Pence To Join Ted Cruz At State GOP Dinner

The reasons for fighting the Indiana State Republican Party establishment continue to mount. An e-mail blast from the state party boasts that Sen. Ted Cruz "will be joining special guest Gov. Mike Pence and keynote speaker Gov. Matt Blevin" at the state party's dinner to be held at Mary Ann Sullivan's Primo Banquet Center on Indianapolis' south side. The state party elites like to financially reward Democratic-owned businesses that are in the tank with them, while entertaining us with conservative phonies like Cruz and Pence who pretend to be disciples of Christ while taking money under the table from the likes of Goldman Sachs to enrich themselves. Does anyone else have any clue why the state party continues to host these dinners at a Class C facility in a dumpy south side neighborhood?

Pence Booed At Indians Home Opener

Gov. Mike Pence didn't receive a very warm welcoming from some Indianapolis Indians fans when he threw out the first pitch at the season's home opener yesterday evening. The video was recorded by Linday Watson.

Meet Your Anti-Trump Indiana Republican Delegates To The National Convention

Indiana Republicans made sure their delegates to the Republican National Convention this year will be filled with a bunch of nominal Republicans who care principally about their government jobs, contracts and lobbying interests as opposed to any ideological leanings towards the Republican Party. By my count, Trump can rely upon one vote at a contested national convention, and that's Rex Early, former state party chairman and Trump Indiana chairman. Virtually everyone else has made no bones about their unwillingness to cast a vote for Trump. Some of them have even taken to Facebook and other social media sites to declare they will never vote for Trump, even if he receives the Republican nomination. The bottom line is that Indiana Republicans don't care who Republican primary voters want as their party nominee. In fact, Indiana Republicans are trying to discourage people from voting in next month's primary election by broadcasting the fact their votes won't matter. A lot of people are going to have fun working to defeat the re-election of Mike Pence this year as payback. Meet your anti-Trump Indiana delegates:

Automatic
Jeff Cardwell, State Chairman
Marsha Coats RNC Member
John Hammond RNC Member

At Large
Jim Bopp, Boone
Josh Claybourn, Warrick
Bill Davis, Allen
Daniel Dumezich, Lake
Rex Early, Marion (Trump Indiana Chairman)
Dennis Flynn, Lake
Samuel Frain, Hamilton
Anne Hathaway, Marion (Kasich Indiana Director)
Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb, Marion
State Sen. Erin Houchin, Washington
Tom John, Marion
State Sen. Howard Kenley III, Hamilton
David Lasco, Lake
Thomas Longest, Boone
Josh Marshall, Marion,
Michael McDaniel, Marion
Frederic Mills, Morgan
State Treasurer Kelly Mitchell, Marion
Michael Murphy, Marion
Matthew Morgan, Hamilton
Denise Pence, Bartholomew
Melissa Proffitt, Marion
U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, Marion
Edwin Simcox, Hamilton
Curt Smith, Boone (Cruz Indiana organizer)
Paul Eric Turner, Hamilton
Thomas Wheeler II, Boone

District 1
James Snyder, Porter
County Councilor Dan Dernulc, Lake
Rebecca Holwerda,

District 2
Rudy Yakum, St. Joseph
Carol McDowell, Elkhart
Larry Garatoni, St. Joseph

District 3
State Sen. Travis Holdman, Wells
Barbara Krisher, Allen
Kyle Babcock, Allen

District 4
Craig Dunn, Howard
Secretary of State Connie Lawson, Hendricks
Barbara Knochel, Tippecanoe

District 5
Kyle Hupfer, Madison
Carmel Mayor James Brainard, Hamilton
David Brooks, Hamilton

District 6
State Rep. Randy Frye, Decatur
John Meredith, Wayne
Tara Armstrong, Hancock

District 7
State Sen. Patricia Miller, Marion
Jefferson Shreve, Marion
Jennifer Ping, Marion

District 8
Rick Martin, Warrick
Brenda Goff, Posey
William Springer, Sullivan

District 9
Jamey Noel, Clark
Beth Boyce, Johnson
State Rep. Eric Koch, Lawrence

Note on Marion County Voting: If you are voting early in Marion County and choose to cast your vote on the new electronic voting machines made by ES&S, please note that you will not find Donald Trump's name on the list of presidential candidates for the Republican primary ballot on the initial screen list of candidates. The list on the initial screen includes all of those candidates who long ago dropped out of the race, in addition to Ted Cruz and John Kasich. You have to click on "next page" at the bottom of the screen to find Donald Trump's name at the tail end of the list on the second screen page behind Marco Rubio. Some voters may mistakenly believe that initial screen is the full list of candidates. That's one of the downsides of electronic voting machines. They're much more susceptible to suggestion by presentation.

Ferebee Hire From North Carolina Blocked Police Investigation Of Sex Abuse Allegations

The daily newspaper and local TV stations have been reporting extensively on the decision of Marion Co. Prosecutor Terry Curry to charge two of the seven IPS employees who we now know failed to report to the Department of Child Services or law enforcement information they learned from a student's parent about a school counselor, Shana Taylor, having sex with students. WRTV's Kara Kenney asked Curry why his office only charged the school district's HR director, Lela Hester, and an HR case manager, Shalon Dabney. Here was Curry's response:

"As we looked at the totality of the evidence that was gathered, and listening to the statements of the individuals, we felt it was not appropriate to charge anyone beyond these two. The assistant principal first received the information and then was immediately sick. He then called the principal, who was out on medical leave at the time," said Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry.

Hester's actions, in particular, are quite disturbing. She communicated in an e-mail to one of Dr. Ferebee's top advisers her plan not to report Taylor's actions to school's police department according to the Indianapolis Star. "I asked that the school police stay out of it so that she is not charged and we can handle from an HR perspective," Hester wrote in her email, "but I don't know if the mom plans to file charges." "We will keep you informed," Hester said in the email. "I received this news at the end of my day yesterday at 5:45 p.m., but the prior events of the day were quite 'full moon-like' as well." The Star added, "Chief Strategist Le Boler, the official who received the email from Hester, said Wednesday she could not speak to the timing of the DCS report, but she noted that things had been moving "so quickly and it was a tight turnaround."

People who've followed Dr. Ferebee's arrival from the Durham Public Schools in North Carolina know there was concerned expressed that he was hiring a bunch of his cronies from North Carolina when he was hired as the district's new superintendent. The late Amos Brown complained about this in his Indianapolis Recorder columns and on his radio talk show on WTLC-AM. Why is this important? Well, Boler and Hester were two of those colleagues from North Carolina that Dr. Ferebee brought aboard with him at IPS. They are his inner circle of closest, trusted advisers. That's why they are working with him in Indianapolis.

People familiar with their working relationship believe Hester communicating her intentions in writing to Boler, whose title is "Chief Strategist" for the school district, was as good as communicating that intention not to involve law enforcement in the investigation to Dr. Ferebee himself. Boler's annual salary started at $136,000, while Hester's starting annual salary was $145,000 a year. Hester provided consulting work for IPS briefly before the board approved the hiring of her and Boler.

The Star says the assistant principal at Longfellow Alternative School, William Jensen, was the first to learn of the parent's allegations against Taylor on February 17. He immediately notified the school's principal, Mark Cosand, who out on medical leave recovering from a stroke. Cosand told Jensen to notify Deb Leser, director of student services. Leser instructed Cosand to notify Hester. Jensen forwarded the information he received from the parent, including explicit messages and photos, to Hester. The following day, Dabney met with Taylor and placed her on administrative leave. That's also the same day that Hester notified Boler that she did not plan to involve police in the investigation.

Boler deflected criticism on her part when questioned about her role by The Star, saying she was not in the operational chain of command for Hester. "Boler told IndyStar that she thanked Hester for the update." "Boler said she did not question Hester's decision because it was not in her 'operational chain of command.' Hester does not report to her."  Boler added, "It would be very inappropriate of me to wade in on those matters." "This is an unfortunate situation, but I definitely do not get out of the scope my work." Boler told The Star that she did not report the incident to authorities herself because she believed someone else had already done it.

According to The Star, Dabney waited until February 22 to ask Cosand, who had briefly come into the school from his medical leave to help deal with the situation, to file a report with DCS. She realized when she was preparing Taylor's termination papers that nobody had bothered to report the matter to DCS. Cosand told investigators he had already returned home when he got the message from Dabney and had none of the pertinent details with him at home to go about preparing and filing a report. Cosand then prepared and filed a report with DCS the following day. The investigation determined that Dabney had obtained enough facts to report the matter to DCS as early as February 18. Naturally, The Star doesn't ask any tough questions about Dr. Ferebee's role in the sordid affair. Perhaps it's no coincidence the delay in reporting the incident to DCS made it possible for Dr. Ferebee to receive board approval for his huge pay raise before the Shana Taylor matter became public.

Bombardier Accuses Emanuel Of Rigging $1.3 Billion CTA Rail Deal

The Chicago Transit Authority ("CTA") put out for bid a new generation of rail cars it wished to purchase for its light rail system. Bombardier Transit Corporation competed against a Chinese company, CSR Sifang America, to supply the new rail cars to CTA. The CTA awarded the $1.3 billion contract to CSR for 847 train cars, but Bombardier is crying foul according to the Chicago Sun-Times. It claims Mayor Rahm Emanuel had access to confidential bidding information and used it to leverage CSR to make a local investment in Chicago in exchange for ensuring it was awarded the bid.

As part of the deal, CSR agreed to open a plant in Hegewisch that will create new jobs. That happened Bombardier charges only because the CTA was improperly taking direction from Mayor Emanuel and sharing bid information that was supposed to remain confidential until a decision had been made. The CTA had not completed its evaluation of the bids when Mayor Emanuel announced the CTA board would approve the bid for CSR. That sent CTA officials rushing to complete the evaluation in time for the board's next meeting where the bid was approved according to Bombardier.

Bombardier complained that CSR's bid was "unreasonably low," which should have prompted further inquiry on the part of the CTA. It claims the information presented to the CTA on CSR was "incorrect" and "fraudulent." Emanuel made clear the winning bidder had to produce local jobs, but the purchase of the train cars is being funded by a federal grant, which does not permit trading federal dollars for local preferences. Bombardier is demanding payment of $2 million in says it expended bidding on the rigged project.

Two IPS Employees Facing Criminal Misdemeanor Charges For Failure To Report Sexual Abuse

At least six IPS employees, including Supt. Louis Ferebee, learned on February 17 that one of the school's counselors had been accused by a parent of having sex with students, but nobody made a report to the Department of Child Services or law enforcement until a week later on February 23. Now Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry is charging two of those IPS employees with a criminal misdemeanor for not reporting the alleged sexual abuse immediately as required by state law.

The charges against IPS human resources director Lela Hester and human resources case manager Shalon Dabney come after the former school counselor, Shana Taylor, was charged with multiple counts of child exploitation. According to the Indianapolis Star, Dr. Louis Ferebee thanked the prosecutor's office for "its thoroughness and professionalism," obviously quite relieved that he won't be held accountable for the school's failure to report the alleged sexual abuse of students by one of the school district's employees.

The IPS school board has not taken any reported discipline against any of the six employees who knew about the allegations against Taylor but failed to act. The school's principal, Mark Cosand, resigned his position as principal but remains employed by the district. He was out on medical leave at the time of the incident recovering from a stroke but had been alerted about the allegations by the school's assistant principal.

Estimated Costs Of First Phase Of Red Line Already Up 60%!

Advance Indiana took a look back at the August 2015 budget presentation IndyGo made to the Indianapolis City-County Council for its 2016 budget. Imagine our surprise when we saw the original amount IndyGo's leadership told council members the first phase of the Red Line from Broad Ripple to the University of Indianapolis would cost to construct. How about $60 million? Yep, that's what IndyGo planned to spend building that 13.4 mile stretch of the 35-mile planned bus rapid transit line.

At that time, IndyGo said it anticipated receiving a $48 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration. It planned to match that with $12 million in local match money, which included tapping Gov. Mike Pence's Regional Cities grant money. Of course, IndyGo got passed over for the state grant money. By the start of this fiscal year, IndyGo announced it had been awarded a $75 million grant to put towards the $96 million projected cost of that same leg of the Red Line it earlier projected would cost just $60 million, or a cost difference of about 60%.

So IndyGo just 8 months ago was telling City-County Council members it could build the first phase of the Red Line for about $4.5 million per mile. It also told council members it would only cost about $6 million annually in additional operating costs once the first phase of the Red Line becomes operational in 2018. The construction cost  has now jumped to more than $7 million per mile. Experts say bus rapid transit lines on average range in cost from $15 to $25 million per mile.

IndyGo says it plans to build the Red Line regardless of whether a proposed quarter percent income tax increase is approved by Indianapolis voters this November. It claims the income tax revenues are not needed to finance the capital costs for building all of the planned BRT lines, which would include a total of three over the next five years. That income tax increase would generate $56 million in new revenues annually, more than double what IndyGo currently collects from its local property tax levy, which includes a maximum $16 million special levy, up from $10 million last year. IndyGo now says its total operating budget will grow from $70 million a year to $108 million a year once with the additional costs of operating a BRT. Suffice it to say, IndyGo isn't very good at estimating costs.

When IndyGo first announced plans to build its new downtown transit center on Washington Street across the street from the City-County Building, which is aptly being named in honor of the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson, a career politician who mastered the craft of pilfering public tax dollars, it estimated total construction costs at $20 million. Costs for the new transit center have already ballooned nearly 33% to $26.5 million. That difference has to be made up with local dollars since the federal grant only covered $13.5 million of the costs. The transit center was originally supposed to open this year, but little progress seems to be taking place at the site. When it comes online, IndyGo estimates it will cost another $700,000 in its budget annually to operate. Bus line changes to accommodate the new transit center are expected to add $1.3 million in annual operating costs. IndyGo riders, incidentally, only chip in a little more than $11 million in fares to cover IndyGo's annual operating budget, less than 17% of the annual cost to operate the bus system.

H-1B Worker Exploited By Chicago Couple As Indentured Servant

A little more than three years ago, I published a blog post discussing how unscrupulous employers were exploiting the popular H-1B skilled worker visa program to essentially use non-immigrant workers intended to benefit from the program as indentured servants. Unfortunately, it's not an issue many of my fellow immigration attorneys give a damn about. It's all about processing as many cases as you can in a given year to maximize billings without regards to whether the clients you represent are abiding by the legal requirements for employing H-1B employees.

Today, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago filed charges against a couple who ran a physical therapy business, accusing them of bilking Medicare out of millions of dollars. Richard and Maribel Tinimbang conspired with other health care providers to bilk Medicare by paying kickbacks and bribes to obtain Medicare beneficiaries, ignored doctors who refused to certify patients as Medicare beneficiaries and falsified medical records to make it appear patients were in poorer health than they actually were. The Tinimbang's crimes didn't stop with defrauding Medicare. They also used the H-1B program to employ a non-immigrant worker from the Philippines as an indentured servant.

According to the press release announcing the charges against the Tinimbangs, the couple submitted fraudulent documents to the Department of Homeland Security to obtain an H-1B visa for a Filipino woman the couple claimed would be working as a business analyst for their physical therapy company. There's no shortage of business analysts in the American workforce so why the government would even approve such an H-1B petition for this type of work is worthy of further inquiry. When the woman arrived in the U.S. on her H-1B visa, the couple instead put the woman to work as a nanny and housekeeper. Instead of paying the wages the couple had agreed to pay the woman on the Department of Labor certification, the Tinimbangs demanded the woman sign a servitude contract working for $66 a day regardless of how many hours she worked for a term of seven years. Under the terms of the contract, the woman was required  to repay the Tinimbangs $25,000 if she left her employment earlier than the 7-year term of her contract.

In addition to the Medicare fraud-related claims, Richard Tinimbang has been charged with one count of conspiracy to obtain forced labor and one count of providing false statements in an immigration document. Maribel Tinimbang faces one count of conspiracy to obtain forced labor. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated problem, and the Obama administration has ignored complaints about the widespread abuse within the program. The H-1B program, as originally established, is an excellent work visa program, but the rampant abuses that the Obama administration has permitted to occur, allowing most offenders off with a mere slap on the wrist, has turned the program upside down. The government is deliberately refusing to enforce our nation's immigration laws in an effort to flood the country with as many immigrants as possible and to drive down wages Americans earn. It's incredible that this is occurring on a supposed liberal Democratic president's watch since Democrats profess to be more concerned about the conditions and well-being of workers.

If this case isn't bad enough, federal prosecutors in Chicago also indicted a physician earlier this month, who stands accused of falsifying medical exam reports for immigrants seeking to become naturalized citizens. Applicants for citizenship are typically required to pass a civics and English exam in order to be approved for naturalization. If a physician certifies than applicant is physically or mentally impaired, the civics and English examination portion of the application process can be waived. Dr. Jasmina Kostic is accused of fraudulently diagnosing patients so they could be relieved of the exam part of the process. Dr. Kostic and an assistant in his office are charge with making false statements in immigration documents.

Supreme Court Upholds Indy Smoking Ban Ordinance Exempting Off-Track Betting Parlor

Two years ago, the Indiana Supreme Court in a 3-2 decision held that an Evansville smoking ban ordinance that exempted the city's sole riverboat casino but not other bars and restaurants unconstitutional. That decision was authored by retiring Justice Brent Dickson. Today, the Indiana Supreme Court unanimously held that Indianapolis' smoking ban ordinance that exempts the city's sole off-track betting parlor but not other bars and restaurants was not unconstitutional.

Justice Dickson's 2014 decision in Paul Steiler Enterprises v. City of Evansville:

The Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause, Article 1, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution, prohibits the "grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens." Today we hold that this clause invalidates an Evansville ordinance expanding the city's smoking ban to bars and restaurants but exempting its only riverboat casino ("the Casino").

Justice Dickson's decision today in Whistle Stop Inn v. City of Indianapolis:

We uphold Indianapolis' non-smoking ordinance ("Ordinance"), finding that it does not violate the Equal Privileges and Immunities Clause of Article 1, Section 23 of the Indiana Constitution. While the Ordinance provides an exemption to satellite gambling facilities but not to bars and restaurants, Article 1, Section 23 does not prohibit this disparate treatment. We affirm the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the city.