Star Tries And Convicts Dickerson

CONTINUES ITS ROLE AS CARSON'S ENABLER
Continuing its decades-long tradition of covering up Rep. Carson's misdeeds and public malfeasance while she is supposedly serving the people of Marion County, the Star's editors today try and convict her Republican challenger on a 15-year-old police report, which both he and the would-be victim's wife, deny happened. Innocent until proven guilty has no applicability to Eric Dickerson according to the Star's editors. Mr. Ryerson and fellow editors, have you no decency?

Mary Beth Schneider and colleagues participate in the smear job, which was kicked off by Star political columnist Matt Tully earlier this summer. This from the same folks who've sat on far more serious accusations against Rep. Carson and her associates simply because she screams bloody racism every time they ask her a question about any of these matters. Rep. Carson has been on the public dole for decades. Mr. Dickerson has never worked for the government or run for public office. Go figure.

Aside from the misdeeds and numerous acts of malfeasance while in public office, Rep. Carson, on virtually any day, spews inappropriate, rude and false statements about people with whom she disagrees. Yesterday, she flippantly tells a WTHR-TV reporter of the damning charges she first raised about her opponent, "I don't know that it makes him unfit, because there are others who serve in Congress." She just matter-of-factly says that there are other wife beaters who serve in Congress, not bothering to provide any basis for her assertion and without a care in mind as to how she is besmirching the legislative body she has served in for a decade.

The first time I met Rep. Carson was shortly after she was elected to Congress. I was helping put on a legislative conference for a law firm where I previously worked. Carson was part of a panel of speakers at the conference. She arrived late, with two associates holding her on either side, one of whom was Lacy Johnson. When she looked up at me, her eyes were glossed over and her speech was slurred. She was obviously either drugged or drunk. Among the people on the panel that day was Eric Miller. Now, I can understand her disdain for Miller, but she is an elected representative in Congress so she should accord herself accordingly--or one would think. Instead, she complained that she did not want to be seated next to "that man" so she was seated away from Miller as an accommodation. Throughout her presentation, she would never refer to Miller by name, only by whatever derogatory term came to mind at the moment. She munched on cookies during the panel discussion, not bothering to wipe away the crumbs that accumulated around her mouth. She occasionally babbled something, which was barely decipherable. She contributed absolutely nothing of substance to the discussion. Her performance was the worst on the panel by far. She left as she came, with Lacy Johnson and one of her associates on either side of her holding her up.

A couple of years ago, I attended the Grand Masquerade ball with friends. It's a fundraiser for the Damien Center, which provides much-needed services to people suffering from HIV/AIDS. Rep. Carson was the special guest for the event. She arrived in a red leather slack and coat outfit with matching shoes and purse. When she was given an opportunity to speak, she began her speech by talking about how Reagan was president when we first discovered the deadly disease. She delivered a bitter and partisan message to the folks gathered at this charitable event to raise funds for a good cause. Her most offensive comment, though, came when she said that Reagan didn't give a damn about AIDS until his best friend Burt Reynolds died from it. What? Burt Reynolds. Doesn't she mean Rock Hudson? In fact, Reynolds was once falsely accused by a tabloid of having the dreaded disease, and he fought back and won. Did her associates bother to correct her? Did she issue an apology? No, on both accounts. That's just Julia being Julia. We're all supposed to accept that. Never mind that her grandson she helped raised broke into a home and robbed two gay men, forcing them to drink bleach, burning them with an iron and then setting their home on fire before leaving--one of the worst hate crimes committed against gays in the history of our city. Let's not talk about her domestic disturbances, broken marriages and police runs to her residence. Don't ask Carson about her family values. Just let her cast judgment on everyone elses'.

I know for a fact that Carson's performance at the Grand Masquerade ball was communicated to Mary Beth Schneider at the Indianapolis Star. Schneider, in typical form, brushed it aside as she has for years, just as she and her colleagues at the Star have casually brushed aside every damning bit of information about Carson that has come across their desks. As a consequence, the people of the 7th District of Congress have as our representative a total embarrassment who has little respect among her colleagues and who has no legislative achievements of note to point to after a decade of service. She has one of the highest absenteeism rates in Congress. She typically has relied on her poor health as an excuse. Earlier this summer, she had a different excuse according to the congressional record. “Due to a fender bender on my way to vote, I was unable to record my roll-call votes 400 to 402. Had I been present, I would have voted ‘yes’ on all votes.” Just another one of those items that never made it into the Star. Rep. Carson is still in office because the Indianapolis Star has played the role of her enabler all these years, covering up her truly dark and disturbing side. The Star sadly continues in its role as her enabler with these latest developments in her race against Dickerson.

Eric Miller's Vote 4 Values

It looks like a campaign bumper sticker for Eric Miller, the unsuccessful GOP gubernatorial candidate from the 2004 Indiana Republican primary. But it's actually just another nonpartisan election briefing Advance America plans to hold in Goshen, Indiana on September 28, 2006. Miller will be on hand, along with six "special guests." And they are: Rep. Matthew Bell (R); Rep. Bill Ruppel (R); Rep. Marlin Stutsman (R); Rep. John Ulmer (R); Rep. Jackie Walorski; and Rep. candidate Jeremy Hiler (R). What do they all have in common? Yes, they're all Republicans.

We caught you again, Eric, abusing your nonprofit status by engaging in partisan politics. It's just like all your events. The candidates are all Republicans, and the discussion is focused on partisan issues and get-out-the-vote efforts for partisan purposes. Is anyone at the IRS watching? Is anyone at the Justice Department watching? Inquiring minds want to know.

And by the way Eric, is this your campaign theme for your 2008 primary rematch against Gov. Mitch Daniels?

Carson: I Didn't Mean To Bring Up Wife Beating Charge

CARSON SAYS THERE ARE OTHER WIFE BEATERS SERVING IN CONGRESS
After walking into a meeting with Indianapolis Star editorial writers, calling her Republican opponent a wife beater, dropping off a copy of the police report and then walking away, Carson now tells WTHR-TV she really didn't mean to bring up Eric Dickerson's domestic violence record. WTHR reports:

Congresswoman Julia Carson says she didn't mean to bring domestic violence into the upcoming campaign when she mentioned her opponent's 1991 arrest to the Indianapolis Star editorial board.

"I don't know that it makes him unfit, because there are others who serve in Congress," said Carson .

Carson considers domestic violence a significant issue, saying her mother was a victim of abuse.

WTHR notes that it has been unable to confirm the incident reported in the police report with the responding officers, one of whom is FOP President Vince Huber. Would Rep. Carson care to share with us the names of the other wife beaters serving in Congress with her? I'm sure they will be pleased with her disclosure, as if Congress' reputation wasn't already bad enough.

UPDATE: Abdul Hakim-Shabazz has interviewed Vince Huber. Huber does not remember the arrest. Abdul writes, "In a phone conversation Wednesday night, Huber told me that the only way he would remember something from that long ago would be if there was something that occurred during the incident that stood out, such as a stand off, severe injury or very bizarre behavior by the abuser or victim." Huber nonetheless sticks by the report because he never writes anything untruthful in a police report--only what he's told by the parties. That's the best news the Dickerson camp could have expected to hear from Huber. Abdul adds, "I find it rather ironic that the same people who complain about the criminal justice system and how unfair it is to young Black men who have been convicted of a crime are so quick to throw an older Black man under the bus for a crime he was never convicted [of]."

Dickerson: Sixteen Year-Old Son Threatened At Gunpoint

WTHR-TV is reporting on its 5:00 p.m. newscast that 7th District GOP congressional candidate Eric Dickerson alleges that a car pulled up next to his 16-year-old son at a northside neighborhood last night and pointed a gun at him. Dickerson said the gunman told his son that he knew who he was, and that he better watch out. Here's what the report said:

Dickerson also said his 16-year-old son was threatened by a man with a gun last night near 46th and Meridian. Dickerson claims a man pulled up in a white van, pointed a pistol at his son and said, "I know who you are. You better be careful."

WTHR couldn't confirm if a police report had been filed yet.

And Then The Driver Jerked Off

This story comes from a recent post about the tragic deaths of several infants at Methodist Hospital from an accidental Heparin overdose and the attorney for the parents of one of the victims, Nathaniel Lee. It is in no way intended to question Lee's competency as an attorney; rather, it's just one of those entertaining stories attorneys like to share with one another and pass down to new generations of attorneys because that's what attorneys do. This story was shared with me by an older attorney who had worked as a civil defense attorney opposite Lee in a few personal injury cases.

In this particular case, Lee filed a personal injury complaint on behalf of Phyllis McKinley against the old Metro-Transit Authority, now commonly referred to as IndyGo, for an injury she sustained while riding a city bus (Cause No. S584-345) back in 1984. So this was 22 years ago when Lee was a much younger attorney working in a solo practice. In the third paragraph of Lee's two-page complaint, he wrote, "After entering the bus and making payment, the driver, an agent or employee of Defendants, negligently and carelessly jerked off and caused the Plaintiff to crash to the surface of the bus floor." As a result of the driver "negligently and carelessly jerk[ing] off" . . . "plaintiff suffered a traumatic spinal injury, incurred medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering and mental anguish." And, he wrote, "[her husband] has been deprived of his wife's comfort, happiness, and companionship."

Now, if you've ever worked around attorneys, you can imagine just how much fun they would have with Lee's pleadings. Apparently, copies of Lee's pleading made their way throughout the courtroom offices in the city-county building and down the street to law firms where everyone had a jolly old laugh at Lee's expense. Everyone waited with baited breath to see if Lee would amend the complaint. And, indeed, he did file an amended complaint a few weeks later. But in that paragraph three that dirty bus driver was still jerking off. It seems Lee had neglected to include a paragraph stating that he had timely provided a tort claim notice to the city, and that was the purpose of his amended complaint. So, once again, copies of Lee's amended complaint found their way throughout the court offices of the city-county building and down the street to all the law firms where everyone had an even bigger laugh at Lee's expense.

I don't know if anyone ever brought it to Lee's attention, but it is apparently a story that just never dies. I can sympathize with Lee as solo attorney. When you don't have a colleague to take a gander at your work product before it goes out the door, it's quite easy to make mistakes like this. I'm sure Lee simply described in his complaint the way his client explained it happened to him without giving a second thought to the double meaning of the words. It could happen to any of us.

Schneider Takes A Second Crack At Dickerson

After first posting and then pulling off an earlier online report about Rep. Julia Carson's accusation that her Republican opponent Eric Dickerson is a wife beater, the Star's Mary Beth Schneider takes another crack at the story late this morning. Rep. Carson dropped the bombshell claim during a meeting with the Star's editorial staff on Monday. She writes:

Carson disclosed the arrest during a meeting with the Indianapolis Star editorial board Monday, saying Dickerson has "been running as Mr. Righteous, Mr. Righteous, when in fact, he beat his wife up to a pulp."

"That's not true," said Dickerson, who went on local radio shows Tuesday to complain about Carson's tactics.

Dickerson maintains that the only thing that happened 15 years ago was a loud argument after his son crashed his Corvette. That shouting scared his then-teenage daughter into calling police, he said.

"No hitting ever took place," he said.

And that's the same account Dickerson's wife, Paula, provided in an exclusive interview with WXNT's Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, which we reported on earlier. Ms. Schneider apparently didn't listen to the interview aired on Abdul's radio talk show this morning because she makes no reference to it. Instead she writes:

But the case eventually was dismissed after the wife and daughter recanted and refused to testify, according to court documents found in storage Tuesday by the Marion County prosecutor's office.

Attempts to reach Paula Dickerson -- from whom Dickerson said he has been amicably separated for several years -- or her daughter were unsuccessful.

And just how did Schneider get the police report? "An Indianapolis Police Department arrest report -- which a Carson campaign volunteer obtained from IPD -- gives a different version of events," she writes. In other words, the Star didn't go searching for the record itself. Schneider reported in her earlier online report that all court records have since been purged; however, in this new report she says old files were recovered from storage in the Marion Co. Prosecutor's office. That's how she knew the case was dismissed because mother and daughter recanted statements included in the original police report. Schneider is also no longer talking about Carson's earlier claim, which she reported in her first online report, that Carson learned about the alleged domestic abuse from a neighbor of Dickerson's. And the Indiana Democratic Party, they declined to comment on the matter, although the state' party's communications director has had plenty to say about the matter at Taking Down Words. Doesn't Schneider read that site?

As for the Republicans, Schneider quotes Robert Vane of the Indiana Republican Party as saying, "Eric Dickerson has expressed sincere regret about an event that happened 15 years ago. We take him at his word and look forward to his defeat of Julia Carson this November."

Who to believe? It just goes to show you how nasty politics can get. And they wonder why it's so difficult to find good people to run for public office. I just don't get Carson's claim that Dickerson was running around pretending to be Mr. Righteous. Unlike several Republicans we know, he has avoided the mixing of religion and politics, and he certainly doesn't wear his religion on his sleeves. Who's the candidate standing in front of church audiences talking partisan politics and bad-mouthing her opponent in the name of the Lord? It's not Mr. Dickerson.

UPDATE: Schneider caught on to the fact that Paula Dickerson is publicly defending her husband, which was first reported last night on WTHR-TV, and an exclusive interview with Abdul last night aired early this morning. But the Star blew their chance for an interview. Dickerson and his wife are through discussing the 15-year-old charge. Schneider's updated reports says:

Eric Dickerson, the Republican candidate for Congress, said he is through publicly discussing his 1991 arrest for allegedly beating his wife.

"I've said publicly everything I am going to about it," Dickerson said this morning as he canceled tentative plans for a news conference with his wife Paula.

The Dickersons have been separated for several years. She accompanied him to talk-radio interviews Tuesday and again this morning, but he declined an Indianapolis Star request for an interview."She's not doing any more," he said,
adding that: "I've decided not to have (a news conference). The reasons are pretty clear. Everywhere I go I've been ambushed by the media and so has my family."

Now, can the Star please turn its attention back to the illegal shenanigans going on in Center Township?

Brizzi's Surprise Guilty Plea From Bowell

Well that didn't take long. In late July, the Indianapolis Star ran a front-page, exhaustive investigative story by Kevin Corcoran on the mess the Marion County Public Library Board of Trustees has made of the construction of a new central library, replete with cost overruns and structural defects. Among the items Corcoran reported on in his story was the apparent conflict of interest former Board member Mark Bowell had because his firm had obtained consulting work for Turner Construction near the time the Board voted to hire the venerable construction firm. The Star reports today on a surprise guilty plea from Bowell under the state's conflict-of-interest statute, which will not require Bowell to serve any time in jail, but it will require him to repay more than $20,000 he received from Turner for the work. Corcoran reports:

A former Library Board member has agreed to plead guilty to a charge of felony conflict of interest for failing to disclose his financial ties to a company hired to manage the Central Library expansion.

In addition to ending a grand jury investigation, David "Mark" Bowell's surprise plea, filed late Tuesday in Marion Superior Court, could aid the library in civil lawsuits to recover taxpayer money spent on the flawed Downtown library project, Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi said.

Bowell, 43, was among the board members who in 2002 voted unanimously to award a $5.4 million contract to coordinate work on the Central Library to a joint venture led by Turner Construction Co. of Indiana, a subsidiary of a New York-based firm. The contract later grew to $6.64 million.

Bowell was doing work with Turner at the time through a local marketing firm, Rosetta Advertising and Public Relations. Bowell helped Rosetta land Turner as a client around the time the construction company won the library contract.

Under the plea deal, Bowell, a business and marketing consultant, would receive a one-year suspended sentence. If accepted by a judge, the plea would conclude a criminal inquiry in which grand jurors have heard testimony from at least 20 witnesses since late July.

"Bowell knew that we were literally bringing in everyone and everything to prove his relationship with Turner was improper," Brizzi said. "Every penny that he made because of this conflict will be repaid to the library's capital projects fund."

Bowell, a Republican who served on the Library Board from 1996 to 2004, made $20,811.40 for his work with Turner.

I would draw your attention to the paragraph at the end of Corcoran's story. Corcoran writes:

Bowell's admission of an improper relationship could give library officials more ammunition. The library's attorney, Gregory F. Hahn, said the board would have an opportunity to discuss Bowell's plea before or during its monthly meeting Thursday.

That's interesting because it was Greg Hahn's law firm, Tabbert Hahn, which advised Bowell that his firm's business ties to Turner did not appear to be a conflict of interest when the issue was raised by another member of the Board, which is unfortunate for Bowell because his reliance on that opinion meant that he committed a Class D felony. Tabbert Hahn has billed the library board well in excess of a million dollars for its work as the library's counsel. The construction litigation associated with that work, in particular, has escalated the costs of their services.

Not mentioned in Corcoran's story is an item he had in his original report. Tabbert Hahn it seems hired one of the library board members, Gary Meyer, as a paid consultant for the firm on an unrelated matter. Does that not implicate the state's conflict of interest criminal statute similarly? Just asking. Also, does today's news have anything to do with the abrupt departure of Scott Treadway from Tabbert Hahn earlier this summer, which was an item that ran in the Star's "Behind Closed Doors" column awhile back? Treadway, who handled much of the construction litigation for the firm on behalf of the library board, has since joined Stewart & Irwin. Hahn is a lobbyist and major domo in Democratic political circles. His close ties to Mayor Bart Peterson helped land the library account for his law firm.

Now that Marion Co. Prosecutor Brizzi has proven to us that he can prosecute these types of crimes under existing state laws, he needs to get down to some serious work on a real investigation of the shenanigans that have taken place at 300 East in the Julia Carson Government Center.

Paula Dickerson Denies Domestic Abuse Charge

WTHR-TV reported on tonight's 11:00 news cast that Paula Dickerson, wife of GOP congressional candidate Eric Dickerson, denied allegations contained in a 15-year-old Indianapolis police report that her husband struck her and her daugther during a domestic dispute. Quoting Ms. Dickerson, WTHR reported:

Under no circumstances did my husband hit me or my children.

Further, WTHR reports that Ms. Dickerson will join her husband for a joint press conference tomorrow to set the record straight. What a strange turn of events. What are we to make of this police report that Democratic operatives produced and the news media relied upon--a police report which allegedly was prepared by an officer who responded to the scene with FOP President Vince Huber 15 years ago? Is it for real? Why were others unable to retrieve this report when they searched for it, along with other court records, only to discover the records had long since been purged? Will this turn out to be as phony as the Donthatehimgirl.com entry Democratic operatives were circulating around the Internet as fact in an effort to destroy an African-American member of Gov. Daniels' administration? I guess some folks will do anything to destroy an African-American who dares to identify himself or herself as a Republican.

Per Abdul Hakim-Shabazz' comment below, please tune in to his radio program in the morning on WXNT/1430 AM between 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. to hear portions of an exclusive interview he conducted with Ms. Dickerson tonight. He promises it's going to make a bunch of people look like idiots.

UPDATE: Regardless of what the alleged police report says, Paula Dickerson was very emphatic in her exclusive interview with Abdul that the assertions therein are untrue. In the exerpts of the interview played by Abdul this morning, she did not attempt to sugarcoat her husband's state of mind and the fact that she was very upset at him for confronting her at the door when she arrived home with a handful of groceries and he began yelling and screaming about his totalled corvette. She described a very chaotic scene with she, her husband and older daugther yelling and screaming, while the smaller children began crying. The son who wrecked the corvette was not at home she said. She was at a loss about the alleged injuries to her listed in the report. She noted that she is a very light-skinned person of mixed ethnicity, and that she gets red splotches on her skin when she becomes exercised. She was adamant that she is not the typical abused wife who is afraid to leave her husband because of financial dependency. She is a college-educated woman with a teaching degree, and she has always been able to obtain work if she wanted it throughout her marriage to Dickerson she explains. As for Rep. Carson telling the Star editorial board that her husband is a wife beater, like the good Christian Ms. Dickerson says she is, she will turn the other cheek. She will leave the political questions to her husband and others to sort out.

I would observe that the Indianapolis Star paper edition today includes no mention of this story, even though Mary Beth Schneider had an online story posted yesterday at indystar.com which confirmed Rep. Carson first raised this issue during an interview with the Star's editorial board. The lack of a story speaks volumes. Now, that online story has disappeared from the Star's website. What I believe is happening is that the Star is taking a much deeper look into the circumstances surrounding the surfacing of this issue in light of Ms. Dickerson's denial and the dubious nature of alleged police report Democrats produced to the media yesterday. This issue could boomerang big time against Carson and the Democrats.

NOTE TO DEMOCRATS: You might want to white out the social security numbers of the Dickersons the next time you post a document about them on the Internet, unless of course you want to add further insult to injury by making them the next victims of identity theft and unwarranted searching of their financial records. Per Jen's comment below, she has since redacted the SSNs from the police report posted at TDW. It was an innocent mistake she explains. Thank you to TDW for taking care of this matter. And on a personal note, I don't hold TDW responsible for this mess in any way. Any partisan blogger would have done the same thing and posted the document. My beef is the manner in which it was brought to light. I don't think Ms. Carson has any monopoly on purity to be digging up old dirt on her political opponents and throwing them out for public consumption.

Methodist Hospital Admits To Heparin Overdoses Five Years Ago

WISH-TV uncovers the fact that this was not the first time Methodist Hospital's neonatal intensive care unit accidentally overdosed small children with Heparin. It happened five years ago to two children in the pediatric intensive care unit. WISH-TV reports:

As four children recover from a medicine mix-up, Methodist Hospital officials admit to previous Heparin overdoses. The six newborns that received overdoses of the blood thinning drug Heparin weren't the first to receive that kind of an overdose.

Hospital president Sam Odle says it happened in the pediatric intensive care unit of the hospital back in 2001. At that time, two patients received the wrong dose of the drug.

Jim and Chere Mayes say their son, 18-month-old Aaron Mayes, was one of those patients. The boy was given an adult dose of Heparin when he was being treated for brain cancer in 2001.

The Heparin was used on Aaron and another pediatric patient to keep their I-V lines from clogging. Aaron and the other child who was given a Heparin ovredose recovered after being given an antidote.

"These were larger children so they didn't have any ill effects from it," said Sam Odle, Methodist Hospital President and CEO. Methodist Hospital said it changed its policy after the 2001 incident to storing only the 10 unit dosage of the drug on the pediatric floor.

The parents of one of the children overdosed five years ago were assured by the hospital that steps were being taken to ensure the mistake was not repeated, but those steps didn't stop it from happening again. The hospital is prepared to compensate the families, but Indiana's Medical Malpractice Act severely limits recoveries--in this case the total maximum limit is $1,250,000 for injury or death, and $250,000 per occurrence of malpractice by the provider. Attorney Nathaniel Lee is representing one of the families. He is also considering a product liability action against the drug maker because of the similarity in the labeling of the adult and infant vials of Heparin, which can confuse the professionals who administer it.

UPDATE: Tragically, news comes that a third infant who was accidentally overdosed succumbed last night. That brings the death toll to three. Three other harmed infants have managed to survive.