Sorry about the blunt headline, but I had something that I had to get off of my chest this morning.  

Now you might be thinking that I encountered racism this weekend and am writing about it.   Not really.  I’m going back, once again, to Thursday night’s Washington Township Board meeting.  In addition to a nearly 70-percent raise, board member Joe Simpson, who happens to be black, dropped the n-word against RTV 6 photographer Eldon Wheeler.  My colleague Norm Cox blogged about the exchange.

…my photographer, Eldon Wheeler, attempted to place a microphone on the table. Simpson angrily told him he couldn’t do it, because there wouldn’t be enough room for his papers. Actually, there was plenty of room, to say nothing of Simpson’s apparent ignorance of things like Open Meetings laws and the media’s right to record the board’s sessions. But Eldon complied peaceably and moved the mike away from Simpson.

When the meeting was over Eldon went up to pick up his equipment and asked Simpson what his problem was with having a microphone at the table. Simpson then started yelling at him, saying, among other things, “You can’t talk to me that way!” It finally escalated to the point where Simpson screamed, “You might as well just called me a n*****!” At that point, Simpson started moving forward threateningly. Fortunately, the table was between them and two board members grabbed Simpson to restrain him. Trustee Frank Short came over to separate everyone and things somewhat calmed down.

I would like to say that I could not believe that Simpson would drop the n-word.  I would like to say that, but there’s no way I’m going to.  Simpson is typical of African-Americans who get caught doing something they know is wrong and have no explanation for and so retreat behind the shield of racism while trying to use it as a sword for an attack.

I can honestly say knowing Eldon, that the n-word would be the last word in his vocabulary, if at all.  He’s an old-school television photographer who is a professional.  And for Simpson to drop the n-word to deflect from his own shameless and ignorant behavior is ridiculous.  Which ironically is one of the definitions associated with the n-word.

I would say that Simpson should apologize for his words, but that’s asking too much.  He is typical of an outdated racial mindset that wants to be treated as equals but when they are hide behind racism.  You can’t have it both ways Joe.  Using the n-word to draw attention away from your narcissistic-inspired 70-pay raise isn’t doing anybody any good, least of all yourself.

Now if I was mean and spiteful, I would post your unlisted private cell number here so people and voters of Washington Township could call you and express their outrage.  But I won’t.  I’ll let them voice their opinions here in this forum and other places.

To do that would be acting like a n***a, and my parents raised me better than that.

If this week’s antics with the Washington Township Board weren’t enough to make you think that this form of government really needs to go away, think about this as your 2008 property tax bills hit the mail in the next few days.

Although schools were responsible for 76% of the increase in your 2007 bill, township government came in second, taking responsibility for 12.5 % of the increase in your tax bill. The city of Indianapolis was only responsible for 4% of your bill’s increase.

 So as you write that big check, just remember the same type of people who gave themselves a 60-70% raise had to get the money from somewhere. 

UPDATE:

I spoke to Washington Township Board President Ray Baker this morning.  He told me the raises were necessary because the township has a lot of work to do, even though it doesn’t have a fire department anymore.  He says says the township has to sell land, cell phone towers and consolidate office space.  He also says the public doesn’t understand township government and it would take too long to educate them.

Really?  Here’s your opportunity to get educated from the people who voted “yes”.

• Ray Baker, 327-4819 or 257-5677, rbclimited@att.net
• Joe Simpson, 283-4096,  jesimp@earthlink.net
• Mary Orea, 925-0079, mary.orea@centergov.org
• David Smith, 796-5069, dfsinvol09@yahoo.com

If you call  be respectful, polite and don’t get personal and I’m sure the Board members won’t mind spending time with you explaining why they voted themselves a 60 percent raise.

Although I am no fan of township government, I’ve been thinking lately about one way they could stay relevant.

Take poor relief and turn it into school vouchers.

If you think about it, the whole purpose of poor relief is to help people in need and one way to help people in need is to make sure they are self-sufficient.  And what better way to make people self-sufficient is to make sure they have a good education.  And what way to guarantee a good education than to ensure choice?

Remember, poor relief isn’t just cash or food.  It can also come in the form of clothes and in some cases school supplies.  There is already a precedent for vouchers.  When late Congresswoman Julia Carson was a township trustee, she would give vouchers for people to buy clothes.

We can circumvent the church/state issue by making sure the money is spent on “education expenses” and school tuition would qualify as an educational expense?

Now of course there would be an issue of crowd control.  That’s why only the people who qualify for poor relief would be eligible for the voucher.  

 Competition is already here, so why not have the trustees get into the act?

The above map courtesy of Blue Indiana, courtesy the New York Times, shows where Democrat and Republican votes increased in the 2008 election.  The more red or blue the more Republican or Democratic voters showed up.

Studying this map has led me to the following conclusion.  

If  white Republicans don’t do a better job of recruiting and attracting more blacks and browns, this country will become blue and the GOP will only see more red.

Although not much happens on Organization Day at the Legislature, I still get to pick up some pretty good gossip and tidbits along the way.  Here are some of them.

• If you thought the state’s unemployment problem was bad, check this out.  If you are a union worker and are temporarily out of work because of a plant retooling, you can still get unemployment, even if it’s only a few weeks and you know you will be going back to work.  That deal has cost the state   $300,000,000.
• There is a big split in the Marion County Democratic House delegation over government consolidation. Half of them want it, the other half don’t.  You can guess which half.  The word on the street is that Bill Crawford and Greg Porter have vowed to fight consolidation tooth and nail so I would look to see who from Marion County takes former State Representative Carolene Mays’ seat.  If it’s Cherish Pryor, forget it.  Mary Anne Sullivan, consolidation just might make it to the floor for a vote.
• And speaking of townships, the Wayne Township Assessor is shopping for a new fire station even though his township is going broke.

So munch on these for a while.  I’m sure there will be more to come down the road.

I’m down at the Statehouse today for Organization Day.   This the day we get a real feel for where people stand on the big issues that are coming.  Not that they are any big secret, but here’s what I’ll be paying attention to.

1. How will the sagging economy and job losses impact the state budget?
2. Will constitutional property tax caps go forward or stall?
3. Will local government reform get derailed by the forces who oppose change?
4. Will there be more a movement toward school choice now that the state funds the operating costs of school districts?
5. What irrelevant wedge issue will pop up (immigration, gay marriage, abortion)?

Let me grab my binoculars and enjoy the view.

I’ve had quite a few e-mails and calls about when the Washington Township Board meets.  The Board meets this Thursday at 6:15 p.m. at the Trustee’s Office at 1595 E. 86th Street to vote on its budget.   That budget includes a nice big pay raise.  The raise would take the part-time advisory board’s salary from $2200 to $3800 annually.

The township board is only required to meet four times a year, so in theory these guys are techinically making $950.00 a meeting.   And remember, the township doesn’t have a fire department to manage anymore.  So there’s nothing like a near 70-percent raise when you have 80-percent less work to supervise. 

Nice work if you can get it. 

Once again we start the week with little things (or not so little in some cases) that are worth paying attention to…

Township Tales

• In it’s never-ending to quest to justify consolidation, the Washington Township Board voted itself a 69-percent pay raise. Their salary went from $2200 annually to $3800.   The nice thing about that is that the township’s budget went from $20 million to $1.6 million after consolidating the fire department with IFD.  So since they have less work to do, they felt a pay raise was in order. The Board meets later this week.

Ballard’s Budget Act

• As the conversation and controversy continues over the Mayor’s proposed tax cut, one question that’s being asked is why not hold on to the money and save it for a rainy day?  According to city officials, it would be illegal to do so.  The revenue from the .02 tax cut could only be used for property tax reductions.  Now the city could leave the $18 million in the bank and borrow against it in the future if times got tough, but that would be like using your credit card to buy groceries.  

Cityscape

• As city officials get ready to deal with abandoned and foreclosed homes, two potential major issues are staring them in the face.  First, homes which are foreclosed but are rental properties, may not be covered by the HUD grant.  Also there is coordinating enforcement with Health and Hospital.  The agency also has code authority and there are some serious overlapping issues that are going to have to be worked out.

Pike Fight

• Look for a fight to brew up in Pike Township over the replacement of Cherish Pryor on the City-County Council.  Pryor won her race for the General Assembly.  The race is reportedly between Annette Johnson and Maggie Lewis.  No one is quite sure where the party loyalties are.  Watch for this one.

That’s all folks, for now.

Both friend and foe alike are talking about Mayor Greg Ballard’s proposed reduction in the County Option Income Tax from 1.65 to 1.62 percent; an $18 million savings for the taxpayers over the next three years.

Friends say it is a misguided public relations stunt.  Foes are taking credit for something they had nothing to do with nor fully understand.

What it is, is giving people back their hard-earned money.

If friends want to complain about something, I suggest they direct their attention towards the Marion County Courts and how they took their portion of the public safety/COIT increase and instead of creating an additional criminal court to alleviate jail overcrowding, the Courts instead created an additional family court. The Courts tackled the jail overcrowding issue through better case management and moving defendants through the chute quicker.

Before foes take credit for something, they should try to understand how the process works.  The city could not have adjusted the COIT rate understate law once it was set.  However, this is about the levy.  When the tax increase originally passed, the legislature had not yet picked up the pre-1977 pensions and child welfare levies.  Now they have.  With a smaller levy, there can be a smaller rate.  In addition, as reported this morning, the state gave counties the authority to reduce their tax rates by 0.03.

Now is a $12 savings per taxpayer a lot?  Not really, eventhough I argue the number is bigger because not every person in Marion County pays income taxes.  But that small number sends a big message.  The message that the Ballard administration is going to be fiscally responsible and return to the taxpayers (the people who pay the bills) as much of their money as possible.

And if my Democratic friends in 2011 are going to run on a platform of more taxes so there can be more spending all I can wonder is what will be Ballard’s big achievements during his second term?