Township Assessors History In Marion County

Voters in Marion County voted for the elimination of township assessors by wide margins in each of the county's townships. Hopefully, this is the first in a continued step towards the elimination of township government altogether. This will allow the City-County Council to make favorable adjustments in the 2009 budget to account for the savings taxpayers will realize from the elimination of nine township assessor offices.

Big Win For Daniels

Gov. Mitch Daniels scores a big re-election win tonight. Ticket splitters in Democratic strongholds is boosting Daniels' margin statewide. As an example, in my downtown precinct, Sen. Barack Obama captured 63% of the vote. Yet Gov. Daniels polled 66% of the vote in this same precinct. Similarly, Daniels is carrying Marion County with close to 60% of the vote at the same time Obama is carrying it by close to 62%. It's also easy to see why Sen. McCain is struggling to keep Indiana in the red state column. Daniels is winning suburban Hamilton County with more than 82% of the vote. McCain is winning only 60% of the vote in this big Republican candidate, a double-digit reduction in Bush's 2004 margin there. Based on the results I've seen coming in so far, it looks like Indiana is going to go to Obama by a very small margin. McCain's margin in Republican areas is coming up too short. I don't see how he offsets Obama's big margins in Marion County where the votes are mostly counted and northwest Indiana, where most of the votes have not yet been reported.

There is a bit of a downer for Gov. Daniels' big re-election tonight. It looks like House Democrats will extend their 2-seat majority going into this election. Three contested Marion County legislative seats aren't helping the cause. Democrats Ed DeLaney, John Barnes and Mary Ann Sullivan are currently holding leads over Republicans Adam Nelson, Chris Swatts and Jon Elrod. If Democrats sweep these three races, they will net a 2-seat pickup in Marion County alone. On a bright note for Republicans, Ed Clere appears to have upset long-time Democratic veteran Bill Cochran in District 72. That news is dampened by Democrat Nancy Michael's upset win over Republican incumbent Andy Thomas in District 44. Incumbent Democrat Scott Reske loses tonight to Republican Kelly Gaskill in District 37, but incumbent Republican Tim Harris loses to Democrat Joe Pearson in District 31.

UPDATE: Chris Swatts has lost the District 89 seat held by Republican Larry Buell to Democrat John Barnes and Republican Jon Elrod loses to Democrat Mary Ann Sullivan. Democrat DeLaney looks like a safe bet to hold on to the Orentlicher seat in District 86.

UPDATE II: Sen. Mike Young (R) appears to be losing his Indianapolis seat to newcomer Michael Cesnik (D) in District 35. This would be a big upset. UPDATE: With Hendricks votes added, Young finished on top.

UPDATE III: It appears Republicans will sweep all three statewide races now. Republican Greg Zoeller will hold on to a narrow win over Democrat Linda Pence in the attorney general's race. In the Superintendent of Public education race, Republican Tony Bennett will similarly win a very narrow win over Democrat Dick Wood.

UPDATE IV: A few tight races as usual will determine the outcome of control of the Indiana House. Democrats claim they will have at least a 51-seat majority, but Republicans are waiting for the final tally in 4 close races. It would appear the best Republicans could hope for is a 50-50 tie, in which case Gov. Daniels would get to take the tie-breaking vote for Speaker.

Election Day Is Here!

I will be working as an election judge at my precinct in Lockerbie today so don't expect any updates from me until after the polls have closed. The Marion County Clerk's Office reported receiving over 90,000 absentee ballots as of noon yesterday when early voting ended. The final number could be more than four times the number of recorded absentee votes in 2004. Statewide, the number of absentee ballots was 572,000, or about 12% of the registered voters. It could be a very busy day.

Whistleblower Questioned By FBI About Obama-Rezko Land Deal

A former real estate appraiser for Mutual Bank says he has been questioned by FBI officials about his knowledge of a land deal between Sen. Barack Obama and Rita Rezko, wife of convicted political fixer Tony Rezko. Kenneth J. Conner claims in a lawsuit filed in Cook Co. Circuit Court that he was fired by Mutual Bank after complaining that an appraisal he prepared for a lot Rita Rezko purchased for $625,000 at the same time Obama purchased his South Side mansion on a neighboring lot was withheld by the bank from the file subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. Conner says, according to his appraisal, the lot was worth no more than $500,000. He claims the bank removed his lower appraisal from the file turned over to federal investigators. The owner of the lot sold Obama the neighboring home for $300,000 below the asking price at the same time Rezko purchased the adjoining lot at an inflated price. Rezko improved the vacant lot with a privacy fence and then sold the portion of the lot abutting Obama's lot to Obama for $105,000. In a press release, Conner said:

Today, Conner confirms speculation that FBI agents have discussed Barack Obama and Tony Rezko with him. Tony Rezko is the husband of Rita Rezko and Guarantor of the Mutual Bank 5050 S. Greenwood loan. Rita Rezko sold a strip of the land to Barack Obama, and the remainder has sold since then. Mutual Bank has no known further involvement.

Conner and FBI agents discussed whether the Rezko purchase may have enabled Barack Obama to purchase an adjacent mansion for $300,000 less than asking price. Conner attributed no less than $125,000 of the $300,000 to an implied supplement created by the Rezko purchase at $125,000 above Conner's assessment of supportable value.

Conner told FBI agents that the seller is not thought by him, nor anyone else he is aware of, to have done anything improper. It is otherwise noteworthy that Rezko and Obama bought their properties on the same day and from the same seller. Under such a scenario, an overpayment by one buyer offsets equivalent underpayment by another.

Conner's press release notes that documents made public by the Obama campaign concerning his home purchase omitted a critical appraisal document for the home. "To the extent that the residence is accurately appraised at approximately $1,775,000 -- derived by adding the aforementioned $125,000 to $1,650,000 paid by Obama for the mansion -- the appropriateness of Conner's appraisal review findings may be further evidenced as his case litigates," the press release states.

This story has been largely ignored by the mainstream media. The Washington Times reported on Conner's whistle blower lawsuit, while the Chicago media ignored it. The Washington Times has another story on this new development. Conner told the paper, "Agents and I talked about payoff, bribe, kickback for a long time, though it took them only a short number of minutes of talking with me while looking at the appraisal to acknowledge what they already seemed to know: The Rezko lot was grossly overvalued.” “Rezko paid the asking price on the same day Obama paid $300,000 less than the asking price to the same seller for his adjacent mansion,” he said. “This begs the question of payoff, bribe, kickback.”

When this campaign is finally over tomorrow, only then will discussions begin as to why these issues have not been more closely vetted by the mainstream media. Obama has known Rezko since his college days. Rezko raised more than $250,000 for his political campaigns, and Obama helped Rezko win tens of millions in state housing grants in Chicago. Rezko was convicted on multiple felony counts earlier this summer in connection with the Operation Board Games investigation involving various pay-to-play schemes within the administration of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagoyevich. Earlier this year, Rezko pleaded in a letter to the judge presiding over his trial that federal investigators were trying to coerce him into saying bad things about Blagoyevich and Obama. In recent weeks, Chicago news media reports confirm that Rezko is now cooperating with federal investigators.

Indiana Supreme Court Upholds Trial Court Ruling On Absentee Ballots

Democrats appealed to the Indiana Court of Appeals Marion Co. Circuit Court Judge Theodore Sosin's injunction against Clerk Beth White from her instruction that precinct election boards decide challenged absentee votes and count them along with other valid votes cast on election day. The Court of Appeals granted a stay of the trial court's injunction, but a unanimous Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals and is allowing Judge Sosin's injunction to stand, which means challenged absentee votes will be counted by the county election board after the election and not be precinct boards on election day. Chief Justice Randall Shepard held:

Although I find some ambiguity in the statutory scheme, I think it is best read to require that when an absentee voter is challenged at the polls for the reason that the absentee voter is not a legal voter of the precinct where the ballot is being cast, the absentee ballot is from that point forward treated as a provisional ballot and counted by the county election board using the procedures for counting a provisional ballot under IC 3-11.7. I.C. 3-11-10-21. At the time the county election board determines the validity of a challenged absentee ballot under IC 3-11.7, it is to give effect to the provisions of IC 3-11-10-22.

Read more on today's ruling at the Indiana Law Blog.

A Short Video Of McCain Speaking At Indianapolis Rally

McCain Makes One Of His Last Stops In Indy

Sen. John McCain brought his Straight Talk Express campaign to Indianapolis on the eve of the presidential election. Several thousand cheering Hoosiers, most of whom were wearing red, were on hand to welcome the McCain campaign on a perfect autumn day. Mayor Greg Ballard warmed up the crowd. Speaking as "an old Marine" who "knows a thing or two about upsets", Ballard assured the crowd that a "historic upset is in the making." "I never led in any of the polls," Ballard said of his upset win over Mayor Bart Peterson last year. One of McCain's earliest supporters, Gov. Mitch Daniels, introduced Cindy McCain, who in turn introduced her husband. Daughter Megan was along for the trip, along with several of McCain's Senate colleagues, including Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC), Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Sen. Richard Burd (R-NC). An upbeat Sen. McCain, sounding a little hoarse at times, declared, "We've got the momentum." "We're going to win." McCain received the roaring approval of the audience when he asked how they liked his Saturday Night Live appearance. "I really believe Gov. Palin and Tina Fey were separated at birth." McCain promised to bring "real change to Washington." He hit Obama hard on taxes and, in particular, Democratic plans to tax 401(k) contributions. He promised to protect social security and Medicare and not take away your retirement savings. McCain didn't pass up the opportunity to hit Obama's plan to bankrupt the coal industry as evidenced by a taped interview Obama gave the San Francisco Chronicle last January but which surfaced only this past weekend. McCain gave an interview to ESPN on the tarmac for Monday Night Football before boarding his plan and heading to Roswell, New Mexico. From there he will head on to his hometown of Phoenix.

Obama Plan To Bankrupt Coal Industry

Indiana is a leading coal producing state, but if Sen. Barack Obama has his way, he will bankrupt the industry just like Sen. Joe Biden suggested in a rope line during a campaign stop in Ohio a few weeks back. It seems that Sen. Obama is more candid when he's in San Francisco than anywhere else in the country. During an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle last January, Obama said: "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted." That little snippet from the taped interview was excised from the print version which ran in the Chronicle the following day.

Isn't it ironic that Sen. Evan Bayh would take all kinds of money from the coal industry, win the endorsement of the United Mine Workers and then turn around and vouch for a candidate for president all over this state who plans to put thousands of Hoosiers out of work because they work for the coal industry, which Obama is convinced is to blame for global warming. Thanks for nothing, Sen. Bayh. May the good people of Indiana not forget your role in foisting this corrupt Chicago politician on us.

Star Shills For The Pacers

There was a full court press this weekend, and I'm not talking about the Pacers winning opening game against the Boston Celtics. I'm talking about the full court press on the pages of the Indianapolis Star to convince the public that it is time to dig deeper into your pockets and hand out more public subsidies to billionaire Pacer owners, Herb and Mel Simon. Business columnist Dan Lee pens a front page story today telling us all about the Pacers' new winning strategy to win back public support, including a joke of a public opinion poll performed by political pollster Frank Luntz claiming that Pacer fans are really getting turned on to the new Pacers. Over on the business pages, business columnist John Ketzenberger lets us in on the game that is being played to fool Indianapolis taxpayers into bending over yet again for a professional sports team owner. Ketzenberger writes:

There are a lot of reasons why the Indiana Pacers are spending millions to win back fans, but the most important isn't well known.

During the next year the Pacers and the Capital Improvement Board will reconsider the team's Conseco Fieldhouse lease. It's the first chance the money-losing Pacers have to wring more revenue out of the deal.

A lousy team that fans hate means the Pacers would have no leverage in the negotiations.

That's why Pacers President Larry Bird cleaned house this summer. That's why co-owners Mel and Herb Simon may eat Jamaal Tinsley's $21 million contract. That's why Herb Simon became more active in the team's management. And that's why Simon's first task was to ask respected local business leader Jim Morris to be his top lieutenant.

We're all used to polls in this election season, so here are a couple of relevant numbers: In October 2007, 35 percent of Pacers ticket holders had an unfavorable opinion of the team. This year that's down to 15 percent.

And last year 40 percent of those fans thought the team was on the "wrong track." This year: just 12 percent.

By the way, those numbers were conjured by well-known pollster Frank Luntz, whom the Pacers hired more than a year ago to help them understand the depth of their problems.

To get the CIB's view on all of this, Ketzenberger turns to its Vice President, Pat Early. CIB President Bob Grand is supposedly sidelined from discussions because he and his law firm represent the Simons. "It's important that the Pacers stay here, and we're committed to keeping them here," said Patrick Early, vice chairman of the CIB. "Beyond that, we have to figure out what we need to do to be a good public partner. It's all heading in the right direction." I might feel the same way as Pat Early if I got a free front-row seat to every Pacer game. I suspect it's been a very long time since Early had to purchase his own ticket to either a Pacer game or a Colts game, if in fact he ever has.

To the general public, this talk of a sweeter lease deal could not do more than rub an already raw sore. The CIB is currently facing insolvency if a solution isn't figured out to a more than $20 million shortfall in operating revenues because of the additional costs of the Lucas Oil Stadium. A one-sided lease agreement is allowing billionaire Colts owner Jim Irsay to walk off with hundreds of millions in revenues from the stadium which rightfully should belong to the taxpaying public who paid to build the stadium. Average Joe taxpayers are in no mood to subsidize billionaire sports franchise owners more at a time they're losing their jobs and struggling to pay their mortgages. If the CIB thinks for one minute it's going to go against the public's will on this, then it better be prepared for a revolution in this town unlike the one it just witnessed last year when outsider Greg Ballard upset Bart Peterson with the help of those average Joe taxpayers.