IS IT TRUE: March 2, 2012

IS IT TRUE that a short 16 years ago that Senator Richard Lugar was all up in arms about negative campaigning and even ran an ad to encourage his then fellow Hoosiers to join him in taking a stand against negative campaigns?…that was then and this is now?…that the ghost of elections past should visit Senator Lugar’s Washington home and remind him of how he advocated for clean and honest campaigns back before he had become a Washingtonian?…that Senator Lugar’s latest round of commercials against his primary challenger Evansville’s favorite son Richard Mourdock are anything but positive?…that the City County Observer would like to encourage each and every person planning to vote in the Republican primary to give strong and thoughtful consideration to each of these men and to cast a ballot for the one that truly has the best interest of SW Indiana in his heart and mind?

IS IT TRUE that one of our beloved comment writers jumped on us yesterday for repeating a passage about the failure to fund and start an audit of the IT Department?…that this person should remember that one of our trademarks is to bring things up on a recurring basis and that our repeated reminders of the McCurdy Fiasco and the Executive Inn Dilemma lead to action on the part of the former Mayor’s Evansville Redevelopment Commission?…that maybe we should rephrase our repetition to something like “IS IT TRUE that it has now been 61 days since the 2012 editions of city and county government were installed and still there is no appropriation of the funds to begin the audit of the IT Department”?…that we could even name names and remind people that a new long term contract was handed out by County Commission during the waning days of the Weinzapfel Administration?…that we could also state that City Councilman and Chairman of the Finance Committee John Friend, CPA was all over this oversight in 2011 and may just be simmering to get on it again?…that there will be some reminder on a recurring basis until this necessary action is funded and done?

IS IT TRUE that the open seat in Indiana House of Representatives District 64 has a strong contender throwing his hat into the ring?…that sources tell the CCO that Tom Washburne who makes his home near Darmstadt will be making a strong push for this seat?…that Mr. Washburne brings with him the practical analytical skills of a Purdue engineering degree along with an understanding and interest in government from a career in law and banking?…that this guy worked his way up the old fashioned was as a kid from Princeton who bagged groceries and made his spending money in local retail?…that it will be interesting to see who the Democrat party will slate against Mr. Washburne in this newly bordered district that has long been receptive to practical people with conservative leanings?

IS IT TRUE that the CCO is wondering just what the fruits of the “all hands on deck” bus trip to the Crane NAVSEA Center will be?…that true to his expression during the 2011 election that Mayor Winnecke seems to be trying to muster some local interest in reviving the Partnership Intermediary Agreement between GAGE and Crane that seemed to have gone into hibernation after the 2009 Freedom Festival?…that between the renewed interest in the Crane deal, the realization that the Federal Lab Consortium is the real source of intellectual property, and the Kauffman Foundation running a seminar at USI that GAGE had scheduled for 2009 that GAGE seems to be encouraged to go back to its original mission during the early days of the Winnecke Administration?