Ballard Sides With Sports Corporation In Pan Am Dispute

In the closing days of his administration, Mayor Bart Peterson let the Indiana Sports Corporation out of its commitment to repay Indianapolis taxpayers if it ceased using the Pan Am Plaza for the public's benefit. In turn, the ISC sold the Pan Am Plaza for $3.8 million to a development group which included the politically-connected Kite Realty Group, money which should have been returned to the City of Indianapolis. ISC President Susan Williams said that then-Mayor-elect Greg Ballard was consulted before the deal was rammed through the Metropolitan Development Commission in December, 2007. Attorney Paul Ogden brought a class action suit against the ISC and the City to undo the sale, citing a number of laws which were broken by the Peterson administration in order to make the deal happen. Mayor Ballard could have agreed that Peterson broke the law in brokering the deal and asked the ISC to at least return the $3.8 million from the sale to the City, but he has not. The City of Indianapolis has joined the ISC in filing a motion to dismiss Ogden's class action suit. The City claims in its motion:

• The City was not modifying a redevelopment agreement so the laws cited in Ogden's suit do not apply.
• Ogden failed to give the City a Tort Claims Notice.
• More recently enacted statutes cited in Ogden's lawsuit don't apply to the resolution approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission.

It is very unfortunate that Mayor Ballard has chosen to take the side of self-dealing insiders, while taxpayers are left holding the bag for millions of dollars of debt remaining from ISC's operation of the Pan Am Plaza. By the City's latest actions, Ballard has effectively taken ownership of this smelly deal. No more just blaming this on Mayor Peterson. As I said from the beginning, this is a way of diverting public dollars to the ISC to use for the Super Bowl and then trying to make the public think that no public dollars are being used to put on this $25 million party for the rich and famous.

UPDATE: Attorney Paul Ogden has posted his comments on the City's decision in this matter. He offers his take on why the City chose to fight the lawsuit:

"I would suggest the obvious: the City wants to avoid going through discovery process because it will lead to an inevitable embarrassing disclosure of all the facts behind the deal, including the people who profited, possibly including people who now work for him." Instead of doing the right thing now and lean on the Sports Corporation to cough up the money, Mayor Ballard has chosen to take a political bullet for the former Mayor by using taxpayer paid attorneys to take against the taxpayers and in favor of corporate welfare. I can only guess that such extremely foolish political advice comes from some of Mayor Ballard’s close advisors who also were eating from the City’s corporate welfare trough before Mayor Ballard was elected. It’s a shame because those advisors he leans on have little interest in the Mayor's political future, certainly less than Republicans like myself who inevitably are put in a position of criticizing a Mayor we want to support."

Democratic Lawmaker's Son Suspect In Palin E-Mail Hacking

The son of State Rep. Mike Kernell (D-Memphis, TN), David Kernell, is the leading suspect in Tuesday's hacking of Gov. Sarah Palin's Yahoo e-mail account according to the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Kernell is a student at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Kernell made the mistake of posting his e-mail address, rubico10@yahoo.com, which was quickly traced back to him. Rep. Kernell is supporting Obama's presidential campaign in the state of Tennessee.

Star Wants State Bailout Of CIB And Help From Irsay

An Indianapolis Star editorial today recommends splitting the baby. It calls for a state rescue plan for the CIB, which could mean a tax increase or a plan that would allow the CIB to divert revenues now intended to be used exclusively to pay off the construction bonds on Lucas Oil Stadium to pay operating and maintenance expenses. The editorial also asks Colts' owner Jim Ir$ay to share some of the advertising revenues the CIB gave away to him during the stadium negotiations. The editorial reads, in part:

The state, which wrested control from the city over negotiations with the Colts and built the stadium, cannot continue arguing that cost overruns for operations are the city's problem. And the team, which invested all of $50 million in the enterprise and retained all sponsorship rights as well as a cut of all gate receipts, cannot keep calling itself a mere tenant that made a deal cast in concrete.

Encouragingly, state Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, the state's key man in the affair, has offered to work with the beleaguered city in finding a way to close the latest gap, focusing on user fees as the most palatable approach. New taxes, at any level, can only be a last resort if they're not off the table entirely.

What's left? The CIB has suggested the sale of naming rights or sponsorships to the convention center. We would suggest, as we have previously, that the Colts share a portion of the revenue from stadium naming rights and sponsorships, which will exceed $20 million a year. It is, after all, the public's stadium that bears those signs, even if the (rent-free) tenant was handed the spoils.

A deal's a deal? The Colts and the state may sing that refrain all they wish, but the city's negotiators can say much the same regarding their expectations. So can the overburdened taxpayers of a city that's stuck with a management job for an eight-county region.

Let's set the record straight. Jim Ir$ay did not put $50 million of his own money into this stadium. He put in nothing. The so-called $48 million break-up was just a shell game the CIB set up to give the public the appearance he was kicking in something. It is also believed, according to one reliable source, that Ir$ay actually tapped an NFL team owners' slush fund for the additional money, and he has no obligation to repay that money.

We have to stop this bailout. Jim Ir$ay paid nothing for this new stadium. We must change that. It's time for him to step up to the table and give the money back that Bart Peterson and Fred Glass put in his pocket. We still haven't heard where most of Marion County's legislative candidates stand on this issue. Rep. Phil Hinkle, Rep. Jon Elrod, Adam Nelson and Ed Angleton have all gone on the record opposing the bailout. A running tally of where the candidates stand will be maintained at the top right column on this blog. We need to hear from the following:

Sen. Teresa Lubbers (R-District 30)
Sen. Pat Miller (R-District 32)
Greg Taylor (D-District 33)
Sen. Jeane Breaux (D-District 34)
Sen. Mike Young (R-District 35)
Rep. Jeb Bardon (D-District 25)
Ed DeLaney (D-District 86)
Rep. Cindy Noe (R-District 87)
Pamela Hickman (D-District 87)
Rep. Brian Bosma (R-District 88)
John Barnes (D-District 89)
Rep. Mike Murphy (R-District 90)
Rep. Robert Behning (R-District 91)
Stephanie DeKemper (D-District 92)
Rep. David Frizzell (R-District 93)
Cherrish Pryor (D-District 94)
Chad Miller (R-District 94)
John Bartlett (D-District 95)
Greg Porter (D-District 96)
Mary Ann Sullivan (D-District 97)
William Crawford (D-District 98)
Vanessa Summers (D-District 99)
John Day (D-District 100)

Pence Attacks One Of Her Law Firm's Clients

Democratic Attorney General candidate Linda Pence has come out swinging against "big oil" and Attorney General Steve Carter for failing to do enough to fight "price gouging" at the pump. "When Hoosier families are wondering about the sudden and uniform increase, it is the responsibility of the attorney general to look into the matter and demand an answer," Pence said. "The people of Indiana need someone who will advocate for their interests and not roll over for big oil." The Louisville Courier-Journal's Lesley Stedman Weidenbener quotes Steve Carter as saying his office investigates every complaint. "He said yesterday that, while investigators have secured refunds for some customers, they've found in other cases that stations had reasons for boosting prices." Her opponent, Deputy Attorney General Greg Zoeller, thinks Pence is playing politics with the issue. "Gas prices are clearly higher than Hoosiers want to pay as they are throughout the country," Zoeller said in a statement. "Pence is playing politics in her role as 'attack dog' for Jill Long Thompson."

After taking a look at Indiana's Lobby Registration Commission records, a big client of Pence's law firm may want to pursue an investigation of her. Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, the law firm where Pence is a partner, is registered to lobby the Indiana General Assembly on behalf of the BP Corporation, one of the world's largest oil and gas companies. Pence boasts that she once represented the U.S. Department of Energy in disputes with oil companies. "It is the job of the attorney general not to turn a blind eye to big oil," Pence said. "In this situation, the attorney general should actively investigate the pricing practices in Indiana and why our consumers are treated differently." And it's your firm's client, Ms. Pence. Why don't you just call up your firm's client and ask if they're price gouging consumers?

Palin E-Mail Hacker Linked To Chicago Web Server

The operator of Ctunnel.com, Gabriel Ramuglia, believes the person who hacked into Gov. Sarah Palin's personal e-mail account and exposed its content to the world, including cell phone numbers of family members and personal family photos, used his proxy service. "Usually, this sort of thing would be hard to track down because it's Yahoo email, and a lot of people use my service for that," Ramuglia told El Reg in a phone interview. "Since they were dumb enough to post a full screenshot that showed most of the [Ctunnel.com] URL, I should be able to find that in my log." The FBI and the Secret Service are coordinating an investigation to track down the hacker.

Frequently this year, anti-Obama bloggers have alleged that pro-Obama forces have engaged in cyber terrorism efforts to discredit them. There has been strong suspicion that the Obama campaign uses people working for major IP providers to snoop for information on anti-Obama persons, presumably without the consent of their employer. Earlier this year, the Obama campaign tried to blame Republicans for snooping in Sen. Obama's passport file at the State Department. It later turned out that the person guilty of doing the snooping was a contract worker for a company with close ties to the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign is knee deep in the effort to stoke the so-called "Troopergate" scandal in Alaska to discredit Palin. Several key operatives for Obama in Alaska are spear-heading that investigation. Getting access to Palin's personal e-mail account may have been part of broader effort to destroy her, as if the Democrats and the media haven't already been doing enough to destroy this woman.

"No Fancy Home" Sullivan

Having heard Democratic state representative Mary Ann Sullivan's campaign commercial playing up the claim that she "had no fancy home growing up" about fifty times already, I thought I'd check the Star's property tax base to see what kind of house she's living in now. She and her husband, Brian, an executive with Shiel-Sexton, own a home at 315 W. Walnut valued at $489,700. Her opponent, Rep. Jon Elrod (R), owns a home at 425 Orange Street valued at $32,600. Can we just cut the crap about candidate's homes and move on to substantive issues? Does it matter if Mary Ann's parents had a 3-bedroom ranch on the Eastside and Elrod's parents had a several-acre farm homestead in Perry Township?

More Unreliable Polling Data

CNN/Time released new polling data for Indiana's presidential race today. It shows McCain with a 6-point, 51%-45% lead over Obama. Not wanting to lose out on any ad revenues, WTHR followed up with its own poll this evening, which claims Obama holds a 3-point, 47%-44% lead over McCain. The WTHR polls is suspect in that it claims Obama holds a lead among women voters. Other recent polls indicate that McCain has taken a double-digit lead over Obama among white female voters. Given that Indiana is overwhelmingly white, it seems unlikely that Obama would enjoy a lead among female voters. The WTHR poll was conducted by Selzer & Co. during the same period this week that the CNN/Time poll was conducted by Harris Interactive. You may recall that Selzer created a bit of a controversy when it first released poll results in last year's mayoral race and then amended those results after it came under fire for under-sampling minorities.

These two contradictory state polls today are not unique. I've noticed widely varying polls results for battleground states; one poll may show a dead heat race, while another poll taken about the same time shows a near-double digit lead for one of the candidates. I think polls conducted by news media outlets are subject to manipulation. There is an incentive to give the appearance of a tight race in a particular state to drive spending by the candidates in a market. McCain is obviously spending next to nothing here. I've been told that Republican polling shows McCain comfortably ahead in Indiana. I don't know why the GOP's polling would vary so much from these other polls.

Attention Marion County Legislative Candidates

We, the taxpayers, of Marion County want to hear from all of our state legislative candidates this year. We want to know what your position is on a state bailout of the CIB to pay for the shortfall of funds to pay Lucas Oil Stadium's operating and maintenance expenses. This includes any legislative proposal to allow new taxes, user fees or diversion of revenues from the food and beverage tax, hotel tax and car rental tax intended to be used exclusively to pay off the construction bonds for the $720 million stadium. The public position of all candidates will be posted here and on other blogs. Any candidate who does not announce his or her position will be deemed to be a proponent of a state bailout. Candidates should e-mail me at gwelsh@indy.rr.com with their position on this important issue.

Feedback from legislative candidates:

Adam Nelson (R-District 86): "I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAILOUT! I am sick of government bailing out corporations by taking money out of our pockets! This is exactly why I became a candidate (first-time). The taxpayer seems to always get stuck paying the bill and it's time to get people in office to stop it."

Chris Swatts (R-District 89): "Absolutely no bailout."

Rep. Phil Hinkle (R-District 92): "No, absolutely NO BAILOUT. If it was such a good deal, let Bart Peterson and Fred Glass form a partnership and operate the Oil Can, keep the profits and relieve the taxpayer of any burden to maintain the facility. We will of course continue to pay down the bond as they obligated us to do."

Rep. Jon Elrod (R-District 97): "No Bail-Out".

Ed Angleton (L-District 100): "No. No bailout, No."

Need to hear from:

Sen. Teresa Lubbers (R-District 30)
Sen. Pat Miller (R-District 32)
Greg Taylor (D-District 33)
Sen. Jeane Breaux (D-District 34)
Sen. Mike Young (R-District 35)
Sen. Brent Waltz (R-District 36)
Rep. Jeb Bardon (D-District 25)
Ed DeLaney (D-District 86)
Rep. Cindy Noe (R-District 87)
Pamela Hickman (D-District 87)
Rep. Brian Bosma (R-District 88)
John Barnes (D-District 89)
Rep. Mike Murphy (R-District 90)
Rep. Robert Behning (R-District 91)
Stephanie DeKemper (D-District 92)
Rep. David Frizzell (R-District 93)
Cherrish Pryor (D-District 94)
Chad Miller (R-District 94)
John Bartlett (D-District 95)
Greg Porter (D-District 96)
Mary Ann Sullivan (D-District 97)
William Crawford (D-District 98)
Vanessa Summers (D-District 99)
John Day (D-District 100)

Prepare For Battle: Stadium Funding Fight Is On

The elites who've been taking Indianapolis taxpayers for a ride for decades now are back at it again. By hook or crook, they're going to stick the bill for operating and maintaining the Lucas Oil Stadium on the taxpayers. You built it, but Jim Irsay gets free use of it for his billion-dollar Colts franchise and gets to pocket the lion's share of the revenues the stadium generates. Bob Grand, the self-dealing, conflicted president of the Capital Improvement Board, is now laying the ground work to stick it to the taxpayers for the additional $20 million in operating expenses the CIB has incurred as a result of the new stadium. Higher taxes, user fees or a state bailout are all options the CIB is considering according to the Star's Brendan O'Shaughnessy.

As far as Jim Irsay is concerned, it's not his problem. "As a tenant, we're not in a position to comment or suggest a solution" to the operating shortfall, said Pete Ward, the team's vice president. "To suggest reopening (the lease) agreement that took four years to negotiate is ludicrous." Well, Mr. Irsay and Mr. Ward, you better prepare yourself for reopening that agreement. And further, we the public demand that you open up the Colts' books. We want to see who is on Mr. Irsay's payroll. If we're going to provide hundreds of millions in taxpayers subsidies to this private concern, then we have a right to know where the Colts' income is going. We can't understand how our public officials could have screwed over the public so badly with this one-sided deal. We think something is amiss. If Mr. Irsay has nothing to hide, then he will let the public see his payroll.

The comments coming from the former head of the CIB, Fred Glass, pretty much prove the public's worst suspicions. O'Shaughnessy writes, "Former CIB Chairman Fred Glass said rolling operating costs into the original construction borrowing plan would have made more sense." "He said the convention center, RCA Dome and Victory Field all worked that way." "I've been frustrated by suggestions that paying operating costs out of the bonds is unusual or bad public policy," Glass said. "I said early on that the CIB will be bankrupt without funds for operation." How stupid could Glass be? The reason you don't use bonds to pay operating expenses is so you aren't tearing down a building 25 years after you build it and still owing as much as it cost to originally build, which is precisely what is happening with the RCA Dome. This is what happens when you put someone in charge of the CIB who has zero business experience, whose primary concern is to impress the elite insiders who do business with his law firm and who could give a damn less about the public's interest.

Glass and Mayor Peterson knew before this stadium was ever built that the state had no intention of allowing the tax revenues to be diverted for operating and maintenance expenses. "We were led to believe until the last minute that the increased revenue from the stadium would pay for the operation," Sen. Luke Kenley told O'Shaughnessy. "He said he'd be willing to work with city officials to come up with a new plan, preferring to rely on user fees rather than new taxes." No way, Luke. We will not stand by and allow state lawmakers to bail the CIB out of this one. They will do for once what we, the public, demand of them. They will immediately convene talks with Irsay to return a portion of the public's money which should have never been slipped into his pocket. If Irsay refuses to go along with the public's demands, then his Colts franchise will suffer the consequences: the loss of public support for his team and all that that implies. We've had it. Enough is enough.