Muni Elections Sure to Get Nasty This Season

We're just a little over a month away from the Municipal Election Primaries, and voters are just now waking up and taking a look at the races for Indianapolis Mayor and City-County Council. It could get quite interesting.

On the Democratic side, you have incumbent Joe Hogsett. He's got a gaggle of opponents which includes longshots like community activist Larry Vaughn and perennial candidate Bob Kern among others. Also opposing him is State Representative Robin Shackleford. Shackleford, a veteran lawmaker, is making the rounds touting her legislative experience as her inside route to success on the 25th floor of the City-County Building. Hogsett is out talking about his efforts to rein in crime and the city's crumbling infrastructure which, let's face it, had been largely neglected for years under previous administrations, R and D.

Over on the GOP's side of the aisle there are also a handful of candidates, but it appears that the two leading candidates have different backgrounds. One one hand, you have the sometimes controversial and never-quiet attorney and radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz pitted up against the quiet but extraordinarily wealthy businessman and former City-County Councillor Jefferson Shreve. Shreve has already spent a chunk of change on cable and over-the-air TV ads which specifically go after Mayor Hogsett's record. Shreve has experience on the Council, but he was largely an anonymous backbencher in the GOP caucus. 

This General Election season will be a huge referendum on Democratic Party rule of Indianapolis. The Dems have a huge majority on the City-County Council and sit in the Mayor's Office, so it's easy to pit every ill that the city has experienced, rightly or wrongly, on the Dems. Hogsett is trying to turn back the "third term jinx" which has befallen incumbents like Steve Goldsmith and Bart Peterson. Greg Ballard flirted with running for a third term, but he ultimately declined. The only successful post-Unigov third termer was Bill Hudnut.

After redistricting and the way population has changed in Marion County, the Dems are probably going to lose a few seats on the City-County Council. It was just nearly impossible to draw 20 safe Democratic seats. 

I expect this race for Mayor to get nasty and VERY expensive over the next few months. It's something we haven't seen in years.

City-County Councillor to Transition to Decatur Township Trustee Post

Jason Holliday
Official Photo

The Indy Democrat Blog has learned that District 20 City-County Councillor Jason Holliday will become the Decatur Township Trustee sometime in mid-August. Holliday will be replacing the retiring Steve Rink, who is battling an illness. 

Holliday was selected by Decatur Township Republican Precinct Committeepersons.

Holliday is no stranger to township government. His father, Cash, was the Decatur Township Constable, and Holliday once served as the Decatur Township Assessor before that office was dissolved by state statute. Holliday was elected to the Council in 2011 defeating Doug White. He's the longest-serving current Republican on the body. In 2015, he clobbered some guy named Jon Easter to win reelection. In 2019, he was reelected over Coach Phil Webster, but he's seen his winning margin drop with each succeeding race as Marion County turns more blue and Decatur and Perry Townships turn more purple.

Steve Rink
Official Photo

As Holliday makes his transition to the trustee's office, it marks the end of a long career in public service for Rink. He was elected Decatur Township Trustee in 1990 and has been reelected seven times. Over that time, he's seen the Decatur Township Fire Department grow from a volunteer outfit to a merit department. Decatur Township has grown too from a virtual Marion County outpost to a growing community. 

Rink been one of the strongest defenders of the township government structure. He is the longest-serving current township trustee in Marion County.

The change in office also will trigger another caucus on the City-County Council front, the second of 2020. Republicans from Perry and Decatur Township will now have to gather again to replace Holliday in his District 20 Council seat. A few weeks back, Democrats in District 12 selected Jason Larrison to replace new State Representative Blake Johnson.

On a personal note, I'd like to wish Trustee Rink well as he transitions to retirement. Please keep him in your thoughts.

Larrison Wins Spot on Council

Jason Larrison
Photo: Jason Larrison for Council Facebook

City-County Council candidate Jason Larrison described himself as a "failed" blogger and comedian to the Indy Star's Amelia Pak-Harvey in an apology for inflammatory old blog posts.

Now, he can describe himself as City-County Councillor.

By a social-media-reported margin of one vote, Larrison has been elected to the City-County Council in a caucus of 23 party precinct officials over Karla Lopez-Owens and Francine Lee.

Larrison will now serve out the unexpired term of Blake Johnson. The next Council election will be 2023 (barring some change at the state level to move municipal elections to an even year).

Larrison had been backed by Mayor Joe Hogsett and his inner circle who spent a lot of political capital in defending Larrison. City-County Councillors and community members raised concerns about Larrison's fitness for office after the controversial blog posts resurfaced.

Those opposed to Larrison's candidacy rallied around Karla Lopez-Owens, a Mexican native, naturalized citizen and immigrant activist. The 12th District on the Council has the city's highest Latinx/Hispanic population of any Council district. Lopez-Owens would have been the only Latina on the Council had she won the caucus.

How we proceed from here will certainly be interesting to watch. There are people who are straight up mad about this, and it remains to be seen if that anger subsides. Twelve sitting Councillors had sent Hogsett a letter endorsing Lopez-Owens and asking for Larrison to leave the race. The Mayor needs to certainly smooth things over with them, if he can.

My feeling is that this will not go away for Larrison, and his margin for error on the Council will be extremely small. The Mayor also is in the middle of a dire time. He's receiving renewed pressure from those on the right and the last thing he needs is a fight from the left. He's brought this one on himself.

Never a dull moment in Indy!

District 12 Race May Be Inflicting Damage to Hogsett's Relationships with Council

Joe Hogsett
Photo: indy.gov

One of the rules of being a political leader is knowing when to punt.

Joe Hogsett is holding on to the ball on 4th and 15, and a near majority of the City-County Council is chasing after him.

Twelve members the Council Democratic Caucus sent Hogsett, his senior staff and candidate Jason Larrison a letter expressing support for Karla Lopez-Owens and asking Larrison to leave the race. Larrison, Lopez-Owens and Francine Lee are locked in a tight caucus battle to replace Blake Johnson on the Council in District 12.

Hogsett has backed Larrison and continues to back him despite Indy Star reporting from Amelia Pak-Harvey detailing blog posts Larrison penned several years ago. Blog posts that could conservatively be described as anti-immigrant, misogynistic and homophobic. Unbelievably, the blog still is live. You can read it here. Larrison apologized in the Pak-Harvey article calling his posts, "unacceptable."

So, if they were unacceptable, why is Hogsett continuing to back Larrison's candidacy? Why did he issue a defense in the Pak-Harvey article. I get that people change and that we aren't the people we were 10-15-20 years ago, but these posts were, in my opinion, so inflammatory that they would affect Larrison's ability to be a successful Councillor. It's also clear that the entire situation has the potential, whatever the outcome, to drive a wedge between the Mayor and his Council caucus as well as other community leaders. Why not just urge Larrison to step aside and allow Lopez-Owens or Lee to represent the district in the Council? If Larrison refused to step aside, at least the best thing politically for Hogsett would be to distance yourself from him more strongly.

The damage may already be done, though. I don't get it. I wonder what advice the Mayor is getting these days.

Larrison's Past Blog Posts Provide District 12 Caucus Eve Surprise

When Blake Johnson was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Dan Forestal, who resigned from his District 100 post in the Indiana House, it set off a race to replace him on the City-County Council

Many community leaders and several City-County Councillors have come out in support of Karla Lopez-Owens to replace Johnson. Mayor Joe Hogsett has backed former employee Jason Larrison for the spot. So, as you might imagine, the caucus has taken a turn and has become a bit of a proxy battle between the Council and the Mayor. Francine Lee, who has supporters of her own, is also in the race to become a Councillor as well.

Well, this race took a turn this evening. Call it a "Caucus Eve Surprise" if you will.

Tonight, the Indianapolis Star published an article by Amelia Pak-Harvey detailing blog posts written in 2006 and 2007 where Larrison had made insensitive remarks about undocumented immigrants, women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

For his part, Larrison apologized without any confusion. After explaining to the Pak-Harvey that he was unsuccessfully attempting to be a blogger and a comedian at the time he penned the posts, he said, "I made bad jokes that were completely unacceptable and I am not the sort of person to make excuses when I screw up."

That's a definitive apology, and I credit him for taking responsibility. He didn't go the wishy washy way of saying that he was apologizing if he offended someone. He said he was clearly wrong. 

The apology, though, in my opinion is not enough. The posts were unacceptable, as he stated, and they were disqualifying. Larrison should drop out of this race before the caucus on Tuesday. I believe that no matter his contrition, the posts were written and that will damage his ability to effectively serve his constituents. District 12 has, according to the Star, the highest percentage of Hispanic and Latinx individuals in our city.

That's not all, though. I'm also disappointed in Mayor Hogsett, who, according to the Star piece, condemned Larrison's past posts but continues to support his candidacy. I think that's incredibly unfortunate, and it has the potential to strain the relationships between the Mayor and the Latinx community in Indianapolis.

I agree with the Councillors and community leaders backing Karla Lopez-Owens. She should be given the opportunity to lead the 12th District on the Council. She appears qualified and ready to lead the district forward.

UPDATE: After having read some of the posts in question (found them on a Facebook post of a friend), I think Joe Hogsett needs to answer as to why he is continuing to support Larrison's campaign at all. The posts are definitely disqualifying.

Merritt, Indy GOP All Hat and No Cattle on Potholes and Tort Claims

We are one month away from the Primary Election, and we still have no idea what Jim Merritt wants to do if he's elected Mayor of Indianapolis.

He certainly can hold a press conference. We know that! So far, he's held several on potholes and tort claims, but, when pressed for solutions, he comes up empty. Most embarrassingly, the media asked Merritt if he would change the tort claim procedures for Indianapolis (which are largely dictated by state law and not city ordinance), and Merritt became the guy that couldn't find his wallet when it came time to pay the check.

Don't bother to look online for his ideas, either. His website provides no more guidance beyond a promise to roll out his policies during the campaign. Inspiring.

Here's the truth. Jim Merritt, as a state Senator, has been a member of a Indiana General Assembly that has Kathy Bates-in-Misery-style hobbled local governments. Time after time, they've pushed the funding of city governments back to the cities and towns and then cut off the ability for those entities to raise funds. Constitutional tax caps slapped a big governor on the engine of city and local governments.

Years of mismanagement of Republican City-County Councils and Mayors of Indianapolis has also placed us in this situation. Roads were not updated and repaired, and, when they were, they were done so in such a shoddy fashion that many of the improvements have simply fallen apart. Can Joe Hogsett do more? Sure! He has to have the ability to do so, though. In the current funding structure, it's just not feasible.

Indiana has run up is surplus on the backs of local governments, cities, and schools. Jim Merritt won't tell you that at his next press conference. He'll tell you that the General Assembly threw some chump change at the problem when in reality it's going to take a concerted effort and much more political capital to truly fix our problems.

Are the attacks on Joe Hogsett fair? I don't think so unless you're going to do something different than what he's done. Indy's Department of Public Works is doing what it can, and I think Hogsett is, too.

Merritt is all hat and no cattle at this point. His party likes to throw up memes on social media and tag Hogsett as "Pothole Joe", but they ignore their role in getting us here. As for Merritt, he wants your vote without any plan to fix anything in this city, so I've got a nickname for Jim Merritt since he has no plan: "Meritless Merritt".

I think it fits.