Northwest Indiana Comical Politics

Where is Duane Dedelow?

If any of the speculations yesterday are credible than one can truly say that it is indicative of how low, and psychologically sick, McDermott, Jr. has become.

It has been presented that Pangere Corporation fired and/or demoted former Hammond Mayor Duane Dedelow, and current Hammond Republican Chair, so that it would be permitted to actively pursue airport contracts with the NWI Regional Development Authority. 

This obviously was not a free choice either on Pangere's part nor the former mayor's.  The current understanding is that Pangere Corporation was given, to quote the Godfather, an "offer they could not refuse", by representatives of Mayor McDermott on the RDA with the cooperation and support of the other Democratic Mayors.  If this indeed is the case, then all one can say is that the late Ned Ruff is turning in his grave at the moral morass that the RDA has fallen into.

When several people were asked what McDermott's reasons could be, since Dedelow has indicated he is not interested in being a mayoral candidate, their answer was because he can and his narcissism never allows him to stop damaging people who have not always supported him when he can.

If even a part of this holds true than one must expect an immediate and demanding investigation by all interested Federal authorities since a significant amount of the funds invested in both the past and the future in the airport derives from the Federal Treasury.  Under Federal law any implied or overt threats to a potential contractor involving personal matters for political gain is a criminal act.

If there is no substance to this, I hope Mayor Dedelow emails me and reassures me that some civility still exists in NWI.  If not, then it is time for the full force of the Federal Government to come down on the RDA and everyone involved.

Three Comics of NWI Politics

Since this is a blog about comics masquerading as political leaders in NWI, it seems appropriate to regularly show examples of this comedic behavior in our midst.

I therefore present three examples in recent weeks of jokesters playing at politics.  The three are: the one who is sex driven, the one who knows not what he knows, and finally the one who knows not that he is a racist.

The first one, for those who have not figured it out, is State Representative Linda Lawson.  Although Representative Lawson has been in the State House for many years, most of her legislation support has gone to laws that are related to and require investigation into sexual activity of the general public.  Of this kind of focus, Freud would have alot to say.

On the other hand, I had been willing to give her a pass with the assumption that there is a need for some of these criminal laws in Indiana.  Although I was doubtful of its value for NWI because of the many problems that have priority in this region.

Now Lawson's focus on sexual activity of Hoosiers has gone too far.  She is working feverishly on passing legislation to make it a crime to have sex with an animal and then turn it into dinner.  One did not realize that this was such a major problem for NWI and Hoosiers in general.  I am aware of one case in NWI where an individual took a chicken to a hotel room for a tryst and then turned it into Kentucky fried chicken.  As obscene as that is, I do not believe that this is where the downfall of NWI comes from.  Nor does it explain the complete vanishing act that Lawson performs when she becomes unavailable to her constituents while she is doing research on Hoosier sexual behavior.

The second comic, the one who knows not what he knows, is State Representative Vernon Smith.   Dr. Smith's specialty is education.  He should know better than anyone that the Gary School System is not just a failure it is non-existent except as a patronage system and a way of laundering public funds.  Any correlation between the Gary School System and education is strictly accidental.  How dare he even attempt to justify the unjustifiable -- especially because he is being paid a salary by IUN to be an expert in knowing that this is not true. 

He also knows that Ball State is the only state university that has stepped up to the plate and been willing to support alternative educational opportunities under the charter school system.  The other universities, Purdue and Indiana Universities, have a long tradition of continued institutional racism against Gary and NWI as reflected in their complete lack of support, in both resources and mission, for campuses in NWI.  This information he should also know since he works at IUN.  As an educational specialist he should know that Muncie, where Ball State is located, has a superlative educational system compared to Gary and any city in NWI.  (This is also reflected in the job creation happening in Muncie but not in Gary.  Fannie Mae is coming into Muncie with 400+ high paying jobs.)

The link to see Rep. Smith's comedy, and his embarrassment to NWI, can be found in the Indianapolis Star:

Expresso___indystar.com.pdf

Rep. Vernon Smith shows NWI elected officials to be the comics that this blog has always claimed they were.  It should be noted that preliminary historical research has uncovered the fact that "foot-in-mouth disease" was originated in NWI.

The final comedian is Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr., the racist who did not know he was one and neither did the archaic press know a racist when they interviewed one.

The Times newspaper February 1, 2007 story by Susan Brown included the following paraphrase from the local comic: "McDermott said Hammond doesn't have a lot of fat to cut. Costs are greater in an older city with high poverty rates that produce more crime, he said."  Now I understand that Susan Brown is not a journalist, that one can tell from her opening statement in the article: "The city was noticeably absent from remarks this week in which state Rep. Chet Dobis, D-Merrillville, chided not only county government but the cities of Gary and East Chicago for their spending habits."  There is no journalistic basis for this statement; only a love affair with McDermott making her into a McGroupie, not a journalist.  The basis for the above statement is McDermott: "Hammond escaped Dobis' censure because the legislator is aware the city administration has tried to cut costs though it hasn't always succeeded, according to Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr."  Again, since there is no basis to believe the veracity of this statement, Susan Brown proves she is not journalist only a pom-pom groupie for McDermott. 

It is interesting that if there was any interest in what "My Man Chester" intended, she would have called him and asked.  Rep. Chester Dobis has complained about all of Lake County's governmental units expenditures with no identifiable exception.  What is really sad is that Ms. Brown missed the most obvious, which is the racist statement made by Mayor McDermott against poor Hispanics and Blacks.

When McDermott identified very clearly poverty as the cause of crime in his city, he is continuing to promote a lie about crime in genral and is also indirectly saying that Blacks and Hispanics cause crime.

The lie is that poverty causes crime.  No self respecting academic would put forth that theory as the source of crime.  That has been debunked decades ago.  The notion is primitive and shows a complete lack of education and sophistication on the part of the speaker.  What is worse though is that this is a code for Hispanics and Blacks causing crime in a community.  Who are the majority of the individuals who are poor in the northern cities?  Blacks and Hispanics and this is the racist attitude of the Mayor.  It is doubly sad to see the local paper repeat the lie and its racist implications as though they are fact.

And ......the NWI comedy continues. 

Rep. Bob "I love to spend other people's money" Kuzman

NWI State Representative Robert "I Love to Spend Other People's Money" Kuzman has now proposed and gotten passed by the House Ways and Means Committee a disastrous tax bill for Indiana.  This is a looser of a State Representative who is everything that is bad about the Democrats, which is I only know how to spend.

His new tax proposal to increase local sales tax is just another way to pick the citizens pockets without requiring the local governmental units, especially Lake County, to change any of their bloated spending habits.

I as well as everyone else knows that the local Lake County Budgets can be cut by about 40% without any loss of service.  There will be loss of patronage jobs and there will be loss of guaranteed re-election.  All of this will make Mayors McDermott, Pabey, and Clay run for the Kuzman cover and continue to pick our pockets for more money for their scandalous life style.

Hammond got by with seven uniformed police officers on the Fourth of July.  If that is all that they need for a big holiday, then they can really reduce their budget on other days and there is no reason, except for patronage and assured re-election, for not cutting the city's budget in half, as I have always claimed could be done.  Gary's budget can be reduced by 60% and the same holds true for East Chicago.

It is time for tough love to be applied to these politicians.  Sadly only Representative Chester Dobis and Commissioner Fran DuPey seem to understand this on the Democratic side.  All Hoosier citizens need to write and/or phone their State representatives and senators to tell them no to this "new" way of picking our pockets.

The citizens of Indiana, all of Indiana including NWI, are not going to give the free-spending politicians a free ride any longer.  Say no to Rep. Bob "I Love to Spend Other People's Money" Kuzman.

Indy's Big Joke on NWI: Mac Jr. for Governor

In a recent Indianapolis Star story, Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr. was listed as a potential Democratic Party contender to run for Governor of the State of Indiana.  For those of you who are unaware, if he should win the Democratic primary, he would face incumbent Republican Governor Mitch Daniels.

It is true that the Indianapolis Star listed McDermott as one of many possible candidates, a slew of all the Democratic mayors in the State of Indiana.  Frankly, no matter what your political leanings are, the only one who even made any sense, politically and experientially, was Bart Peterson of Indianapolis.

What Indianapolis does not understand is that the "comical" citizens, who make up a good percentage of Lake County, do not understand jokes or "tongue in cheek" and actually took this two sentence reference seriously.  There was even a full newspaper story about the possibility of McDermott running for governor.

There was so much speculation by the 4 year olds that McDermott, Jr. had to come out with an official denial that he is considering running for governor. 

This comedy cannot be made up. Lake County's one-half term mayor of a little city had to actually come out and deny that he is running for governor to squelch rumors that he is not running again for Mayor of Hammond.  This would be a real threat.

The threat is that someone actually runs against him.  The Cantrell East Chicago strategy has always been to make sure that no one runs against you.  As long as it is done above board, it is all legal.  The consequences though is East Chicago -- end of story.  McDermott may very well not have anyone run against him in the Democratic Primary.  For example it is generally known that he has cut a deal with one of his possible major challengers, Dan Repay, not to run against him. In exchange McDermott in his second term will support Repay for a county wide job, probably Steven Stiglich's old job.  This sounds just like East Chicago with Mayor Pabey and his challenger, excuse me, former challenger John Aguilera.  Mayor Pabey signed a $100,000 consulting contract with Aguilera and the next day he announces he will not be a candidate for Mayor of East Chicago.  Both Pabey and Repay should be careful in these deals -- as the Sheriff found in the last race, McDermott cannot be trusted.  He and Aguilera will play both sides.

They should also be careful because these kind of deals are illegal.  It is not legal to pay someone not to run -- but as with many of these things, the problem is with proving someone was paid to not run.  At best, if this is not technically illegal, it serves the citizens of Lake County and NWI very poorly. 

As you Indianapolis people can see your jokes here are taken seriously by the "4-year olds."  They do not see a problem with someone running for governor of a six and a half million citizen state when they have only achieved half a term of an 80,000 citizen city.

This same mayor is head of a city with one of the lowest K-12 test scores in Indiana with no improvement in sight.  It is a city with one of the oldest average populations in addition to a growing brain drain that he seems to be incapable of reducing.

The mayor's only so called achievement, the Cabellas enterprise, is not only an environmental disaster, it is admittedly only due to his father.  Now his father is another story and another anchor.  His father is reportedly a Republican, consequently it has been difficult to recognize any specific Democratic ideals in the son who also was a Republican until he ran for mayor in a predominantly Democratic city.  The father also has a history of skirting the law or at best dealing on its very margins, generally referred to as the "sleazy" area of business, although fully supported by the son, the Mayor.

Not only is McDermott, Jr. a political neophyte, a true preemie, he is dogged by questions of unethical and under-handed dealings throughout his administration.  None of which bodes well for a Democrat running in a predominantly Republican state.  A state where every state wide position in the last election was won by a Republican, for right or wrong, in spite of the national trends.

Obviously there are always exceptions.  Evan Bayh was a Democratic governor for two terms; but, no one would associate the word "sleazy" with his father, the former Senator Birch Bayh.  Then there is Frank O'Bannon who also was elected twice.  But he had experience managing much of the State's bureaucracy while Lt. Governor under Bayh.  McDermott, Jr. has absolutely no record of managing anything, except for his personal affairs. 

What is he going to run on?  I look good?  Vote for me I am pretty?  It should also be noted that in spite of his good looks not a single Democratic politician in NWI will speak well of McDermott, Jr.  The terms usually used are egotistical, narcissistic, self-possessed, selfish, crazy, etc.  Even the State Democratic Party will put his pretty face up as part of its organization but will not give him a vote.

Everybody else in the State of Indiana knows that McDermott, Jr. in a state wide office is comical.  But, please Indianapolis, the tribal members here are not up to speed on the usual requirements for office, as can be well seen by who generally gets elected.  So please quit pocking sticks through the bars and riling up the natives here.  It can only make the situation worse because they really believe the joke.

Michael Griffin is the Greatest Choice for Hoosier Treasurer

Hoosier voters have a unique opportunity this election day to put into a State-wide office an individual of superior competence in the position of State Treasurer.  That person is Michael Griffin.

I do not care what your political affiliation is, or if you have any, this is a must selection for everyone who values competency above all else.  One must recognize that the position of State Treasurer in 99% about competence not ideology or political loyalty.  That is why all Hoosiers benefit from competence and that is represented by Michael Griffin.

As all of you know who have followed by writings about NWI and Hoosier politics, I do not support or endorse easily.  I am usually critical of elected officials in my defense of my fellow Hoosier citizens.  My endorsement and whole hearted support of Michael Griffin, and what I believe should be a bi-partisan support for him, comes from years of knowing and watching his successful management of fiscal affairs in Highland.

I have no doubt that with Michael Griffin in office all of us Hoosier will be better off financially as a State.  Just his idea on what to do with the toll-road money could give huge funds in perpetuity.

I urge everyone in the State to be sure to vote for competency and support Michael Griffin.