Star's Hypocrisy On NFL Players' Negotiations With Team Owners

Over the past several years, this blog and others have consistently demanded that the Colts and the Pacers be required to produce audited financial statements as a condition to their continued receipt of public subsidies. I advanced this argument on numerous occasions during the recent negotiations with the Pacers that culminated in an additional $33.5 million subsidy for the team over the next three years. The Indianapolis Star always accepted at face value the Pacers' claim that they were losing tens of millions of dollars every year. It was reported as fact because the team's billionaire owners and their representatives claimed that's what their books showed. Now the Star is rooting for efforts of the NFL players to get access to all NFL team owners' audited financial statements to establish how much money they're making or losing in their ongoing labor negotiations for a new contract. A Star editorial today reads:

When National Football League teams are pitching for public funds for a new stadium, they say it's you -- the taxpayers -- who will share the riches from all those booked hotel rooms and restaurants brimming with fans that boost wages and tips and tax coffers.


When the teams are riling up the masses for another season, they say it's you -- the fans who buy the tickets, the jerseys and the beer -- who make it all worthwhile.

So it's within bounds to say the public has a vested interest in the NFL's labor dispute between billionaires and millionaires. No one knows if the NFL, which left a record economic footprint of $9.3 billion in 2010, will go on full lockdown.

As a smaller market with a mostly publicly financed stadium, and the host of next year's Super Bowl, Indianapolis is acutely exposed to the risk of a lost season. The National Journal rates Indy at the top of a list of public investment by NFL cities.

And the Colts were able to make the sweetheart deal for the $720 million Lucas Oil Stadium without revealing numbers to justify their purported financial distress. NFL players, like taxpayers, are locked out of real finances. They want teams to open their books before they'll consider giving owners another $1 billion in concessions. Taxpayers should root for the players; a win by them could help cities get more financial information when teams come looking for public funds.

So where was the Star when we were rooting for the taxpayers to get the Colts and Pacers books opened up to the public to aid the taxpayers in negotiations with the teams? Nowhere. It is curious that the editors would now be rooting for the players who only earn the ridiculous salaries they earn playing their sport because the taxpayers are compelled to pay billions in taxes to subsidize their profession. Yes, NFL players are more important than taxpayers to the editors of the Star. Just another reason to cancel your subscription to the Star.

Durham Released On $1 Million Bond

Indicted Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham has been released after posting a $1 million bond at his detention hearing in L.A. this afternoon on the condition he appear before a federal court in Indianapolis by April 4 and be placed on home detention in the Indianapolis area according to WRTV. "He will be subject to home detention with electronic monitoring. He will essentially be restricted to his residence, except for job, work, doctors appointment, etc." U.S. Attorney Thom Mrozek said in an email. Durham and his co-conspirators, Jim Cochran and Rick Snow face 12 counts of wire and securities fraud charges in the U.S. District Court of Indianapolis related to their mismanagement of Fair Finance Co. in Ohio that resulted in the loss of more than $200 million by more than 5,000 small investors in Ohio.

Durham has been living in L.A. since the FBI raided his businesses in November, 2009 under the suspicion he had been operating Fair Finance as a Ponzi scheme after he and his business partners looted the company over a three year period following its purchase in 2002 for the benefit of other companies in which he owned an interest, and to finance his lavish lifestyle that included large homes, expensive collector cars, a yacht and a private jet. Durham has been serving as the CEO of National Lampoon after its former CEO, Dan Laikin, was found guilty and sent to prison for securities fraud-related charges involving a scheme under which he pumped the price of National Lampoon's stock by paying bribes to stock brokers to promote the sale of shares in the struggling company. It is unclear who will run the company now that Durham is being forced to relocate to Indianapolis and remain on home detention here until he and his business partners are tried.

According to an L.A. Business Journal report, National Lampoon could be liable if it is determined Durham acted criminally to benefit the company. The business magazine also speculates that National Lampoon could be sold as part of the efforts of the bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance to recover money bilked from the Ohio investors. The SEC has also filed a $207 million civil lawsuit seeking restitution from Durham and his partners for the defrauded investors. The L.A. Business Journal says industry observers have wondered why National Lampoon has been run by people who know nothing about the film industry. "In the Laikin and Durham years, a stream of producers and studio executives wanted to help revitalize the company, but soon realized that the top people at National Lampoon didn’t know how to produce movies and even shunned help when offered," the business newspaper reported. National Lampoon's shares were delisted after its stock price fell below $1 for an extended period. The stock now trades on the Pink Sheet for 3 cents a share.

In an unrelated development, the stock price for Indianapolis-based Brighpoint fell more than 15% today, closing at $10.70 a share and making it one of the 10 top stock losers on Wall Street today. Brightpoint's CEO, Robert Laikin, is the brother of National Lampoon's convicted former CEO Dan Laikin. Fortune magazine recently named Brightpoint one of the most admired companies in America. A Wall Street Journal report today suggested Brightpoint could be a loser in the announced acquisition of T-Mobile by AT&T. T-Mobile has been a major customer of Brightpoint. The report speculated that AT&T might choose other cell phone providers with whom it currently does business rather than continuing T-Mobile's relationship with Brightpoint. Allegations made in the bankruptcy trustee's lawsuit against Durham-owned companies suggests Durham and others may have made millions during an unusual run-up of Brightpoint's stock several years ago before selling off the stock. The trustee's complaint alleges Durham used Fair Finance money to finance speculation in Brightpoint stock as part of an investment group that included Dan Laikin. The largest purchasers of Brighpoint stock during the period examined by the trustee included Durham and the family of Obsidian Vice-President Anthony Schlichte, whose investments in Brightpoint stock exceeded $25 million. Interestingly, one of the other largest active traders in Brightpoint's stock at the same time as Durham was none other than Bernie Madoff, who purchased the shares on his personal account according to Bash, lending further credence to a whistleblower's claim of a stock pumping scam with Brightpoint stock as occurred with National Lampoon's stock.

Lugar Speaks Out Against Obama's Open-Ended Military Intervention In Libya

It seems the U.S. Constitution has little continued viability in the wake of President Barack Obama's decision to go to war with Libya without any congressional declaration of war or game plan for what he expects to achieve. Sen. Lugar's criticism of the Obama administration's open-ended military action is spot on. Here's a statement Lugar's office released today:

Senator Dick Lugar, the Ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reiterated his call today for "full congressional debate on the objectives and costs" of President Obama's military actions in Libya, "and a declaration of war" to proceed.


"There needs to be a plan about what happens after Gadhafi,” Lugar said. “Who will be in charge then, and who pays for this all. President Obama, so far, has only expressed vague hopes.”

“Congress has been squabbling for months over a budget to run the federal government for a fiscal year that is almost half over,” Lugar said. “We argue over where to cut $100,000 million here and there from programs many people like. So here comes an open-ended military action with no-end game envisioned.

With the Arab League already having second thoughts, and Turkey nixing NATO taking over, today there are even more questions. We also have to debate how all this effects the Saudis, Bahrain and Yemen."

“The facts are that our budget is stretched too far and our troops are stretched too far,” Lugar said. “The American people require a full understanding and accounting, through a full and open debate in Congress.”

The silence from other members of Indiana's congressional delegation is deafening. It is beyond me how they can stand by and watch Obama commit billions of new spending on a military action that has received no congressional authorization and for which no explanation of why this action is necessary has satisfactorily been presented to the American people at a time our country is facing the worst budget deficit in its history. Have we learned nothing from our disastrous experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan? It's as if we hopped into a paddle boat to navigate the Niagra Falls. It's insane. Have all the adults with decision-making authority left the room in Washington?

Delph Returning Durham Contributions To Fair Finance Trustee

Sen. Mike Delph (R-Carmel) is breaking with Gov. Mitch Daniels, House Speaker Brian Bosma, former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi and other politicians in deciding to return $10,000 in campaign contributions he received from indicted Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham to the bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance. WRTV reports:

An Indiana state senator is breaking with some fellow Republicans and returning campaign contributions from Timothy Durham, a former Indianapolis businessman charged with running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors of more than $200 million.


Republican Sen. Mike Delph of Carmel wrote a letter to a bankruptcy attorney Monday saying he's returning the $10,000 Durham donated to his campaign in 2006 and 2007.

Hats off to Delph for taking the lead on this. Hopefully, other Republicans will come to their senses and return the money they got from Durham as well. You can bet former Mayor Bart Peterson or former U.S. Rep. Baron Hill won't be returning their Durham contributions. Delph told the AP that "he is troubled and embarrassed at the attitude of Republicans who aren't returning Durham's donations."

Long-Time Illinois State Senator Moves To Texas And Unloads On State And Chicago

Long-time state senator and the Republican candidate for County County Board President in 2010 Roger Keats is fed up with the corruption and high taxes and is moving to Texas. Keats penned a scathing goodbye letter in the Illinois Review blog in which he trashes the current Democratic leadership of Illinois and Chicago that have put both near financial ruin. Keats says not to blame the weather for him and his family leaving the state after 60 years. Blame the "corruption tax" he writes.

The leaders of Illinois refuse to see we can’t continue going in the direction we are and expect people who have options to stay here . . .

Illinois just sold still more bonds and our credit rating is so bad we pay higher interest rates than junk bonds! Junk Bonds! Illinois is ranked 50th for fiscal policy; 47th in job creation; 1st in unfunded pension liabilities; 2nd largest budget deficit; 1st in failing schools; 1st in bonded indebtedness; highest sales tax in the nation; most judges indicted (Operations Greylord and Gambat); and 5 of our last 9 elected governors have been indicted. That is more than the other 49 states added together! Then add 32 Chicago Aldermen and (according to the Chicago Tribune) over 1000 state and municipal employees indicted. The corruption tax is a real cost of doing business. We are the butt of jokes for stand up comics.


We live in the most corrupt big city, in the most corrupt big county in the most corrupt state in America. I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks. A day rarely passes without an article about the corruption and incompetence. Chicago even got caught rigging the tests to hire police and fire! Our Crook County CORPORATE property tax system is intentionally corrupt. The Democrat State Chairman who is also the Speaker of the Illinois House and the most senior alderman in Chicago each make well over a million dollars a year putting the fix in for their client’s tax assessments.

Keats offers a stark contrast in the tax situation he will face in  the Texas Hill Country compared to his home in Wilmette, Illinois in Chicago's north suburbs:

We are moving to Texas where there is no income tax while Illinois’ just went up 67%. Texas’ sales tax is ½ of ours, which is the highest in the nation. Southern states are supportive of job producers, tax payers and folks who offer opportunities to their residents. Illinois shakes them down for every penny that can be extorted from them.


In The Hill Country of Texas (near Austin and San Antonio) we bought a gracious home on almost 2 acres with a swimming pool. It is new, will cost us around 40% of what our home in Wilmette just sold for and the property taxes are 1/3rd of what they are here. Crook County’s property tax system is a disaster: Wilmette homes near ours sell for 50% more and their property taxes are ½ of ours. Our assessed home value was 50% higher than the sales price. The system is unfair and incompetent.

Our home value is down 40%, our property taxes are up 20% and our local schools have still another referendum on the ballot to increase taxes over 20% in one year. I could go on, but enough is enough. I feel as if we are standing on the deck of the Titanic and I can see the icebergs right in front of us. I will miss our friends a great deal. I have called Illinois home for essentially my entire life. But it is time to go where there is honest, competent and cost effective government. We have chosen to vote with our feet and our wallets. My best to all of you and Good luck!

Daley's TIF Slush Funds Drawing Protests In Chicago

Perhaps this is what needs to happen in Indianapolis to stop the insanity of diverting all of downtown's tax  revenues into TIF funds that are nothing more than slush funds the Mayor can tap to pass out to big campaign contributors for their private business development efforts. Protesters took to the streets in Chicago to protest $2 billion skimmed by TIF districts that are short-changing other taxing districts so Mayor Richard Daley can pass out the money to businesses like Grossinger City Autoplex that received $8.5 million in TIF funds for its northside auto dealership. The Sun-Times reports:

About 150 teachers, parents and activists marched into the Grossinger City Autoplex and demanded a check for $4 million Saturday.


That would be the “TIF” money — protestors called it “The Mayor’s Slush Fund” — diverted from the public schools and given to developers such as those who built the autoplex.

The incensed auto-dealers had two protest organizers arrested for trespassing.

“They came in and disrupted my business,” said Grossinger General Manager Brian Wenberg. “I understand they have the right to protest but not in the middle of my showroom. They can do it outside. They’re talking about the TIF money — none of my employees know anything about it.”

The Tax Increment Financing or TIF districts have operated below the radar screens for decades until the current financial crisis forced cutbacks in government spending that would not have to be as severe if the TIF funds did not divert money away from schools, libraries and other taxing bodies, critics say.

In a TIF district, the property taxes sent to the city and other taxing bodies are frozen for 20 years. Any revenue collected above that first-year level is put into a special fund to be used to encourage economic development in that district. That can include road repairs, street lights and other infrastructure improvements.

The largest single taxing district in Chicago is the public schools, which would be in line for 50 percent of the $500 million in property tax dollars diverted into TIFs every year.

“There’s a giant myth being spread all across this land ... that local governments have no money, they need to take it out of the backs of teachers, take away their pensions,” Cook County Clerk David Orr told the cheering protestors. “Chicago ain’t broke. Chicago has put $2 billion tax dollars that the public doesn’t know about into these TIFs and there’s another $500 million being added every year. There needs to be a moratorium on these TIFs because there has been enormous abuse. They are supposed to go to blighted areas. It’s gone to Willis Towers. It’s gone to Grossinger. It’s gone to other major corporations. As we uncover the mayor’s slush fund, which this is, we’re going to discover that money can go to help the schools.” . . .

The protestors rallied outside Jenner School on the Near North Side, then marched to a Bank of America Office that got TIF money, then to Grossinger, which got $8.5 million in TIF money.


The protestors said they were “peaceful.” Weinberg said some protestors used abusive language toward his staff . . .

The Daley administration's reaction to the protesters complaining that the schools are losing out to these revenues is classic:

The Daley administration argues that the public schools’ tax levy remains the same so money is not really diverted from education — the schools just reach deeper into homeowners’ pockets than they would without the TIFs.

The problem we have in Indianapolis is that the local news media is on the scam. They fully embrace the downtown Ponzi scheme whereby virtually all of the downtown property tax revenues are skimmed by TIF districts that continue to fund new projects promoted by the campaign contributors of the Mayor within the Mile Square to the detriment of the rest of the City and its taxing districts. They won't even discuss it. Instead, we're treated to one story after another of the success of Indianapolis' downtown while the rest of the City is going to hell as people flee to the safety and comfort of the surrounding counties. Nobody wants to live in these crime-infested neighborhoods or send their children to public schools that fail to educate their children. As long as we have sports palaces, ritzy hotels and fine dining experiences for our out-of-town visitors, that's all these so-called civic leaders care about.

More On The Killing Field At Indianapolis Animal Care & Control

As I've previously reported, the only thing Indianapolis' Animal Care & Control appears to be efficient at doing is putting to death the thousands of pets they take into their custody each year. If you think the agency only puts down animals as a last resort, wait till you read Hannah Saunders' story about how the agency euthanized a loving dog she rescued and cared for before turning over to their custody. She never gave up hope on finding a new home for the dog and when she found one a few months later, she learned the agency had been lying to her all along and had put the dog down because they viewed the dog she found to be a very loving pet too dangerous to be adopted--he bit at his leash. WRTV reports:

Hannah Saunders found the stray puppy outside of her door just before Christmas, 6News' Tanya Spencer reported.


"He was a baby, he was a snuggler, and I fell in love with him. I'm just heartbroken," Saunders said . . .
 
Because Saunders' downtown apartment complex has a strict "no dog" policy, she spent weeks trying to find the stray a new owner.


"I tried desperately to find him a home. I put up fliers everywhere and I called every shelter in the area trying to get him a home, but they were all full because it was the holidays," Saunders said. "I had to take him to animal control because I just ran out of options."

Saunders said she knew Animal Care & Control is not a "no kill" shelter. However, she said she told workers she would adopt the dog if he was going to be euthanized.

She never stopped searching for a new home for the 8-month-old puppy she called "Roger" and continued to call Indianapolis Animal Care & Control to check on him.

"They told us that he got put into a private home and in three months he'd be put up for adoption. We'd been waiting for three months, we found him a home in Illinois that was waiting for him and we've been waiting to hear back from them. Last week they told us they'd have the people who had him e-mail us and tell us how he's doing," Saunders said.

When she went to pick Roger up to take him to that new home in Illinois, she was outraged.

"Then they told me they euthanized the dog I brought in months ago," Saunders said.

Hannah said workers told her Roger failed the temperament test because the puppy bit at his leash. They deemed him "aggressive" and not suitable for adoption.

Hannah said Roger slept in her bed with her for weeks and never showed any signs of aggression.

If the agency lied to Saunders for months about euthanizing Roger, what else are they lying about?

Farrakhan's Fighting Words Against Obama

Nation of Islam Leader Rev. Louis Farrakhan issued a less than thinly-veiled threat against President Barack Hussein Obama for his decision to authorize American air strikes against forces fighting to defend Qaddafi's grip on power in Libya during an appearance on Chicago radio talk show host Cliff Kelley's show. Farrakhan, a fellow Chicagoan who has spoken approvingly of Obama, has been a closer friend and ally of Qaddafi for an even longer time. I agree we should stay the hell out of Libya but for quite different reasons than those expressed by Qaddafi. Farrakhan warns of a bloody civil war in our own country if Obama is not careful with "how he manipulates the dissatisfaction in Libya and elsewhere around the world." "Who the hell do you think you are?" Farrakhan asks of Obama's opinion Qaddafi should step aside. He suggested Obama was on the virge of ruining his own future in this country as President.

Jonathan Turley more closely reflects my view towards intervention in Libya:

At a time when the American people overwhelmingly oppose our continued military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Obama has responded by committing the United States to another war. Today, the U.S. attacked Libyan forces with over a hundred cruise missiles hitting the capitol and surrounding areas. With the two wars already draining the United States of billions a day, these cruise missile attacks alone will cost hundreds of millions in both the equipment and commitment of forces.

While we go to war against Libya for its crackdown on democratic reformers and protesters, the United States continues to support its allies like Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (which have unleashed tanks on protesters). What is the principled line determining when we go to war to support protesters or reformers? Will the same line apply to our allies?  

Here is what Obama has stated today: ”Today we are part of a broad coalition. We are answering the calls of a threatened people. And we are acting in the interests of the United States and the world . . .”

We are now going to war in a country which seems to be experiencing a civil war. It is also a country that greeted the mastermind of the PanAm terrorist attack as a national hero. Finally, we are once again going to war without a declaration of war. While the Framers were quite clear about the need for a declaration, we are once again simply circumventing that inconvenient principle. The same Democrats who insisted that they were misled in using a resolution to start the Iraq War are again standing silent in the face of another President committing this country to war without a declaration. I consider bombing the capitol city of a nation to be an act of war.

I seriously doubt that the majority of Americans are opposed to the other two wars but would want to go fight in Libya.

While we are clearly not committing to a ground conflict, this is a move that is clearly opposed to the public’s desire to end this foreign military entanglements — and not to add new ones. The political disconnect over these wars is both distressing and dangerous for a system that, while a representative democracy, is still based on the notion of responsiveness to the voters.

Brizzi Comes Unhinged During Weekend Radio Show

Carl Brizzi

Most live radio talk shows employ a delay that allows the station to filter the broadcast for inappropriate material, normally coming from callers, but in rare instances, from the show's host. Somebody failed badly to do that during the live broadcast this afternoon of Carl Brizzi's weekend radio show on WIBC-FM, Crime Beat. Brizzi could have anticipated he might get calls inquiring about his relationship with indicted Ponzi scheme operator Tim Durham given his close friendship with him. An unidentified female caller hit Brizzi with direct questioning of his financial ties to Durham implying that he too may have engaged in some white collar criminal activiity with his best pal. Rather than cutting the caller's question short before airing her damning statements, Brizzi let her level very pointed charges against him before unleashing on her. He called her out by name repeatedly. Brizzi then called the woman "crazy," a "stalker" and "residual nutcase" against whom he said he would get a restraining order if she lived in Marion County because he "feared for his safety."

Brizzi accused the caller of rummaging through his divorce and business records after she questioned him about the timing of a mortgage recording an interest in real estate in Elkhart that he and his business partner, Paul Page, purchased and redeveloped after getting a lucrative long-term lease agreement with the Indiana Department of Child Services. The lease agreement was negotiated by a Brizzi political pal, John Bales, on behalf of the state. Bales' Venture Real Estate also handled the leasing of costly office space for the Marion Co. Prosecutor's Office downtown, which Brizzi maintains was entered into by his predecessor, Scott Newman. The caller further suggested Brizzi traded in significant sums of Cellstar stock as part of an investment group headed up by Durham without being identified as a part of the investment group as required by SEC disclosure regulations. News reports have suggested FBI officials have been investigating Brizzi's business dealings while serving as Marion Co. Prosecutor.

Another caller hit Brizzi for his acquisition of an interest in a liquor license held by Harry & Izzy's in violation of an Indiana law that prohibits law enforcement officials from owning an interest in liquor licenses. Brizzi got around the law while he was Marion Co. Prosecutor by getting his friends in the state Attorney General's office to write an advisory opinion suggesting he could own an interest in a liquor license so long as his interest was owned indirectly as a shareholder in a corporation. Brizzi insisted to the caller that Indiana law permits law enforcement officers to own an interest in alcohol permits without mentioning the slight of hand he engaged in to circumvent the law's restriction. The indirect ownership exception recognized in the AG opinion has the effect of consuming the rule prohibiting law enforcement officials from owning an interest in a liquor license.

Brizzi refused one caller's request to comment on the charges against his friend Durham. Because of his former role as Marion Co. Prosecutor, Brizzi said anything he would say ran the risk of doing real harm. Brizzi did say Durham had never been investigated for any crimes in Marion Co. during his eight years as county prosecutor, which should come as no surprise given the nearly $1 million Durham had spread around to area politicians, including Brizzi, who received over $200,000 in campaign contributions from the indicted Ponzi scheme operator. Despite having ample left-over funds in his campaign account to return the ill-gotten money to the bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance Co., a company upon whose board Brizzi briefly served, for the benefit of investors defrauded of more than $200 million of their hard-earned savings, Brizzi has so far refused to return the money as have Gov. Mitch Daniels, House Speaker Brian Bosma and other politicians who accepted contributions from him.