IS IT TRUE: August 31, 2011

1. “S IT TRUE we ask our “BLOGGERS” to predict the next City of Evansville Police and Fire Chiefs along with the reason for the next Mayor to appoint them to these positions?…that the Lexington Salary Data Base is on the following link?”

   This should be interesting…..can’t wait for the reply’s.

2. Well if you look at Rick Davis’s finance reports and see the HUGE contribution (over 6000) from Shawn Ogilsvy it is pretty obvious that Davis will fire his cousin and stick his thug in charge of the EFD. I guess the auction of city hall has already started. Anyone know how much it costs to be police chief?

   • “Anyone know how much it costs to be police chief?”

     Which is exactly why if we consolidate city and county government the law enforcement should be headed by an elected sheriff not an appointed chief of police.

     Interesting that you call Mr Oglesby a “Thug” I believe that is the same term used by Troy Tornatta was it not? Related?

     • No relation (thank god) but thug definitely fits. Though I am sure you can think of several that apply. Leech, corrupt, unethical, offensive. All apply equally

       • Interesting…since Mr Oglesby is the firefighters current union president I’d assume you are a Republican since Democrats love union people, or have you had direct dealings with him?, or are you making a generalization about all union people or just Mr Oglesby? The few firefighters I know say he’s doing a better job than the previous union president.

         Just curious…

3. Check the contribution report for Mayor Weinzapfel and it will tell you the cost of every position and contract in the city of Evansville.

4. Tom Tucker,–Does it cost anything for you to be a Weinzapel Groupie?

   None of the candidates needs you to put your words in their mouth, but apparently your Ego thinks so, so Rant on Groupie!

   • Crash, I have never cast a vote for Weinzapfel actually. Im far from a groupie, just a concerned citizen scared to death of the possibility of government by thuggery.

     • “the possibility”… ?

       Is it true, Tom Tucker’s comments are coming from a strong dose of partisan naivety… OR, might he be evidence that the CVB has attracted sentient beings visiting from other planets?

       (Tom, can we sell you some Bob Seger tickets or do you already have them?)

     • Are you “Della”, the Toyko Rose for the Administration?

     • I must admit, that sounds worse than Snegal,–but I do recall an inquiry was made about a “Bumper Sticker”, early on with this bunch running government in Evansville.
       They have convinced me thru their Snegal actions that they have no moral center,–
       No “Speed Limit” so to speak.

       I fear a continuation of the status quo dooms this town.

       Like it or not this Evansville has a voter base that shows a Democrat majority, and Our local Government History, and voter totals bear that out. Sooner or later a Republican is elected, but the Trend will probably always be Democratic,( the donut of Republican voters in the county areas are the wild card if Vandy grab makes it.) So where this takes me is, that a change in the Democrat Party is the long view, that is, if the status quo can be changed. I don’t believe the Current Republican Candidate would change a thing, and His party will only govern as an interm between Democratic Administrations.

       • ….all the talk and rumors of Democrats holding a secret fund raiser for a Republican candidate, or showing support for a Republican candidate over their own candidate pretty well seals that as being true. Then the post this morning on the CCO about the new PAC, by hook or crook! 🙂

5. Do you use this as a metric for traffic measurement?:

   http://bizinformation.co/www.city-countyobserver.com

   • This is not the one that we have been using but the numbers are certainly in the ballpark of what we get from Alexa, trafficestimate.com, wordpress, and Google Analytics. It is sort of amazing how close they all are to each other. Our hits are not 100% USA based but the number outside the country is small when compared to the total. We know who most of the foreign visitors are. Our exact readings for yesterday are about 30% higher than the one day estimates but for the month we are within 1% of this sites reading. This is another one for us to use. Thank you.

6. Seems to me, the mayor should appoint positions based on education and experience. Qualifications should be the primary selection criteria.

   Police and Fire chiefs should come from the upper ranks who have scored well on promotional tests and have management experience. Appointments of political hacks from mid-level ranks should be unacceptable.

   • While on the surface your statement should ring true, but in the case of the two public service agency’s (police & fire) in both cases once you move from the entry level rank you start developing managerial skills, in the police once you attain the rank of Sargent you are in a command situation, at the rank of Captain on the fire department you are also in a command situation. These people at these ranks are the “boots on the ground” folks that have the “real world” experience of managing crime scenes and fire scenes respectively and all the people working the scene, at these ranks you have been tested multiple times to achieve the given rank.

     My only real point is that mid-level ranks doesn’t necessary equate to actual experience, but it does equate to test scores, there are and have been people in high ranking positions in both departments that really have/had little actual crime fighting or fire suppression experience but have tested well enough to move up the ranks quickly.

     One would think if the two currently appointed chiefs were so qualified for their positions that the city would have a contract with both union organizations…they don’t, and that in itself is a problem with appointed positions and where the appointees allegiance with the mayor really shows through all the posturing and BS.

     In Evansville we moved (so they say) from a “political patronage” system to a “merit” system years ago, what they failed to mention is just what type of merit the system was based upon.

     JMHO

     • I suppose my point was that a good Police or Fire chief would be an experienced, high ranking police or fire professional, intelligent and with good management skills.

       Specifically, a professional, not a political hack.

       I was trying to get the ball rolling on the question of who will be appointed by either candidate. Not being in the know, I offer my opinion on qualifications rather than specific individuals.

       • LOL….agreed, I think all of us are not “in the know” and it’s hard to speculate just who it might be in either position, both candidates are very different in a lot of ways so their choices are had to guess. Of course people try to create a parallel between campaign contributions and favors which might have some traction but we’ll have to wait to see if that hold true. The interesting thing to me is Mr Winnecke’s stance on consolidation of city/county government (he’s whole hearty for it) so it may play a role in who he might choose, he’ll need people who are pliable that he can mold into a new city/county government without a lot of hassle involved.

         That is of course if they can shove consolidation through a vote and it lives without a unified police and fire departments being addressed, not very likely in my book.

         I do believe Davis is against consolidation in it’s present form which is I believe more aligned with the bulk of the public, consolidation is a game changer to me, take it off the table and the picks for the two positions should change at least for Winnecke.

         JMHO

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