IS IT TRUE OCTOBER 19, 2015

1. If they want to cut spending taking away take home cars for the EPD would be a great place to start.

2. use at their discretion? If that’s the rule, then that answers my question about why is it that I always see police cars with wives and/or children in them. Taking family to work and school – grocery shopping probably, etc etc etc…. I always wonder why they have family in their car (front seat)…. Now, I know…. WHO pays for all this gas?

   • You do, noitall.

3. “IS IT TRUE that Democratic candidate for Governor John Gregg stated that that Mayor Winnecke has donated $100,000 to Governor Pence re-election campaign? ” I don’t know. Is it true? Can the CCO not confirm the accusationbefore perpetuating it? And so what? What’s with the guilt by association play? Do the LGBT community deserve protection but the religious community doesn’t? Do we want destructive law suits against Hooisier businesses who do not surrender their religious convictions to the request of homosexuals?

   This guilt by association persuades me to vote for Gail as much as voting for a moustash as governor.

   • I agree on the “What?”…surprised too by the sudden reference to LGBT things. This is settled law now, put that saw away. It feels cheap. Like trying to stir up a hornets nest for cheap, settled political points. There are plenty of issues strictly related to Evansville to drive Mayoral voters to make voting decisions based on LOCAL issues.

     • To me it is indicative of the lack of vision and politics as usual we need to break. I am very disappointed in our choices while I see better candidates in both parities on the sidelines.

       BTW I don’t know if you seen my reply to asking how my RMSF was coming along. Thanks for asking.
       I am doing much better with just some minor symptoms left.

       • I-E, I looked it up…and it is really something. Quite the thing to challenge your intestinal fortitude. My guess is that in spite of it’s having a good start, the RMSF had a tough row to hoe. Happy you are doing well. I can tell you’re doing well by what you write. Good job kid.

   • Today, the public libraries start early voting. You need to go ahead and vote for your guy and get it over with. Btw, it is a “moustache” that Gregg sports, but it is the man, not the facial hair that is running for Governor. You will vote for Pence, though.

     • LKB, your tunnel vision makes you say things that simple are not true. When have I said Winnecke was my man or that I would vote for him? I’m not. Must likely I will sit this election out like the last one as a protest over the dismal choices they give us.

       Gregg used his moustache as a tag in the last election, so I used it as a tag in my comment. You need to grow a sense of humor. But yes, I will vote for Pence. I support religious protection not economic terrorism by corporations.

       • I-E….this “economic terrorism” claim is humorous. Business community objects to things that will inhibit their business growth, and keep them from hiring the best available employee. And that makes them guilty of “economic terrorism?”
         Sounds like someone is grasping for inflammatory language because they have lost the argument.

         • I don’t buy that our best and brightest are gay. They are just people and I am sure a corporation can find qualified people despite sexual orientation. Somehow I doubt having the ability to sue a pastry shop is on the short list for qualified job seekers.

         • Whew! You changed that one. Indiana Enoch. The issue IS NOT that gay people are the best and the brightest. (You know I didn’t say that, and yet you answered as though I did. For shame Doc, shooting rabbits with an elephant gun….) Business wants the best and the brightest, even if they are gay. This issue is settled (in the law). You’re entitled to your opinion, though, I acknowledge.

         • You didn’t say best and brightest, but these economic terrorist implied that they would not be able to attract the people they need. I call bogus on that.

     • What happens to your vote if your candidate dies or gets caught in the arms of his wife’s sister or something worse like his wife’s brother – before election day? Early voting? No thanks.

4. In Sunday’s Courier & Press, a front-page article on take-home police cars. I was unaware that it was none other than Mayor Winnecke who restarted this dormant program in 2012. I am calling ‘HORSESHIT’ on one passage in that article, in which the notion of take home ‘unmarked cars’ was discussed. Since those unmarked ones can’t deter crime when viewed, then how can they be justified ? The answer from Bolin/Winnecke was that if there is an emergency, and off-duty cops have to be called in, do you want them to drive all the way Downtown, get there squad car and then go to the scene ? No, no–we want that unmarked car out in the community, fully loaded with weapons, ready to go straight to the crime scene.

   Bullshit. If you have enough cops on patrol, you don’t wake up those who are sleeping. Also, if you do wake up a sleeper, those guys all have their department-issued handguns they are REQUIRED to keep with them at all times, and they can go straight to the scene (if, in fact, this type of dispatch has ever been done). Lame !

   • I read that too and thought it was a new low. They are making it up as they go along. New excuses/rationales with each moon phase. Please ignore the fact that their ever-morphing justifications for free private transportation for certain city employees sort of discounts their previous attempts at explaining it. Everybody would probably like a free car at public expense, can’t blame ’em. You can continue to pay for it though, and will if Spenderecke is re-installed.

     • BANDANA: Your exploitation of police officers in some shallow attempt to score political points for taking home their police cars…is so disjointed, it reminds me of the same exploitation attacks made on school teachers when cynical politicians take away their “their too high!” benefits. That’s always been the Democratic Party bargain – low pay, but good benefits, for professional public servants.
       You attack police officers for taking home their police car? What the hell…
       School teachers and police officers are public servants. They are professionals, and for police officers – they leave their families to put their very lives at risk for the public everyday. Cheap political tactics like you are whining about here exploit both of them in some need to score cynical voter points.
       Talk about abandoning the bread and butter of the Democrat Party. It is disgusting.

       • Shem/Quark/Weinz/Becker/etc., etc. ,
         You are a lying little freak. I did not attack any police officer. You are truly disgusting. No more time to service you trolls today, this’ll have to hold you. Get some help.

         • What happens to your vote if your candidate dies or gets caught in the arms of his wife’s sister or something worse like his wife’s brother – before election day? Early voting? No thanks.

         • Hear, hear.

         • ….ah, ah, ah…Banda, you’re squealing cause you got stuck. Protest too much. This whole narrative against law enforcement, I keep reading from you and others, it smacks of pure “trashin’ the guy who brung ya.”

         • Shem/Quark/Weinz/Becker, et al,
           You should know about ‘the guy who brung ya’.

           Now get down there and make your customary laps around the Greyhound Station. Maybe your man Winnecke will amble down there and have some sort of personal groundbreaking, just for you. Ho ho ho.

         • BANDANA: What? You go silly and ignorant about the greyhound station again? — A sure sign you know you’ve lost credibility on the subject matter. Might as well call me names…(You’re afraid of the subject matter…that is clear.)

   • Green_light, I like the take home police cars. They often keep me from speeding or committing other crimes such pulling up campaign signs and pitching them in the ditch. Unmarked cars? I think you could sure prove some liars if we had the numbers “(if, in fact, this type of dispatch has ever been done). Lame !”; however, what good will it do proving what is already known? It is just accepted that politicians tell whatever lies will benefit their positions and few voters care.

5. It wasn’t that many months ago the Police Dept. was complaining they didn’t have enough money for oil changes and routine maintenance for their vehicles. Also when gas prices neared $4.00 per gal. they sit the cars for so many hours a day. All these extra programs are nice if you have plenty of money, but when things are tight you cut the unnecessary programs just like I have to cut out some things when the cash runs short.

   • …or, you can raise taxes and increase revenue.
     I still don’t see Riecken’s campaign denouncing the proposed 25% increase in local taxes. I can’t figure that out.

     • Don,
       The quarter of one percent (.0025) increase will need to happen. It is one of the few available resources in raising revenues to fund the expenses Winnecke has committed to. Everything else is tapped out. Property tax increases are frozen and can only rise as incomes rise. This rise is limited by the AVGQ, calculated to be 2.6 percent this year. All reserves, all available revenues, and all borrowing capacity has been tapped out.

       • Riecken could take a stance that “I will NOT raise the local tax during my term(s) as Mayor if elected. What I will do is make sure our budget is balanced by cutting unnecessary expenses.”
         (I noticed BANDANA also will not advocate that same position, in spite of being asked his opinion multiple times on multiple days. Maybe Bandana advocates that Riecken should raise taxes. Who knows?)
         OH George…..1/4 of 1% is .25%. If raised, it will go from 1% to 1.25%. That represents a 25% increase. You can say that in plain English. People get that.

         • STILL nothing on this subject from Bandana. Nothing.

6. Weinzapfel is a Republican. So are Weaver and Mosby.

   • If they are, you are, Bob.

     • There you have it. English Bob is why the Democrats are not really a Political Party in Evansville, and Winnecke is engaged in a confident, full-throated charge for a second term.
       The Democratic Party in Evansville has a side that will attack, even make highly personal attacks, and try to kill off politically any Democrat who tries to govern pragmatically and with common sense, tries to partner with the job-creating business community and govern in the middle of the road.

       • ‘… and Winnecke is engaged in a confident, full-throated charge for a second term.’ ~~ Becker/Shem/Quartz/Weinz

         There was never any doubt you like your male candidates ‘in a confident, full-throated charge…’ .

         You are, as usual, attacking a person much smarter than you are. In this case English Bob. Hang in there loser. I’d like to be able to tell you things’ll get better for you but they obviously won’t. I don’t know of too many people you haven’t made the focus of your lame trolling here. You need to get some help.

         • Too thin BANDANA. Too thin.
           Listen up,
           It’s becoming WAY TOO FREAKIN’ EASY to challenge you and your “opinion” and for you to suddenly stop addressing the subject matter, and switch to a horse that is only capable of calling people names. Hilarious. Easy.
           Banda, I noticed YOU STILL WILL NOT ANSWER
           the question on the proposal to raise the local tax 25%.

     • I know Missy personally. She would never dishonor Red by coming to the light.

7. Nice picture of Wilford Brimley impersonator John Gregg

   • I’ve always thought he was trying for that. too. He nailed it.

8. Interesting topic of leftover campaign funds. I seem to remember Evan Bayh having some $6,000,000 left in his coffers when he quit the Senate. There are, of course, rules governing their use, but who keeps tabs?

9. There is one more thing that can be done with accumulated funds in campaign coffers. One can form a new charity (501c3) and pay oneself with the proceeds. Former members of congress do this by forming a think tank that researches or advocates for a specific issue and then having the newly appointed board of directors hire them to be the executive director. Then they pay themselves a salary or consulting fees with the money they raised to run for office.

   I am not saying that former Mayor Weinzapfel has done this, but he certainly could. I seem to recall that about 4 years ago the name of his campaign fund was changed to “Weinzapfel for Indiana”. I have no idea whether that organization is active or not.

   • According to the $41,000. donation he made to John Gregg, his fund goes by the title:

     Jonathan David Weinzapfel Campaign Committee

     • The former Mayor gave $10,000+ to the Indianapolis Democratic mayoral candidate:

       http://www.ibj.com/articles/51179-hogsett-starts-election-year-with-more-than-1-million

       interesting article below, pages 7-9:

       http://howeypolitics.com/Files/HPI150910.pdf

       • Jeffery Mallamad an attorney with Barnes & Thornburg LLc in Indianapolis gave $100,000. to Hogsett. I can hardly wait to see what happens when Hogsett is elected. Geeeezzzz Jeff, you think you over did it a little?

     • Follow this link. He has $479,720 in a fund called “Weinzapfel for Indiana”. The fund spent $25,368 during the last reporting period and is still active and registered.

       http://campaignfinance.in.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CommitteeDetail.aspx?OrgID=6258

       • Very helpful website. Evidently candidates create these committees every time they run for office. If you have run for office many times, as Jonathan Weinzapfel has done, you could have any number of active committees still in existence. Here are some of the committees Weinzapfel has created:

         Weinzapfel for Congress (1999-?)

         Weinzapfel for State Representative (2002-?)

         Weinzapfel for Mayor 2004-11-?)

         Weinzapfel for Indiana-2014-?)

         Jonathan David Weinzapfel Campaign Committee (2014-?)

         In 1999, Weinzapfel for congress gave $1,000. and $8,973.79 to Weinzapfel for state representative in May and November respectively.

         In May and June of 2011 the Weinzapfel for mayor committee gave a total of $40,000. to Gregg for Indiana.

         I have no idea of just how many committees Jonathan Weinzapfel still controls, or the total amount of funds held in those committees. I also have no idea of the laws governing this subject. Do you?

         • I do not see in here:

           http://www.ingrouponline.com/documents/INDIANA.htm

           any language about how long after an office holder leaves office they have to dissolve their committee.

           I think this statute could use some serious revising. Also, can you imagine giving your money to a candidate only to find out they did not need it and they gave your money to another candidate rather than returning it to you, maybe even a candidate for whom you had an intense dislike?

   • Joe: what you are describing about the 501c makeup would not pass the smell test for anyone with any degree of morals. I would bet the team of attorneys that came up with this convoluted perversion think they are the smartest SOBs on earth.

10. WHAT HAS JONATHAN WEINZAPFEL DONE WITH HIS REMAINING CAMPAIGN MONEY?

    http://www.14news.com/story/13908030/what-will-mayor-weinzapfel-do-with-his-remaining-campaign-money?clienttype=printable

    Surely some people in the democrat party feel that Jonathan Weinzapfel should have used some of those funds to support his party’s candidate for Mayor of Evansville. Why does the local newspaper have no interest in this story?

    • If Weinzapfel puts significant money into Gail’s campaign, it will make Republicans howl about her being a “puppet” for him. In the case of the campaign money raised by our two mayoral candidates, I think less may prove to be more for Gail. The ridiculous, misinformation-laden commercials that Whiney is running are hurting him more than they are helping him. They may sway the opinions of the less informed public, but they won’t likely show up to vote, anyway. Those who do vote know what BS those commercials are!

      • Weinzapfel gave Gail Riecken $1,000. for her campaign in 2008.

        • Was that some of the money that was passed under the table to him for pushing the Fraud Center so hard?

11. I’m hearing that a group of EPD officers are becoming upset with the way that EPD Chief Billy Bolin is openly campaigning for Mayor Winnecke. They feel that Chief Bolin is sending a strong message to the community that EPD is no loner an independently and non-partisan ran law enforcement agency. They feel when a law enforcement agency is allowed to become openly politically partisan it lends itself to cause possible political backlash against individuals for opposing their political candidates?

    • Bolin is a hack, but if the Milan fiasco can’t get a police chief fired NOTHING can.

      • Bingo!! Winnecke will keep right on paying the incompetent and/or obnoxious minions he has on board now. When a vote is cast for Whiney, you get Billy, Steve, Mike, and Kelley all with the same ballot. Winnecke will never admit to being wrong about anything.

12. Evidently Chancellor Weinzapfel has not seen fit to donate any of his funds to Gail Riecken’s campaign for Evansville mayor. Weinzapfel did send John Gregg $41,000. for his bid for governor.

    One would think that Weinzapfel surly knows how difficult it is to finance a campaign:

    http://www.fec.gov/disclosure_data/mur/4419.pdf

    and would want to help the local democrat party to the extent he could.

    • Bill Clinton was in office at the time of this complaint, so it went nowhere of course. No doubt we will have more of the same if you know who gets in.

      • PAK…Clinton? What a cheap and insignificant and off-topic comment.
        So here’s one (that is accurate) to balance it I guess: No one, and I mean NO ONE, in America
        is more responsible for horrible political campaign law changes than Karl Rove.

        • Clinton, with Johnny Chung bringing bags of cash to the White House, Clinton selling the Lincoln Bedroom, Al Gore soliciting donations from nuns, and a myriad of other illegal campaign cash schemes gave us current campaign finance laws.
          What campaign laws were passed because of Karl Rove?

        • Here’s another one, Don. It’s because of Hillary Clinton we have what I’m sure is your all time favorite campaign finance SCOTUS ruling; Citizens United.

      • Borrowing money with no collateral from your banker buddies to run your campaign is still a violation of federal election laws. It makes it too tempting to repay that debt by throwing some public business the bankers way in order to wipe out the debt. I think we all know the years 2004-2012 we very cozy years between business and the city administration. Your rant about Rove is what’s not on topic.

        • There’s that word “rant” again.
          It always shows up in the responses of people who have been shown to be wrong and in error.

        • Courier&Press.com:

          [Old National moved into its current headquarters, located at 1 Main St., in 2004. It owned the 250,000-square-foot, eight-story building until 2006, when it sold the property to SunTrust Equity Funding of Atlanta for $69.4 million. After the sale, Old National then leased back the space from SunTrust. Ownership of the building has changed hands twice since then, Schoettlin said.
          According to the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s Office, the building’s current owner is ONB One Main Landlord LLC. The Indiana Secretary of State’s office lists the LLC as having a South Florida address.
          According to Old National’s 2013 annual report, the bank’s lease on its headquarters building runs through 2031, with renewal options after that. As of Dec. 31, the bank also leased 118 of its 169 branch office locations.]

          * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
          Name Searched On:
          ONB LANDLORD (Legal)

          Current Information

          Entity Legal Name:
          ONB 123 MAIN LANDLORD, LLC

          Entity Fictitious Name:

          Entity Address:
          2855 LE JEUNE ROAD, 4TH FLOOR, MIAMI, FL 33134 (City National Bank Bld.)
          General Entity Information:
          Control Number: 2006121200158
          Status: Active
          Entity Type: Foreign Limited Liability Company (LLC)
          Entity Creation Date: 12/8/2006
          Entity Date to Expire:
          Entity Inactive Date:
          Original Creation Date: 12/6/2006
          Original Creation State: DE
          This entity is current with Business Entity Report(s).
          There are no other names on file for this Entity.

          Registered Agent(name, address, city , state , zip):
          CORPORATION SERVICE COMPANY
          251 E OHIO ST STE 500
          INDIANAPOLIS , IN 46204

          Principals(name, address, city, state, zip – when provided)
          This Limited Liability Company Has Managers.
          Transactions:
          Date Filed Effective Date Type
          12/08/2006 12/08/2006 Application for Certificate of Authority
          12/19/2007 12/19/2007 Notice of Change of Registered Office or Registered Agent
          Corporate Reports:
          Years Paid
          2008 2010 2012 2014

          Years Due
          None

          • How does the assessed valuation compare with the sale prices/ rent paid? The million reduction in taxable value is a slap in the face of home owners who have to scrimp to pay for the right to live in a home they paid for decades ago.

13. Amen “onemeover”. The stabilized property tax in Indiana is a scam.. And ONB is a money-grubbing thug! In fact one of their employees who I was talking with in a branch about types of accounts told me directly that ONB has really lousy accounts for small businesses. I thanked him and left never to return.

    • I checked that a few years ago. The new valuation is in line with comps in downtown Evansville. It seems as though in spite of all of the government spending that the real cash value of downtown properties is only about half of the cost of construction. That is why the city had to pay an incentive equal to half of the cost of the new hotel. Ditto on the McCurdy’s difficulty in getting loans, the Farmers Daughter building having no bidders at an auction etc. ONB is now valued fairly and that is a damn shame.

      • Joe:

        Is ONB still doing the triple net lease thing?

        • I don’t know. Their lease has changed since I looked into it.

14. What about John Hostettler. How much money did he have? I remember reading that he owed I believe over 100,000 on one credit card. I don’t think that he has worked a day since he was booted out.

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