, what really counts in the presidential nominating process is the number of delegates a candidate wins. On that score, Obama is the winner, picking up 13 delegates to Hillary's 12 delegates. So while the mainstream media declares Hillary a big winner tonight, Advance Indiana congratulates fellow Illinoisan Barack Obama on his Nevada victory.

What Were These Men Doing On The Streets?

Police continue holding three men for questioning as persons of interest in Monday night's quadruple murder at a Hovey Street house. The Star's Tim Evans fills us in today on the three men's long criminal histories. Evans writes:

The men Indianapolis police are questioning about the Hovey Street killings have extensive police records, including crimes involving weapons, drugs and violence.

Police declined Friday to discuss developments in the investigation or provide any information about the men. But a check of records from Marion County law enforcement and courts, Indianapolis Public Schools and the Indiana Department of Correction reveals Tommy Warren, 24, Zarumin Coleman, 21, and Jasper Frazier, 36, have long histories of trouble with the law.

Warren and Coleman were taken into custody midweek on unrelated charges, and Frazier turned himself in to authorities in Ohio.

Police have confirmed the three were being questioned in the Monday slayings of Gina Hunt, 24; her son Jordan Hunt, 23 months; Andrea Yarrell, 24; and her daughter, Charlii Yarrell, 4 months.

Evans provides detailed summaries of the men's criminal records, including the following:

Tommy Warren

Warren has been named in more than two dozen police reports since 2001 and was taken into custody multiple times," Evans writes. "In November, a woman reported Warren pulled a semi-automatic handgun on her in the 2000 block of North LaSalle Street and took $290." "The police report indicates officers could not locate him."

Zarumin Coleman, Jr.

Coleman was sent to the Department of Correction on Nov. 12, 2002, on
Marion County convictions for possession of cocaine or narcotic drugs, dangerous possession of a handgun, and possession of a handgun without a license.

He was sent back to DOC on March 29, 2006, after being convicted of attempted robbery in Marion County. He was released Sept. 29, 2006.

Police reports show Coleman was 16 when he and another teen threatened two people at a Rally's restaurant on West 16th Street in June 2002.

Coleman and the other youth fled but were apprehended a short time later; the victims identified Coleman as the one who had pointed a gun at them, police said. In February 2005, he was arrested on charges of robbery, criminal confinement and intimidation in a dispute after he bought a used car. The report said Coleman and another man attempted to make the seller give back the money and took him to a bank to get the money.

Once inside the bank, the victim sought help and police arrived.

In January 2006, he was charged with possession of marijuana or hash, driving with a suspended license and failure to have proper headlamps after a traffic stop. The police report said Coleman was on probation at the time for auto theft.

A month later, he was charged with possession of marijuana and driving
while suspended after another traffic stop on the Near Northside.

Jasper Frazier

Department of Correction records show he was sentenced May 10, 2002, for carrying a handgun without a license and released Sept. 30, 2003. He was sentenced to DOC again Nov. 11, 2006, for residential entry and released July 10, 2007. Both offenses occurred in St. Joseph County.

In Marion County, police reports show Frazier was arrested on a DWI charge in March 2006. And Jan. 1, police were called to Methodist Hospital, where a Mooresville woman told police Frazier punched her in the face and threw her to the ground. The woman identified Frazier as her on-again off-again boyfriend and said they had been drinking when he became violent.

Should anyone be surprised by Monday night's shooting deaths when people like this who commit multiple felonies are able to return to the streets so soon after committing crimes? On another note, I was listening this morning to Steve Simpson's radio talk show on WIBC when a caller called in to complain that IMPD brass had ordered that police escorts be furnished to the funeral procession today for Gina Hunt and her two-year-old child, Jordan. The caller complained that police escorts in funerals are only used for fallen police officers and dignitaries; other families are required to pay the cost of escorts out of their own pockets as part of the funeral costs. The person complained that police were inappropriately being used to escort "drug dealers" around town. If anyone knows more about this, please share it.

Star Finally Reports On Death Of Billboards

The Star's Jeff Swiatek plays catch up on my previous reporting about Mayor Ballard's decision to order his corporation counsel to make sure Pinnacle Media's ten billboards are torn down as already ordered by the Marion County Environmental Court. Pinnacle Media, which sold advertising on the billboards through the end of November, claims it has no money to do it and has agreed to allow the City to use self-help to get the job done. Observers say the well-placed signs could have generated up to $2 million annually in advertising revenue for the company. Note that today's story comes a day after Advance Indiana noted a Star reader's letter to the editor complaining that the newspaper wasn't covering the story. Swiatek writes:

Ten in-your-face interstate billboards in Indianapolis that were subjects of an 8-year-old lawsuit over their legality finally will be torn down.

And the city itself may end up doing the honors because the billboard company that erected the signs has gone out of business.

“Those signs are going to come down very shortly,” Chris Cotterill, the city’s corporate counsel, said Friday.An agreement between the city and billboard owner Pinnacle Media, filed Friday in the environmental division of Marion Superior Court, gives the city the right to remove the large, free-standing signs, which sit on steel poles with the girth of century oaks.

The city sought the right to remove the signs on its own because Pinnacle hadn’t done it, despite being ordered by the court last fall to remove them, Cotterill said.

Pinnacle did remove the advertising displayed on the signs. The signs went blank in late November, said Pinnacle’s attorney, Alan S. Townsend.

But he said Pinnacle doesn’t have the money to take down the huge signs. Each costs an estimated $10,000 to tear down, Cotterill said. Pinnacle went out of business in part because of the city’s lawsuit that led to it losing the 10 choicely located billboards and the revenue they generate, Townsend said.

Losing the lawsuit was “one of the causes for them to no longer be in business,” he said.

Pinnacle had been based in Indianapolis. It now has no office or employees, Townsend said. Its managing partner who signed the agreement filed Friday with the city is Randy Chirico, who Townsend said is an Illinois businessman.

Pinnacle had contracted with another billboard company to sell advertising on the signs and maintain them, Townsend said. He said he couldn’t comment on what happened to the ad revenue Pinnacle stood to collect from the signs during the 11 months last year that they were rented.

The agreement gives the city the right to bill Pinnacle for the cost of tearing down the signs.

But Pinnacle doesn’t have the money to pay for the tear-down, so “we’re working with the city … to find a buyer for the signs” that will be allowed to keep the signs if it removes them, Townsend said.

Cotterill said, “We’re looking to find a no-cost option to remove them … so the taxpayer doesn’t have to pay $1.”

He said Mayor Greg Ballard, who took office this month, ordered the city’s legal staff to push Pinnacle to remove the billboards. “He took a keen interest in this,” Cotterill said . . .

“We are certainly disappointed with the result” of the lawsuit, Townsend
said. “Pinnacle handled every aspect of building and constructing these signs in
the right way.”

Norm Pace of the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, which
had fought to get the billboards removed because it deems them unsightly, said
the impending tear-down is grounds for celebration.

“We will be there to toast with a glass of milk these signs coming down,”
Pace said.

As Advance Indiana previously reported, two out-of-state billboard companies have offered to remove the signs free of charge to the City as long as they are permitted to retain ownership of the signage materials. Pinnacle's suggestion that it had no resources to get the job done simply rings hollow to those who have been fighting for their removal all these years. Pinnacle sold its assets to Lamar in 2004 for over $10 million, but Pinnacle retained ownership of the disputed Indianapolis signs while the company continued to fight it out with the City over their legality. Persons close to the dispute say Pinnacle contracted with Lamar to maintain the signs and sell advertising following the sale.

County Assessor Takes Over For Incapable Center Township Assessor

Marion County property tax bills will be at least a month late this year according to Marion County Assessor Greg Bowes. These bills will include the reassessment Gov. Mitch Daniels ordered conducted last year and will include a reconciliation bill for the difference between what property owners paid last year based upon the previous years' taxes and the newly-assessed amount. Not surprisingly, Marion County Assessor Greg Bowes found the Center Township Assessor, a former IPS janitorial supervisor, incapable of doing his job. "Bowes said his office has taken over the reassessment in Center Township because of 'a question of staffing and skill' of that township assessor’s office," the Star's Tim Evans writes. Bowes said he was pleased with the work done by seven of the township assessors, noting that Washington Township is taking longer to complete residential assessments than expected. Bowes tells Evans, as he has stated in the past, homeowners should not expect much of a reduction in their tax bills because of the reassessment.

Conley And Gibson Eye IPS Board Seat

Two City-County Councilors tossed out of office in last November's election are trying to get appointed to the IPS board seat left vacant by Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams. Lonnell Conley and Ron Gibson have both applied for the job. Gibson until recently worked as an advocate for charter schools, a competing alternative to the state's struggling, largest public school system. I'm personally not familiar with any of the other candidates listed in today's Star, but I would urge the Board not to appoint either Conley or Gibson. These guys want that board seat for all the wrong reasons and that should be apparent to all concerned. Here's the complete list of the candidates' names:

Wilbur Batman
Ramon L. Batts
Tyrone Chandler
Michael Cohen
Barbara Coleman-Knight
Lonnell "King Ro" Conley
C. Sue Craig
Pamela J. Davis
Charles Edwards Sr.
L. Leona Frank
Ron Gibson
Phillips Giddens
Elizabeth Gore
Gary R. Hadley
Cheryl Hall-Russell
Dorothy Herron
Yvonne Kirk
Jowanna Peterson
Leroy Robinson
Greg Shemwell
Denise Smith
Linda Spencer
Tim Streett

Ballard Taps Disgraced Tobias For Top Airport Job

Mayor Bart Peterson chose a political insider's insider to run the Indianapolis Airport Authority, Democratic lobbyist Lacy Johnson. Mayor Greg Ballard has chosen a corporate insider's insider, Randall Tobias, to take his place as chairman of the Authority. You may recall that Tobias embarrassed the Bush administration a few months ago when he admitted he was a customer of the D.C. Madam and was forced to tender his resignation as Deputy Secretary of State. Expect a continuation of sweetheart deals to enrich insiders at public expense under Tobias' tenure.

Mayor Ballard, I really want to support you, but you are making terrible choices if you hope to turn this corrupt city around. You have yet to appoint a single person to your administration who represents anything other than the status quo and business as usual. Tobias will never clean up that cesspool out at the airport, and you should know that. It's not enough to say you are determined to clean this city up. You can't do it all yourself, and you can't do it by appointing people to your administration whose loyalties are not with you. Let's see Mr. Tobias' statement of economic interest statement made available for public viewing pronto.

Senate Nonsense On Gay Marriage Amendment

Senate President Pro Tempore David Long (R) believes the Senate lacks enough substantive things to discuss this session with the State's looming property tax crisis and all so he's going to allot time next week for a superfluous hearing on SJR-7, the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriages and the recognition of any legal incidents of marriage for unmarried couples whether straight or gay. Jim Shella blogs about this absurd development over at the State House:

State Sen. Brandt Hershman’s plan to wait for House action on the proposed constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage just changed.

First, House Speaker Pat Bauer sent the measure to the Rules Committee chaired by Rep. Scott Pelath, the same place where it died last year. Then the Senate scheduled a hearing for next Thursday.

Senate Republican spokesman Scott Minier says, “Senators are hearing from a lot of people who say the House is more likely to do something if the Senate does something.”

Minier says Senators want to get past the marriage issue so they can get back to dealing with property taxes.

You will recall that the Senate passed SJR-7 last year for the second consecutive General Assembly. That makes any action by the Senate this year totally superfluous and all for show. The General Assembly elected by the voters in 2004 passed SJR-7. The amendment was referred to the General Assembly elected by the voters in 2006. Under Article 16 of the state constitution, subpart (B), if "the proposed amendment is agreed to by a majority of all the members elected to each House, then the General Assembly shall submit the amendment to the electors of the State at the next general election." Because the Senate already acted last year, it only requires action by the House to send it to voters. As Shella notes, Rep. Bauer has indicated no interest in wasting the House's time on the unnecessary and bigoted amendment.

As Advance Indiana reported last year, the amendment's chief sponsor is the hypocritical Sen. Brandt Hershman, whose former wife alleges that he demanded she get an abortion when he learned she was pregnant with what would have been their first child, and that he filed for a divorce one week later after she complied with his wishes. As I wrote last year, Sen. David Long is determined to leave a dark legacy on his tenure as President Pro Tempore by continuing to pursue this mean-spirited and bigoted assault on the rights of some individuals for the sole purpose of assuaging a small number of fundamentalist, religious zealots.

Not surpisingly, the Indiana Family Institute's Curt Smith is relishing in today's news. He writes at Veritas Rex:

"The Indiana Family Institute, along with our national partners at Focus on the Family, join in applauding the Senate for addressing this critical public policy issue despite inaction by the Indiana House." "Sens. Bray and Pro Tem David C. Long are especially key in agreeing to this hearing, along with the measure's author, Sen. Brandt Hershman."

And now, I am pleased to report that House Speaker Pat Bauer and Rep. Scott Pelath (D-Michigan City), voices of sanity on this issue, have put this issue to bed for the balance of this session. Pelath tells the Star's Mary Beth Schneider that the most urgent issue facing the state is property taxes and not a debate over gay marriage. “I’m not planning on having a hearing,” Pelath said. “The short session (of the legislature) was designed to deal with emergencies. We have a very serious problem with the property tax system and we don’t have any gay marriages in Indiana.” People should simply boycott the useless hearing the Senate Repubicans have scheduled for next week. Sen. Long should be holding his head in shame.

Star Reader Asks, Why No Story On Billboards?

Star reader Dan Mullendore pens a letter to the editor today wondering why the Star has had absolutely no coverage of the City of Indianapolis' ongoing battle to force Pinnacle Media to tear down ten billboards along inner loop interstate highways after the media company lost its third round in front of the state's Supreme Court. Mullendore writes:

Why does it seem like The Star has been ignoring a very visible and interesting news story? In the last few weeks several prominent billboards went blank. I am sure that tens of thousands of Indianapolis residents have driven by these blank billboards and wondered why. I happen to know because Tom Williams of Citizens Against Billboard Blight has been doing a good job of electronic communications. I think The Star is cheating the citizens of Central Indiana by not covering this story and The Star is getting left behind in the electronic dust.

I applaud the City of Indianapolis for trying to maintain a beautiful city, and I think the seven-year battle against these billboards has made an interesting story. The picky technical legal details might not be that gripping, but the continuing political and legal gamesmanship by Pinnacle Media might be interesting to Star readers.

Let the citizens of Indianapolis know the whole story and bring the politics out into the public for discussion where it belongs.

Readers of Advance Indiana have been provided plenty of information about the story here, here and here. Corporate greed and protecting the media industry are probably the best answers for why the Gannett-owned Star has written nothing about the story. The Star similarly refused to write a single story when the real estate brokerage industry used its political muscle a couple of years ago to get a law enacted by the Indiana legislature, which virtually put discount real estate brokers out of business in Indiana. You see, the Star earns a lot of advertising dollars from real estate brokers and didn't want to risk offending them by informing its readers about the negative consequences of the legislation on the discount brokers and the consumers who benefit from their services. Thankfully, blogs allow us to bypass big media and reach people directly with the news they don't want you to hear.