Ok, so I went 1-1 on the Republican District caucus races.
I was wrong on the 9th District where Larry Shickles was defeated by Erin Houchin but I was correct on the 8th District. Marsha Carrington held on to her position as District Chair in a vote yesterday afternoon. Her Vice-Chair, Rich Bramer, was not challenged.
Sorry I didn’t update you on these developments yesterday afternoon but hopefully you were entertained enough with early St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.
I’ve been proud to be a Hoosier all my life. So what do non-Hoosiers think about when you say Indiana? Why, basketball of course. We’ve got an awesome movie about it, Bobby Knight (I promise I won’t go there on this blog) and class basketball (which is NOT awesome and I may go there someday). I love basketball just as much as the next guy. In fact, it’s March, quite possibly the best time of year for basketball.
But this is a political blog, not a sports blog, so back to my original thoughts. There has been a lot of chatter about basketball on the blogs lately. Many folks in the blogosphere have had much to say about the Pacers, Conseco Fieldhouse and the Capital Improvement Board. You can read it for yourself here, here and here. I’ve read it all, and everyone has a motive for posting their theory of what has happened and why. More on that later.
What I really want to do is give one piece of advice to the Simon’s who, despite being a very successful family otherwise, have apparently lost money in 26 of the 28 years that they have owned the Pacers. My advice is simple and pretty straight forward. It actually saves taxpayer dollars too: Keep Your Players Out of Jail.
Shocking concept, I know. It’s a wonder that most of society can abide by all those pesky criminal laws, but somehow we manage. Look, no one wants to take their kids to see the thugs that play for you. And if an NBA basketball game can’t be a family affair, then you’ve lost a lot in ticket sales. There are many options to achieve this goal…security guards, private drivers, vetting (although let’s hope they can vet better than Obama can).
But the Simon’s either haven’t grasped this or have begun to accept it as a normal cost of business to operate this way. Matthew Tully hit the nail on the head here. Just Say No Indianapolis. Or at least, put a condition on the Simon’s request: before you start begging for a bailout, from politicians who know their own cost of business if they give you a bailout, can we get a Felony Free year? Please? It’s really a simple request, just takes a lot of that stuff folks call tough love.
You’ve met my friend, RPH. RPH is addicted to politics. I am too, but in a different sort of way. I’m all about tough love. I love the City of Indianapolis, but it needs some work, some tough love.
My main focus on this blog is what needs to be done, where we are headed in the wrong direction, and where we are doing great things. I’ll be monitoring all the policy type happenings in the Circle City and what effect they have on the taxpayers and citizens. Where we are getting it right and where we are getting it wrong.
I tilt toward the right, but I’m not beholden to any candidate. I’m hoping my observations pique your interest, you let me know what you think and topics I may have missed. In the end, I hope this endeavor furthers discussion on the true goal: good policy. Because, as I think we can all agree, Good Policy = Good Politics.
I stand corrected. Erin Houchin was just elected as the 9th District Chair.
Last night there was an interesting switch as Dennis Carmichael was no longer running as Houchin’srunning mate and switched in Don Hayes. Hayes is the Chair in Dubois County and is well-respected. This last minute change combined with the general feeling of discontent with Shickle’s leadership.
We’ll keep you updated on the 8th District which is not until later this afternoon.
For those of you interested in the goings on in the Republican Party, here is an update on the Republican State Committee elections. Wednesday was the filing deadline and there have been a few interesting developments specifically in Southern Indiana.
The first and most controversial race is found in the aptly named Bloody 9th Congressional District. Larry Shickles and Dee Dee Benkie are the current Chair and Vice-Chair. They are being challenged by Washington County Vice-Chair Erin Houchin and former Jackson County Chair Dennis Carmichael. A few reactionaries are trying to say that this challenge is retaliation by the Indianapolis establishment for Shickles’ support of Greg Zoeller. While this is an easy link to make, it is also incredibly simplistic. The Zoeller support is only the latest of Shickles’ transgressions and his enemies are not just in Indianapolis but also throughout his district.
There have been consistent whispers of discontent with Shickles’ management of the 9th District but it has always been coupled with a well-founded fear of retaliation. The real mistake by the anti-Shickles crowd was putting Erin Houchin in as his opponent. This is not a criticism of Houchin—it seems she may have been the only one willing to put her name on the dotted line. But running a female against Shickles means that you are now forcing Dee Dee Benkie run as a team with Shickles. The Committee Rules call for one male and one female to represent the district. If Houchin wins, Benkie is automatically out. If they had run a male against Shickles for Chair, they could have at least attempted to keep Benkie on the sidelines by reassuring her that the issue is specifically with Shickles and not her. That is an error in strategy that will doom this latest attempt to unseat Shickles.
The second race is in the 8th Congressional District where Randy Gentry is challenging current the 8th Congressional District Chair Marsha Carrington. This race is more likely to be the result of Carrington’s early support of Greg Zoeller in the AG convention race. The key difference here is that while Carrington certainly made some enemies in Indianapolis, they do not extend into her district. Carrington is well-liked by the county chairmen and should not have a problem holding on to her seat. And, again, the challengers showed an error in strategy by running a man against a female chair. Rich Bramer would certainly have campaigned for Carrington even if her success wasn’t tied directly to him keeping his seat. Now he is linked to her and Gentry is effectively running against both of them. This should be an easy victory for Carrington.
Also, as a side note to those who still think that these races revolve solely around support for Zoeller in the convention race, I would point to the fact that Jim Banks is running unopposed to become the 3rd District Vice-Chair. He was the campaign manager for Zoeller’s convention race and may have invoked the wrath of the pro-Costas movement more than any of those currently being challenged.
Since we are in an introductory mood around here, I thought I may as well join in on the fun.
