IS IT TRUE it has been reported that Evansville City Council President John Friend is calling for the resignation of Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley as the Council Vice President?…this comes a week after Brinkerhoff-Riley’s controversial recording of an exit conference about the city’s 2012 audit with the State Board of Accounts?…the Mole Nation has accurately reported that Friend had spoken with Councilwoman Riley on Friday and that the content of the meeting was to have been how those two could manage to work together if at all?…Friend apparently could not wait for common protocol to play itself out and is now telling Channel 25 that he had asked Brinkerhoff-Riley to resign as vice president by Memorial Day?…sources tell us that Friend does not have the votes required on the council to get rid of Councilwoman Riley so it looks like he is resorting to a TV campaign to try and get rid of her?…if anyone should know the possible side effects of a leak driven campaign to smear someone it should be Councilman Friend who was pilloried in the press for driving his boat under the influence of alcohol last summer after spending the night in the Benton jail?…any future candidate to oppose John Friend for any office has a ready made campaign at their fingertips if they just use that tool known as Google?

IS IT TRUE the secret recording of the exit conference according to Friend might make the city look less than attractive to potential businesses looking to bring jobs to the City of Evansville?…the last time we heard this whole line of nonsense was recently when voting on subsidies for a downtown hotel and the IU Medical School?…Friend, Mayor Winnecke, and several others blow the “can’t attract jobs unless ________” dog whistle every time they don’t get their way?…that old worn out dog whistle has actually been used on Councilman Friend recently when Mayor Winnecke’s minions blew the “if you kill Earthcare deal we won’t be able to attract jobs” whistle his way?…there are reasons that some businesses will come to Evansville and there are reasons some won’t?…as long as the local workforce is a willing supplier of Midwestern voices and slightly more than the minimum wage, the call centers will keep coming?…as long as it is a daunting challenge to hire a large engineering team and raise investment dollars, the high tech start up talent will keep on leaving?

IS IT TRUE Evansville’s difficulty with attracting good jobs that employ young educated professionals is more about what Evansville is than what people are willing to work for?…Evansville, in spite of the recent 0.006% population increase when people are pinned in their devalued homes is not a particularly attractive place to young educated professionals or educated professionals period for a number of reasons the CCO has written about many times?…a Google search reveals that a significant part of the community is plagued by sewer overflows due to a legacy of neglect?…a similar search unearths a City that can not balance its books, mow its parks, keep drug addicts needles out of children’s sand boxes, a government that tried to kill the Homestead Tax Credit in a closed door meeting, a mediocre public school system, and a host of other things that educated people silently choose to stay away from?…if the people who are educated and talented who have left Evansville could all vote in the next election we would probably see massive rejection of incumbents including John Friend and Mayor Winnecke?…their power depends somewhat on low turnouts of low information voters and the results are predictable?

IS IT TRUE Councilman Friend may just learn if he polled a significant number of former residents that Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley may just enjoy a large following who admire her work to expose the Earthcare Energy deal that sucked the City Council in like kids are sucked in by carnival barkers and her willingness to expose the potential for whitewashing of a state audit?…these words should be familiar to Councilman Friend and he will recognize them as coming from someone who trusted him to be a custodian of critical information?

“This is for safe keeping and transcription in case the audit is whitewashed. It may even be useful to get it out there before any whitewashing can be done. I wanted you all to have it in case I have a problem with my computer. If the audit gets whitewashed it needs to be exposed and some heads need to roll.”

IS IT TRUE, the very next day the media circus and the witch hunt began?…we must ask, who started the media circus and the witch hunt and for what purpose?…someday we hope the real reasons are exposed?…if Councilman Friend would have kept the trust of the author of that italicized email, the media circus would have never happened and the recording would have not been released?

IS IT TRUE we just posted a new Readers Poll and would like for you to read and cast your vote on the question?