IS IT TRUE Memorial Day Weekend 2014

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IS IS TRUE the Friday before the long weekend has come and gone and there was no 2012 City of Evansville audit in the media dump so people are distracted?…we still stick by our prediction that if the Winnecke administration has anything to do with the release that it will happen on a Friday afternoon?…that is because either it will be just like the recording that was released last week which makes the City look unbalanced and inept especially with respect to management of federal dollars, OR it will have been whitewashed by events that came after March 12, 2014?…either way the news is bad?…the three day weekend associated with the 4th of July is the next chance to really bury the story?

IS IT TRUE that we hear from extremely well placed political sources that the Vanderburgh Democratic Party Chairman will announce next week that he has chosen past Vanderburgh County Emergency Management Director Sherman Greer to oppose Bruce Ungethiem in the race for Vanderburgh County Commissioner’s race this coming fall?

IS IT TRUE that Bruce Ungethiem, the Republican nominee for Vanderburgh County Commission seat has been reaching out to encourage people who worked against him in the Republican primary race to support him in the fall? …we are hearing that is getting excellent responses from his past primary foes? …we hear that many people are advising him to keep his distance from GOP Chairman Wayne Parke?

IS IT TRUE in the near future the CCO shall announce that 5th Ward City Council member John Friend will have Democratic party primary competitor in his 2015 re-election bid for that seat? …Mr. Friend has decided not to run for Mayor of Evansville in 2015 but has opted to run for reelection for his 5th ward seat? … the CCO shall post the official press release from his possible Democratic primary opponent as soon as it is available?…we are very interested to hear what reason’s Mr. Friend will give for choosing not to run for Mayor of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE we would appreciate if you would take time to cast your vote on this week “Readers Poll”? …we are extremely surprised about the percentage differences so far concerning our poll question? …members serving on Evansville City Council should be concerned about running for re-election in 2015 because of the present results of unscientific but trendy “CCO Readers Poll”?

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48 COMMENTS

  1. Hot off the press. The reason why Friend isn’t running for Mayor is that he can’t win. I also doubt he will win re-election as 5th Ward Councilperson.

    • Friend has revealed himself as a Snake in the Grass, and he is over, under, and DONE as an electable candidate. What a Creep!

  2. I like Friend but disappointed in the way he has trashed the CCO and his fellow city council woman.

  3. I look forward to the announcement of the Democratic challenger to Councilman Friend in next year’s primary. I wonder if I’ll be challenged when I go to cast my ballot for that challenger, since I voted in this year’s Republican Primary.
    Will anyone care what reason Friend gives for deciding not to run for Mayor? His true reason is pretty obvious. It would be great if a credible Democratic candidate for Mayor steps forward. Another four years of the current administration may be more than this City can recover from.

    • If it hadn’t of been for Rick Davis we would have Weinzapfel for another 4 years. Jonathon decided not to run after Rick informed him he was running against him. There’s no way Winnecke would have run against Weinszapfel. I see no chance of a non machine candidate winning until the city goes into bankruptcy. Remember Weinszapfel run unopposed for his second term, Nixon doesn’t count. The republicans neither supported or encourage/discouraged Nixon, pretty classy of them. I’ll continue to support SBR but the local democrats will close ranks on her. Almost everyone who has ever broke ranks with the local democrats has had to leave Evansville. The lady that ran against McDonald in 98 is a good example. Rick will struggle.

  4. A credible Democrat candidate for Mayor?

    Let’s play a little game. I’ll post some names of Democrats who would like to be Mayor, and you rate their credibility or electability on a scale of 1 to 5.

    These names are not in any particular order, and do not take into consideration any of their denials or affirmations regarding their announced desire to be Mayor. Believe me, they all want it.

    Jonathan Weaver
    Gale Riecken
    Steve Melcher
    Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley
    Others lurking in the background

  6. THE MACHINE IS ON FIRE !

    Ellsworth, Williams and now Friend.

    I thought John would at least put out the obligatory ‘ want to spend more time with my family’ .

  7. I have the utmost respect for Greer and am a long time advocate in the idea that he got royally screwed over. But if he runs against Ungethiem I will have lost all respect for him.

    I’m hearing he’s going against Al’s race stance on his and Connelly’s issues. I’m starting to wonder what the deal is with him. It seems like he has done a 180 for the machine since leaving office.

  8. Great, Friend poke-assed around just long enough to ensure no new challenger could catch up to Winnecke’s fundraising advantage.

    I truly hope SBR has been enabled vs. defeated by this Audit inferno. Come on Stephanie, file for Mayor !

    If not you, who ???

  9. AUDIT RECORDING:

    My understanding is that Winnecke was quoted in CP this past week stating that the accounts have been “consistently reconciled”.

    My understanding is also that on the famous audio recording he asks the SBOA if the accounts are reconciled . . . and they laughed out loud.

    For context, the second part occurred before the first (with the second part occurring on March 12, 2014).

    Will someone correct me if I am wrong, this is too good to be true.

    • “Learning Windows 8 is so much fun. NOT! I hate win 8 right now.”

      To make it look and feel like Win 7, Classic Shell (free) or Start8 ($4.99).

  11. Went to the Mesker Park Zoo today and was disappointed in the general appearance of this long time Evansville attraction. The grounds were grown up and had the general appearance of being on a down hill slide. There were dead limbs and weeds everywhere. It had the general appearance that the gates had been locked all winter and no one had been inside the grounds all winter. What a shame that we don’t take care of our city assets!

    • Agreed! We can’t afford to maintain what we already have. Our Mayors, of BOTH party affiliations in the past decades, have been far too busy over-extending our finances to worry about taking care of the assets we have. There are fewer political contributions to be had from smaller contracts for maintenance. The big donations are in NEW construction!

    • That was all probably caused by the recent storm. Tornado opps Macro burst. MBMA! It was a tornado. They are hard to see on the Paducah, KY radar. They are hard to see but that doesn’t mean that they didn’t hit here. Just like you can’t see the wind or air but you can see the dust picked up by a tornado and feel the air hit you in the face with great force when you stick your head out of the window of a fast moving car on the highway.

  12. Just a silly question – but if Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley voted in the Republican primary 3 weeks ago, how can she be allowed in a Democrat caucus? Shouldn’t only Democrats be allowed at a Democrat caucus? She officially legally publicly outrageously declared herself a Republican just a few days ago.

    • I addressed the stupidity of the rule you refer to in this copy-and-paste from the comments concerning SBR’s Mole TV appearance:

      “elkaybee
      May 25, 2014 at 7:58 am
      “Its time right now to scrap you’re local political machine old obsolete functions,…”

      You hit that one on the nailhead! It is time for our local legislators of BOTH parties to move to repeal IC 3-10-1-6!! The State AG wisely chooses not to enforce this archaic law that attempts to mandate party loyalties above a voter’s right to choose the better candidates, but it should be taken off the books. It makes Indiana look even more backward than it is.”

      In a nutshell, SBR don’t need no stinkin’ Democrats. They need her. This faux scandal is going to “age” very well for her. Good alcohol, beef, and cheese all change for the better during the aging process. The same will be true of how this story works for the Councilwoman over the next 17 months.

    • But what about people like Mark and Connie who openly supported the GOP candidate in the last Mayoral Election. Should they be kicked out of the Democratic Party? Probably not but I would not trust them anymore. Would you?

    • Until the law is changed, the law stands as adopted by the state legislature and signed by the governor. It remains the law, and SBR has to abide by it or suffer the consequences just like the rest of the world.

      • Yes, please make sure the State Police give her a ticket for the analagous 60 in a 55, while the people in the Civic Center committ the analagous bank robbery.

        Yes, Evansville keep your prioties straight, eye roll.

      • What part of “the AG of IN isn’t enforcing it” do you not understand, Missy?
        Besides, she could still run as an Independent. You’re grasping at straws.

        • I would love to see SBR run as an independent for 3rd Ward Council or Mayor either one. She’d come in third in both cases.

  13. C&P Editorial, Sunday May 25, 2014

    Tim Ethridge pillories SBR, headline reads ‘City Councilwoman fails ethics test’.

    However, in his scathing rebuke, Ethridge comments at length, and in detail, about the information on the audit recording. That information is supposed to be kept confidential and not reported until the audit report is completed, yet here is Ethridge tell C&P reads about ‘Adverse’ and ‘Qualified’ opinions, payroll account problems, and the notion that the problems identified could be “fixed” before the audit is official. Those details should not have been reported.

    The headline of the Memorial Day edition of the C&P will now be:

    “State Police spokesman: no investigation of Tim Ethridge has started, yet”.

    • That’s the thing isn’t it? We were hearing rumors of adverse and qualified opinions long long before the recording. So who leaked those details?

      • Anyone in the room at the exit interview could have “leaked” the information, but I doubt it was Hizzoner or Russie. If the truth is told, my bet is there was more than one person talking about what they heard in that interview.
        I take exception to the term “leaked”, though. It implies that the person was passing on gossip. This information rises to the level of “Whistle Blowing” on utter incompetence at best, and widespread corruption at worst. Kudos to all involved in bringing this into the light of day.
        I do hope that the Councilwoman makes the recording available to the advertising agencies in the next City election, though. Just think of the impression that a sound bite of the Mayor saying that the payroll and pension accounts are “consistently balanced” followed by the recording of being laughed at by the auditors when he asked them that question will make! That might even wake up the voters of E-town. It would probably get the city back on the Daily Show, too!

        • Full blown attacks on whistleblowers aren’t uncommon. Somebody sent me Ethridge’s column and it is just what you’d expect from him. A cheapo hit piece from the Winnecke house organ. They might stay in business a day or two longer if they’d roll a big yellow softball out of the joint and hope he follows, and he instinctively just might.

          • My pharmacist is probably going to send me a complimentary subscription to the rag, as my Valium consumption has dropped so much since I cancelled. I try not to open emails with tripe from C&P.
            I got an offer to re-start my subscription at a discounted price the other day, which included a postage paid envelope. I wrote them a little note about why I won’t be subscribing and mailed it to them, at their expense.

        • Well I understand your objection to the term “leaked” and tend to agree as the term would be more appropriate if it were secret information being divulged. That is to say I do not consider it to fall in the category of “gossip”. In the end, I hardly consider the audit for a local government to come anywhere close to “secret”.

          That opinion is based on my military career dealing classified material and is in a wholly different class of information. So I misspoke. Neither would I agree with anyone that the audit process should be treated in a confidential matter. This is public money used by public officials and firmly believe the whole matter needs to be conducted in the public view.

          I think you are right, it is both, corruption and incompetence with the emphasis on corruption, and emphasis on dishonest and a lack of integrity to their oaths of office.

    • What I liked most was that esteemed accounting expert, Tim Ethridge, observing that nothing on the tape sounded very bad to him . . .

      Thank you Tim for your expert analysis. We can all sleep comfortably tonite.

      • Boy Tim is not even expected to have any knowledge of accounting or balancing a set of books to do his duty at the CP. He has now proven that he is a mindless political animal and tows the line for the machine. Pay no attention to the sportscaster behind the curtain. He can only count in multiples of 7 and register 3 balls on one hand and 2 strikes on the other. He is part of the problem.

  14. If you look at the Mayor’s Wikipedia page, the CCO is mentioned as well as his lovely bride!

  15. Boy, must be nice to have the SBOA on your side !

    As C&P tells it today (Sunday), all of the problems recorded for posterity on the audio recording can be “fixed” prior to the publication of the Audit opinion. Lovin’ the use of the word ‘fixed’ !

    If I were the head Beancounter, I would do very little on an Audit. Get the Exit Conference results, make every entry they indicate, and hello, here’s your CLEAN OPINION ! Good work if you can get it.

    However, a blogger last week pointed out correctly that many of the points on the audio are ‘time bound’: they occurred, they physically happened, and that can’t be changed. Entries can be made to change numbers , but the initial Findings cannot be changed.

    For example, “Water & Waste: the accounts were not reconciled for all of 2012”. Not even spoon-fed recommended entries by SBOA can change this time-bound fact. Explain again how these findings equate to a CLEAN OPINION ??????

    • Exactly. I think that is what SBR recognized would happen. That the Mayor would use the easy outs provided by the SBOA to cover up those time bound findings to hide the fact that his administration by design, ineptness, corruption or whatever you want to call it failed to do their jobs.

      I swear. There are times when I look at the local city politicians and have a very hard time distinguishing them from a third world potentate. At the very least is reminds me of a paedarchy without the benefit of adult supervision.

  16. I read C&P also, thing that jumps off the page is how the Councilmen are falling over themselves to put the rap on SBR and “try to find a way to restore the Mayor’s trust in us”.

    Excuse me, wouldn’t the Mayor need to find a way to restore the Council’s trust in the Mayor–since the Mayor’s CFO is the one who cooked the books ? Why does this seem backwards to me ?

    IT’S BACKWARDS, because folks, the ‘FIX’ is in !

    The City will, in fact, get the Opinion they’ve been shopping for. The City Council have already indicated they want to ‘move on’; the SBOA has done all of the work to try to beautify the pig with lipstick; and the C & P is already anticipating the change from the audio to the final report by saying that the SBOA allowed ” that the final opinion may look different than the audio”. YA THINK ???

    The poster ‘Bandana’ had it right a week or so ago: the Machine will win this round; but the Citizens ‘got a good look behind the curtain’.

    SBR is going to be held out as the scapegoat. The story will be about her recording, NOT about the many unanswered findings in the audio which will be glossed over or outright omitted in the final report.

    SBR: run for Mayor and win, that will be your only vindication !

  17. I also read Tim Ethridge editorial in todays Courier and Press. His remarks doesn’t surprise me because he in the political tank of the Mayor. Bottom line, all he was before getting promoted to Courier Editor was a sports writer. Enough said a his “jock” based opinions.

  18. As per usual, the City Council sucks like a Hoover vacuum. The C&P trots out its go-to- guy, alleged wifebeater Johnny Weaver, to tell how he thinks that SBR “ought to resign as V.P.” and that he can’t rule out joining a vote to oust her from that position.

    If I remember right, SBR was his ex-wife’s attorney, careful John Boy !

    Johnny, in Dollars -n- cents, how much were you paid to say that ??

    Harold

      • Retraction!….Ed”s in with some danged car dealers also. Shoot! we find out he’s pushing Zombie infrastructure real estate he can just forget it!

        The cars are an forward thinking concept though didn’t catch on we guess, don’t see’em anymore.

        Some of the ones the local car deal weavers are selling are similar in conceptual design, and just as BUTT UGLY! So much so, it looks as if time froze like Evansville politics. Not very marketable these days they’re even packing a homophobic brand name, as well. 🙂

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFcO97b6rKM

  20. Read the print edition of C&P today–avoided the Editor by so doing–and stumbled upon the only silver lining this newspaper has: the Western Kentucky writer john Lucas.

    Topic today was John’s siting of a panther (black) on his property earlier this year. He had apparently written about it previously, and today’s article was about the many calls he had confirming his glimpse of the big cat.

    Here’s one more: my father-in-law, who is a hunter, was visiting a cemetery in Griffin, IN (on I-64 by IL line) at dusk, and he froze in his headlights a fully grown mountain lion. “No doubt about it”–his exact words.

    A panther, cougar, mountain lion and puma are all the same cat. Their range is from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America. That is the largest range of any animal in the Western Hemisphere. The title of John’s article was ” They are out there”. You are right John, they definitely are ‘out there’.

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