Northwest Indiana Comical Politics

Karen Freeman-Wilson: "don't confuse me with the facts"

Gary mayoral candidate Karen Freeman-Wilson has now firmly established her qualifications as strictly configured as the "tribal chief."  She does not want to be "confused by the facts."  In her column in today's, Wednesday August 9, Post-Tribune newspaper, she acknowledges that all that matters to her and to her tribal followers is personal loyalty and titles.  A true and complete tribal head with no other qualifications.  Accomplishment = zero. 

In reality her lack of any substantive recognizable accomplishments do not count for evaluation for her or her loyal tribe.  The sad thing is that neither she nor her followers recognize the difference.

She first proceeds to attack me for my ignorance, which she does not establish, just states.  What it seems to mean to her is that I did not list her titles and excuses.

What qualifies her for the position of mayor is a long litany of what she refers to as "facts."  Two things she does not realize: One, her facts are just a list of titles and associations.  Not one word about accomplishments because she has none.  In addition, there is not one word about the future vision because again she has none.  Two, she cannot distinguish, because she is tribal, between facts and opinion.  She states as fact that her husband did a great job as sanitation head because he was qualified.  That no else in the country thought he was qualified doesn't matter.  As Karen Freeman-Wilson says "don't confuse me with the facts."  She also cannot indicate what exceptional work he did except to be married to her.  That may be an accomplishment but not in the sanitation business.

When dealing with her legal counseling for thievery at the GUEA she lists a long list of excuses of how "I did not know?", "how could I know?", "why should I have even asked?", etc.  The sum total is that if you can figure out the excuses after the fact you are not responsible for anything.  As a matter of fact that is her standard line: "I am too stupid to know anything, so why blame me."  But somehow she and her followers seem to thing that stupidity and ignorance are a good trademark for being mayor of Gary.

It is her and her followers right to think that deaf, dumb, and blind are good qualifications for the next mayor of Gary.  It is also my right and responsibility to disagree.

Karen Freeman-Wilson and her supporters truly prove by their actions my thesis that the problem of NWI lies in the "tribal" politics with which it is burdened.  Nothing reflects that more than the perspective and personal references by Freeman-Wilson in her column.

Senator Frank Mrvan running scared

State Senator Frank Mrvan is running scared of his opposition in the coming November election.  This response on his part has some real substance and is not just a ploy or a figment of someone's imagination.  Mrvan is very vulnerable and he knows it. 

First, he has never been a good campaigner and whenever he has had a significant competitor he has lost.  He now has a competitor, Chris Morrow, who is good in public presentation and can think through policy and idea positions.  In addition, Mrvan has won primarily on name recognition, as has his son.  But in this race, Chris Morrow's name is almost as well known from his years of being president of a local bank and his public service on many different civic boards in Northwest Indiana.

So Mrvan is facing a skilled campaigner with name recognition that almost matches his own.  It should also be pointed out that the challenger has significantly greater resources to spend on this race than Mrvan has.

Two, although Frank Mrvan has served in the Indiana Senate for decades, i.e. he is over the hill, he cannot run on his record.  The first reason is that for having been in the Senate for so long he has no record to speak of.  There are few bills that he can actually claim that he initiated or were his idea.  Generally speaking he has been irrelevant to NWI.  For example, he just announced through free mail, a perk he receives as the incumbent, that he is going to propose a limit on fireworks.  So what, everyone else in the legislature is going to propose the same thing.  Mrvan lacks any unique and fresh thought.  Not only is he not a leader; he cannot even be a follower.  In reality he has made himself irrelevant.

He is facing someone who is articulate and can present new ideas.  But the reality is that Mrvan is so irrelevant that there is nothing to be gained by voting for him.  The value is voting against him to send a message to the other legislators that "we are damn mad and we are not going to take it anymore!!"  Chris Morrow represents the one chance for NWI voters to show that they are damn tired of these do nothing incestual relationships.

Mrvan thinks he can succeed by looking at the GUEA and Morrow's presidency of it.  Mrvan forgets that the GUEA is in Gary and no one in his district cares.  Further if Freeman-Wilson as attorney to the GUEA can run for Mayor then the Board of the GUEA is irrelevant for the Senate District.  What Mrvan forgets is that if he forces people to look back at Morrow they are going to look back at Mrvan's vote to raise everyone's property taxes.  No one should forgive him for being one of the legislators who worked for and voted for each of the bills that skewered the tax payers of Northwest Indiana.

It was Mrvan's doing that has NWI in this pickle no else's and a message needs to be sent out to all of NWI's legislators telling them to pay attention to the citizens needs or out you go.  It is the need to send this message that frightens Mrvan above all else because that is how he would vote.

The NWI Tribes of McDermott and Freeman-Wilson

Tribal politics continues to affect Northwest Indiana negatively. Tribal politics, the norm in our politics, has to do with mutually supportive relationships between public officials, rather than with producing effective policy. These values are painfully obvious in at least two recent local stories.

The first story described Purdue University Calumet in Hammond celebrating its 60th anniversary.  It is understood this is a great achievement, and PUC and the other regional campuses — Indiana University Northwest in Gary and Purdue University North Central in Westville — provide educational opportunities for NWI that otherwise would not be available.  Significantly, what is left out of the story shows how far public officials will go to protect their own.

The PUC spokesman proudly announced having the highest number of Hispanic students of any campus in Indiana.  The same probably can be said for IUN and black students.  Certainly, PUC and IUN together have more than double the number of black students than West Lafayette and Bloomington combined. Additionally, PUC and IUN minority students are Hoosier taxpaying residents — but, at most, only half of the 650 Hispanics or the 1,100 blacks on West Lafayette’s campus are Hoosiers.  In summary, NWI campuses educate the majority of the taxpaying Hoosier minority students.

So why are our political leaders not truthful about the failure (and racism) of the boards of trustees of both campuses and of our elected representatives in Indianapolis?

After 60 years, no one wants to make any public official look bad for providing only one-third of the Hoosier taxpayers’ funds to educate minorities in NWI versus what they provide predominantly white and none Hoosier students on the campuses around Indianapolis. 

Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. reflected about his undergraduate experience at PUC.  Why not, as mayor, talk about how the State only provided one-third the number of taxpayer dollars for his education compared to other students in Indiana and argue for change?  He is aware that no city or town in Indiana, or otherwise, has succeeded economically without a university with at least the mission of a metropolitan university such as Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis or University of Illinois Chicago; both of which were a central demand of their mayors to permit economic development.  As a consequence of mayoral incompetence in NWI, one can readily see the developmental differences between Chicago, Indianapolis and Hammond.  Hammond is the one that looks pitiful.

A partial so called “regional” campus is not sufficient; but serves to hide the truth from the citizens.  But the old boys continue protecting their fellow tribe members from being exposed.

The second story announced that Karen Freeman-Wilson, the Gary Urban Enterprise Association attorney, is running for Gary mayor.  Her candidacy is simply a competition between political factions, not aimed at improving the welfare of Gary’s residents.

If a public official was looking out for Gary’s residents, then not only is this too early to announce, but an attorney for an agency that had so much apparent wrongdoing should have the shame to leave town — not announce a run for mayor.

Now is the time to govern, not campaign, and that is what Mayor Rudy Clay is doing.

Freeman-Wilson just wants to continue to be in a position to divide the spoils with her tribe. The fact this candidate was the attorney for an agency whose leaders are under indictment — but not yet in jail — means she should be laughed out of town.  There is no substantive achievement in the public or private sector nor is there any unique idea that qualifies her for any public position.  That is an un-contestable truth.  Her biggest accomplishment is to get her inexperienced husband a job heading the sanitary district, thanks to the tribal embrace of former Mayor Scott King.

In NWI she can run because she represents a tribe, not because she shows effectiveness. She certainly has nothing on Clay.

These tribes are putting us on reservations and making sure that our young people will move to greener pastures.

Ayres Retires; how sweet it is

Northwest Indiana has finally found a way to get its useless politicians to leave office, retire.  Death is the other alternative; but retirement is generally more cost effective.  State Representative Ralph Ayres has decided to retire after a million years in the State Legislature, which sadly NWI citizens must admit seems to be the only way to remove inactivity and incompetency from political office here.

The main reason for this is that politics in NWI is dominated by "tribalism".  Although this tribalism is most frequently reflected in Lake County Democratic Party, the Republicans are not immune from it, as rare as they are in NWI.  The main reason for this is that "tribalism" politics has to do with who you know not what you can do.  Who you know is not limited solely to a single political party.

Now it is no secret that Ayres was incapable of achieving anything substantive for NWI.  For example, during this last term, when he was the second in command of the House Ways and Means Committee, NWI lost overall funding, i.e. tax dollars being returned to NWI.  So when he did not have that much power, he contributed nothing.  That is probably the reason he quite because he was a looser and probably afraid that this would come out now that he did not have an excuse of being in a minority party.

So this looser is now going to collect all of his benefits, including health care, and ride into the sunset having taken NWI for a ride.  So what else is new from our illustrious legislators?  NWI never lives and learns; it only keeps on making the same mistake by being conned by a peacock instead of looking at performance, i.e. the bottom line.

Now how can we get State Senator Frank Mervan to take the hint.  No one has ever doubted that he is incompetent and ineffective as a legislators; although he is overall a nice guy.  But being nice is not what he is elected for.  How much longer can he go on?  If it is not painful for him, it certainly is for any intelligent citizens of Lake County who have to witness his pitiful sad performance.

Loosers and Winners in the NWI Primaries

The primary is over in NWI and the votes are counted.  We all know the voters made dumb choices in NWI but how bad?  What can be said about Tuesday’s primary in Northwest Indiana?  One’s emotions run from, “Whew, we just dodged a bullet,” to, “I cannot believe the voters are so stupid.”  On one side, things could have been worse; on the other, most of the well-connected insiders were nominated.

How could it have been worse?  John Buncich could have won the sheriff’s race and, for a while, it seriously looked like he might. That would have been the worst disaster for Lake County — and indirectly for NWI — because it would place the most unethical candidate, the Bull Connors of Lake County, into the position of chief law enforcement official in the county. That was the biggest bullet we dodged.

Now, Buncich must ride into the sunset and never show his face again in Lake County. But he is welcome to take along with him his unethical lackey, Scott King, when he leaves town.  This should be a lesson to the RDA and to the "Major Moves" program not to use Scott "the kick-back" King as a consultant of any kind.  For once show some ethical backbone.  Try it you may like it; it may even become a habit.

The other bullet dodged was the return of Jim Hornak to the Hammond School Board. His rejection says two things: One, there will be no more building through bonding power, so as to give his union more employment. His focus was on more new building, and the kids be damned. Two, since he was president of the board when he was given the boot, the voters and parents of Hammond have said the board is doing a poor job managing its administrative structure. They are spending too much money on non-teaching activities.

Although we dodged those major bullets, when one looks at what the voters did, all you can do is shake your head in amazement. Most incumbents were renominated, except those who retired or died. Just about every buffoon found sufficient support in the electorate to be renominated. The major change that could have come about was in the state legislators representing NWI, but that was not to be. Even state Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, was renominated, although there is nothing the man has done in his 28 years in the Legislature, except strut like a peacock and yell "racism" every time he got caught jay-walking.

And no one can explain Linda Lawson’s primary success, when her only accomplishment is to increase property taxes for NWI citizens. As a matter of fact, all the legislators are being returned who created the property tax mess for NWI. We know all these people — Chester Dobis, Earl Harris, Vernon Smith, Frank Mrvan, Sue Landske, Dan Stevenson and Ralph Ayres — have done very little to return tax money to NWI because they don’t know how. The Regional Development Authority and the Toll Road lease are not bringing tax money back to NWI; the RDA is a sellout of NWI to Indianapolis by Dobis and his local Democratic company.  All it did was give the Governor, and a few mayoral lackeys power to spend our own money, money we were already getting from the casinos. 

How does one explain the voters and the citizens of NWI allowing this to happen? Can they be that naive or that dumb? It’s clear they don’t understand and don’t care.

There are some small areas of hope. One could guess there always is, even in the worst of times. One of the bright spots is North Township; the trustee and board candidates who were nominated have radically changed their functions and responsiveness to the citizens of NWI, including, it is hoped, holding the line on property tax increases through the township’s share.

The new 12th District representative is going to be a true test of whether someone can get elected from NWI and retain a commitment to bringing tax dollars back to the area.  It certainly would be something new for NWI.  A State Representative who actually knows what they are suppose to be doing.  This has never, and I repeat never happened, before from an elected official down State.  Our representative are an interesting combination of low self esteem and hiding it by pretending to be full of themselves that they can only listen to what "outsiders" tell them to do and that is what they follow.

They never ask people who truly know and care about NWI.  They only ask the peacocks.  The suits who look good and talk well but substantively know nothing of which they speak and if you look at their accomplishments in positions they have heald, it does not show any worthwhile achievements outside of their public relations fluff.

As a citizen of NWI, I am hoping for the best; as a political scientist, I am wondering if things can get worse.

Buncich OUT; Otherwise Vote Against Incumbernts

Tuesday is Election Day. Although it is not an election with the greatest pizazz, it is an election that will affect the quality of our day-to-day living for years to come. That is why the first admonition to all of you is to vote.

In the 2004 primary election, Lake County had a miserable 19 percent turnout and that was for a presidential election. That is an embarrassment to the citizens of Lake County and to the Democratic and Republican parties. What it might indicate is, the citizens think the politicians and the political parties are basically worthless and, therefore, the citizens are no longer interested. This year, let us all prove the pundits and the political parties wrong. Show that as citizens we care and, if we have to, we will make the parties responsive. The only way to do that is to show a strong turnout. So I urge all of us to make our goal beating the turnout of two years ago.

I am not going to predict who will win Tuesday. First, in the important races, I do not know. Second, I think it is much more important that I remind citizens about the issues for which they should look. As a general rule, you can never be wrong in Lake County by voting against an incumbent. But, there are some serious exceptions.

So remember the general rule, then apply the exceptions.

The first exception is the sheriff’s race. John Buncich is running on a platform of integrity, and everything he does is lacking in integrity. Electing Buncich to sheriff is the one thing that can return NWI into becoming the old politics of the Pastrick/Stiglich years.  It will be the one thing that will continue for years the negative impression of NWI politics.  It will not only be an impression, with Buncich as sheriff it will be a reality.  Buncich lacks even an ounce of ethics that would qualify him for the top law enforcement position in the County. 

First, there is a two-term limit on the position of Lake County sheriff. The reason for that is to limit the ability of any individual to amass too much power through favoritism to the police force as a whole. Buncich is skirting the intention of that law. His run for office may not be technically unlawful, but it is unethical for circumventing the intent of the law.

Second, Buncich is so sure of himself that he truly believes the law does not apply to him and neither does normal ethics.  He is a throw-back to the 1950s and 1960s tough cop.  The know it all "he-man" that lacks any ability to think through problems and recognize ethics and morality as part of his responsibility.  It is all back slapping and the old-boy network.  All African-Americans need to reject Buncich on the prominent principle that he is Lake County's Bull Conners of Birmingham, Alabama fame.  You all know that it is true and the last thing we need is a Bull Conners in charge of Lake County's Sheriff's Department.

Third, it was Buncich who actually paid off in a kick-back scheme $5,000 to former Gary Mayor Scott King last January, when King was still Mayor.  NO ONE HAS DENIED THIS KICK-BACK SCHEME.  I am not a lawyer so I am not going to deal with the fact that King and Buncich should go to jail, but, there is no question that it is the most unethical thing a public official can do.  Buncich has no ethics and since he signed the ethics pledge, his kick-back to King makes him into a BIG FAT LIAR.

The 12th House District has no incumbent. Alicia Lopez-Rodriguez is running against Mara Candelaria-Reardon. First, both are highly qualified and of all the State Representatives in NWI it is really a shame that both individuals live in the same district.  Both candidates, in their personal conversation with this author (and others) committed to, for once and for all, changing the governance of higher education in Northwest Indiana.  But Candeleria-Reardon only mentions higher education in general terms , very much like every other candidate, and her interview with both papers editorial boards shows that, although she is very bright, she has not had the time to develop an understanding of the issues facing NWI and the changes that are necessary that the State Representatives actually has control over.   For example she states that one of her concerns is that the millions of dollars of money coming into NWI for the Regional Development Authority (RDA) and from "Major Moves", i.e. the Toll Road Lease, be used effectively and not be wasted like the gambling funds over the past fifteen years.  The problem is correct; but it is a done deal.  The new State Legislature does not have any control over how the money is spent any more than is already written into the law.

On the other hand Lopez-Rodriguez has actually developed a plan designed to infuse more than $50 million of new tax money and economic development into NWI.   NWI can start receiving the money and develop a whole new renaissance by 2008.  This is a first for any candidate in NWI to actually develop and commit to policy plans and to run on them as part of their campaign. 

Candelaria-Reardon is the neophyte in this race, while Lopez-Rodriguez is the "veteran" candidate.  Two years ago, she came within a percent of beating the incumbent, and that experience must count because it shows the guts and fortitude that NWI needs in its representation.  That, coupled with the fact Lopez-Rodriguez is the only state representative candidate in any NWI political race with such command of the issues and a significant plan to develop NWI economically, necessitates support for her candidacy.

As far as the 1st House District, Linda Lawson versus Ron Tabaczynski is essentially a race between two incumbents. Tabaczynski served in the Legislature for several terms before running for County Council. He did not accomplish much then, and Lawson has not accomplished much since. The only advantage one can give Tabaczynski is that he did come up with a good 2 percent tax cap plan that held the cities’ and towns’ feet to the fire.  But that is it for him for almost 20 years of "public" service, which still beats Lawson.  The problem is if he gets elected he is going to another Chester Dobis, a NWI statue forever in the State Capital.

Everyone go out to vote and let’s improve the turnout record from two years ago and not embarrass ourselves.

Finally, in this election, voters stand up for once for NWI first and always vote against the incumbent, except for the couple of races mentioned above.

Former Mayor Dedelow Could be NWI Solution

The Indianapolis media has turned to calling Lake County the “wild county” of Indiana. That is not showing a lack of respect, but rather a reflection of the reality of politics and economic development in Northwest Indiana.

First, we have the mayor of the largest city, Gary, resign, claiming poverty. In reality, the whole plan was hatched in Indianapolis under the watchful eye of Dan Parker, the head of the Indiana Democratic Party, and attended by Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr.

The central concern of the Democratic Party is the threat to U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky’s seat — when he retires — and to the standing of Hammond’s Democratic mayor.

In addition, the party leadership is aware there are a number of additional federal indictments coming down that can only hurt the Lake County Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party’s own internal polling shows that when Visclosky retires, it will be much more difficult to keep the seat in the Democratic column. This is the result of changes in demographics in the 1st District.

When Visclosky was first elected, the district was exclusively Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. Now, the district extends south of Lake County and east into Porter County — areas that are less blue collar and more conservative than the previous district.

In addition, the district is more diverse politically, racially, ethnically and financially — not good signs for a Democrat. Visclosky has won because of his longevity and constituent service, not policies.

The Democrats need someone to run who can win Gary and Porter County; in their eyes, that can only be Scott King, who straddles both worlds. The only problem is, he is no longer a Democrat.

In exchange for a chance to be Gary mayor, Rudy Clay will anoint King a Democrat to run again. Frankly, seeing who is up for mayor now, many people in Gary already miss King, saying he was the best mayor they have had for 40 years.

King needs money to run again. To that end, the cooperation of the mayors of Gary and Hammond was needed. The first and primary benefit for King will come from the Regional Development Authority — the local public works project for NWI politicians and their friends.

The new Gary mayor will cooperate because, thanks to King and Parker, he is mayor. But how can the party get McDermott’s cooperation?

McDermott’s vulnerability is his re-election as mayor. For a variety of reasons, McDermott has made many Hammond residents — including many Democrats — very angry with him and they are willing to look at alternatives. In addition, like his father, he has made many starts on projects, but has completed none.

The Democratic Party’s polls show that McDermott is vulnerable and he is particularly vulnerable to a well-run campaign by former Republican Mayor Duane Dedelow Jr. The Democrats understand the former mayor has surrounded himself with a new, competent set of advisers and, therefore, could very well make a well-organized run against an unpopular Democrat.

McDermott and the mayor of Gary are going to inform their individual appointments on how to support King as a consultant to the RDA. That will benefit King, and McDermott will get the support of the state Democratic Party.

Isn’t it great when Gary and Hammond are looking back and thinking how good things were under the old administrations?