IS IT TRUE that yet another puppet of the regime of former Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel has paid price for doing his bidding and has relinquished his office?…this time it is long time union boss and Chairman of the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party Jack McNeely who has come to the realization that this party has been so shattered by the events of the election of 2011 that he cannot be a part of the healing process?…no one who was a part of the pinky shake pact to support neo-con Republican and Weinzapfel supporter Mayor Lloyd Winnecke will ever be able to heal the division in the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party?…whatever accountability that “the machine†that the pinky shake Democrats avoided by electing Winnecke as opposed to Rick Davis has come back to haunt them as the chickens come home to roost?…no picky shakers have been spared the scorn of the rest of the Democrats in town and they never will?…it is time for brand new leadership across the board in the Vanderburgh Democrat Party?
IS IT TRUE Mole #4 tells the CCO that there have been several bars in the preferred areas of town that have been GIVEN money by the City of Evansville to do minor improvements to their bars?…we find this to be as offensive as taking from one hotel to build another one and the bars in town that are not on the short list for the beautiful people and that have not gotten a government handout should be quite interested to get their hands on a list of the establishments that were favored by elected officials and handed a tip for their locations?
IS IT TRUE as the CCO published yesterday the hotels in both Evansville and Fort Wayne have been seeing their occupancy rates shrink in the last several years?…in spite of greasing a hotel developer with a generous hand out the occupancy rate and the average daily rate paid for a room in Fort Wayne are both lower than they are in Evansville?…even though Evansville is doing better than Fort Wayne we still are no anywhere near rates and occupancies that would ever be confused with a place in need of more hotel space?…at an occupancy of under 60% and a daily rate of under $85 it is no wonder that no entrepreneur is interested in putting their hard earned money into a downtown convention hotel?…that idiocy is reserved for the government of the City of Evansville?…it should really give people caution that Fort Wayne’s financial performance is worse than Evansville’s today even though they have a shiny new convention center and two hotels to support it?…we think this needs to be explained to the people of Evansville by a financially savvy individual with the society page cheer squad left at home?
IS IT TRUE that Vanderburgh County Council has identified $900,000 to cut from their 2014 budget?…they still need to cut $2 Million more to have a balanced budget?…in spite of this several members of the Vanderburgh County Commission are members of the hotel subsidy cheer squad and are serious about refinancing the Centre to join in the handout made necessary when the Weinzapfel administration prematurely demolished the Executive Inn?…borrowing money to give away for a fun and games project while cutting basic services can only be described by the word psychotic?…it is time for the puppets of the former mayor to be taken out of any position of financial authority?
IS IT TRUE in a study of typical subsidies to downtown convention hotels City Councilman John Friend has learned that the customary incentive is 25% of the project cost?…we then wonder how on earth the leadership of Evansville arrived at an agreement that calls for over 61% in subsidies when you include the cost of the parking garage?…Evansville may be desperate and struggling with a downtown of empty storefronts but we are not worse than places like Cleveland, St. Louis, and Detroit?…we wonder why our leaders are willing to ante up double what those places did to get a downtown convention hotel built?
The part of favorite bars receiving a bonus of tax money is worthy of further investigation. If true, where did the funds come from, and who authorized it? Anybody that can throw out some info would tickle me. That’s the kind of carreer ending info that needs to be out.
To call Jack a puppet of Weinzapfel is totally bogus. Looking through the Dems most recent finance report I find only $1000 contributed by Weinzapfel during McNeely’s tenure and SEVERAL contributions much higher from others. I don’t think $1000 buys you a puppet. To blame his resignation on the 2011 election is more bs. If anything I would reckon that dealing with a city council full of idiots that can’t build a hotel, goes on witch hunts of the previous administration and frankly acts like 2 year olds caused McNeely to resign in disgust at the people his party elected. He did a pretty fine job bringing together those that wanted to be there. The fact that some people can’t let go a 2 year old loss is the real issue here. Both parties have experienced events like these in the past and move forward eventually. I think two years is long enough to hold a grudge, at this point you have to start wondering if the grudgeholders are deliberately trying to sabotage their supposed own party.
That sabotage was done by the central committee, everyone involved should resign. Personal preference is over once the primary is over. The Republican central committee is not much better. This corner of the state has only one party, run by a very few, with little reguard for the citizens of “their domain”. I have a very small group of Dems & Repubs I trust and will endorse. Time for the citizens to take back this city/ county/ district/ state/ & country.
Amen!!!
+1
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Can someone provide a list of the pinky shake Democrats?
Jonathan Weaver
Missy Mosby
Connie Robinson
John Friend
Stephanie Brinkherhoff Riley
Connor O’Daniel
Mike Goebel
Eric Williams
Stephanie Terry
Troy Tornatta
Jonathan Weinzapfel
Bill Jeffers
Z Tuley
Annie Groves
Mark Owen
And despite Weinzapfel calling donors telling them not to donate to the Davis campaign the boy still nearly beat them all even after being soundly defeated at the donation box. If Davis ran again I have no doubt he would win the second time around. Run Rick Run!!!!!
your list is wrong, nothing like spreading lies.
Yeah. That list is wrong. Wonder Dog left off several other Democrat Benedict Arnold Rats who stabbed Davis in the back. It’s a much longer list of petty, jealous people who were in on the Pinky Shake. Get back to work Wonder Dog. You’ve got more scumbag names to reveal.
He had Stephanie Riley’s name on the list. I think she did attend the meeting but ended up supporting Davis. It is a little unfair to stain her for something she did not do.
Nearly beat them all in what respect? Winnecke beat Davis at the ballot box by a two to one vote margin, the worst butt whipping since Weinzapfel vs. Nixon!
What? “Winnecke’s growing foundation of support carried him to victory Tuesday night, beating Democratic candidate Rick Davis 11,545 to 9,881.”
That’s 54 percent to 46 percent. Weinzapfel beat Nixon with 85 percent of the vote.
With all due respect, Nixon was a dead beat dad and owed money to everyone in town. Darn near anyone would have beaten him by the same margin. Weinzapfel essentially ran unopposed for his second term.
Thanks, I will remove SBR from the list and do my best to remind everyone that these other people are traitors to their party every time any of them appear in the news.
I wonder why John Friend is treated like such an angel by the writer(s) of this publication when he is one of the pinky shake Democrats that should never be elected to ANY position again?
Glad the Weinzapfel puppet is gone. Oh, didn’t McNeely admit to the Courier and Press yesterday that he was a failure as party chairmen? When he didn’t stand up and take Weaver and Mosby to task when they went to the Mayors fundraiser that when he lost the support of loyal Democrats.
Oh, don’t forget he didn’t support Rick Davis for Mayor which started the problems between democrats. With this being said, I’m glad to see him resigning.
Until you start researching [new convention hotels] you have no idea how over sold this market is. There is a glut in the market that allows those seeking facilities for their convention to choose destinations that truly have something unique to offer.
Since the convention business was stated to be only 30% of the annual hotel business, why not build a smaller but perhaps more quality oriented hotel that offers an experience superior too the majority of local hotels, with the goal of increasing the daily room occupancy rates?
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Excellent IIT today. “pinky shake” LOL.
Chairman McNeely’s goal of reuniting the Evansville/Vanderburgh County Democractic party was a nobel and laudable goal. However, it may be beyond anyone’s leadership to reunite the party. There seem to be too many hard feelings on both sides and each faction of the party has the perspective of unforgivable sins committed by the other.
Vice-chairwoman Mary Hart and commissioner Melcher had the wisdom to stay neutral during the 2011 primary, so perhaps one of those two have the experience and reputation to lead the party back to a more united front.
I do not want to set off a firestorm but the name floating around town is none other than Weinzapfel’s water carrier Kieth Jarboe. How bout them bad apples?
Better yet, how about Wayne Parke. He is the most vocal supporter of Weinzapfel’s hotel debacle.
No, Wayne mister 10-1 election winner cannot be a closet democrat can he?
Pressanykey is correct and it doesn’t take a lot of research to find article after article about the downturn in the convention business. Do the hotel supporters have their heads in the sand or maybe they think that they are better promoters than the rest of the industry.
Replacement for McNeely:
SCOTT DANKS !!
I don’t think anyone was happier to see Owen leave than me (even more than Rick), but at this point I’m left wondering if it really matters. As long as the pinky shake Democrats are in control they will just keep putting the same type of people in office and it will be the same crap just with a different name.
I don’t think there needs to be an effort to join the two sides of the party back together. This schism was the best thing for Evansville because it broke up the monopoly of the machine. That’s also why I’m glad Dunn Hosp, the chamber, and the mayor are now on opposite sides. Hopefully, that’ll put an end to the monopoly on capital improvement projects the city undertakes as well.
Jack is a good guy and is a master at both creating and healing organizational strife … If he has given up on bringing the party back together I would venture to say that the damage caused by the Davis division could be a fatal event for Democratic politics in Evansville …. time will tell if Wayne’s skill will be able to capitalize on this opportunity to move Evansville back to the party of Connie Robinson, Gail Reiken, Eric Williams, Catherine Fanelo, John Friend, etc…. ‘s birth ….
Great, I wanted to try the sushi place. Oh well. Did they pay to tear down that nasty northside estabishment?
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