Northwest Indiana Comical Politics

House ethics panel investigating Visclosky with Purdue. Merriville Technology Center in Graft

I broke this story over five years ago.  That included Visclosky's theft in colusion with Purdue University and Whitco Industries.
House ethics panel investigating Visclosky.

Now everyone has to admit it is true.  Purdue and Visclosky tried to destroy me personally with attacks by the President and Vice President of Purdue against me personally and harrassing me sexually and religiously.   The President, Jischke, has retired but he should still be investigated for his role in this corruption and why he abruptly resigned from Purdue University.  The fact is as I have pointed out before, he should be in jail after being indicted by a Federal grand jury.  The Vice-President Rollock must be fired for attacking me and attempting to cover up the theft by Visclosky and JIschke.  All the evidence indicates that she was in collusion with the powers destroy me personally and professionally so that I would stop complaining about Visclosky's bogus use of Federal Tax Dollars.

Finally the truth comes out that Visclosky and Purdue's president Jiscke are tied as thieves through the Purdue Foundation.

When is the current President going to come clean on the theft by the Purdue Foundation and Visclosky through the Merriville Technology Center?  Visclosky worked for Whitco Industries with the assistance of Purdue University Foundation to steal over $7 million from the taxpayer.  This was all part of a plan to enrich the Foundation, President Jischke, and Whitco Industries, which it did.

Remember the Purdue Foundation is like the East Chicago Foundations not open to public scrutiny.   Even though Purdue is a public institution the Foundation is closed.  Just like East Chicago and they steal and enrich themselves in the same way.

Visclosky needs to be voted out of office and the Indiana State Legislature take a close look at how the Purdue Foundation has been stealing money under false pretense from the Hoosier Tax payers.

US Attorney General Investigate: Former mayor owes $120K in back property taxes

Only in NWI.  I take it back.  This is Chicago Democratic politics.  They are doing this now in Washington D.C. with Senator Dodd and Pres Obama's sweet-heart mortgage deals with Countrywide.  Let us not forget their fake assessment values for tax purposes.

Now we have the same thing with a sitting Lake County Mayor and Democratic Party Chair and his father, also a former mayor.  Isn't this the state in which the Chair of the Democratic Party went to jail recently for fraud, kickbacks, and generally being an evil rotten human being?  Yes, is the correct answer and the name is Manos.

Former mayor owes $120K in back property taxes ::  Post-Tribune.

It is amazing that McDermotts try to claim that this is an honest mistake, a misunderstanding, some lost papers, etc.  Everyone knows that it is a lie.  A bold faced fake lie.  The only reason McDermott is not in jail is because everyone is afraid of his son who has been certified by everyone who knows him and I have talked to as "certifiably crazy."  Even his personal lawyer tells people that he is.  By crazy I mean he has a tendency for violence and maiming of those opposed to him.

How can you tell the McDermott, the father, is lying?  (Not, the obvious, that he is speaking.)  McDermott says he was over-assessed at $1.6 million and that is in dispute.  Well he admits that he took out a $1.2 million mortgage originally in 2002.  Then he took out a second mortgage for $700,000.  If he put anything down on this house, which is a big if, than it is obviously worth more than the $1.6 million assessed.  It is a big if, because this is part of the sweet-heart deal from Dean White family and Whitco Industries to McDermott, Jr. and Visclosky.  Now I want to know what legitimate mortgage company gives you loans on over 100% of your houses' assessed value?  And then does not require you to pay the property taxes on their own leveraged property?  I would love to get in on this deal.  Where is the Dean White Bank when I need it?   Did he take care of Dodd and Obama?   Does he know Rizo from Chicago?  Now we all know where to do our banking.

Everyone is quite aware that there has been a felony committed here.  From everything I know Mr. Capp, the newly name US AG for Northern Indiana, is a straight-shooter who pursues political crimes irrespective of party.  Here is the perfect case.  Democrats, Republicans, new names, old names, business people, and politicians all combined to commit this fraud on the people of the State of Indiana.  Someone needs to go to jail and only the United States Attorney can make it right.  B. Carter, the Lake County attorney, is in McDermott, the son, pocket.  Even the Lake County Sheriff will not move against the father.  Look what happened when he moved against the son's supplier. 

As an added footnote, I am sure the NWI Times newspaper will pursue this story once Tom McDermott, the tax cheat, stops visiting Bill Nangle, the Times editor, weekly.  (For those of you who do not remember, it was this tax cheat McDermott, while working at the Times who broke the circulation union.)

My next entry will be how McDermott, the father, received a luxury car as a gift because of his son.  Auctioneers do a lot of business in Hammond.

Salinas: Hammond City Council is Now Banking at People's Bank in Munster

Reminiscent of the idiot E. Chicago State Representative John Aguilera when he claimed a summer home in Munster, Hammond Streets and Sanitation supervisor Al Salinas, who also happens to be a City Councilman, was seen today doing "office work" at the Munster branch of People's Bank.   One must assume that this was official Hammond business.  "Doobie" McDermott's lapdog would never do anything under the table that was not in the Hammond citizens' interest.

Since he had the snow plow truck, with the official Hammond seal, maybe Hammond was helping Munster remove snow around commercial buildings, like banks, since there are so few in Hammond.  It is good to see the Tommy McDermott is being so neighborly.  Maybe it is even possible the Salinas is contributing his time for the better good.

At 11am today, and to this individual's knowledge, still now, Al Salina is sitting in the main office of the Munster Bank, eating cookies and coffee and talking business on his cell phone.  The Hammond City truck is parked in front of the building with the engine running.

It is good to know that this is how a City that is going broke under "doobie" Mcdermott is carrying on business.  It is important to note, THERE IS A BRANCH OF PEOPLE'S BANK IN HAMMOND, ON INDIANAPOLIS BOULEVARD.

But if you were loafing and wasting the taxpayer's money, what better place than Munster.  Just like Aquilera when he claimed the house he owned in Munster was his summer home.

Al Salinas is not bright enough to do this on his own.  He cannot put two sentences together.  He would only do this if he had the protection of "doobie" McDermott.  It is too bad he is not in the fire department than he could collect overtime for his stop at the bank.

(By the way, he did not do any special banking business.  I was in there and he just made a normal transaction with the teller.)

Al Salinas is the reason Hammond is going down the toilet quickly, for its citizens.  The few like him, Salinas, and McDermott will walk away with well filled pockets, like Gary, but the rest of the citizens will curse the day the set eyes on Salinas.

Referendum Defeat Shows RDA Opposition by All NWI Citizens

Now everyone knows that the RDA was a fraud.  Everyone one the board was on there to steal the money from the citizens of NWI and turn it over to their favorite consultant or other Democratic operative, i.e. politicians.  There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that the RDA has done or will do that will have ANY positive consequence for the economy of NWI.

Referendum defeat steels RDA opposition.

The RDA has been taking millions of dollars out of the pockets of the citizens of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago.  Let us not forget Lake County also as a whole.  In addition, it has taken millions from Porter County.  All of this has been of no value to any of the citizens, only to the thieves named to the RDA by the Lake County Democratic charlatans.

What does the citizens of Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago have to do with building a railroad to Lowell and Valparaiso?  This is taking money from those who are in need and giving it to the usual thieves of Lake County.  This is being done to the tune of $3.5 million each year, from each community.  What is the economic benefit to the citizens of those communities?  NONE!!!

It is time to remove for malfeasance, incompetency, and general ethical incompetence all the politicians and appointed officials involved with the RDA and RTA.  No one wants them and they are of no use to anyone and have not been since they were created four years ago.

It was all a political trade off with the downstate Republicans as a way for the local Democrats, i.e. Tom McDermott, Jr., to steal more money from the citizens.  It is time to end this charade by voting against all the incumbents now in office.

McDoobie Conspired to Intimidate Law Enforcement Officials

The well known out-of-control mayor of Hammond, Tom "McDoobie" McDermott Jr, has now overstepped the line by attempting to intimidate the Lake County Sheriff and law enforcement officials to protect his long time bag man and thief, David Woerpel, known as "the postman."  David Woerpel and his family are an embarrassment to the Democratic Party and decent people everywhere.  They are more so for the City of Hammond.

I have known for quite some time that the Postman and his family, with his sidekick, the former radio looser (Steve), have long degenerated politics and political activity in Hammond to name calling and the politics of personal destruction.  There sole goal, under the direction of the Mayor of Hammond, has been to destroy peoples' personal life who want to improve NWI.  This has been the consistant approach of Tom McDermott.  He learned this well from his father, the other McDermott looser.

Making phone calls to threaten people is not new for McDermott.  The only thing new is that he picked on the wrong person. Sheriff Dominguez did not have any reason to be intimidated by "doobie" McDermott, especially since this was an Indiana State Police case.  They were the one who discovered the Woerpel/McDermott stash.  It was out of the hands of Dominguez.  Further, listening to McDermott would have made him legally libel for censure and removal of his license to practice law.  By the way, going public was the only way for Dominguez to protect himself against blackmail by doobie Tom.

If one takes some time to read some of my earlier blogs, you will see that McDoobie did the same to me.  He called and left an intimidating/threatening message on my Purdue University telephone.  The Purdue police listened to it and agreed that it was a threat.  You can hear the message.  I put it out there.  I guess McDoobie thought that I was a "weasel" too.  I wonder why this did not stop McDoobie and his wife from continuing to teach at Purdue University?

In the last election for mayor of Hammond, McDoobie won by only 400+ votes.  He spent over $300,000 and his opponent spent about $3,000.  After looking at the voting results precinct by precinct, I have never believed that McDoobie won fairly; because the vote fix was in by people like the postman.  Even at that time, McDoobie should have been in jail; not running for office.

Why is he not being accused of illegal interference now?  Why is he being allowed to have a law license?  Given what he said on the message to Dominguez, why does anyone think that he is not on drugs?  If he is not on drugs, then is there any doubt that he is incompetent, truly incompetent, as a lawyer?  If he is incompetent and/or out of control as has been clearly indicated, why is he not being let out to pasture quietly?  It is sad to see that Tom Philpot has chosen to have McDoobie's support.  Philpot is much, much more competent than that.  Factually, in the brain department, McDoobie does not even hold a candle to Philpot.

 McDoobie is out of control for the message he left the Lake County Sheriff.  On top of that, he showed his willingness to use his public office as mayor to intimidate law enforcement officials from carrying out their job.  He used his public office to curry favor for his friends.  This shows a level of illegality, immorality, lack of ethics, and incompetence that should automatically, i.e. through impeachment, have McDermott removed as mayor and chair of the Lake County Democratic Party.

On second thought, maybe those are the necessary qualifications.

LaPorte County is Thanking Its Lucky Stars!!!

Now that they have fully appreciated what the NWI Regional Development Authority (RDA) is all about, the NWI County of LaPorte is counting its blessings for having said "NO!" to that useless, self-serving organization.  Citizens of LaPorte County consider themselves lucky; they dodged a bullet aimed at their heart from Governor Mitch Daniels trying to get them to join a sinking ship.

Not only where they being pressured to join a sinking ship, they would have been forced to pay for the privilege with $3.5 million, yearly, from local county income taxes.  This very blog was one of the places that forewarned them of the useless pit that the RDA had become and the destruction that would befall them if they joined. 

And what is LaPorte County's prize for not joining?  LaPorte citizens will miss out on the chance to pay for Lake County's flood control to the tune of over $6 million so that Governor Daniels can be assured of re-election.  They will not get a chance to pay for the new train station in Gary to replace the Miller and Gary stations.  They will miss out on the chance to build a bus system that will keep on coming back and back to the bank for more money just like the CTA and METRA in Chicago.  They will also miss out on paying for a train to Valparaiso from Chicago that already has a price tag of over a billion dollars and will rise to over ten billion when and if it is ever built.

Porter County is already crying the blues, as well it should be, as it passed a County option income tax to pay for their ticket-to-joint.  It has put in millions of dollars into the RDA and will put in millions more in the future with no end in sight.  It will never get anything back close to what it contributes nor what it could have done with the money if they kept it themselves.  No, now Porter County is committed to giving the money to northern Lake County and their political cronies forever.  Remember, the RDA has the power to bond, which essentially means they can put you in the poor house forever. 

What is it about the history of the failures, the crime, the corruption, etc. of northern Lake County politicians, that Porter County did not get?  The RDA is there to support Lake County and a few politician's political ambitions; nothing more and nothing less.  This has been well established by the RDA's lackluster performance over the past two years. (I know it's a shocker, but not all philosopher king's actually know anything about economic development -- can you say "destination retail?"). 

The late lawyer for East Chicago's Mayor George Pabey, Ned Ruff, and I had a number of conversations about the RDA after he was nominated to represent East Chicago on the Board (note, East Chicago was not given a serious choice about being in the RDA; a choice in the way that Porter and LaPore counties were given a choice).  So we shouldn't be surprised that Mr. Ruff believed that the RDA was the biggest waste of the northern city's money because its sole intent was to further the career of a select group of people in NWI and the current Governor.  He never believed it would be of any help to East Chicago or Gary; nor was it ever meant to.  But it was meant to get a hold of their funds. 

Ned Ruff, who was by far one of the brightest people I have ever met, used to laugh at the incompetency of the people serving on the board.  To paraphrase him, he used to say "just look at who we are?  And they gave us the authority to decide on economic development?  What anesthetic where they under when they came up with this?  Unless their plan was to shift more gaming money from Gary and East Chicago, south and east." 

LaPorte County made the right decision to stay away from these RDA charlatans, who have established their inability to aid development; but they will help their friends and acquaintances for future rewards (in this life).  LaPorte thank your lucky stars you remained independent; Porter get out as soon as you can.

Tribal Mastadons, Elected Officials, and Government Reform

Lake County Politicians and their appointed lap dogs do not have the brains G-d gave the natural born Democrats.  When the Lake County Democrats were standing in the brain hand out line they must have been distracted by Ann Coulter and forgot to get any.

Last night, October 8, there was a meeting at Indiana University Northwest of Governor Mitch Daniels Commission on Local Governement (oddly enough, most of whom are probably Democrats) about how to fix the problems of local government and the State in general.  Here are some additional details to what was mentioned in the news reports by the The Times and Post-Tribune.

1. This was a citizen's forum to address citizen's issues regarding concerns about their local and State politicians.  Essentially, how are all you elected and appointed officials screwing it up for the rest of us?  So while I can understand why locally elected officials might show-up to the event, was there any reason that you -- locally elected official -- REALLY thought you were justified in actually participating in the focus group sessions?  Not only did some public officials participate in the focus group discussions, making a mockery of unbiased citizen input, some of them even thought they should speak on behalf of their focus-group table.  After each table had discussed the mandated questions, each table then selected someone to present the major themes from their tables discussion. Some locally elected officials thought, "hey, I'll do it."  Am I the only one who views an elected official as in a different category than other citizens?  It would seem to me that an elected official already is in a position to influence government -- they serve in government.  For some of these local elected officials it was just another campaign "stump"; for the citizens, it is literally life or death. Note to those self-serving elected officials who made a mockery of an attempt to get "citizen" input -- many of you are the problem.
2. In the tradition of the Hammond Scrooge and his appointed minions, after attacking the health departments, the major target is now the public libraries.  The joke is that the public libraries are now the most vulnerable; but "streamlining" the public libraries will provide little, if any, savings and will harm the citizens of the cities.  But what does Scrooge and his hangers-on care as long as they get their cut.  Oh, that's right, they do not care!!!  The only facilities that have a constant impact on the citizens and especially ones at the bottom of the economic ladder are the health departments and the public libraries.  Rather than cut their friends, associates, and other ways of passing the largess around to the their fellow tribe members, the best our elected officials can do is to go after the programs most beneficial to the little people -- such as public libraries.  What a disgrace.  There has never been a doubt that the turncoat Scrooge McDermott would do this, but how is one to explain the other "Democrats" following in his low footsteps.
3. The main problem with Lake County's local governmental units is the corruption by all the elected and appointed officials accompanied by their many, many friends (personal, professional, and business) that all somehow end up feeding at the public trough.  Most are corrupt; the rest go along to get along (see my previous blog).  There are no exceptions and the distinction between those who do and those who go along is meaningless when it comes to the consequences to the citizens of NWI, especially Lake County.  Naturally most of the elected officials in the group and I am sure the Democratic Commission appointed by Governor Daniels will not report this publicly; but everyone in Indiana knows that this is the major problem of Lake County and its three major cities (Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago).
4. Finally, a point the panel will not report to the Governor and the Legislature about where their money is going is a recommendation to get higher education dollars under control.  The panel was informed that at least one focus group table indicated that how funds are appropriated for all state funded universities needs to be reassessed and that there needs to be greater accountability for how state funded universities spend all of its money.  The university system in Indiana yearly spends billions upon billions of dollars, much of it tax dollars raised from citizens, as well as fundraising contributions that go to "foundations" with absolutely no accountability of any kind as to performance or even what they do with the money.  In many ways they are worse than the foundations of East Chicago, but no one dare look under their sheets to see what they are doing with the money.  In fact, in spite of billions spent, the university system has done little to stop the youth drain, the brain drain, and the job drain from Indiana.

These are the real issues that need to be addressed.  I can assure you, fellow citizens of NWI, that none of them will make it into the final report.  And, of course, the "final" report is not being made public (which I am not sure is legal since no one involved -- including Indiana University -- is exempt from public access laws).  The fact is that the major problem with NWI and specifically Lake County is tribal politics.  Until the corrupting influence of the tribal politics is ended, it will not matter if you have one governmental unit run by a thieving head of the tribe or many governmental units run by many thieving tribal heads.  The consequence to us, citizens, is the same.  We leave or get screwed!!!

The Death of NWI Economic Development

During the past week or so there were four seemingly unrelated stories about Lake County and its politicians.  Although at first blush they seem to stand on their own, in reality, the stories in the local media truly represent the tribalism of Lake County Democratic Party politics at its finest.  This political tribalism in Lake County translates into the death knell for any and all economic development in the County for the foreseeable future.

My previous blog talked about how Hammond Scrooge and his side kick were back in town under their disguise as Democrats when they are truly just refined charlatans.  Remember, in Lake County, the only measure that matters is loyalty; substance or competence is irrelevant.  As a consequence, the only saving grace for NWI economically is the greater stupidity of Cook County's leadership under another child, Stroger, Jr.  His plan to raise the Cook County tax to being the highest in the Nation will result in greater retail activity in NWI.

This will help some economic activity in NWI, although it will not lead to actual economic development.  Remember this has nothing to do with Lake County elected officials; it is a pure gift that they did not plan on.  The dimwits we call public officials in NWI will believe that somehow this is economic development when in reality anyone knowledgeable about the subject knows that retail establishments are never economic development.  In fact, they are usually, by themselves, economic un-development, i.e. more local money goes out than comes in.

The following column by Mr. Mark Kiesling is really the true nature of NWI and in particular Lake County politics, musical chairs, inc.:  Lake_County_musical_chair_game.mht  In the middle of a major property tax fiasco, no economic development in over a decade, net growth of new companies in NWI in ten years is equal to zero, highest unemployment in the State, lowest educational attainment in the State, brain and youth drain of the population (NWI is getting older and dumber), our politicians are dividing the spoils among the Democratic Party members. 

THIS BY ITSELF SHOULD LEAD EVERYONE IN LAKE COUNTY, ON PRINCIPLE, NOT TO VOTE FOR ANYONE ON THE LOCAL DEMOCRATIC TICKET.  VOTE FOR INDEPENDENT, REPUBLICAN OR NO CANDIDATE RATHER THAN THE LOSERS CALLED DEMOCRATS IN LAKE COUNTY.

I would say the voters could make a change but that would cause too much laughter.

The political criminals continue on in Lake County.  Smith, Powell, and Harris have been found guilty,  Smith_Powell_Harris_guilty.mht  New indictments have been filed against Lake County politicians and The Times (Fight_against_corruption_continues.mht) calls for more fighting against corruption while most of the time it is supportive of the very crooks and their appointees who engage in unethical behavior -- until, of course the crooks are caught.    If The Times really meant what its editorial said, they would call for an increased Federal presence or even a special Federal task force for NWI corruption.  There has been so much corruption in northern Lake County that there are not enough resources in the Federal Government placed in NWI to fight it.  One needs to double the number of federal attorneys and to triple the number of FBI agents and then we would make a real effective dent in the corruption in this area.  In addition, The Times would encourage the Feds to actively pursue their major targets with more intensity: Rudy Clay and the McDermotts (plural) including their appointed supporters.  In the meantime, through the politico's tribal leadership in The Times, we will only succeed in making ourselves feel better.

For those of you in south Lake County who think you have gotten out of this quagmire because you moved south, think again.  These leeches and parasites are tribalists -- where one goes they all have their fingers and tentacles in just like an octopus.  They have cleaned out Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond and they are quickly moving south.  Look at Munster just last week: Schools_fear_reputed_gangsters_funeral.mht.  Munster is now having gang murders, closing of schools because of gang violence, and the same effort at quick money that is supported in the northern cities by the politicians in power (as long as they get theirs).  No one in south Lake County will be able to build walls high enough or get large enough police departments to stop what the the tribal politicians in the northern cities and in Lake County Government will not.  South Lake County beware -- I cannot imagine the "push" to tax all of Lake County through a county income tax -- in order to fund the bloated and corrupt government and budgets of North Lake County -- is dead. 

The King is Dead; Long Live the King

This weekend there were many NWI celebrations by local politicians, public servants, and “community” leaders at the South Bend swearing in of the newest Federal Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen. With this swearing in, he has now moved from U. S. Attorney, representing the prosecutorial power of the Federal Government against public corruption, to a Federal Judge as part of the U. S. Judiciary. The celebrations and their noise level increased in direct proportion to how close the public officials were to northern Lake County.

Sadly one can say that most Democratic politicians in Lake County were ecstatic, especially the further north their area of dictatorship is in Lake County. Let us all be honest, the Democratic rulers of the Cities of Gary, Hammond, East Chicago, are doing somersaults and breathing a sigh of relief, if they have so far escaped being indicted. Further, the people sitting in Lake County Government Complex, who have not been indicted, are also greatly relieved. They all feel that they have just dodged a bullet. Let us not forget their many “sucker-uppers” that tag along for the benefit of money and glory. Some are lawyers, business people, or educators, but their goal is the same to suck the life out of NWI in favor of their financial or electoral betterment.

I suspect that even the indicted people like Mayor McDermott’s fixer Robert Cantrell and Lake County Councilman Will Smith are partly relieved to face trial without a permanent U. S. Attorney.

Judgeship is a well deserved reward and advancement for Mr. Van Bokkelen. The only effective elected or appointed individual during the past decade in NWI, period, at least the only one who knew what he was doing and made a difference. He always made unquestinably clear that he, i.e. the legal system, could not solve the whole NWI public corruption problem if the people did not act. He was right; but, sadly not a single change has occured in NWI. The "Tribalism" of NWI politics continues as usual.

There are uniquely many criminals in the public arena in Lake County. It is one of the few commodities that we suffer from an over abundance. From my study of this ongoing problem, I estimate that there are a little over 43.5 criminals in action in public service in NWI for every indictment returned (i.e. indictments not convictions). That would leave over a thousand criminal actors that in theory could be indicted and are continuing to do the public's business. They have not been indicted because they have not been discovered or they are known, but there is not enough evidence.

Now to be perfectly clear this is not any kind of criticism of Mr. David Capp. He is a very capable attorney, a very, very dedicated and honest Assistant U. S. Attorney, and now an acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Indiana (for the third time now). However, the reality is that in an “acting" status one of the difficulties that he, or any one in his position would have, is getting attention for more resources and focusing those resources at the crime of defrauding the public trust. Another difficulty is the temporary nature of the appointment. It makes it hard to start new long-term investigations when things may change in six months or less.

This sadly makes the Lake County Democratic Party and its army of patronage employees very, very happy. They are truly singing, “Happy Days are Here Again.” The problem is that until abuse of public trust is ended in Lake County governmental units, business development will never occur here. This is the major reason new business, not retail businesses, will not come to Lake County. Munster is the exception that proves the point. The fact is that according to the most recent figures there have been no additional new busnisses growth over the past ten years in NWI.

As the exodus shown by the latest U. S. Census Bureau population figures makes clear, you can kiss Gary, Hammond, and East Chicago goodbye. The people who used to live there are on their way out of twon. Except for corrupt government and public officials, there is nothing those cities produce. The remaining hope is Indiana’s State Attorney Steve Carter and the jury is still out on him. He now can be the sole leader in bringing integrity to public service in NWI, without the usual criticism that he was just following in Van Bokkelen’s shadow.

The king Van Bokkelen will no longer be with us to save the northern cities by throwing fear into public officials and their friends every time he would hold a press conference. From now on, it is business as usual under Lake County Democrats and we will all be poorer for it.

RDA the on going NWI Scam

As this author predicted almost two years ago, the Regional Development Authority (RDA) has now established itself as being a monetary and developmental fraud perpetrated on NWI citizens.  This writer alone, (standing against massive criticism from the Governor, local politicians --including mayors and legislators-- and their hired "consultant" guns), predicted that there neither was any unaddressed need for the RDA nor was there any economic development benefits to be gained from it.  As a matter of fact, this author predicted that the RDA would take money away from the current cities and in the end cost all of NW a lot of money billed to the tax payers, which we will all regret.

After all the laughter and joking made at the expense of this writer, the "chickens are now coming to roost" and everything predicted has come to fruition.  The local politicians like Mayors Pabey and McDermott should be so embarrassed at their obvious incompetence as political leaders, they should all be checking into rehab.

Public transportation as envisioned by the RDA is dead and always has been in the United States.  As reported in Sunday's Chicago Tribune Newspaper, in Chicago and Cook County the ridership of the Metropolitan Transit Authority is at its highest point ever and the fares are at the highest ever projected, even after their huge increase in 2002.  Nonetheless, the MTA now must ask (demand) for $400 million dollars a year from the Illinois taxpayers for operations, on top of the $10 billion they are requesting for capital improvements.  This does not include an immediate infusion of $250 million because of current year short fall.

In other words, public transportation cannot pay for itself and never has.  The big lie was that it ever could in NWI.  Even if it is built, whether as a train, bus, or airport and people do utilize it (a big if), it will continue costing the citizens of Lake and Porter Counties hundreds of millions upon millions of dollars each year into infinity for daily operating costs.  This has been the experience with public transportation everywhere showing that the RDA, the Governor, and the local mayors have been lying through their teeth to the citizens of NWI.

It has now come out in the local papers that the incompetence of the RDA has exceeded all bounds.  Not only did they hire as consultants friends of the members of the board of the RDA (the least qualified of the three competing companies); those consultants have had the brilliant idea of raising millions of dollars for the infrastructure costs of the RDA's plans through the imposition of new income and sales taxes on the citizens of Lake County and Porter County.  Why was the archaic press missing in action when the RDA so obviously hired their friends? 

The story showing the gall of the RDA and their consultants can be found at this link:  Report: RDA will need local tax to fund projects

Included with this story you will also find on the right hand side a list of names that represent those who will pick your carcass like vultures until there is nothing left to pick from the citizens of Lake and Porter Counties.  How lucky and smart was LaPorte County to listen to this writer and to their own intelligence and NOT join the RDA?  If the citizens there continue to be smart, they will vote all the politicians who supported joining the RDA out of office.  They should be voted out because they have shown they are incapable of making the proper policy judgments when it comes to economic development.  They were completely wrong, and "out in left field."  They are like the politicians of Lake and Porter Counties, captains of the "Titanic".  They are so sure of themselves and so full of their certainty, while sinking the counties into a "watery" grave.   They truly represent ignorance in economic development where ignorance means that they don't even know that they don't know.

Sadly, this commentator is again shown to be correct.  The captains of the "Titanic" known as Lake and Porter Counties are listed on the right side of the story.  Every voter in every municipality should take note of these "captains" and remove them from office with their overstuffed unelected cronies.

The problem with NWI is that incompetence and ignorance has been the standard by which people have been promoted and elected.  This has ensured that mayors, legislators, council members, etc. never get embarrassed by those who truly know something.  It also insures that the thievery can continued, unchecked, by their friends and family.  This by the way has been shown to be the case in many situations by the new "good government report."  So many family members employed, so many consultants giving advise, and so many lawyers paid by taxpayers to argue with each other.

By the way, why isn't the archaic press pursuing the visit by a local mayor to testify in front of a grand jury about four weeks ago?  The local press must be too interested in the success of some local project that it is protecting.  Why is this never reported when they know it is happening?  That is the same reason they have never called the RDA to task.  Who are the archaic press protecting?

Hey Lake and Porter County citizens now who is laughing?  Knock the smile off the face of the mayors by voting them out of office in both counties.  If you don't, you will get what you deserve.  Just hope they leave some rusy nails behind.