Tom McDermott, Jr. is off on a Rant Again

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr. -- who blew a gasket over a previous post of mine -- has apparently not recovered and continues with what seems a personal vendetta against yours truly.

The late great speaker of the House of Representatives, Sam Rayburn, always advised elected officials to not let political disagreements become personal disagreements.  In NWI, this distinction is lost on most.  Mayor McDermott seems to have difficulty with this.  And he also seems to have difficulty distinguishing between a blog, an editorial column, and a legal proceeding.  He also does not seem to recognize that he is Mayor -- an elected position and by default a public figure.  Therefore, citizens, all over the country, are allowed and encouraged to disagree with him, and anyone publicly associated with him.  That is the American way.

The Mayor believes that belligerent talk and threats will stifle free speech and criticism of him.  I dare say, he's become fanatical about threatening with a lawsuit as a way to shut me up.  I wonder if he thinks that all of his criticisms of Dedelow and Gov. Daniels do not lend themselves to the same threat or is shutting down criticism only his privilege?  He has found that it is more convenient and simpler to threaten a law suit than to answer issues. 

True to form, Mayor McDermott, in his morning talk show today (11/10/06), called me crazy, evil, and an incompetent teacher.  He has the right to his opinion about my mental health and moral character.  That is the first two; but not the latter.  That is a direct attack on my professional work that has absolutely nothing to do with any issue or criticism that I have ever mentioned about him.  As an elected official, all the Mayor's work IS open to public criticism; he cannot claim that no one has a right to criticize his work as someone who is elected by the people and accountable to the people.  My situation is not the same.

He is specifically and knowingly slandering my professional work.  It is as though a member of the Carpenter's Union criticized the Mayor for his spending of casino money and the mayor responded by criticizing the individual's carpentry skills.  The only purpose for that type of attack is to intimidate the individual so that they will not criticize Mayor McDermott, Jr. for fear of losing their job.

The Mayor has that authority and this is a misuse of that authority.  For the carpenter, any company potentially doing business with the City of Hammond would be afraid to hire this individual.  In my case, the Chancellor is a direct political worker, confidant, and strategist for Mayor McDermott, Jr.  Remember the Regional Development Authority and the presentation of the Hammond magnet school all for and by the Mayor and for his political advancement.

Mayor McDermott's sole goal must be to ensure that the Chancellor will prevent me from expressing my thoughts as a citizen and sadly for most people this has been a successful tactic for McDermott.  Otherwise why bother with this whole charade of the Mayor's.

Now what is interesting is that the Mayor said that he called to check with the U.S. Attorney's office about the grand jury.  He further claims that they said that there is no grand jury.  Now in the past five years or so that the U. S. Attorney has been investigating local politicians they have always answered with "we can neither confirm nor deny."  That is standard and proper.  So how did the Mayor get such a succinct answer?   

In addition, I never said which grand jury.  There is the federal, state, and county grand juries, which as a lawyer he should know.  For example, if his father received a "finders fee" from Cabellas, my understanding is that this would be illegal under the Indiana State law because he is not licensed.  That would be a State grand jury.  To be specific, I never claimed where the "legal" problem was.  The Mayor, his father, or whomever.  Nor did I say that there is sufficient evidence to PROVE illegality.  That would be for a grand jury to decide.  As everyone knows in Lake County, if you have not been indicted it does not mean you are not a criminal; only that you are either lucky or it is not your turn yet.

The Mayor is demonstrating a real inability to control his emotions by his attacks on me. That is in and of itself scary for a public official with the police department under his control.  And I must admit, that it is personally physically threatening to me as a citizen of NWI who works and constantly drives in Hammond.  That is I truly believe that if he feels that he is not successful in intimidating me verbally, he shows a proclivity to physically accomplish the task.  Seeing the irrationality of the Mayor in his responses, it is scary and should be scary to the citizens. 

This is the type of instability that makes McDermott, Jr. dead as any kind of a State wide or national candidate. Understand, what he has already written publicly about me would prevent him from getting elected dog catcher in any other city but Hammond and we all feel sorry for Hammond.  This is the best he can do; but it is not the best that Hammond can do.  That choice is theirs.

Comments

[John Q. Public]

This sounds like typical McCriminal action. When I as a citizen reflect on this whole situation I only can come up with one thing: the relationship between the City of Hammond and Mayor McDermott and the relationship between PUC Chancellor and Mayor McDermott.

In the first, the Mayor is playing the role of the prostitute and the citizens are unwittingly the Evangelist Rev. Ted Haggard--meaning that we the citizens are getting screwed.

In the latter relationship, McDermott went the way of playing Clinton, and the Chancellor, well blue IS his color with his role as Lewinsky.