Media's Gay Rights Darling Busted For Drunk Driving

The local news media kept this story under wraps for quite some time. The Indianapolis Star told us their anointed star in the gay marriage battle, political consultant Megan Robertson, was on their list of fifteen people to watch in 2015--just not the reason we were told. It turns out that Robertson had been busted weeks before for drunk driving after she smashed her vehicle into a Hardees restaurant on East Washington Street. A blood alcohol test found she was more than double over the legal limit. The irony is that Robertson is helping lead the legislative effort this year to overturn the state's law banning Sunday alcohol sales. The Star's Tony Cook provides these details:

Megan Robertson, the Republican political operative who was hired to run the campaign to legalize Sunday carryout alcohol sales, is facing drunken driving charges after police say her vehicle crashed into a Near Eastside fast food restaurant on Christmas Eve. 

Robertson, 32, lost control of her Chevrolet Equinox and struck a Hardee's restaurant at 921 E. Washington St., according to a probable cause affidavit. Robertson told police she was on her way home from a Fountain Square bar at about 1 a.m. after drinking two beers. 

A breathalyzer test later showed she had a blood alcohol content of 0.168 percent, the affidavit said. That is more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent for driving in Indiana. 

"I am incredibly ashamed of my poor judgment in this situation," Robertson said in a statement to The Star. "I am very grateful no one was injured, and I am very sorry to those I have let down. This lapse in judgment should not reflect on the causes that I have worked on over the course of my career." 

She is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated endangering a person and operating a vehicle with an alcohol concentration equivalent to 0.15 percent or more. Both charges are class A misdemeanors and carry a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $5,000 fine . . . 

Robertson has a string of prior traffic arrests for speeding, failure to wear a seat belt and operating a vehicle while her driver's license was suspended, the most recent of which occurred on September 25 of last year. That case was still pending when she was charged with drunk driving on Christmas Eve. She is represented in both cases by Jennifer Lukemeyer of high profile attorney Jim Voyles' law firm. Robertson managed Mayor Greg Ballard's 2011 re-election campaign before she headed up Freedom Indiana as a paid lobbyist to fight the passage of a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in Indiana.

Former Employee Of Mayoral Hopeful Speaks About Her Former Boss

Sarah Hoyt is a 32-year old life-time Indianapolis resident who didn't shy away from commenting on political newcomer, Chuck Brewer, when media reports on Monday revealed he was the candidate the leadership of the Marion Co. Republican Party had anointed as the party's candidate for mayor to succeed Mayor Greg Ballard, the accidental mayor who is retiring after two terms as the city's mayor. "I wouldn't call his businesses very successful," Hoyt, a former general manager of the Potbelly Sandwich Shop owned by Brewer on Monument Circle wrote in the comments wall on an Indianapolis Star online story touting the former Sears executive and Iraqi War veteran. "As the general manager for one of his businesses for 2 years, his leadership is definitely questionable," Hoyt said. "He will not be receiving my vote."

Sarah TheFunone Elizabeth I wouldn't call his businesses very successful. As the general manager for one of his businesses for 2 years, his leadership is definitely questionable. He will not be receiving my vote. 

Reply · Like · 3 · January 19 at 9:16pm

To this long-time political activist and GOP precinct committeeman, Chuck Brewer's name and face was a completely new one to me. Media reports touted the New York native's impressive business degrees from Harvard and Northwestern University, as well as his experience working for Sears Holding Corp. in Chicago where he rose through the corporate ranks to a division vice president before striking out on his own in a move to Indianapolis to pursue his own dreams as an entrepreneur. Brewer opened Indianapolis' first Potbelly franchise on Monument Circle before launching a second self-branded concept restaurant around the corner on East Market Street, Soupremacy. Brewer is also a decorated Marine who served two tours of duty in Iraq in a combat role as a Lt. Colonel in the Marine Reserves. I reached out to Hoyt to learn more about what she could share with Advance Indiana readers about Brewer after reading her comment on the Indianapolis Star's website.

Hoyt, who has held numerous jobs in the hospitality industry since graduating from Ben Davis High School in 2000, first crossed paths with Brewer when she started working at his Potbelly franchise as a cashier about two and a half years ago. Within three months, Brewer promoted her to assistant shift lead. As fate would have it, she was quickly elevated to a new role as assistant manager when a general manager quit working for Brewer. By this same time last year, Hoyt had become general manager of Potbelly as he was launching his second restaurant, Soupremacy. Hoyt left her job in September to begin classes full-time at Ivy Tech, where she is studying to become a substance abuse counselor.

Hoyt had the opportunity to interact a great deal with Brewer over the past two and a half years. Brewer, a single divorced father of a pre-teen son, travels back and forth frequently between his Indianapolis home and a Chicago home he continues to maintain according to Hoyt. Brewer, who has been engaged in contentious litigation over child custody matters over the past several years with his ex-wife since his 2010 divorce became final according to Cook County Circuit Court records, shares custody of his son with his ex-wife. According to Hoyt, Brewer often travels to Chicago to exercise his parenting time rights with his son, in addition to his ongoing reporting duties as a reserve officer in the Marines. Occasionally, she said Brewer brought his son with him to Potbelly when he was exercising his parenting time, whom Hoyt described as a very well-mannered and behaved child.

One of Hoyt's frustrations working for Brewer was her belief that he treated male and female workers differently. Small talk between fellow employees upset her when she realized some male employees spoke of earning higher wages than female counterparts performing the same job, although Hoyt said she knew of no formal complaints ever filed against Brewer for discrimination. She became particularly upset when she learned Brewer was paying college tuition for a male counterpart, a benefit never offered to her. Like many hospitality workers, Brewer offered no health care benefits to his employees, even for the full-time general manager position she last held. Hoyt said Brewer insisted that no hourly employees be permitted to work over-time hours because he did not want to pay them over-time pay as required by law.

Hoyt also described Brewer, who was normally a pleasant person for whom to work, as having a short fuse. His management style typically left it to his general manager to work out problems with employees, but she observed instances when he became angry with an employee and began yelling and spewing four-letter words at them. She recalled one instance where he became infuriated because a manager had allowed an employee to take a smoking break outside. The manager was so overcome by his anger that he left, only later returning to work after Brewer smoothed things over with him. When Hoyt was promoted to her job as general manager, Brewer neglected to reflect her higher wages on her first paycheck following her promotion, which became a problem for her as she was attempting to secure credit to purchase a car. Hoyt said Brewer showed no sympathy for her plight when she was forced to make a higher down payment based on lower wage earnings, telling her she should have waited until he corrected her pay on the next paycheck.

One of the questions I asked of Hoyt was where she believed Brewer lived. Although she never visited his home, she knew carry out orders had been delivered to it by the restaurant's bicycle delivery workers. She understood he lived in a condo not far away on Meridian Street. That is consistent with my own research, which found a Charles W. Brewer listed as the owner of a condominium in the Athletic Club at 350 N. Meridian Street. Marion County Assessor records show Unit #607 at the Athletic Club was transferred to a "Charles W. Brewer" on April 19, 2011. A homestead exemption has been claimed on the property for tax years 2012 through 2014 according to the assessor's records, which has a current assessed value of $342,700.

The question of Brewer's residence is intriguing. Before he announced earlier this week he would be running for mayor, Brewer filed a statement of organization indicating he planned to run in District 23 for a seat on the Indianapolis City-County Council. On the form he filed with the Marion Co. Election Board, he listed an address at 623 Slate Drive, Apt. B, which is located on the city's south side in Perry Township. If Brewer is the owner of a condominium in the Athletic Club, which is consistent with Hoyt's understanding of where he resided, why would he have been seeking election to the City-County Council in District 23? As Brewer explained to various reporters, he sought out GOP party leaders for their support for mayor after filing paperwork to run for a seat on the City-County Council when he learned they were having difficulty finding someone to run for mayor.

According to Hoyt, local Republican Party officials frequently dined at Potbelly and conducted meetings there while she worked for Brewer. Hoyt said Brewer was always very friendly with these Republican officials and sometimes furnished lunch to them for free. She was not familiar with these individuals by name other than Denise Moe, who has served as campaign manager and treasurer for State Sen. Pete Miller (R-Avon). Hoyt had no knowledge of Brewer's personal finances, although he seemed to her to be very frugal in how he spent his money. He had originally planned to open other Potbelly restaurants in the area but those plans fell through. That's when he decided to launch Soupremacy. Hoyt said he was very secretive about his plans to open up the second restaurant. She didn't even learn of his plans to open it until about a week before it opened for business. After it opened, she said she felt pressured by him to improve sales at Potbelly because of lagging sales at Soupremacy.

Fool me once, shame on you, Fool me twice, shame on me. I regrettably backed Greg Ballard for mayor in 2007 based upon a total bunch of lies he fed to me about his political views. I won't make that mistake again. The Marion Co. GOP may not have bothered to take the time to vet this unknown candidate they've anointed as their candidate for mayor, but his blog will do it whether they like it or not. We know the fawning Indianapolis media can't be expected to do their job either.

Coons' Political Activity May Have Violated Federal Hatch Act

As director of Homeland Security for the City of Indianapolis, Gary Coons' salary is paid, in part, by federal funds. Earlier this month, fellow blogger Paul Ogden  raised concerns in a blog post about Coons' role chairing "Vote Yes for Perry Township Schools," a political action committee set up to advocate for passage of yet another property tax increase in Perry Township that will not be subject to the state's property tax cap law. Ogden noted that Coons listed his city e-mail account and telephone number on campaign finance paperwork filed for the political action committee.

Fox 59 News is now reporting Coons' actions may have run afoul of the federal Hatch Act because of the source of funding for his job. The Hatch Act prohibits certain state and local employees whose salaries are paid in whole or in part by federal funds from engaging in political activities. Indiana University School of Law Professor David Orentlicher told Fox 59 News Coons may have crossed the legal line set out in the law.

The PAC's website included an endorsement of passage of the referendum invoking his public safety position. "Going on the website and now saying I’m supporting this, and I hold the office as chief of Homeland Security, that I think goes a step beyond and is not just a technical violation," Orentlicher said. "That goes to the spirit and the concerns of the law." "If Coons’ official government title and contact information weren’t used, Orentlicher said there’d be no problem." Coons declined to speak to Fox 59 on camera but was told he planned to change the PAC filing and website material to remove references to his city job.

As Ogden notes in his blog post, when Coons was first appointed to the job as homeland security director, he tried to hold on to his job as the elected trustee of Perry Township until news reports raised concerns about him holding both jobs, whereupon he reluctantly resigned his post as township trustee.

Another Candidate With A Residency Problem: Watch Him Not Get The Charlie White Treatment

John Perkins served as a Democratic member of the Clark Co. Board of Commissioners representing District 3 until the end of last year, claiming as his residence a home he owns in Bethlehem, Indiana on which he's claimed a homestead exemption since 2011. When he voted in the November 2014 general election, he claimed that residence for purposes of casting an absentee ballot. So far, so good.

Here's where it gets dicey. Perkins filed earlier this month to run for city council in Jeffersonville's District 1, now claiming as his residence a condominium owned by Diane Swank. A complaint has been filed by Keith Levell challenging Perkins' residency. "He is not a resident and has not been a resident of the first district," Levell wrote on the form he filed with Clark County Voter Registration according to The News & Tribune.

That's not all. While serving as a member of the county board of commissioners, Perkins voted to name Swank, the woman with whom he now claims to reside, as the agent of record for Clark County's health insurance. The News & Tribune says he has denied in past newspaper reports that he has a romantic relationship with Swank. Perkins tells the newspaper he only moved in with Swank earlier this month. He says the home in Bethlehem he's been using as his primary residence for voting purposes and to serve as a county commissioner is really just a vacation home.

The residency requirement to run for city council is one year, a date which references the November election according to Dale Simmons, co-counsel of the Indiana Elections Division. Clark Co. Clerk Susan Popp, who sits as a member of the election board which will hear the complaint filed against Perkins' candidacy, is a first cousin of Swank and may decline to participate in the case based upon that family relationship, which could result in a 1-1 deadlock.

Here's the part that will drive Charlie White crazy. Perkins' attorney is relying on Evan Bayh's case to save him, the same one the Indiana Court of Appeals pretended didn't even exist when it affirmed three vote fraud-related convictions against the former secretary of state because he used his ex-wife's home as his voting residence for a several month period while he was in between homes and still a member of the Fishers Town Council. "I think ultimately it’s going to come down to a legal question of Mr. Perkins’ residence and whether he’s in fact been a Jeffersonville resident based on his long-standing residence within the community and his intent to return to his residence," Mickey Weber said. "I’ve kind of formed the impression that Mr. Perkins never meant to abandon his residence in Jeffersonville altogether."

Sorry, Charlie, you really are a class of one when it comes to interpreting Indiana's voter residency laws.

Ball State Closing Two Indianapolis Charter Schools

Evidence continues to mount that Indiana's ambitious experiment in diverting scarce public education dollars to start up new charter schools has been an utter failure. The latest casualties include two Indianapolis charter schools established by Ball State University. Fall Creek Academy and University Heights Preparatory Academy will be closed at the end of this school year in June. The empirical evidence clearly proves that students receive no better education at charter schools on average than they do at our public schools and often perform below their public school counterparts. How much more money will state lawmakers allow to be blown on this failed experiment at the expense of our public school system before they start listening to parents and educators and stop listening to the education profiteers showering them with campaign contributions?

Pacers Now Valued At $830 Million

Those industrious Simon brothers picked up the Indiana Pacers for a little more than $10 million about thirty years ago. Thanks in part to the hundreds of millions of tax dollars Indianapolis taxpayers have been forced to give to the billionaire Simon family, the NBA franchise is now estimated by Forbes to be worth $830 million. That is a 75% jump in estimated value in the last year alone due to the big jump in purchase prices for recent NBA ownership changes in L.A. and Milwaukee.

Thanks in part to the latest sweetheart deal our corrupt Capital Improvement Board signed with the Pacers, Indianapolis taxpayers are being forced to subsidize the team over $200 million during a 15-year period based upon the argument the franchise is bleeding cash, which is nearly as much as taxpayers spent to build Banker's Life Fieldhouse, the publicly-owned arena the team gets to use exclusively as their own profit center without paying a dime's rent for its use. This is what happens when greedy billionaires are allowed to buy virtually every elected official in America. They get richer, and we get poorer.

Nearly 40% Of Winning IPS Board Candidates' Funds Paid To Consulting Firm Owned By State Education Board Member's Spouse

I've previously discussed the large influx of out-of-state dollars which flowed into this past year's IPS school board race to finance the campaigns of three candidates backed by so-called education reform advocates who are in reality the owners of businesses which benefit directly from the education reforms they advocate. Last year, Gov. Mike Pence made a peculiar appointment to the state board of education, Gordon Hendry, who despite being a Democrat immediately became the most vocal critic of the Democratic-elected Supt. of Education Glenda Ritz. It turns out that Hendry's wife was one of the single biggest beneficiaries of that influx of out-of-state dollars used to buy the IPS school board election last November.

The three winning candidates in question, all backed by the out-of-state Stand for Children organization, collectively spent more than $191,000 for their campaigns. At-large candidate Mary Ann Sullivan, a former Democratic state representative who now earns a living as an education consultant, raised over $74,000 for her campaign, more than any other candidate. Kelly Bentley won her district race after by raising more than $52,000. She earns a living as a paid consultant for GreatSchools, which provides ratings for schools. LaNier Echols, dean of students for Carpe Diem charter school, raised more than $65,000 to win her district race. No other candidates running for IPS board came anywhere close to matching the campaign expenditures of these three candidates, each raising no more than a few thousand dollars at most to spend on their respective races.

All three of these candidates relied upon the campaign consulting services of Mass Ave PR, which is owned by Jennifer Wagner, a former spokesperson for the Indiana Democratic Party and wife of state education board member, Gordon Hendry. These three candidates collectively spent nearly 40% of the money they raised to pay for Wagner's campaign consulting services, over $71,000 of the combined $191,000 they raised for their campaigns. More than $42,000, or 56% of Sullivan's campaign dollars, went to Wagner's firm. Over 40% of Echol's campaign's funds, or more than $26,000, went to Wagner's firm, representing more than 70% of her campaign expenditures. Bentley spent the least of the three candidates for Wagner's consulting services, paying her a little over $2,600. It should be pointed out that Sullivan's at-large campaign materials also promoted Bentley and Echols in their respective district races for the IPS board.

You will not read about this anywhere else in our local news media because of the incestuous relationships the reporters charged with looking out for the public's interest have with PR flacks like Wagner, but it's an important fact you need to know. Their bias became abundantly clear by the lack of attention they paid to raising serious questions about why certain people were spending so much money to elect these three conflicted candidates in particular. It also stretches credulity for anyone to believe that Hendry's actions as a state education board member are not influenced by large sums of money that are being funneled to his wife's business, albeit indirectly, by the education profiteers with a financial stake in our state's education policies.

The Star's Tom Lobianco has a story today about State Rep. Robert Behning (R-Indianapolis) forming an education consulting firm last June called Berkshire Education Strategies while he still chairs the House Education Committee. Behning, who is a florist by trade, is in the back pocket of all of these education profiteers and has sponsored the so-called education reform initiatives they have pushed to help take over the state's public education system and use it as their personal profit center. He's trying to represent a testing company as well as other companies, and he says ethics lawyers at Barnes & Thornburg told him the arrangement he's establishing would not run afoul of legislative ethics rules:

. . . Behning said Wednesday that he is looking to represent student testing company Questar in Oklahoma and would like to sign up more clients. But he added that he was doing everything possible to ensure he only represents clients out of state, and not in Indiana. 

"We're trying to put together a contract that's very clear nothing would be done in Indiana, even in the potential (ethics) changes, I don't think I would fall under any," Behning said. "It's a citizen legislature and you're going to have conflicts, regardless. There's probably bigger conflicts in the legislature." 

Questar is being paid $6.4 million this year to create and run Indiana's "end of course assessments", key tests taken in high school that students must pass in order to graduate. 

Behning said he is looking to sign up more clients, but said he did not see a problem because the work would not directly coincide with his role running the Indiana House Education Committee. He said that he had a draft contract for Questar prepared by an ethics lawyer at powerhouse law firm Barnes and Thornburg and that he submitted it to members of the House Ethics Committee for consideration. 

He emphasized he has not signed any contract with Questar yet and is awaiting word from the ethics panel . . . 

According to LoBianco, House Speaker Brian Bosma has discouraged Behning from pursuing the arrangement as he seeks an ethics clearance from the House. Supposedly the House intends to adopt tougher ethics rules this year after we witnessed former House Speaker Pro Tem Eric Turner use his political muscle to parlay a family nursing home business into a multi-billion dollar fortune thanks to lax ethics rules that permitted him to freely leverage his position within the legislature to personally benefit his private business.

Private Lottery Operator Expected To Miss Income Targets Again

Hoosier Lottery sales are on a path to miss income targets during the current fiscal year by 15.6%, or about $50 million short, according to The Northwest Indiana Times' Dan Carden. Lottery income is expected to be about $270 million, which includes a $16 million maximum penalty the private operator, GTECH, is required to pay for falling more than 5% short of the income target. That penalty would be much higher than the $1.6 million penalty the company paid last year for failing to meet target.

Overall, the net profits are still a record number for the Hoosier Lottery even though it's less than the $320 million GTECH goal set by its contract. GTECH's chief operating officer Colin Hadden told Carden the company was "very disappointed" in the results, attributing the disappointing sales to market conditions. A lack of large jackpots in the Powerball game during the period have resulted in fewer sales.

Balls Used By Patriots In AFC Championship Game Were Underinflated

An NFL investigation has determined that 11 of the 12 balls furnished by the New England Patriots for use in their AFC championship win over the Colts were underinflated according to various news reports. How those balls became deflated has not yet been determined. It's unlikely weather played a role since temperatures were in the 50s at game time.

A Colts staff member noticed the potential issue late in the second quarter after being handed one of the balls following a Colts interception. The staff member reportedly told Coach Chuck Pagano, who notified NFL officials of the problem. The detection of the problem before the second half was played did not detour the Patriots from routing the Colts.

Any punishment the team receives from the rules infraction is not likely to be severe. The team faces a minimum fine of $25,000 and, if the NFL determines it was an egregious enough rules violation, the loss of a first-round draft choice. That latter offense was meted out to the Patriots in 2007 after they were caught using cameras to spy on opposing teams during the game.