Lugar Opposes Placing Moratorium On Earmarks

The earmark process in Congress is symbolic of decades of wasteful spending that has helped bring about a seemingly iinsurmountable federal debt that threatens the very way of life for average Americans. Republicans in the Senate have taken up the call of tea party activists to end earmarks--at least temporarily. Sen. John McCain has long advocated against earmarks but many congressional Republicans have been just as reluctant as Democratic members to give up the ability to earmark spending for their pet projects in the federal budget. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has been one of the biggest cheerleaders for earmarks, but McConnell surprised everyone and signed on to an effort to place a two-year moratorium on them. Sen. Richard Lugar, who says he intends to seek an unprecedented seventh term in 2012, is not among the Republicans calling for an end to earmarks. Lugar released a statement today stating his position:

I oppose the Senate Republican Conference voluntary moratorium on so-called “earmarks.” At a moment in which over-spending by the Federal government perpetuates annual deficits of over $1 trillion a year, the Congress is being asked to debate a Congressional earmark spending resolution which will save no money even while giving the impression that the Congress is attempting to meet the public demand to reduce spending.


Instead of surrendering Constitutional authority to Washington bureaucrats and the Obama Administration, Congress should focus on reducing spending on both entitlement and discretionary spending programs. Providing the Obama Administration with greater authority to direct spending does not accomplish this goal, and eliminating earmarks does not reduce spending.

The Constitution explicitly states that it is the responsibility of Congress to make decisions on the appropriation of federal taxpayer funds. Earmarks should be considered and treated like amendments to any underlying spending bill. Members should have the opportunity to offer earmarks, review them, and offer motions to strike or modify them. And each of these steps -- from the committee process, to the floor, to the conference committee -- should take place in an absolute transparent and deliberate manner and be publicly disclosed at each step along the way with a final public up or down vote.

In 2008, I was asked by Republican Leader Mitch McConnell to serve as a chairman of a fiscal reform working group to find consensus on the issue of earmarks within the Republican Conference. Our working group unanimously supported efforts to reduce spending, but held strong and diverse views on the subject of earmarks. However, we were able to come to an agreement and issued a report.

While this report was never enacted into law, the Senate Appropriations Committee has adopted many of the transparency suggestions. Since that time, I have abided by the framework of the report and have disclosed projects that I have requested on behalf of Indiana communities on my website.

Our working group advocated that, “an open and accountable amendment process and absolute transparency on every Member request successfully inserted into legislation is essential to the integrity of federal spending. In addition, Members should also have assurance that when they vote for a specific bill or conference report that all earmarks are written in a clear and transparent manner.”

Further, our working group noted that, “the practice of earmarking is not limited to Members of Congress but is also apparent in the President’s budget proposal. Likewise, these requests should be clear, transparent, and subject to amendment or deletion.”

Congress should exercise, rather than abdicate, its Constitutional authority to cut spending and reduce the deficit.

Lugar's contention that it is more important to achieve budget savings through changes in entitlement programs and discretionary spending is quite true, but his suggestion that ending earmarks won't reduce federal spending is simply ludicrous. Earmarks represent a little less than 2% of the federal budget, but that still represents billions of dollars in spending every year. McConnell has simply asked for a 2-year moratorium on earmarks as part of a wider effort to close the federal budget deficit, which is currently about 1.3 trillion dollars. If Lugar is trying to give ammunition to a prospective primary opponent in 2012, he is achieving that with his stubborn opposition to at least placing a moratorium on earmark spending.

Delph Gets New Leadership Role In The Senate

Senate President Pro Tempore David Long has added new leadership positions in his caucus to bring younger members into the fold, including an Assistant Majority Leader position for Sen. Mike Delph, a potential challenger to Sen. Richard Lugar in 2012. Two other younger senators, Travis Holdman and Carlin Yoder, have been named Assistant Majority Whip and Assistant Majority Caucus Chair, respectively. The three join veterans Connie Lawson as Majority Floor Leader, Brandt Hershman as Majority Whip, Sue Landske as Assistant President Pro Tempore, Brent Steele as Assistant Majority Floor Leader and Richard Bray as Assistant Majority Caucus Chair. Sen. James Merritt continues in his role as Caucus Chair and Johnny Nugent becomes Majority Floor Leader Emeritus.

Former Barnes & Thornburg Lobbyist Guilty Of Honest Services Fraud

Kevin Ring becomes the second former D.C. lobbyist for Barnes & Thornburg to be found guilty for honest services fraud. Ring is a former associate of corrupt D.C. lobbyist Jack Abramoff who traded free tickets and other gifts to secure earmarks and other special actions from Congress on behalf of his clients. Today he was found guilty on five counts of conpiracy, providing illegal gratuities and honest services wire fraud. "For years, this team of lobbyists schemed to corrupt public officials, and, because of their actions, Americans were denied honest services of public servants," Principal Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Criminal Division [of the Justice Department] said in a statement.

Another Barnes & Thornburg lobbyist and former associate of Abramoff's, Neil Volz, pleaded guilty in 2007 to similar charges. Barnes & Thornburg hired the two former Abramoff associates in order to build their D.C. practice. Shortly after the two began working for the firm, a federal probe into their lobbying activities was launched by the Justice Department. Similarly, the law firm hired City-County Councilor Ryan Vaughn as a lobbyist as soon as the Republicans took control of the Indianapolis City-County Council and Greg Ballard won an upset victory over former Mayor Bart Peterson. Vaughn has unabashedly used his council position to advance the interest of his law firm's clients and often refuses to recuse himself from matters directly pertaining to his clients before the council, including tonight's vote on the controversial 50-year parking meter lease deal with ACS. Vaughn retaliated against Councilor Christine Scales when she refused to support the deal by removing her from the Public Safety Committee. Vaughn's law firm lobbies both the state of Indiana and the City of Indianapolis on behalf of ACS. Although state lobbying records showed Vaughn was a registered lobbyist for ACS, he claimed he was inadvertently listed as a lobbyist for the company by a paralegal who filed the lobbying registration statements for the firm's lobbyists.

Observers at tonight's council meeting during the vote noted the presence of Barnes & Thornburg attorney and ACS lobbyist Joe Loftus, who is also a paid lobbyist for Mayor Greg Ballard. "Joe Loftus was at the meeting tonight, and after the vote, he was smiling and on his cell phone talking to somebody," commented fellow blogger Chris Worden. "So here's my question," Worden continued, "Was he there for ACS or the Mayor?" "You make the call!" Loftus has denied he lobbied for the parking meter lease deal even though he is ACS's registered lobbyist with the city. Deputy Mayor Mike Huber, who spearheaded the initiative on behalf of the Ballard administration, formerly worked for a high level ACS executive, Skip Stitt, and was handpicked by Loftus to work in Ballard's administration. How much more evidence needs to accumulate before Vaughn is investigated for honest services fraud? Ironically, Vaughn led the effort by Republicans on the council in 2007 to investigate ethics complaints against former City-County Council President Monroe Gray. Gray's bad judgment doesn't even approach the level of ethical improprieties undertaken by Vaughn these past three years.

Council Of Barnes & Thornburg Gives ACS Control Of Parking Meter Assets

Defying common sense and good politics, a Republican-controlled council beholden to Barnes & Thornburg approved the controversial lease of Indianapolis' parking meter assets for 50 years to ACS. CCC President Ryan Vaughn (R-Barnes & Thornburg) strong armed Republicans into supporting the measure. Only Christine Scales voted against it. Democrat Paul Bateman, who has been under investigation for the misappropriation of more than a million dollars from the Russell Foundation, was the only Democrat to vote for the measure, allowing it to pass by a 15-14 vote. Libertarian Ed Coleman voted against the proposal citing overwhelming opposition to the measure by constituents who contacted him.

A public opinion poll taken recently in Marion County shows the public overwhelming opposes the deal by a margin of 70% to 20%. That includes black and white voters alike, as well as younger and older voters. Opposition runs high even among the most Republican townships of Perry, Decatur and Franklin Townships where 70% to 71% of the voters oppose the privatization of the City's parking meter assets. Democrats and independents overwhelmingly opposed the deal according to the poll and even Republicans disfavored the plan by a wide margin. Republicans ignored their own political interests in order to enrich Vaughn's big client. The company stands to make hundreds of millions of dollars from the contract, and the City will give up a similar amount of revenues over the life of the contract.

Those of us fighting for the taxpayers will demand a federal investigation into the awarding of this contract. There are appearances that the Marion County taxpayers have been deprived of the honest services of their elected politicians in order to personally enrich ACS and the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg. There will be consequences for this vote tonight. The opponents of this deal will not fade away.

UPDATE: WRTV's Norm Cox gets top honors for best coverage of tonight's vote by taking a close look at Vaughn's conflict of interest. Click here to read his story. Here is some of what Cox reported tonight, which included on point comments from fellow blogger Paul Ogden:

Critics had questioned the ethics of City-County Council President Ryan Vaughn, a Republican, who works at the law firm of Barnes & Thornburg, which ACS is paying to lobby for the deal, 6News' Norman Cox reported.


Vaughn defended his impartiality, saying because he isn't a partner in the firm and will make no money directly from the deal, there is no conflict of interest.

"I'm not going to benefit from it," he said. "No one close to my family's going to benefit from it and I'm not an owner of any business, and so there is no conflict of interest."

But blogger and lawyer Paul Ogden, a major critic of the parking deal, said there is no way Vaughn's position is not a conflict of interest.

"The question is, is his job on the line if he doesn't support ACS? And I would argue it is," he said. "The fact is, ACS gives millions of dollars to Barnes & Thornburg … and should he not support them, he could very well lose his position."

But Vaughn said the connection is being blown out of proportion.

"The council ethics rules clearly articulate between what constitutes an appearance of conflict and what constitutes an actual conflict," he said. "I've been very open for folks who have that concern about where I work and who they represent. I've never hidden that fact. "

Vaughn also faces accusations that he's using strong-arm tactics to push the deal through council.

Republican Councilor Christine Scales said Vaughn removed her from the important Public Safety Committee because she opposes the deal.

"The news that I was removed from the Public Safety Committee came about two hours after I notified council leadership that I was going to be voting no on the parking meter proposal," Scales said. "I felt it was retribution, and it came swiftly."

Vaughn denied that and said he removed Scales so he could replace her with a new councilor, Aaron Freeman, who has a background in public safety.

As for ACS itself, some are asking questions about its ability to run the meter system, given its partnership with IBM in the failed state welfare modernization plan.

ACS is back working with the state again and officials with the Family and Social Services Administration said they blame the welfare fiasco on IBM, not ACS.

Star Finally Faces Vaughn's Conflict Of Interest In Parking Meter Lease Deal

Perhaps shamed into do so by the blogs, the Indianapolis Star for the first time in an actual news story acknowledges there may be a conflict of interest in City-County Council President Ryan Vaughn pushing for the passage of a 50-year lease deal with ACS, his law firm's client, for the City's parking meter assets. A story appears in today's Star, the same day the full City-County Council takes up a vote on the controversial day. Jon Murray writes:

ACS is a powerful player in government contracting and already plays a role in Indiana's welfare-services modernization. And the mayor's office and ACS have shared a lobbyist at Indianapolis law firm Barnes & Thornburg. Council President Ryan Vaughn works at the firm as an associate but does not perform any work for ACS, he says.


Such connections make some critics uncomfortable, even if ACS, the law firm and the mayor's staff insist that the lobbyist, Joe Loftus, didn't participate in parking-meter negotiations.

Vaughn, who has faced pressure to recuse himself, plans to vote in favor because he views the deal as important for his Broad Ripple district.

He acknowledges an appearance of a conflict of interest.

"But it's one that I've gone to great lengths to explain," he said.

He doesn't view his firm's association with ACS as violating the council's ethics rules. Those require recusal if a council member or a business in which he or she has an interest would directly benefit by more than $1,000.

The story omits reference to the item the Star stuck in its "Behind Closed Doors" column yesterday recounting Vaughn's removal of Republican Councilor Christine Scales from the Public Safety Committee last week after she sent an e-mail to her fellow Republican councilors urging the tabling of the controversial parking meter deal. Scales told me and Murray she believed Vaughn's actions were taken, in part, due to her opposition to the parking meter lease deal.

Does Straub Have Egg On His Face?

 

Fox59 News' Russ McQuaid thinks Public Safety Director Frank Straub spoke prematurely when he intentionally leaked details of an ongoing investigation of IMPD Officer Dwayne Mays to a group of officers at the police training academy on Friday. In the story above, McQuaid an audio tape leaked to him by one of the officers in attendance of the rant Straub gave to the officers when he showed up invited to tell them one of their own would be arrested before the end of the day for committing a strong arm robbery. That set off a frenzy of news reports over the weekend which eventually named Mays as the target of the investigation, indicating he had been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. An arrest still had not taken place as of McQuaid's report last night. McQuaid's report raises serious doubts about the stripper's story. According to McQuaid, Officer Mays claims he paid the stripper who accused him of stealing from her for help in finding a missing relative. McQuaid openly doubts any charges will be filed against Mays. Whether any wrongdoing by the officer occurred, it would have seemed inappropriate of Straub to tell the officers on Friday what should have still remained a confidential investigation. During his rant, Straub doesn't say an officer "may" have committed a crime; he flat out states he did.

Star Makes Light Of Vaughn's Strong-Arming To Win Approval Of ACS Parking Meter Lease Deal For His Law Firm's Client

My how things have changed. Once upon a time the news media could be counted on to ferret out corruption of our politicians. Nowadays, they're in bed with them. The best case and point has been the Indianapolis Star's treatment of City-County Councilor Ryan Vaughn's active involvement in ramming through the Republican-controlled council a 50-year lease of the City's parking meter assets for the benefit of his law firm's client, ACS. This blog first broke the news that state lobbying records revealed Vaughn himself had been registered to lobby on behalf of the politically-connected company. After being questioned by other folks in the news media about it, Vaughn explained it was a simple error made by a paralegal at his law firm and assured the public he had never lobbied for ACS. Vaughn was hired to work as a full-time lobbyist for Barnes & Thornburg after Republicans took control of the council by Joe Loftus, who, along with the firm's managing partner, Bob Grand, handpicked most of the senior staff who went to work for Greg Ballard after his upset election in 2007, including Deputy Mayor Mike Huber, who is spearheading the ACS parking meter lease deal for Ballard.  The Star's executive editor, Dennis Ryerson, has dismissed any talk of their being anything nefarious with the deal as simply "noise" by a few in the blogosphere and apparently can find no ethics experts who think there is something a tad bit jaded about Vaughn participating in a decision that so obviously benefits his law firm's client. His newspaper is even downplaying Vaughn's heavy-handed tactics to win council approval of the deal.

Earlier last week, city beat reporter Jon Murray wrote a story about the tough sell the Ballard administration was enountering on the 50-year lease agreement with ACS, even after a bunch of window-dressing changes made to the agreement to make it appear more palpable. Murray specifically mentions an e-mail Christine Scales, who narrowly won her council seat against her Democratic opponent in 2007, sent to her fellow councilors urging them to table the controversial ACS deal.

At least one Democrat, Paul Bateman, said he plans to support it, but all GOP members may not fall in line behind Mayor Greg Ballard's controversial plan . . .

"I feel pretty good about (its chances)," said council President Ryan Vaughn, noting that significant changes announced by Ballard last month have addressed many council members' concerns . . .

One Republican, Christine Scales, sent an e-mail Tuesday urging her caucus's leaders to table the proposal, citing several concerns and saying the city hasn't fully considered alternatives.

By the time the Rules & Public Policy Committee took up the vote on the controversial parking meter deal later that day, word had leaked out Scales had been removed from her favorite committee assignment, the Public Safety Committee. I called Scales and she confirmed she had been removed from the committee. She said Councilor Mike McQuillen, who somehow ekes out a living trading political campaign buttons and is a stooge on the council for Vaughn, had informed her of the decision. When she wasn't satisfied with his explanation for the decision, she spoke directly to Vaughn, who admitted there had been some "communication issues" in the past that led to his decision to remove her from the committee. Scales made it clear to me she believed her e-mail urging the council to table the parking meter lease deal led to Vaughn's decision, although she conceded Vaughn had also expressed concern she was not being a team player on the Public Safety budget earlier. Scales was the only Republican councilor who asked tough questions of Public Safety Director Frank Straub during his budget hearing, including why he had spent money on redecorating his offices. Despite her reservations about Straub's spending priorities, she still voted for the budget in the end.

During my conversation with Scales, she also mentioned Vaughn had said he intended to split up the public safety committee's subject matter into two separate committees and there may be further reassignments after the first of the year. In today's "Behind Closed Doors" column, Murray includes an item discussing Scales' removal from the Public Safety Committee that downplays any role her opposition to the ACS deal had with Vaughn's decision:

Indianapolis City-County Council leaders shuffled committee assignments for some members last week, but one change stood out.


Christine Scales, a member of the Republican majority who has bucked her party on some key votes, didn't take the loss of her seat on the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee quietly. She received a new assignment to the Parks and Recreation Committee.

"If I don't fall in line with them, I get punished," Scales told us. "They know I'm passionate about public safety."

However, a couple of days later -- and after we asked council President Ryan Vaughn about the change -- Scales got back to us and said she now is promised a return to the public safety committee when the next round of assignments is made in January. By then, the council may consider splitting the committee into two, creating more spots.

Vaughn denied that Scales' voting history was the reason for the committee reassignment.


But she's gone against the party on some big votes, including twice on proposals involving the Capital Improvement Board, which oversees the city's sports and convention facilities. Those measures -- an increase in the county hotel tax last year and this year's CIB's budget, which included the second of three $10 million payments to the Indiana Pacers -- still passed 15-14 without her support.

Vaughn instead attributed the committee change to poor communication by Scales about her intentions on some recent issues and to other considerations, including figuring out assignments for new council members.

Her replacement on the public safety committee is Republican Aaron Freeman, who has experience as a former prosecutor and reserve officer.

Scales acknowledged she hadn't always communicated effectively about some issues, including concerns she had about next year's public safety budget, though she ended up supporting that budget in the committee's vote.

Scales says she still plans to vote against a proposed 50-year lease of the city's parking meters, which is on the council's agenda for Monday, unless changes are made.

Murray's item in the "Behind Close Doors" column makes no mention of Vaughn's conflict of interest pertaining to ACS. During his earlier reporting on my discovery state records had shown Vaughn was a registered lobbyist for ACS, Murray's account of what Vaughn had dismissed as "error" was trivialized by placement in the "Behind Closed Doors" column in a similar fashion. Whenever Ryerson has his reporters stick a news item in this column instead of a regular news report, it's his way of saying it's really not news, but to avoid the appearance of some we are ignoring real news we'll stick it in this column to provide a basis for saying the newspaper covered it when it is later criticized for failing to report something of significant news value.

As the item notes, Vaughn replaced Scales on the committee with Aaron Freeman, which comes as no surprise. Freeman, who was appointed to the council, is one of Vaughn's buddies from the corrupt Marion Co. Prosecutor's Office of Carl Brizzi where Vaughn was Brizzi's favorite pretty boy. The very first meeting following Scales' removal from the committee was to hear the IMPD report on the handling of the fatal DUI case of Officer David Bisard. Freeman, not surprisingly, had plenty of nice things to say about Straub's and the department's handling of the report, which obviously whitewashed Straub's and Ciesielski's indifference to the serious matter at hand because they were more consumed at the time trying to restore their public image and had instructed two high-ranking members of IMPD, Darryl Pierce and Ron Hicks, to return to IMPD headquarters from the Bisard "crime scene" to discuss the more important matter of restoring the public image of the Chief and Straub. Pierce and Hicks were later demoted. Ciesielski and Hicks pat themselves on the back for trying to restore public confidence in the much-maligned police department.

WTHR Identifies IMPD Officer Under Investigation For Holding Up Stripper

IMPD has been buzzing since Public Safety Director Frank Straub told a group of police officers at the training academy late this past week another one of their fellow officers was under investigation and was about to be arrested. While the officer hasn't yet been arrested, WTHR has now identified the officer in a report this weekend. Dwayne Mays is the officer under investigation for allegedly holding up a stripper from the Classy Chassy after he offered her a ride home. According to the report, Mays allegedly gave $60 to 25-year-old Britney Shatzer for an unspecified act but later demanded the money back, along with other money she had on her person--about $100--after flashing his police badge to her.

Sources say an IMPD officer is under investigation for possibly using his badge to rob an Indianapolis woman.


Sources tell Eyewitness News the investigation is in connection with an alleged robbery early Thursday morning. Eyewitness News has confirmed that a Metro Police officer is the subject of the investigation.

Saturday evening, sources inside the department confirmed to Eyewitness News the officer under investigation is Dwayne Mays.

Initially, police thought 25-year-old Britney Shatzer, who was robbed at 38th and High School Road, was the victim of a police impersonator.

The original police report of the incident, which occurred at 2:45 a.m. Thursday, says Shatzer, who danced at the Classy Chassy club on South Harding Street, had quit her job after an argument with a manager. She asked a customer, who she had reportedly danced for earlier in the evening, for a ride home.

The report says the man "continually expressed sexual innuendos" as he drove Shatzer around I-465 to West 38th Street. He reportedly offered her $60, but did not specifically state what he wanted in exchange for the money.


While riding in the car, the woman sent a text message to her boyfriend, identified as Fabian Garcia, asking him to pick her up at the BP gas station at 38th Street and High School Road. She told police she felt uneasy about the situation in the car and that she had observed handcuffs on the console of the man's pickup truck.

Garcia, who was sitting in his SUV at the gas station, said he saw Shatzer and man enter the gas station, with Shatzer going to the bathroom while the man used an ATM machine, withdrawing money.

After leaving the gas station, Shatzer had Garcia retrieve her bags from the back of the pick-up truck. At that time, the man reached under the front seat of the truck and pulled out a badge and identified himself as a police officer.

"[The man] stated that he wanted his money back from her, or she was going to jail," the report reads.

Garcia approached the man to get a better look at the badge, but the man put it in his pocket and ordered Garcia back into his SUV, also threatening him with jail. Garcia, who is on probation, went back to his car and the suspect asked Shatzer for her identification.

As the suspect acted to make a call to check on outstanding warrants, Shatzer produced all the money she had - $100 she made working at the club and $60 which the man gave her inside the gas station. The man snatched the money from her hand, got into his vehicle and fled southbound on High School Road at a high rate of speed.

Garcia and Shatzer tried to chase down the man, but thought it was unsafe when his speed reached 80 MPH. After returning to the gas station and contacting police, Shatzer returned home. A short time later, she called police again and said she had received a phone call from the suspect, who said "I'm going to get you, [expletive]."

WTHR notes the original police report did not name the officer because it was originally suspected of being a case of police impersonation. Officer Mays has been placed on administrative leave according to the report.

I'm not sure why it is, but the Indianapolis police seem to have a long and storied relationship with the city's prostitutes and strippers. Dick Cady and his fellow reporters at the Indianapolis Star learned that back during their great investigative journalism of the old Indianapolis Police Department back in the 1970s. Their reporting stepped on too many toes and eventually resulted in Cady and fellow reporter Bill Anderson being indicted on trumped up charges brought against them by former Marion Co. Prosecutor Noble Pearcy, who apparently rivaled Carl Brizzi when it came to running a corrupt prosecutor's office. Pearcy's charges claimed they conspired to bribe a police officer, charges that were eventually dropped by Pearcy's Democratic successor, James Kelley. You can read more about all of that in Cady's new book, Deadline: Indianapolis now available for purchase on amazon.com. Anyone else notice how all of the better investigative journalism these days is done by the local TV stations and not the Indianapolis Star?

Cady Book Adds To The Mystery Surrounding The Death Of Joe Miller

Pulitzer Prize-winning former reporter for the Indianapolis Star Dick Cady has authored a memoir of his four decades in journalism. It's titled, "Deadline: Indianapolis." Perhaps no other journalist in Indianapolis can offer a better perspective on social, cultural and political life in Indianapolis than Cady. I would highly urge anyone interested in "how things really are" to pick up a copy of his book. It's available on amazon.com. I had the privilege of meeting Cady for the first time this week to pick up my own copy of his new book and to shoot the breeze with him for awhile about our respective perspectives of Indianapolis. We're both transplants; he's from Michigan and I'm from Illinois. I think it takes an outsider's perspective to see Indianapolis as the backwater town it is as opposed to the rose-colored glasses through which it is billed by our esteemed "civic leaders" as a "progressive, world class city." You don't have to dig too deep beneath the surface to find a dirty underworld filled with a cast of characters from a Mario Puzo or Agatha Christie crime novel.

I've been vilified in some corners of this community for daring to speak ill of the dead. In this case, the subject of my musings was Joe "The Popper King" Miller. We're led to believe Miller, who was perhaps one of the wealthiest men in Indianapolis, took his own life at his downtown condo along the canal for reasons that have never been explained. There has been talk of his Great Lakes Products, which manufactured amyl nitrates packaged in small glass bottles and sold world-wide over the Internet and at gay bars and adult bookstores as a recreational drug inhalant, being raided and closed down by federal agents. No federal agency has acknowledged such a raid took place at his Indianapolis business out on Harding Street, although the lights went out on websites promoting the product, and retailers of the product told users their supplies of the illicit drug would not be replenished due to the business closing. A website for the JF Miller Foundation, which Miller established to support his favorite causes, went dark as well. Other stories have been told of law enforcement carrying computers and other potential evidence out of his home. A well-placed source at IMPD denies any local law enforcement agency participated in any raid of his business. To my knowledge, the cause of Miller's death has not been confirmed publicly. The Indianapolis Star initially posted a story suggesting suicide as the likely cause of his death, but the story disappeared from the newspaper's website almost as quickly as it appeared.

Besides a paid obituary, the Star and other mainstream media sources in town have shared no additional information on his death. A gay newspaper, The Word, reported on a memorial service attended by a few hundred friends at the Indianapolis Repertory Theater, including a number of prominent members of the community. Former Gov. Joe Kernan and his wife Maggie both spoke about his life at the service as did former ACLU Executive Director and Corporation Counsel to former Mayor Bill Hudnut, Sheila Kennedy. Former Mayor Bart Peterson and a bevy of other politicians attended, along with Bren Simon, but none of them spoke. I'm told no current office-holders were present. Miller contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to Democratic politicians. Peterson took $10,000 in his unsuccessful re-election campaign, but other Democrats, including Evan Bayh, refused to accept money from him. Even Kernan turned contributions from him down I'm told. Yet Kernan spoke at his memorial service and Peterson did not.

When I stopped by Cady's home to pick up my copy of his book, he wanted me to know he had included some intriguing information on Miller in his memoir. Cady once wrote obituaries for the Star and you could bet he would have shaken his head in disgust had he still been working at the Star and saw first-hand the newspaper's treatment of his death. In a prologue to his book, Cady shares his vivid memory of the passing of Gene Pulliam in 1999 and the unpublished column he submitted as a tribute to him. Those of you who remember his columns from the Star will remember he was honest and blunt to a fault. Cady's column on Gene Pulliam began:

Many of the stories you hear about the legends of the newspaper business tend to be true but incomplete. If they usually are accurate as far as they go, they don't often go as far as they could, or perhaps should.

Why? The truth sometimes is uncomfortable, or embarrassing, or too personal, or tends to tamper with myths no one wants to tamper with.

When Gene Pulliam died the other day, I realized he probably would not get the credit for what certainly was his finest achievement.

Cady's column went on to describe how it couldn't have always been easy for Eugene S. Pulliam to be the son of Eugence C. Pulliam, the arch conservative who used his newspapers like a club to promote his political philosophy. He described the dark side of Eugene C. on the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Eugene C. refused to run his death as the top story, describing King in very unflattering terms. The moving speech Sen. Robert Kennedy (who Eugene C. similarly despised) gave during an appearance in Indianapolis on the day of his death was buried under a political story touting the candidacy of Roger Branigan, a conservative candidate for governor. From that point on, Cady described how "Young Gene" became more assertive and began to change the coverage of the newspaper. "The ardent page one editorials dwindled and stopped," Cady wrote. "Increasingly, he insisted upon--and then demanded--balance and fairness." Cady's column never ran because Frank Caperton thought it made it appear Young Gene "had repudiated all of his father's philosophy" and should be shortened and held at least for a few days out of deference to the family. Rather than tinker with the column, Cady bluntly replied, "Thanks, but it's lost its impetus and any timeliness. Send it to the electronic graveyard."

Joe Miller with former First Lady Judy O'Bannon

And so that brings me to the point of this post, Joe Miller. Cady's book recounts the collapse of James Kelley, a lawyer who got elected as Marion Co. Prosecutor in the Democratic landslide of 1974. Kelley had a reputation as a guy who didn't think much of police. If you read Cady's book, you'll gain a greater appreciation for that point of view--at least during that period of Indianapolis' history. During this period, Richard Lugar had ushered in the era of Unigov and earned the reputation of "Richard Nixon's favorite mayor." Lugar's police department was populated with dirty cops--at least 20% by Cady's estimate. The Indianapolis Police Department had no use for Kelley and was more than happy to end his career. As it turned out, Kelley gave them the rope to do it. Cady recounts getting a phone call from Myrta Pulliam at home. "You have to listen to this story," she told Cady. "It's really weird. It's about Jim Kelley." Cady rushed over to Myrta's home and explained what he learned:

At Myrta's house I met David Leigh Harrison, a thirty-one year old homosexual who was visibly frightened. Harrison's story was complicated, yet it had a simple point: He was caught between two powerful forces, IPD and Marion County Prosecutor Jim Kelley. Earlier that day, Harrison and several friends had been interrogated by CAT detectives, who wanted information about Kelley. Harrison said he didn't give much but thought his roommate, another homosexual named David Fairfield, known as Doris, gave a complete, tape-recorded statement.

My memory snapped back to a big news story last winter. Three young men, all employees of a homosexual bar, were found shot to death in a snowy field in neighboring Hamilton County. Although a former employee of the bar, Mikco Ball, had been arrested, there were unanswered questions.

Harrison knew all three victims. He knew them from gay bars and from the carriage house apartment two of them lived in the Woodruff Place section on the east side. All three had been at a pre-dawn party at the apartment the night before they disappeared. Jim Kelley and a man from his staff also were there, Harrison said.

So what does this have to do with Joe Miller? Hang on. It gets more interesting. It turns out Kelley had attended two gay parties that night. "Joseph F. Miller, a young bailiff for the grand jury, was a friend of Harrison's. Miller was known in the homosexual community as a chicken hawk, or someone who preferred boys and younger men, and he sold marijuana and a chemical known as poppers," Cady recounted. Cady later confirmed from other sources Kelley had attended the parties where the three murder victims had also been in attendance, a fact Kelley eventually admitted but claimed he had gone there on business to meet with a potential witness in a case involving dirty cops. Kelley had even briefed one of the victims' friends on how to file a missing persons report but to leave his name out of it. Adding further to the intrigue was the fact Myrta had been dating Kelley's chief deputy at the time, David Rimstidt. Ball was eventually convicted of killing the three men but some doubted his guilt. Cady found no evidence tying Kelley to the deaths, but when the news of his entanglement in the case and his efforts to cover up his role hit the newspaper, it destroyed his reputation beyond repair. As to Miller, Cady wrote, "Miller would tell us some very interesting stories later, in a confidential interview." Cady does not detail those stories.

What intrigued me was Cady's characterization of Miller back in the 1970s as "a chicken hawk", or someone who preyed on boys or younger men. A former business associate of Miller has told me he knew Miller had been involved intimately with underage boys. Another business associate and acquaintance of Miller, John Michael Vore, has written about Miller's proclivity towards underage boys. Vore became particularly intrigued and inspired to write more about what he knew after reading the account in The Word on the memorial service in Miller's honor following his death. Vore, a former speechwriter for Gov. Robert Orr, wrote:

Earlier in the last week of October, I found myself rereading an interview with former Governor Joe Kernan (D-Indiana). He spoke with a reporter at the end of the September, 2010 Indianapolis memorial for Indiana businessman and philanthropist Joseph F. Miller, Jr. who the Indianapolis Star reported as a probably suicide in late August (Link: http://twitpic.com/2unkmz). On-line blogger Ruth Holladay broke the story on Miller's death.


Six weeks later, the October, 2010 Indiana Word came out, and Kernan said the following to reporter Rick Sutton:

Former Gov. Joe Kernan "recalled a foreign trip his wife took with Miller, when Kernan was lieutenant governor, where the hired driver tried to extort extra money from the American visitors. The American tourists called Kernan in his office at the Statehouse and he phoned Sen. Evan Bayh's office. By nightfall, Marines arrived at Miller's and Maggie Kernan's hotel rooms to escort them safely to a plane . . .

"The former governor, after the memorial, told me, 'I think Joe was more angry about the extra money.'" --Source: Sutton, Rick. "Joe Miller memorialised As Man He 'Wanted to Be.'" The Indiana Word, October 24, 2010, page 44 (if you use the link above, put in "47" where the page box is; there's a mismatch between printed on on-line page numbering).



I had, prior to the memorial, spoken for hours over two phone calls with the publisher of the Indiana Word about all matters and rumors related to Joseph F. Miller, Jr., one of which was in fact a story about him getting in trouble overseas: but it was very different from Kernan's story. It was a story you wouldn't tell at Miller's memorial or as a joke, and it was one Miller told me, himself, in 2005.


The Word publisher also told me that Miller had sent out letters to various individuals with specific instructions about how to proceed in wrapping up his affairs. Perhaps this is the source of Kernan's story?

In 2005, Miller told me he had "gotten in trouble with a kid we hired to do some web work for us"; and "...it took the Secretary of State to get us out," Miller said. Mr. Miller said this to me in the context of questions to him about a relationship he had had over several decades with someone who was under fifteen, when it started. His story about trouble overseas followed his corroboration of the relationship begun when one of his "partners" was several years under the legal age of consent. I'd first heard it from the mouth of the younger partner, when that man was in his 20s, in 1990.

Thus, by saying what he did in 2005, Miller confirmed his half of a relationship, without discrepancy, from that told me by the other half, in 1990. Two sides of the coin identified it clearly.

So by the time of Mr. Miller's memorial, the publisher of the Indiana Word and his reporter knew that Mr. Miller had confirmed a story of underage sex with me, learned first-hand, from the younger "partner" in 1990; and that Mr. Miller had told me of a new incident which occurred in the 2000s, as indicated above. In Mr. Kernan's telling, Mr. Miller was concerned about a "tip"; I suggest Kernan has stumbled onto the "tip of an iceberg."

It took me 15 years before I could confirm a first-hand account of a relationship with Mr. Miller. I think that Miller lived a hidden life, and did things behind the facade of a gay, progressive philanthropists that made it very difficult to know what he was really like. Except to a few people . . .

It is a coincidence that Kernan would speak about Miller, who I met with twice, alone, during his lifetime: in 2005, and when he hired me in 1990, to work on his news monthly, Heartland, where I was given the title of Managing Editor, though I was really just a reporter. My most notable series covered a sex worker network discovered in March, 1990 and announced publicly by Stephen Goldsmith, Marion County Prosecutor: Goldsmith and I clashed in a couple of articles regarding his lying about AIDS and his treatment of sex workers, some of whom his office was trying to extradite for trial in Indianapolis.


I worked for Heartland until that Fall, when I went back to graduate school and over 3 years, wrote a non-fiction book about learning to write a novel, closeted gay Hoosier politicians, and male sex workers;I also wrote about my attempts to gain equal rights for lesbian and gay students at Notre Dame/St. Mary's College, and a priest sexual abuse crisis which erupted at Notre Dame in 1991.

I met Miller, then, in 1990, and in 2005: it was because of the second meeting with him, and subsequent research, that I wrote what I did in remarks at Ruthholladay.com regarding Miller (here and here).

Yet if anyone asked me, "How well did you know Governor Orr?" or "Did you know Joe Miller very well?" I'd have said I didn't know either very well, at all.

I found out more in 2005 because I implied to Miller that I was like him: so he told me about his life. Having been a reporter for him, I used some of the techniques I had learned while working for him, against him. I did this intentionally to find out if the story I'd heard in 1990 was true, and because I had come to believe that Mr. Miller had not been forthcoming with me in 1990, when he encouraged me and helped direct my coverage of a sex-4-hire network, via his Editor, James Jackson. Miller, Jackson and Chris Gonzalez helped pull strings for me to gain access to sex workers and a great deal of information about a sex-4-hire network; they encouraged me to take on Stephen Goldsmith in my articles, especially in clashing with Goldsmith

I did not expect expect that in 2005, Mr. Miller would so easily corroborate what I'd heard in 1990 about underage sex; not did I expect him to tell me a new story which implied its continuation with others into the 2000s, but he did. Nor did I also expect him to tell me that the way to rescue a teen I knew from an abusive situation was to "kidnap him" (Miller's words): "You know, they fight you for awhile. But after a week or so, they give in."

Vore's story adds much to the intrigue surrounding the death of Miller. It suggest the possibility a raid of his business may have had more to do with his activities related to underage boys than his illegal popper business. Kernan's story of the Marines landing to whisk Miller and his wife to safety during their trip to South Africa together adds even more intrigue. Surely there must be public records somewhere to shed more light on this event. I recall no media accounts at the time of their harrowing experience. Will the news media dig for more information? Or will it, like the life and death of Miller remain just that--an unsolved mystery? Can we not handle the truth about this man? Is the truth too embarrassing and too personal for the esteemed members of our community who held him in such high regard? Are we to simply believe the fables yarned at his memorial service? Perhaps that is how it must be. Just as Cady's bosses at the Star deemed his personal tribute to "Young Gene"--too honest.