IS IT TRUE? October 24, 2011
IS IT TRUE that the official press release from the Indiana State Democratic Party has finally been made available and that the reasons for speculation on the reasons for their heartburn with the Democrats of Evansville is finally published?…that straight from the horse’s (State Party Chair Dan Parker) mouth comes yet another scathing of Republican Candidate for Mayor Lloyd Winnecke?…that as campaigns go this is a continual pounding of the same negative drum that many people are growing deaf too down here in the Pocket City?…that if the real facts are to be known that Mr. Winnecke or one of the other Republicans that were carefully handpicked for an invitation to that secret meeting needs to give us a real blow by blow analysis of what really happened and how on earth that many people could have lost their memory?…that this is the time for Mr. Winnecke to put a stake in the ground and to name names about that April Fool’s meeting?…that for the Indiana Democratic Party Chair to make Mr. Winnecke the singular focus of the blame for this dark hour in Evansville politics is not the whole story either?
IS IT TRUE that CCO comment poster haveagoodun has suggested the old Three Dog Night song “Mamma Told Me Not to Come†as the theme song for the secret meeting that was held in Mayor Weinzapfel’s office to take away the Homestead Tax Credit?
IS IT TRUE that Mole #13 tells us that in addition to City Councilwoman Connie Robinson who announced that she is crossing party lines and throwing her support to Lloyd Winnecke as many as 17 more prominent and well known local Democrats will be making public statements backing the Winnecke campaign?…that is not as surprising as it may sound to an outsider as everyone in Evansville who has been watching this year’s mayoral race knows about the feud within the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party?…that we need to call Weird Al to town to do a parody of Randy Newman’s “I Love LA†with some perfect lyrics chosen for the antics of the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party?
IS IT TRUE that yesterday between NFL football and the St. Louis Cardinals games that the Evansville Police Department only had a 7 page activity report?…that is about half of what most reports are?…that sports of local interest at least correlate slightly to days of lower crime?
IS IT TRUE that the Courier and Press published their “endorsements†for Evansville City Council yesterday in the paper but did not put that information online until later in the day?…that even though the CCO will not make endorsements and encourages the general public to read, think, and vote as opposed to letting a publication, a party, a union, or some other group that feels a need to offer guidance tell them how to vote?
IS IT TRUE that on our readers poll regarding crossing party lines to vote or make endorsements our readers mostly chose “crossing party lines is the mark of an informed voter†(48%), or “Parties, we don’t need no stinking parties†(31%) to the only 20% who see crossing party lines as political treason?…that we are encouraged that our readers are supportive of freedom of choice and freedom of thought in the voting booth and with respect to endorsements?…that the old days of “pulling the rooster†and brainless straight ticket voting are finally on the way out?
It’s ludicrous to even state that Mr. Winnecke “called” a meeting that was held in the Mayor’s office. The location of the meeting tells you everything you need to know about who was in charge.
This last second ad is typical dirty politics from a Davis campaign that consists of nothing but inaccurate, dirty politics.
Winnecke = Weinzapfel = Winnecke = Weinzapfel = Winnecke
If Lloyd feels that the Tax Credit fiasco was his partner’s fault, why not just come out and say it?
Could it be because Lloyd struck a deal with the Machine long ago never to say anything critical of Weinzapfel or Mark Owen????
Nice deflection for the Winnecke camp, truth is that regardless of WHERE the meeting was held Mr Winnecke has already stated that he called for the meeting to happen, regardless of just who’s idea it was to steal the homestead credit from the taxpayers…..If I had to guess he (Winnecke) isn’t that smart (or dumb) it sounds like a Keith Jarboe plan to me who also had a big role in the tax grab. I will agree on who was in charge at the meeting and it wasn’t Winnecke but his lord and master King John….remember conspiracy to commit is the same as doing the crime.
Changes nothing….still guilty as charged!
JMHO
The real story here is that the State Democratic Party just called out anyone at the unpublished April Fools day meeting the Democratic Mayors office as unfit for election for their attempt to raise taxes and then to keep it secret for a year. Obviously this includes their Democrat Mayor and all other Democrats at the meeting:
http://media.courierpress.com/media/static/Homestead_NewsRelease.pdf
Why? Because the local Democratic Chairman and Democratic Mayor were not supporting their own party’s candidate for Mayor of the 3rd largest City in the State. The State Democratic party just pulled rank and sent the loud and clear message that Evansville’s local democratic machine conduct is not acceptable to other Democrats around the State. Can anyone else recall a time that either State party came in to overrule the County party?
I wish newspapers and other news publications would refrain from making political endorsements. Maybe it’s just me, but that seems like an abuse of their alleged lack of bias.
The same as many other Democrats, I got another email from Dan Parker this morning. In the email Parker basically demagogues on behalf of Rick Davis with the same tired rant in an attempt to lay the entire homestead credit fiasco at Lloyd Winnecke’s feet.
Yes it’s true, everyone at that meeting made a mistake by not taking the homestead credit issue to public meetings so that homeoweners knew ahead of time what budgetary shortfalls, caused by HB 1001, raised the need to temporarily suspend the local tax credit. And it appears that everyone at that meeting, particularly Lloyd Winnecke, realized their error. Politics is a live and learn process just like any other endeavor. At least Winnecke has owned up and moved forward.
Now that Winnecke and other attendees to that meeting have acknowledged their mistake, can’t the rest of us forgive and move on with more important local issues? All this endless negative rhetoric does is distract all of us from more critical issues that face Evansville now and in the immediate future. Nobody is going to call another meeting like that. But somebody better lead us out of this local economic development slump and recruit businesses to locate in Evansville.
So, before Parker spams out any more negative political emails, he really needs to read the memo to which Rick Davis has repeatedly referred that details the meeting that took place in the mayor’s office. In fact, everyone needs to read that memo rather than depend on someone else such as Davis or Parker characterizing Winnecke’s intentions for requesting the meeting in the first place.
I went to Rick Davis’s political website to read the memo and discovered that Winnecke called the meeting “in order for city and county elected officials to discuss in a bipartisan fashion the impact of HB 1001 (state legislation that caps the property tax) and what steps could be taken to minimize†the effect of the estimated $3.2 million loss to municipal budgets.
The memo posted at Davis’s website also says: “The attendees discussed several issues including ways to achieve greater cooperation between City and County government including merging City and County health insurance plans.” Instead of a conspiracy to rob homeowners of their tax credit, it seems Lloyd Winnecke’s intent was to foster more full and bipartisan cooperation in government.
Normally we down here in Evansville applaud elected officials who work in a bipartisan fashion to stay ahead of municipal budget shorfalls and find ways to maintain necessary services in hard economic times. The most practical and forward looking members of both the City Council and the County Council, regardless of political party, have done just that for many years to the benefit of local taxpayers. And the memo shows the same to be Lloyd Winnecke’s intent.
Rick Davis has been a good, progressive county treasurer. He also contributes to our community through his involvement in his own and other neighborhood associations, and through his participation in UNOE and National Night Out. However, in this particular instance, I believe it better serves everyone in our community if local politicians, candidates for office, and politic operatives from upstate not to demagogue issues by twisting facts in order to paint opponents as something they are not, or tag them with something they did not intend.
Let bygones be bygones, especially when a person has acknowledged his mistake and moved forward. The rest of us need to move forward too, and address the more critical issues that face Evansville right now and down the road.
Agreed….and that will happen round or about November 9th. 😉
JMHO
That all sounds great, Bill, but there are at least two problems:
1) Winnecke has yet to explain to voters what really happened in that meeting and why he didn’t speak up until caught by the media. That last I heard, he was back to denying that he played any role in the decision, which is a far cry from “acknowledging one’s mistakes.”
2) There must be political consequences for poor decisions made by leadership. I don’t think anyone is saying that Winnecke is a bad guy. On the contrary, he is very amiable. But the instincts shown in trying to eliminate the tax credit behind closed doors with no public input are simply not what Evansville needs right now.
Thank you for your considered opinions, Andrew. I understand where you’re coming from. I just see it a bit differently having been in Evansville politics a very long while. I’m impressed and personally thankful that most Evansville voters are able to consider bygones as bygones and look past partisan labels and the ugly pictures some people paint during heated campaigns.
I hope whoever wins this election, mayor and council, can work together to lead Evansville forward. But I wonder about some people after watching them create the most divisive political atmosphere I have ever seen in local politics.
Bill-
Thank you for your response. I guess my perspective boils down to this: a little honest conflict may be just what the doctor ordered for Evansville.
Most Evansville mayoral elections are just formalities–a necessary precursor to coronating the preselected heir. This time it is different. You have a Republican running with the support of almost the entire Democratic apparatus and a Democrat running as a populist outsider.
This is taking people out of their comfort zones and forcing some people (on both sides) to re-think their voting behavior. Anytime you can shake people out of the straight-ticket, “whatever my party says is good enough for me” mentality, it is a good thing, imo.
As far as divisiveness, it’s only natural that this election would be more bitterly contested, since it is the first one in a long time without a pre-determined outcome.
Not sure what you mean by “Now that Winnecke and other attendees to that meeting have acknowledged their mistake, can’t the rest of us forgive and move on with more important local issues?” The Mayor’s own press press release claimed “The attendees agreed”…not to renew the homestead tax credit. Is that believable?
http://media.courierpress.com/media/static/Homestead_NewsRelease.pdf
“Winnecke said he stands behind his earlier statements that although he called for the meeting in Weinzapfel’s office, neither he nor other county officials had input in the decision to eliminate the credit.” “Winnecke had said several issues were discussed during the meeting, but no decision was made.” I have always believed Mr. Winnecke, and his recollection is consistent with Ms. Abell. However, his good faith intention to meet to discuss budget issues gave others in the Mayor’s conference room the opportunity to not renew to tax credit under cover of a “bipartisan” meeting and decision.
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/sep/28/no-headline—ev_homestead/
Since Mr. Winnecke did not agree to the secret tax grab and no decisions were made, how could he acknowledge the mistake of agreeing to the secret tax grab decision? Bottom line, the Mayor threw Mr. Winnecke under the political bus with his June 19, 2009 press release.
Da trouble Mr. Biden is that Weinzapfel is a conniving liar and Winnecke is to big of a chicken to call him out for being the damn liar that he is.
Hizzoner set this thing up from the beginning to stick Winnecke with the blame and now Winnecke won’t even defend his manhood. Lots of folks in Winnecke’s position would bust Weinzapful right in the mouth for telling them lies.
I tell you what. If Winnecke comes out and calls Hizzoner a damn liar I will be voting for him. If he won’t count me as a Davis voter. Anyone that won’t stand up for himself is not about to stand up for you and me.
At least Troy had the good sense to tap the mayor, oh wait that didn’t happen did it. 🙂
JMHO
Follow the money.
The money won’t let Winnecke speak ill of Weinzapfel.
Follow the money in the Davis coffers as well. It leads places Davis pretends not to go.
I recall media reports, when the Homestead Tax Credit was to be withheld from the taxpayers, that mayor Weinzapfel told the assembled group that HE held the majority of the votes, which is true, and there was going to be NO Homestead Credit, regardless of what they said or thought. In short, he is the number one reason for that action. I did not read that Winnecke argued to any length with him. Some of the public representatives did not attend the meeting because the mayor had given them the word that it would be a waste of their time. I think one might call that being an outright bully, a preview of the treatment we would see regarding the arena.
Weinzapfel also tried to waffle out of his responsibility for this fiasco in the media, and the Homestead Tax Credit was only re-instated after Gov. Daniels brought a great deal of statewide public pressure to bear.
If Winnecke would go along with this without a peep, think what he would consider to be acceptable behavior as mayor of the current Evansville, or heaven forbid, the entire county!!
Pick Rick and Vote “NO” to consolidation.
I was in Evansville over the weekend, and I talked to several Republicans who either had voted for Davis or were planning to on Nov. 7th.
I doubt it’s in any way representative, but I thought it was interesting.
The bottom line with most voters is not the meeting, not who called it, or where it was held.
The issue is that those in attendance knew the credit had not been extended and NONE OF THEM let anybody know what was coming.
You can split hairs about the wording in the press release and call one guy a liar and the other a coward. But the fact that ALL of them knew what the outcome was going to be and ALL of them kept quiet cannot not be dispusted.
Actually Randy Newman intended that “I Love LA” be a parody. He has said so in interviews.
And as for “pulling the rooster,” I thought that was the symbol of the Demcratic Party many decades ago in 19th century Louisiana.
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