Monday Morning Wrap-Up

January 10, 2011 Leave a comment

Sorry folks, we’re back! We had a few busy days and didn’t have time to blog.  Now we’re back to our regularly scheduled blogging.  What happened while we were otherwise engaged?

  • The FOP voted to keep paying for Bisard’s legal defense.  We think it is a mistake and were pretty disappointed. We heard the crowd was convinced that the FOP bylaws did not give them an option to deny funding the defense.  But, as FOP President Bill Owensby said, “If that’s what we want to spend our money on, that’s what we want to spend our money on.” In other words, it’s their union and they’ll do what they want.
  • Jose Evans dropped his bid for Mayor and endorsed Melina Kennedy.  Ron Gibson is still in the race.   Does he plan to stick around the race?  We’re not sure but it will be interesting to watch it play out.
  • Mary Milz did a piece on Robert Vane, former Communications Director for Mayor Ballard, and a contract he received to do some communications work for the CIB.  First, Milz’s article started saying, “Some people are raising questions about the Capital Improvement Board’s latest hire.”  By some people, we think she must mean the Marion County Democrat Party.  Vane’s contract with the CIB is in no way a violation of the City ethics policies which, by the way, Mayor Ballard has strengthened. 

Filed under 2011, Democratic Party, FOP, Melina Kennedy, Politics

FOP Votes Tonight to Rescind Vote to Provide Bisard Legal Defense

January 6, 2011 16 Comments

Last month, you may remember that the FOP voted to pay for the legal defense of IMPD Officer David Bisard.  Tonight, the FOP will hold a meeting and a vote to rescind the earlier vote that approved providing the legal defense for Bisard.

We’re hearing that many members of the FOP were outraged by the vote to provide Bisard legal defense particularly since the accusations against Bisard are incredibly embarrassing for the rank and file officers. In addition to that, there is a lot of chatter that many members have asked for legal defense and been shut down completely on much more low profile and less embarrassing cases.

The FOP sent the notice to its members saying,

The FOP Regular Business Meeting will be January 6th at 1800 hours. This email will serve as notice that a member has requested that the membership be notified that a motion will be made regarding a recent legal request that had passed in a previous meeting. The motion will deal with rescinding the original motion. According to Robert’s Rules of Order, if previous notice is given regarding a Motion to Rescind, then a simple majority vote is all that is necessary. If previous notice is not given then the motion requires 2/3 vote to overturn. Therefore, because of this notice, the motion will require a SIMPLE MAJORITY to pass/fail. I have heard from many of you regarding the legal requests that were voted on in the December meeting. This is your notice that there will be a motion, discussion, and vote on a member’s request for legal assistance.

It is pretty clear the FOP leadership knows it is in their best interest to fix this and fix it fast.  Hopefully, the rank and file agrees.

Filed under FOP, IMPD

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