Politico has an interesting story this morning on a new book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan takes several shots at the Bush administration over its handling of the War in Iraq and Hurricane Katrina.

What makes it so fascinating is that McClellan was truly considered to be the “loyal soldier”  of the administration and for him to stray off the plantation says quite a bit.  I will say this, if McClellan had all these problems with the administration then he should have stepped down. 

Having worked for elected officials in the past,  I understand a need to be loyal to your boss. But loyalty isn’t just telling your employer what they want to hear.  You give the candid advice that you are hired to do and then you go do your job.  When that stops working, you need to go find something else to do. 

At the end of the day, you have to be able to sleep at night and look at yourself in the mirror when you wake up in the morning. 

With June right around the corner, both Indiana Republicans and Democrats are getting ready for their state nominating conventions.  Normally, these are periods of party unity and togetherness, however this year may be a little different.  Both Marion County political parties could be going into the state conventions with some “family issues.”

On the Republican side, Chairman Tom John tells me there are some differing opinions with regards to the race for Attorney General.  Current AG Steve Carter is stepping down, the two main candidates for the job are his Chief of Staff Greg Zoeller, who’s been endorsed by his outgoing boss and Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas, who enjoys the support of the Governor.  According to John, Marion County will back Costas with a solid majority, but there have been those Republicans backing Zoeller, the most notable is Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.   Some pundits are accusing John of playing hardball by forcing delegates to sign oaths that they would support Costas and retaliating against those who don’t get on board.  John says his job as County Chairman is to back the Governor’s pick, but anyone who has lost a party  position, as of late, has been more about competency than politics.

Things aren’t all rosy on the Democratic side either.  I wrote a while back that City-Council member Joanne Sanders might be in jeopardy of losing her position as Minority Leader because some Council Democrats thought she should have backed Andre Carson in the May primary instead of David Orenlichter since Carson was the party’s slated candidate.  It seems now that movement is gaining steam.  My sources inside Democratic circles say there is a growing movement within the caucus to replace Sanders with fellow Democrat Mary Moriarty Adams.  If  Adams replaces Sanders she will be the Democrats fifth Council leader in four years.

Today your favorite (fill-in-the-blank) turns another year older.  When someone asks my age I tell them “I’m old enough to know the difference between right and wrong and still young to act with occasional wildness abandonment.”

I do find that as I get older, I find myself keeping a more even temper about things.  I’ve adopted the rule that for every moment of joy, rapture and divinity the universe gives you, there has to be an equally excruciating moment of pain.  It’s like a great night of wine, women, cigars and songs followed by a really bad hangover the next day.

I will admit to every once in a while throwing a grenade or two to stir things up, but that’s only when things have gotten too quiet around here. 

I consider myself a very fortunate individual.  I’m doing what I love and getting paid for it.  I have a great family, an awesome circle of friends and a woman who can see past all the bravo and bluster, see me for who I really am,  and still likes me anyway.  She should be nominated for sainthood.

I’m taking the rest of the day off and will post again on Tuesday.  Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend and take a second to remember what this day is really about; the men and women who laid down their lives for this nation, so we could enjoy the freedoms that we have.

So why did Indianapolis get a Super Bowl this year as opposed to last?  Good question.  Fair question.  I asked Mayor Greg Ballard that this afternoon.  He gave three reasons.

1.  The city tied its legacy project to IPS and the new facility that will go up at Tech High School.

2.  The city did not put all its cards on the table right away and held back part of its proposal to the very end.

3.  Having 8th graders from not only Indianapolis, but across the region participate in presenting the city’s bid to show wide support for the project.

You may not agree, but it didn’t hurt.

I also asked the Mayor who should deserve the credit?  He acknowledged the work of the previous administration in the bid, however he also recognized the work of people like Dick Lugar who really laid the groundwork for what Indianapolis is today.  And he also said the real winners are the community, as he labeled this a community bid.

Much to the dismay of his critics, you have to give Ballard credit.  Not only for this, but for retaking the police department and putting it back where it belonged,  the state taking over the pre-1977 pension problem,  and seriously promoting  government consolidation that went  beyond Indy Works I, II & III.  (And need I remind some you that former Mayor Bart Peterson could have had consolidation had members of his own party not blocked it in the Indiana General Assembly.  I can say this because I was there and many of you were not, so save us all the grief and hassle of trying to argue the point.)

I think a Super Bowl will be good for the city and will open a number of doors if it is done right.  That will be the biggest challenge for the administration.  There is no do-over for this one and 2012 will be here before you know it.  The good news is that Indianapolis has  handled major events before, this is the granddaddy of them all.

Nice job.  Now get to work!

There is a very good chance Indianapolis will be awarded the 2012 Super Bowl this afternoon in Atlanta.  Indy is competing with Houston and Phoenix.  I rule out Houston because the 2011 Super Bowl will be right outside Dallas.  And the Phoenix was a logistical disaster, ergo Indianapolis gets the bid.  However, if the city does get the bid, that presents an interesting question, who should get the credit? Bart Peterson or Greg Ballard.  The Peterson people will say they laid the groundwork for the bid.  The Ballard people will say they sealed the deal.  What do you say?

Although the city of Indianapolis is facing tens of millions in budget shortfalls, the Council overwhelmingly tonight approved spending $1.5 million for the arts. Councilors said the arts programs went to help youth and would in turn help lower crime and stimulate the economy, however critics said the city had to pay for other priorities.   Many Councilors felt that since the money was allocated from last year’s budget and many organizations had already spent or had plans to spend the money, it would have been unfair to change things midstream.  However some supporters of the measure told the arts community that the money would probably not be there the next time around so they should start making other arrangements.

In other news, the Council went forward tonight with a measure that would allow the city to appoint members of recently merged fire departments to be the head of IFD. Current law only allows the head of IFD to come from within the department and did not include the merged departments. A proposal that would have allowed the Mayor to appoint a chief from outside the department did not make it to a full vote. However, despite the passage of ordinance, sources say if the Mayor cannot find a qualified candidate for the job within IFD, he can come back the Council and they will change the rule.

A proposal that would change the way a new fire chief would be appointed to head the Indianapolis Fire Department is heading back to the drawing the board.

The proposal  has gone through a number of drafts , but the Mayor’s Office and Fire Fighter’s Union can’t seem to get on the same page.  It was up for a vote at tonight’s City-County Council meeting, but it will be pulled and sent back to committee.

The Mayor’s Office wants the option to hire a new chief from outside IFD while the Union says the new chief should come from within the ranks.   Under current city code, the new chief must come from within the Department. 

A proposal that would change the way a new fire chief would be appointed to head the Indianapolis Fire Department is heading back to the drawing the board.

The proposal  has gone through a number of drafts and the Mayor’s Office and Fire Fighter’s Union can’t be get on the same page.  It was up for a vote tonight, but will be pulled and sent back to committee.

The Mayor’s Office wants the option to hire a new chief from outside IFD while the Union says the new chief should come from within the ranks.   Under current city code, the new chief must come from within the Department. 

This seems to me like an issue that has the potential to get out of control real soon and make a lot of people look silly.  I think it’s in the best interest of all parties involved to get their acts together real soon.

I understand the philosophy that “all is fair when it comes to love, war and politics” however, if you are going to try to play the game, at least do it with some modicum of sophistication. I am referring the whisper campaign being lodged against the Ballard Administration that it is full of racists.

This first started with the argument that Greg Ballard was trying to take away control of the police department from the Sheriff because Republicans did not want a Black man running IMPD.  However the people who were promoting this theory “forgot” that Frank Anderson had already endorsed the very white Kerry Forestall for the position when Anderson steps down. So since that line of attack didn’t work, two new bogus arguments are being circulated.

The first is in regards to the number of promotions of Blacks in the police department. There were no promotions of Blacks to Sargent in the last round so some are throwing the racist charge again, little do they know, or publicly acknowledge that there were Blacks promoted in the previous round, and some over whites who were much higher on the promotions list and IMPD was playing catch-up. For example some individuals who were ranked in the 30s on the list were promoted over officers who were in the top 10. It’s one thing to take an officer who is a tenths of a percent lower on a test score over another, because statistically there is no difference, however to pull someone from who is clearly ranked lower than another does no one any good, especially the officer who should not have received the promotion.

The second argument, and in my opinion the more egregious, is that incidents of police brutality and excessive force against African-Americans are on the rise since Ballard took over IMPD. There is no evidence to support this nonsense, however not only is it being promoted in the Black community, my very reliable and trusted sources point to one of the authors of this rumor is Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson himself. Anderson, my sources say, is still upset over losing control of IMPD has been pushing the idea to members of the Concerned Clergy, a group of African-American pastors.

This is the same group where City-County Councilor Bill Oliver insinuated that Ballard and his administration were racist for not attending the annual Indianapolis NAACP dinner. The Mayor did not let that charge go unchallenged and a very heated discussion ensued.

I would like to think that all these examples are isolated incidents and just part of life in big city politics, but I don’t buy that for a second. My instinct tells me this is all part of an organized effort to take back the Mayor’s office in 2011. Remember, Ballard won in part because large contingents of Blacks stayed home. And one way to get those voters out is to play the race card and play it early and often. Despite all the evidence to the contrary that Ballard is a racist; his high-level appointments of women and minorities, his frequent visits to all communities and neighborhoods in the city, and the fact his wife is from the Philippines, just to name a few.

If there is going to be a referendum on the Ballard administration at least have the decency to do it on his record.  There will be plenty of missteps and plenty of opportunities to go after the man on legitimate issues of public policy.  If the race card is all you have, expected your bluff to be called every time you play the hand.

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is on his way to meet with members of the Indiana National Guard in Iraq today.  Daniels is slated to meet with the 76th Infantry Brigade Team.