IS IT TRUE that Anna Melcher will file for 3rd Ward City Council seat at 3:30 tomorrow afternoon? …Anna has the current 3rd Ward Councilwoman’s full support.  …that Anna is married to Vanderburgh County Commissioner Steve Melcher?

IS IT TRUE we just learned that highly respected and dedicated Vice Chairwoman of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party Central Committee Becky Kasha has just resigned her position?  …we are hearing that Mrs. Kasha resigned her GOP position because of a disagreement between her and Party Chairman Wayne Parke?   …we wish Becky Kasha  well and like to congratulate her for during an outstanding job for the Vanderburgh County Republican Party Central Committee?

IS IT TRUE we found Evansville Courier Editor Tim Etheridge’s Sunday Editorial extremely interesting?…that Mr. Etheridge spoke of disrespect shown by City Council members and City Attorney Scott Danks to Marco DeLucio, a City Administration Attorney and Chief of Staff Steve Schaefer?…the details are following but the ultimate disrespect is to withhold material information or to present a false narrative about an investment?…that part is material and chewing gum, rolling of eyes, or calling someone by their first name is not?

IS IT TRUE that the Editor of the Courier and Press indicated in his weekly editorial that Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley referred to Mayoral Chief of Staff Steve Schaefer by his last name was disrespectful?…while this manner of addressing the Chief of Staff may be outside of the bounds of Robert’s Rules of Order, we at the CCO watched this interaction and did not think there was any disrespect intended?…respect is a two way street and intentional disrespect has been directed toward Councilwoman Riley by Mr. Schaefer outside of the Council chambers on a number of occasions over the past few years when she exposed the Earthcare Energy LLC debacle for what it was?…it was Mr. Schaefer who aggressively demanded that the $200,000 up front payment to Earthcare be made without giving the City Council the courtesy of notice?…respect, is earned?…going behind the City Council’s back to hand a check to a group that was never vetted was about as disrespectful as it gets?…while we agree that using a last name may infer disrespect it may also infer familiarity as we have often heard Controller Russ Lloyd called “Russ” and Councilman Adams called “Doc” in the Council Chamber?…we wish for a day when the Office of the Mayor and the City Council have earned respect for one another as people and not just for the purpose of honoring an office without regard for the occupant?

IS IT TRUE that the remarks made by Editor Etheridge that City Council Attorney Scott Danks was lambasting the Administration Attorney Marco DeLucio is laughable?…we must advise Mr. Etheridge that we have heard many positive comments concerning the way City Council Attorney Scott Danks’ being assertive about asking pointed questions of the Mayor’s Chief of Staff at the last Council meeting?…we also hope that City Council Attorney Danks will continue to demand answers from the Mayor’s Chief of Staff, and we hope Mr. Schaefer provides the answers?…the question regarding how much actual money that Old National Bank will be paying for the naming rights is public information as the public is a co-investor in the project?…to assert that it is not our business as citizens makes no more sense than it would for ONB CEO Bob Jones to refuse to let one shareholder know the equity held by another shareholder?

IS IT TRUE we do agree with the Courier Editor that Mayor Winnecke was sitting in his office across the hall from City Council chambers so as to let Mr. Schaefer take his licks for him rather than emerging to explain his actions directly to City Council himself?…we have learned after watching the Mayor over the last 3 years that his governing style isn’t open and honest dialogue with City Council or the public?…the Mayor’s preferred communication style is to use controlled press releases styled by his “Minister of Propaganda”?

IS IT TRUE that Editor Etheridge spoke about Councilwoman Connie Robinson, who represents a mostly African-American ward, who voted against a qualified African-American candidate for one of two seats on the Evansville Redevelopment Commission?…we are glad she did not vote for the qualified African-American gentleman who was nominated by City Councilman Jonathan Weaver just to embarrass Councilwoman Robinson?…it is important to point out that Weaver’s attempt to put Councilwoman Robinson in an awkward racial and political position has back fired?…we predict that Councilman Weaver’s attempt to put Mrs. Robinson in a racial and political bind may have cost him from winning the powerful 4th Ward in his re-election bid?…if a Democratic At-Large candidate can’t win the 4th Ward they shall most likely lose the election?…we are extremely pleased that City Council elected Cheryl Musgrave as one of the ERC Commissioners and expect her to inject sanity and reason into what has been a rubber stamp for the last two Mayors to the point of incompetence?

IS IT TRUE we would like the first question that City Council asks the Mayor (if he decides to attend) or his Chief of Staff at the next City Council the following question?  …the question is, “has HCW received a formal License/Franchise agreement approval from Hilton Hotel National office?” …if the answer is yes please provide City Council with detailed written documents when HCW received this approval and signed the agreement from Hilton Hotel’s National office to build a downtown Hilton sponsored Hotel?…if there is no such document we think that an apology is in order and the truth needs to come out as to why we have been told by both HCW and Mayor Winnecke that this critical step in the financing process was misrepresented in several public forums?…the question of the year may just turn out to be “Did both Mayor Winnecke and HCW intentionally misrepresent the status of the franchise agreement, or did HCW lie to Mayor Winnecke who then parroted that misrepresentation to the people of Evansville?”…the one thing that is not in dispute is the fact that material information has been withheld from the funding agency (City Council) and other critical conditions have been intentionally released that were incorrect?…that Mr. Etheridge is the very definition of disrespect?…you may call someone by my last name anytime you like, but if you lie to someone about an investment in the real world that is called investment fraud?…investment fraud is both disrespectful and illegal?

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