A few interesting facts- Young, Stutzman and of course Pence.

In 2012, Young, a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, claimed a house in Bloomington was his primary residence and deducted more than $200,000 from his property taxes – saving himself almost $5,000. Turns out, Young was renting the property, not living in it, according to documents obtained by CNN.

Todd Young supported like Mike Pence’s RFRA law.

Todd Young voted for a government shutdown.

Young called Social Security a ‘Ponzi Scheme’ and both Congressmen voting against protecting the Social Security program during the 2013 government shutdown.

Young would repeal parts of the Affordable  Care Act - the part he would repeal is "Affordable."

Oh one more thing – did Todd forget he needed signatures to get on the ballot.The correct amount, but does it matter in this state?

Now lets look at Marlin Stutzman who also voted to shut down the government.

Stutzman supports Mike Pence’s RFRA law.

Stutzman claimed to protect Social Security benefits but then turn around and voted for massive cuts. 

Stutzman would repeal all of the Affordable  Care Act. So who is going to take care of the sick and those who need medical help? More homeless to come as they go run out of money paying medical bills. Who cares about people, not Marlin. 

Of course we could add Mike Pence to this list of outlandish things but we are trying to keep this short and it would take pages and pages to list all the dumb things from Indiana’s talking head.

Dirty Politics in Hamilton County

It once again points out the behavior of the the elected officials of this one sided county. When you have all the elected people in one party you get this kind of lack of representation of the people but the special interest groups. As Councilman McKinney writes in this letter he is calling for an investigation into "pay for play politics plaguing Hamilton County." I can only hope the County Sheriff does do an investigation into both the sign removal and pay to play. While I would rather see the State Troopers or the FBI do the investigation.  If it turns out that Jeff Hern did remove the sign, he should also resign from his position as Fall Creek Trustee.

  The following is from the Hamilton County Reporter issue Sunday April 17, 2016.

"Theft of campaign signs is unacceptable

Over the past several days, many of my campaign signs

worth nearly $1000 have gone missing.

After confirming with the city of Fishers that the signs

were properly placed, I called the Hamilton County

Sheriff’s office to report the thefts. Investigation led to the

discovery of a cell phone on the ground where one sign was

taken. This cell phone is allegedly owned by Jeff Hern of

Fishers, one of my opponents in the upcoming County

Council primary. The phone is now evidence in the

Sheriff’s criminal investigation.

In all my years in politics, I have never witnessed such

behavior. This type of dirty trick is unacceptable and a

criminal charge in the state of Indiana. I hope whoever is

found responsible for these thefts will apologize and make

restitution. Additionally, I hope all current and aspiring

elected officials will reject these tactics and the candidates

who use them. Our citizens deserve better representatives

who believe in fair play.

I have full confidence that law enforcement will inves-

tigate not only this incident, but also the broader corruption

and pay for play politics plaguing Hamilton County. A

message needs to be sent that this type of behavior will not

be tolerated. The citizens of Hamilton County can rest

assured that if they reelect me this May, I will continue to

be a voice for integrity, transparency and financial inde-

pendence. I will always represent their interests with sound

fiscal principles and high moral standards.

Rick McKinney

Hamilton County Councilman at large

www.rickmckinney.com"

Pay to Play by Mark Herbrandt - A new chapter

What would happen if anyone running for office or elected to office could not bid or hold any government contract or any company they work for?

In Hamilton County a number of elected officials running for office would no longer be running for office.  A case in point is the recent newspaper article* about Mark Heirbrandt who works for Ameresco and that company was bidding for a Joseph County contact. Of course the e-mail asking about the status of the contract and about political contributions to the person making the contract had nothing to do with one another.  The two nothing to do with one another were in the same paragraph. But remember they had nothing to do with one another. Want to buy a bridge in Brooklyn?

The article pointed out a favorite quote of the elected Republican officials of Ham Country – doesn’t Ham equal pork another political term. “Pay to Play.” In other words you have to bribe the elected for favors such as contracts. But since it is against the law to bride someone they contribute to your campaign funds.

What would happen if any political contribution made to a candidate and if elected they can no longer vote on any contact from that contributor for the term they are in that office? Watch the contributions drop like a lead balloon.  Now of course the concern would how to funnel the money through individuals to avoid this, but I would extend to employees about $250.00. For example once I noticed a $5000 contribution to the Political Action Committee working to get the elected office holders re-elected from Fishers. This contribution was from an individual not even living near Fishers, so a little digging and I found he was on the Board of Directors of a construction company that builds sewer plants and was bidding on a Fishers sewer contract.  Smells to me.  How about you?

One of the current County Commissioner who I picked at random and had a the following contribution listings first on his list a law firm, second an engineering company and last a paving contractor.

The contributions by the engineering companies would vanish, as would the law firms, all kinds of suppliers and construction companies.

How about the Firefighter Union that contributes to all sitting City Council members for re-election. Do the Firefighters expect a pay raise? Of course they don't.They just like these people.

My favorite “Pay to Play” and funnel was Pete Peterson’s Royal Tiger Pac**.  It was so apparent that it was short lived.

*ttp://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/hamilton-county/2016/04/06/emails-raise-pay-play-concerns/82717666/

and

http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/questions-raised-on-st-joseph-county-campaign-finances/38882028

**http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2014/04/is-3500-price-of-political-influence-in.html

$5,156,032.40 - Where's my Reward?

I just got a letter from the Attorney General of the State of Indiana:

 April 6, 2016
"RE: Complaint No. 11100909
Dear Joe Weingarten:
I am writing to report to you the results of our investigation of your Telephone Privacy complaint(s)
against Jerome Edmond dba USA Promotions (originally reported as “”).
After investigating your complaint(s), we filed suit against Jerome Edmond dba USA Promotions. Thecase resulted in a judgment, which provided the following:
1. Defendant is required to pay $5,156,032.40 to the State; and
2. Defendant is permanently enjoined from making calls in violation of Indiana’s Telephone
Privacy laws.
Amounts collected are used to support the Telephone Privacy program."

What I earned the state 5 million and no reward, no nothing but a e-mailed letter. Now this is my third judgement for these nasty phone calls the other two resulted in around $30,000 and one for $420,000. But this is the big fish. five million.

I should at least get a letter form the Governor - no wait not this Governor, if the next one is a new one, I hope he sends me one.