No sooner had the polls closed in South Carolina than the major news networks called Newt Gingrich the big winner in tonight's critical primary election where 25 delegates are at stake over Mitt Romney, who had led in polls by a wide margin only a week ago. The Palmetto State has a perfect record to date in picking the eventual winner of the Republican nomination. Gingrich captured 40% of the vote to Romney's 28%. Rick Santorum trailed with 17% and Ron Paul finished in fourth place with 13% of the vote. Interestingly, exit polling data showed Gingrich winning big among voters who described themselves as tea party members or evangelical Christians.
Take a deep breath. I don't for one minute think Gingrich will wind up the winner of the Republican nomination. After three tests, Romney, Santorum and Gingrich each have a victory, although Gingrich's win tonight was the largest to date for any of the candidates. In the all important delegate count, Romney is leading narrowly with 31 delegates, followed by Gingrich's 26 delegates, Paul's 10 delegates and Santorum's 8 delegates. The fact remains that, unlike the campaigns of Romney and Paul, Gingrich does not have a campaign organization or money to handle the heavy schedule of upcoming primaries and caucuses. The next primary is in Florida where Romney currently has a big lead, but as we've seen tonight, Romney's support is very soft and can be challenged. Paul and Santorum aren't competitive in Florida, and Paul's campaign says he may skip the state altogether and focus on upcoming caucus votes in Nevada and Minnesota where he believes his chances are better.
Romney still has to be considered the odds on favorite. He has the money and the organization the other campaigns, except Paul, are lacking, which is critical for any candidate to win a drawn out fight for the nomination. Having said that, Paul's campaign has to be very disappointed with his poor fourth place showing tonight. A Republican presidential candidate has to have appeal among southern voters in order to win a general election. His 13% share of the vote in South Carolina suggests he will have a tough road ahead of him in the remaining primaries in the South. What tonight's upset win for Gingrich does is give pause to many prominent Republican leaders about Romney's status as the presumptive nominee. If Gingrich is able to reverse Romney's lead in Florida as he did successfully in South Carolina, then you can expect Republican leaders across the country to view Romney as the nominee with trepidation.
Pundits are already talking about the possibility of a late entrant into the presidential race, but the reality is that it is too late because any candidate entering at this late date has already missed the filing deadline to get on the ballot in many of the upcoming primary elections. What party leaders may hope, instead, is that a drawn out nomination battle may result in no candidate having a majority of the delegates by the time the convention rolls around next summer. Because delegates are being awarded proportionally instead of the winner-take-all rules of past elections, losing candidates can still win delegates as long as they are earning a significant share of the vote in the states in which they are competing. The best hope a late entrant candidate could have is a convention where no candidate has enough delegates to win on the first ballot, in which case the nomination could be opened up to other candidates. It's been a long time since either party produced a nominee through a brokered convention. The Republican Party hasn't had a brokered convention since Thomas Dewey won the nomination in 1948.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Fair Finance Trustee Sues Durham's Mother And Attorneys To Recover Money For Defrauded Investors
The bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance has filed dozens of lawsuits against businesses and individuals it claimed received transfers of money from indicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham in fraud of the company's investors. One of the largest lawsuits is against Durham's mother, Mitza Durham, claiming that Durham transferred more than $831,000 to her without any consideration. The trustee is also suing prominent Indianapolis law firms that took retainer fees from Durham, including high profile criminal defense attorney Jim Voyles and Rubin & Levin. Voyles is being sued for $25,000, and Rubin & Levin is being sued for $40,000. The Sanders Group, a local media company, is being sued for $30,000. Other individuals being sued by the trustee to recover money transferred to them include James Pace ($135,000), Cindy Landeen ($140,000), Scott Solem ($84,000), Erica Jiles ($33,000), Colleen Barone ($152,000) and Robert Shoemake ($26,000).
Marion County Democrats Stealth Candidate For County Treasurer
Marion Co. Democrats are looking for a replacement for outgoing county treasurer, Mike Rodman, who has been highly regarded for the professional manner in which he has run the office the past eight years. Observers had hoped the party would look to his chief deputy, Tom Creasser, to run to fill his boss' shoes because he was probably the most qualified candidate for the job. The party bosses have someone else in mind. Richard Hunter, an employee of Marion Co. Auditor Billy Breaux's office, is the only other announced Democratic candidate who is actively running for the position. An informed source tells me that Hunter is operating under the false impression that he will be slated by the party. The actual candidate the party plans to slate as its candidate for county treasurer I'm told is Claudia Fuentes, a fellow employee of Hunter's in the auditor's office. It's just that nobody has bothered to tell Hunter yet.
Whistle Blower Says Daniels Administration Rigged Bid To Favor John Bales
The IBJ's Cory Schouten has another great story today detailing the lengths the Daniels administration went to in order to create the impression it was conducting a competitive bidding process to award a contract to handle real estate leasing for state agencies when it had already made an advance decision to award the contract to John Bales' Venture Real Estate. The administration could have simply given the contract to Bales without conducting a public bidding process since it was a contract for services. Instead, it had the Department of Administration put out for bid a 20-page request for services to more than 400 potential bidders with a 65-point scoring process for evaluating proposals. According to a whistle blower, Marsha White, a former BMV employee who served on the selection committee, the DOA changed the scoring not once but twice after the selection committee scored the proposals to make Bales' company the winner.
Ironically, the Daniels administration would have avoided a lot of embarrassment had it simply been willing to listen to people like Tate and White. Tate told Schouten the test she applied to every decision made during her 17 years with the state was "whether a deal could embarrass the commissioner or the governor--was thrown out with Bales." Last month, of course, Bales and his business partners were indicted by federal prosecutors in northern Indiana because of the undisclosed ownership interest Bales had in a commercial real estate property in Elkhart for which he brokered a real estate lease on behalf of the state. Schouten reports that the state continued to do business with Bales firm until the FBI started investigating the Elkhart deal despite the "parade of state officials" who had raised questions about Bales' business practices.
Schouten's efforts to obtain public records from the Daniels administration in support of his latest investigative research was met with stonewalling. The administration cited an exemption from the state's public records law for "deliberative documents" that would have confirmed White's claim that DOA changed the scoring for the bids midstream to ensure the contract was awarded to Bales. Nonetheless, he was able to obtain a memorandum written by then-Deputy Commissioner Rob Wynkoop recommending Bales' firm for the contract that suggested a different scoring process was utilized than what had been outlined in the original request for proposals. Whoops.
In an unrelated story, Schouten reports that Daniels' chief of staff, Earle Goode, who formerly ran DOA when the contract was awarded to Bales' firm, purchased a residential lot from Bales in an upscale Indianapolis subdivision on the city's far north side for $450,000. It doesn't appear Goode got any special treatment in the real estate transaction. Bales had acquired the lot from his former business partner, Samuel Smith, two years earlier for $285,000. Goode and his wife had intended to build a home on the lot according to Schouten, but they instead are now trying to sell it for a substantial loss with an asking price of $399,000.
Venture wound up with 50.82 points, according to an IDOA memorandum obtained through a public records request. Next up was Resource Commercial Real Estate, with 49.2 points, followed by NAI Olympia Partners with 47.78 points.
"They changed the values to make Venture win," said Martha White, a member of the selection committeee who at the time handled leasing for the Bureau of Motor Vehicles. "Not until the third try did Venture actually win."A second member of the selection committee confirmed White's account of what happened to Schouten but wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. The person's fears seem well-founded. White no longer works for the BMV and Bea Tate, the state's former director of leasing, quit her job after she was demoted for tangling with Bales over the manner in which he was handling state real esate leasing deals according to Schouten. Tate told Schouten that Bales bragged about his close relationship with Daniels and how he had his personal cell phone number. She said Daniels appointees distrusted anyone like her who had worked in state government before they arrived. "They wanted to hand it over without any accountability," Tate told Schouten. "Venture got by with everything--they did whatever they wanted to do."
Ironically, the Daniels administration would have avoided a lot of embarrassment had it simply been willing to listen to people like Tate and White. Tate told Schouten the test she applied to every decision made during her 17 years with the state was "whether a deal could embarrass the commissioner or the governor--was thrown out with Bales." Last month, of course, Bales and his business partners were indicted by federal prosecutors in northern Indiana because of the undisclosed ownership interest Bales had in a commercial real estate property in Elkhart for which he brokered a real estate lease on behalf of the state. Schouten reports that the state continued to do business with Bales firm until the FBI started investigating the Elkhart deal despite the "parade of state officials" who had raised questions about Bales' business practices.
Schouten's efforts to obtain public records from the Daniels administration in support of his latest investigative research was met with stonewalling. The administration cited an exemption from the state's public records law for "deliberative documents" that would have confirmed White's claim that DOA changed the scoring for the bids midstream to ensure the contract was awarded to Bales. Nonetheless, he was able to obtain a memorandum written by then-Deputy Commissioner Rob Wynkoop recommending Bales' firm for the contract that suggested a different scoring process was utilized than what had been outlined in the original request for proposals. Whoops.
In an unrelated story, Schouten reports that Daniels' chief of staff, Earle Goode, who formerly ran DOA when the contract was awarded to Bales' firm, purchased a residential lot from Bales in an upscale Indianapolis subdivision on the city's far north side for $450,000. It doesn't appear Goode got any special treatment in the real estate transaction. Bales had acquired the lot from his former business partner, Samuel Smith, two years earlier for $285,000. Goode and his wife had intended to build a home on the lot according to Schouten, but they instead are now trying to sell it for a substantial loss with an asking price of $399,000.
Obama Campaign Staffer Charged With Identity Theft In Effort To Smear Iowa Secretary Of State
 |
| Zachary Edwards |
Today, Friday, January 20, 2012, Zachary Edwards, age 29, from Des Moines, Iowa, was arrested and criminally charged with Identity Theft, an Aggravated Misdemeanor (Iowa Code 715A.8(2)). Edwards turned himself in to Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) agents this afternoon at the Polk County Jail. He was then booked into the jail with a set bail of $2,000, cash or surety.
According to the Criminal Complaint, on June 24, 2011, Edwards fraudulently used, or attempted to use, the identity of Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz and/or Secretary Schultz’s brother, Thomas Schultz, with the intent to obtain a benefit, in an alleged scheme to falsely implicate Secretary Schultz in perceived illegal or unethical behavior while in office.
If convicted, Edwards faces a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and a maximum fine of $6,250. A criminal allegation is merely an accusation and any suspect is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office discovered the alleged scheme on June 24, 2011 and subsequently reported the information to authorities. DCI continues to investigate the incident, and the case is being prosecuted by the Polk County Attorney’s Office.According to the Iowa Republican blog, Edwards joined the Obama campaign early in 2007 as an intern working in Nevada. He eventually joined the campaign's New Media department and directed the campaign's activities in five other primary states. He served as Obama's Iowa Director of New Media during the 2008 general election campaign. Following the 2008 campaign, Edwards joined Link Strategies, which provides campaign consulting advice to Democratic candidates including Sen. Tom Harkin (D).
The Iowa Republican reports on Democratic efforts to impugn Secretary of State Matt Schultz since his upset win in the 2010 election. A Democratic blog in Iowa launched a three-part investigative series based on documents it obtained through a public records request questioning Schultz "ability to remain independent and ensure election integrity." Within days of the Democratic Party filing an ethics complaint against Schultz in June, Edwards' alleged identity theft scheme against Schultz was launched. The ethics complaint against Schultz was later dismissed.
A copy of the criminal complaint against Edwards can be viewed here.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Rove-Like Dirty Tricks Appear In South Carolina
In New Hampshire, it was the campaign of Ron Paul who was the victim of a dirty tricks operation to make it appear his campaign was behind a controversial video portraying Jon Huntsman as a "Manchurian candidate." In South Carolina, it is New Gingrich who is the victim of a dirty tricks operation sending fake e-mail messages to the state's Republican voters. One of the spoofed e-mails appeared to be a CNN Breaking News alert claiming that Gingrich's ex-wife had accused him of forcing her to get an abortion before the two were married. A second spoofed e-mail claimed to be from Gingrich himself confessing to supporters that he had once asked his ex-wife to get an abortion. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has the details:
UPDATE: The Daily Caller has more details on the origins of the e-mails:
South Carolina's reputation as a haven for political dirty tricks reared its ugly head as a pair of e-mails were sent to Republican voters here claiming Newt Gingrich forced his ex-wife to have an abortion.
Gingrich told reporters that whomever sent the emails should be prosecuted and the state's House majority leader, Republican Kenny Bingham of Lexington, called on the state's attorney general to investigate.
The first e-mail, made to look like an official CNN breaking news alert, claimed Marianne Gingrich, the candidate's second ex-wife, alleged he "forced her to abort a pregnancy conceived during the affair that preceeded her marriage to Gingrich," according to a copy of the message obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
CNN acknowledged the email on air Friday, but said the network did not send it out.
The AJC also obtained a copy of a second fake e-mail sent to Gingrich supporters that appears to be a message from Gingrich confessing to the charge. It features Gingrich's graphics and even has an "unsubscribe" option that makes it appear real.
A Gingrich spokesman confirmed that the e-mails are fake . . .
The state has a history of these types of shenanigans. In the 2000 GOP primary, U.S. Sen. John McCain was hit by last-minute anonymous smears that helped deliver the state, and the nomination, to then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.These last minute smear campaigns are straight out of the Karl Rove play book. The Jon Huntsman video helped stall Paul's surge in the New Hampshire primary where he finished a distant second behind Romney after getting within striking distance of Romney in the Granite State according to some polls taken shortly after the Iowa caucus. Polls taken in the Palmetto State in recent days have shown a surge in support for Gingrich, who is now leading Romney according to polls released the last couple of days after trailing him by double-digits as recently as a week ago. You have to look at the Romney campaign as being behind these smear efforts in both cases. Karl Rove is backing Romney, although he claims he is not working directly for his campaign so he can pretend to be an objective paid political consultant for Fox News, which has operated as an extension of the Romney campaign the past couple of months.
UPDATE: The Daily Caller has more details on the origins of the e-mails:
The email’s graphics included a message claiming that it was “paid for by Newt 2012.” The sender substituted the number “1” in “2012” with a lowercase letter L.
The email originated from the phony Internet domain “newt20l2.org,” which uses the same letter-for-number substitution. The domain was registered shortly after 11 a.m. eastern time on Friday morning, according to records available online. The owner used Domains By Proxy, a division of the Internet registrar GoDaddy that allows anonymous registration and guarantees its customers’ privacy.
The fake email was sent roughly four hours later.
Todd Kincannon, a South Carolina lawyer and former executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party, received the email at 3:11 p.m. Kincannon told The Daily Caller that he firmly believes the email is a concentrated effort from the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to squelch Gingrich’s surge.
“If I were on a jury, there would be no doubt in my mind that Romney did it,” he said. “I mean, the circumstantial evidence is there. Romney’s the person who’s trying to stop Newt.”
“Ron Paul wouldn’t do it,” Kincannon told TheDC. “Paul wants Newt to win. Paul thinks he’s got a shot at a brokered convention. I don’t think the Santorum people would do it. It’s just not their style. But it is definitely the Romney people’s style.”
Indianapolis Bar Association Releases Meaningless Judicial Ratings
The Indianapolis Bar Association has released survey results for 23 declared judicial candidates, including 17 judges seeking re-election and 6 candidates seeking election for the first time. According to the survey of attorney members of the IBA, the candidates were rated as high as 96.7% and as low as 30.7%. The highest rated judicial candidate is Marion Superior Court Judge Robert Altice, Jr. The lowest rated judge is Marion Superior Court Judge Becky Pierson-Treacy, wife of Marion Co. Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy. The percentages assigned to each candidate reflects the percentage of participating bar members who recommended the candidate as qualified to serve as a judge. Only Judge Pierson-Treacy received a failing recommendation, although a number of other candidates scored only slightly better than 50%. Here's how they fared from top to bottom:
Robert Altice, Jr. (R) 96.7%
Mark D. Stoner (D) 95.7%
Heather Welch (D) 95.6%
Michael D. Keele (R) 95.4%
Sheila Carlisle (R) 94.2%
Helen Marchal (R)* 86.3%
William Nelson (R) 84.9%
Amy Jones (R)* 84.8%
Clark Rogers (R) 84.0%
Jose Salinas (D) 79.0%
Grant Hawkins (D) 78.8%
John Chavis (D)* 78.8%
Carol Orbison (R) 72.6%
Linda Brown (D) 69.9%
Lisa Borges (R) 69.8%
Steven Eichholtz (D) 68.8%
Thomas Carroll (D) 68.5%
James Joven (R)* 68.1%
John Hanley (D) 67.0%
Clayton Graham (R)* 60.0%
Mark King (D)* 53.4%
Greg Bowes (D)* 52.7%
Becky Pierson-Treacy (D) 30.7%
* Denotes a candidate not currently serving on the Superior Court.
The ratings are meaningless for all practical purposes because there are 20 judicial positions to be filled, 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans. If all of the candidates' names appear on the May primary ballot, all but two of the Democratic candidates will win and all but one of the Republican candidates will win. Because of the slating practice of each party, candidates who are not slated typically withdraw their names resulting in no competition in the primary or general election. Three previously announced candidates have already withdrawn their names from consideration, probably because they were told they would not be slated. In a manner of speaking, voters in Marion County have absolutely no say in the election of their judges. Precinct committeepersons (PCs) of each party have a very limited role as a handful of political insiders handpick the candidates they back for slating before the PCs even meet for the slating convention and very seldom does a candidate not backed by the political insiders wind up getting slated by the PCs. That's because most of the PCs who vote at the slating convention are appointed by the party chairman. It's usually a waste of time for a PC to even bother showing up for the slating convention.
Fellow blogger Paul Ogden has reported that Judge Carol Orbison supposedly told party leaders that she would not rule out running in the primary if she is not slated, which may have doomed her chances of being slated at the convention at the end of this month. The Republicans failed to re-slate three sitting judges four years ago, all of whom chose not to run in the primary following their defeat at the slating convention. Both political parties require judicial candidates to pay a large slating fee as a condition to being considered as a slated candidate at the slating convention. The parties claim the slating fee is a voluntary contribution to the party, but everyone knows that a judicial candidate will never be slated if he or she doesn't pay the slating fee. Ogden notes a 1992 advisory opinion issued by the Judicial Qualifications Commission that makes quite clear that a mandatory payment of a slating fee as a condition to a judicial candidate being slated is a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct. They all pay to play figuring that there's safety in numbers violating the rule.
Robert Altice, Jr. (R) 96.7%
Mark D. Stoner (D) 95.7%
Heather Welch (D) 95.6%
Michael D. Keele (R) 95.4%
Sheila Carlisle (R) 94.2%
Helen Marchal (R)* 86.3%
William Nelson (R) 84.9%
Amy Jones (R)* 84.8%
Clark Rogers (R) 84.0%
Jose Salinas (D) 79.0%
Grant Hawkins (D) 78.8%
John Chavis (D)* 78.8%
Carol Orbison (R) 72.6%
Linda Brown (D) 69.9%
Lisa Borges (R) 69.8%
Steven Eichholtz (D) 68.8%
Thomas Carroll (D) 68.5%
James Joven (R)* 68.1%
John Hanley (D) 67.0%
Clayton Graham (R)* 60.0%
Mark King (D)* 53.4%
Greg Bowes (D)* 52.7%
Becky Pierson-Treacy (D) 30.7%
* Denotes a candidate not currently serving on the Superior Court.
The ratings are meaningless for all practical purposes because there are 20 judicial positions to be filled, 10 Democrats and 10 Republicans. If all of the candidates' names appear on the May primary ballot, all but two of the Democratic candidates will win and all but one of the Republican candidates will win. Because of the slating practice of each party, candidates who are not slated typically withdraw their names resulting in no competition in the primary or general election. Three previously announced candidates have already withdrawn their names from consideration, probably because they were told they would not be slated. In a manner of speaking, voters in Marion County have absolutely no say in the election of their judges. Precinct committeepersons (PCs) of each party have a very limited role as a handful of political insiders handpick the candidates they back for slating before the PCs even meet for the slating convention and very seldom does a candidate not backed by the political insiders wind up getting slated by the PCs. That's because most of the PCs who vote at the slating convention are appointed by the party chairman. It's usually a waste of time for a PC to even bother showing up for the slating convention.
Fellow blogger Paul Ogden has reported that Judge Carol Orbison supposedly told party leaders that she would not rule out running in the primary if she is not slated, which may have doomed her chances of being slated at the convention at the end of this month. The Republicans failed to re-slate three sitting judges four years ago, all of whom chose not to run in the primary following their defeat at the slating convention. Both political parties require judicial candidates to pay a large slating fee as a condition to being considered as a slated candidate at the slating convention. The parties claim the slating fee is a voluntary contribution to the party, but everyone knows that a judicial candidate will never be slated if he or she doesn't pay the slating fee. Ogden notes a 1992 advisory opinion issued by the Judicial Qualifications Commission that makes quite clear that a mandatory payment of a slating fee as a condition to a judicial candidate being slated is a violation of the Code of Judicial Conduct. They all pay to play figuring that there's safety in numbers violating the rule.
Georgia Judge Denies Obama's Motion To Quash Taitz Subpoena In Ballot Eligibility Case
California attorney Orly Taitz has been the butt of many jokes and roundly criticized by the mainstream media for her dogged pursuit of proving that Barack Obama was never eligible to serve as president of the United States because he is not a natural born citizen. After dozens of lawsuits, Taitz finally found a judge in Georgia who is allowing one of her eligibility challenges to be heard on the merits. Judge Michael Malihi first denied a motion to dismiss Taitz' complaint filed in Georgia challenging his right to appear on the 2012 Democratic primary ballot for the state of Georgia. Today, Judge Malihi denied a motion filed by Obama's attorneys seeking to quash subpoenas she served on Obama to appear at a hearing on January 26, 2012 and produce original documents Taitz has asked the President to produce, including his birth certificate, social security application, aliases and school records. Here's the text of Judge Malihi's Order:
Defendant, President Barack Obama, a candidate seeking the Democratic nomination for the office of the President of the United States, has filed a motion to quash the subpoena compelling his attendance at the hearing on January 26, 2012.
In support of his motion, Defendant argues that "if enforced, [the subpoena] requires him to interrupt duties as President of the United States" to attend a hearing in Atlanta, Georgia. However, Defendant fails to provide any legal authority to support his motion to quash the subpoena to attend. Defendant's motion suggests that no President should be compelled to attend a Court hearing. This may be correct. But Defendant has failed to enlighten the Court with any legal authority. Specifically, Defendant has failed to cite to any legal authority evidencing why his attendance is "unreasonable or oppressive, or that the testimony... [is] irrelevant, immaterial, or cumulative and unnecessary to a party's preparation or presentation at the hearing, or that basic fairness dictates that the subpoena should not be enforced." Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 616-1-2-.19(5).
Defendant further alludes to a defect in service of the subpoena. However, the Court's rules provide for service of a subpoena upon a party, by serving the party's counsel of record. Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 616-1-2-.19(4). Thus, the argument regarding service is without merit.
Accordingly, Defendant's motion to quash is denied.
SO ORDERED, this 20th day of January, 2012.
I don't see President Obama's attorneys allowing him to comply with this state judge's order for one minute. I anticipate that an emergency appeal of this ruling is already in the works. It would be hard to imagine a state court judge forcing Obama to produce documents and otherwise prove his eligibility to serve as president when no federal court judge to date has been willing to take that step, even if that is what is required of them as judges to uphold the oath they took to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
I don't see President Obama's attorneys allowing him to comply with this state judge's order for one minute. I anticipate that an emergency appeal of this ruling is already in the works. It would be hard to imagine a state court judge forcing Obama to produce documents and otherwise prove his eligibility to serve as president when no federal court judge to date has been willing to take that step, even if that is what is required of them as judges to uphold the oath they took to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
7,000 Fewer Tickets For Super Bowl Being Sold Than First Promoted
Planners for hosting the Super Bowl in Indianapolis this year had originally planned to add temporary seating at Lucas Oil Stadium that would have added another 7,000 seats to the stadium's 63,000 permanent seats to allow 70,000 tickets to be sold to the event. WRTV reports that the number of temporary seats has been reduced down to 254, making this year's Super Bowl the smallest one in 20 years.
A local Super Bowl blog shows advanced reservations for parking near Lucas Oil Stadium are up 20% so far compared to the number of reservations placed for last year's Super Bowl game in Dallas. Nearly a quarter of those reservations were purchased by persons from Central Indiana according to the blog, which suggests many visitors to the event will be local. Ten percent of the reservations were made by people living in the Chicago area. The blog reports there are still 12,000 parking spaces available for the event.
"The original bid planned for up to 7,000 temporary seats. As with most major productions, plans are refined as the event nears,” McCarthy said.
In February 2011, Lucas Oil Stadium officials showed RTV6 exactly where the proposed 4,000 extra seats would be placed.
Stadium Director Mike Fox said NFL officials simply changed their minds in regards to the extra seats, putting Indy on track to host one of the smallest Super Bowls in the league’s history.
In 2011, 103,000 fans attended the Super Bowl in Dallas and in 2010, 74,000 fans attended the game in Miami.
The last time a Super Bowl had just 63,000 fans in attendance was Super Bowl 26 in Minneapolis, officials said.
McCarthy said the temporary seats added to Lucas Oil Stadium should be in place by Saturday and the NFL has the final say on the total number of additions.To put it in perspective, there will be 40% fewer fans attending the game than attended the Super Bowl in Dallas last year. That's a difference of 40,000 people who will be needing hotel rooms. Don't get me wrong. This is still going to be a big event for the city, but in comparison to the number of visitors who come here every year to attend the Indianapolis 500, it's a much smaller event. The Colts have had plenty of sold out games over the past several years that have drawn as many visitors downtown. Clearly, Super Bowl planners are banking on a whole lot of fans coming into town to experience the atmosphere of the big game, who don't have tickets to the event. Given the marketing campaign for the Super Bowl Village in Central Indiana, planners expect to draw most of those additional visitors from the local market.
A local Super Bowl blog shows advanced reservations for parking near Lucas Oil Stadium are up 20% so far compared to the number of reservations placed for last year's Super Bowl game in Dallas. Nearly a quarter of those reservations were purchased by persons from Central Indiana according to the blog, which suggests many visitors to the event will be local. Ten percent of the reservations were made by people living in the Chicago area. The blog reports there are still 12,000 parking spaces available for the event.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)