How to Spin an Ugly Duckling Into a Princess!!!

The suck-ups to Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr, (Baby Mac) have been out in force spinning his election win in every way but the truth. 

Only in the minds of midgets (or the other way around) or people on drugs can the mayoral election in Hammond be described as anything but a goodbye send off to Baby Mac.  (It may very well be the kiss of political death to his partner in crime and fooling of the citizens of Hammond, Dan Repay.) 

The new spin is that Baby Mac almost lost the election, winning by only 400 votes, because he took the tough stand of cutting governmental costs by reducing services, specifically the health department.  To my direct knowledge, the people who are responsible for wholesale distribution of this spin are the two local newspapers, The Times and The Post-Tribune and Dr. Dan Lowery on his "Anyday NWI Will Be Like Heaven" show on Channel 56.  The newspapers gave this lie in their editorials and Lowery repeated this mantra not once but at least twice on his show.  The second time it was repeated on Lowery's show by Jim Wieser (a useless Democratic Party operative). 

First, all these people are lying about the Hammond Health Department.  And if they really don't know that they are lying, then they are just not smart enough to comment on public affairs.  (This is analogous to Dennis Miller's comment that if we are to believe Hillary Clinton that she really didn't know about Bill's extra-marital affairs, then she is just not smart enough to be president.)  The Good Government Initiative specifically recommended NOT doing away with the Hammond, East Chicago, and Gary Health Departments because their unique services were needed and could not be duplicated by the County with any net savings to the citizens.  What is it about "NOT" that these mastodons don't understand?  Baby Mac did not reduce the cost of government he only shifted its cost to all the citizens of Lake County. This is clearly shown in the 11/22/07 article that talks about Lake County creating a satellite office in Hammond.  And why is a satellite office in Hammond needed?  According to Baby Mac, it is because "a local office is needed for low-income, uninsured residents who cannot afford to travel to Crown Point for inoculations or health records."

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE COUNTY COUNCIL WANTS TO DO WITH THE LAKE COUNTY INCOME TAX.  TAX ALL LAKE COUNTY CITIZENS -- SEND THE MONEY TO THE NORTHERN PART OF LAKE COUNTY -- TO PAY FOR THE THIEVERY AND INCOMPETENCE OF BABY MAC IN HAMMOND AND HIS FELLOW COHORTS IN GARY AND EAST CHICAGO.

We have now found out that Lake County Government is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to replace the Hammond Health Department with a Lake County paid for Hammond Health Department.  No savings on government spending what so ever.  This is the shell game that has been played by Democrats in Lake County for decades.  Everyone knows it but few will actually say it.  (And these same people continue to get elected because . . . . . ?)

In addition, it needs to be noted that Baby Mac has done nothing to reduce overall governmental costs.  He has actually increased it.  One needs to take into account my earlier comments about his shell game of shifting sanitation services from the Civil City budget to the Hammond Sanitary District budget.  The overall cost of running the city government of Hammond has gone up -- consistently -- under Baby Mac, but service has gone down.

Second, there is no evidence at all that the very high negative vote against Baby Mac has anything to do with the health department.  This is all a mirage, i.e. excuse, generated by the pigs feeding at the trough of the Baby Mac gift machine.

Any political scientist will tell you that a low voter turnout, assuming demographics haven't changed (a big if), comes from the fact that voters perceive that they do not have a viable choice.  The voters stay away from the polls because they do not want to go through the pain of voting for someone they do not want.  This is why negative ads reduce voter turnout.  Frankly, the voters overwhelmingly hate Baby Mac.  That is what the actual vote totals mean.  One can assume that some of the voters, who voted for Baby Mac, would have voted for Janiec if they had known how close he was going to get and their vote could have made a difference.  (The same cannot be said for the voters for Janiec.  Everyone of those votes are a solid NO vote on Baby Mac.)

As a political scientist, it is also fair to say that it is possible that some of Baby Mac's supporters stayed home assuming that Baby Mac was a shoe-in and their vote was not needed. The question then becomes did more people stay home because they believed they did not have a viable choice or because they thought Baby Mac was a shoe in?  Given Baby Mac's $400,000 campaign treasure chest -- big bill boards and full-page ads -- I'm thinking that Baby Mac actually made an effort to get-out-the-vote.  This means more people stayed home because of no viable choice rather than because Baby Mac was a shoe-in.  It is also quite likely that if the citizens had any idea how close Janiec was going to come to rejecting incumbent Mayor Baby Mac there would have been a flood of anti-Baby Mac voters come out and mass funding going to Janiec.  This is also a viable scenario.

From a political scientist's perspective, I realize this is all over the head of Prof. Baby Mac.

But neither the newspapers or Dan Lowery's "Anyday NWI Will Be Like Heaven" show (including Jim Wieser) did anything other than to "spin" Baby Mac's lackluster bid for a second term.  And what spin did they all put on it?  Shock! They repeated the drivel that emanates from the mouth of Baby Mac.  Is this what passes for analysis these days?  Repeating the drivel that spews from Baby Mac's mouth?  The newspapers and Lowery's show are either lying -- or they believe the lies.  Alternatively, they are actively trying to save whatever image Baby Mac has left. 

I can muster a good guess as to why at least one of the local papers provides "protection" for Baby Mac.  But why Dr. Lowery wants to provide cover for Baby Mac is anyone's guess. It's been over a year since the esteemed Dr. Lowery demonstrated a spine by going after the local gadfly (me), so why stop there.  Instead of providing cover for Baby Mac, Dr. Lowery should enlighten the region to his real behavior and tell everyone what he knows about Baby Mac, Calumet College's fund-raising campaign, and what "strings" Baby Mac attaches to his "gift" giving and support to Calumet College.  Now, that would be a true public service.

After my blog came out, even The Times editorial could no longer hide the fact that Baby Mac is a complete and unadulterated moron when it comes to fiscal tax policy.  That is your "new" mayor. Read the editorial and weep all of Lake County citizens:

Editorial_an_unhealthy_decision_for_Hammond_taxpayers.mht

Comments

[Chris]

Blue County in a Red State writes about the South Lake County donor situation, should a Lake County COIT be approved by the Lake County Council. If I remember correctly, North county will get $2 for every $1 in taxes collected, while South county will get 50 cents for every $1 in tax paid.

[Buzzcut]

Professor, please check out my blog, where I document:

1) that the Indiana law that freezes Lake County's levy if it doesn't enact a COIT is unconstitutional.

2) That Will Smith has been impeached by law upon his CONVICTION for felony tax evasion, not upon sentencing as the Council Attorney asserts. Thus, any vote taken with Will Smith voting is null and void.