By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – He’s just a guy.

Over the years, I’ve run into Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay a few times.

John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

I don’t know him well, but I’ve been impressed the times I’ve been around him. He seemed like a sharp guy, a man with charm, smarts and drive.

Perhaps the best of those occasions was when I got to attend a sneak peak at the Indianapolis Museum of Art of the exhibition of Jack Kerouac’s original manuscript of “On the Road,” which Irsay had bought for $2.43 million. Years ago, I taught a course on Kerouac and the Beat Generation, so I have an understanding and appreciation for the novel. A few minutes conversation with Irsay about the writer revealed that, while the Colts owner may be a billionaire and an NFL powerhouse, he also was just a guy who loved a book and knew it well.

Just a guy.

When Jim Irsay was stopped for erratic driving near his home late Sunday night and police found four different controlled substances in his car, the chatter went into overdrive. There was speculation about what this would mean for the Colts, for the National Football League and for Indianapolis’s bid to host another Super Bowl.

There was not much thought given to what it might mean for the man.

From left, former Colts center Jeff Saturday, Colts owner Jim Irsay and Mark Miles, who headed up the city’s previous Super Bowl bid, talk during an announcement that the city will compete to host the game again in 2018. Photo by Jesse Wilson, TheStatehouseFile.com

We tend to think of wealth, power and prominence as forces that insulate human beings from trouble and misfortune. We tend to think that people with money, influence and fame can’t have doubts, can’t have weaknesses, can’t stumble, and can’t fall.

We tend to forget that a guy like Jim Irsay is, in fact, just a guy.

Right now, he seems to be a guy who’s dealing with some difficulties.

He’s going through a divorce. He and his estranged wife, Meg, married when he was 21. They have been separated for a decade, but it’s no easy thing to put an end to a marriage that has lasted for more than 30 years, produced children and, for all of his adult life, helped define who Jim Irsay is.

He also has some health troubles, a back and hip that don’t work quite the way they used to – typical stuff for middle-aged guys. Particularly middle-aged guys who used to be jocks and subjected their bodies to repeated poundings.

Colts owner Jim Irsay said at an announcement in 2012 that he would support and participate in another Super Bowl bid for Indianapolis. Photo by Kendra Rhonemus, The Statehouse File.

And he’s has a history, a father who had his own struggles with substances, a sister and a brother who died young, a fight with his stepmother over who would control the family business, which just happened to be a world-famous sports franchise.

And then there’s Jim Irsay’s own history, which is well-publicized. He’s admitted that he had a problem with prescription drugs in the past, one that brought him to the edge of serious legal trouble, but he’s said he dealt with it.

While it’s important to note here that Irsay hasn’t been convicted of anything – and if he can produce prescriptions for the four controlled substances, the felony charges go away – the notion that his drug problem was something he could put in the past tense might be part of the issue.

The really nasty thing about addiction is that it never goes away. Every day is another day to fight, another opportunity to slip and fall.

Perhaps Irsay has taken another stumble.

He certainly wouldn’t be the first guy to do so.

The difference between Jim Irsay and a lot of other guys is that hundreds of thousands of people are fans of his football team and the city is banking heavily on again landing the biggest event in the world of sports.

For those reasons, Irsay doesn’t get to make his mistakes in obscurity.

And, for those reasons, we sometimes forget that there’s a human being at the center of the sports franchise and the spectacle.

We forget that Jim Irsay is just a guy – a guy going through a rough patch.

He’ll either deal with his difficulties, make peace with his past and handle his health problems or he won’t – and he’ll continue to stumble.

In that way, Jim Irsay is just like the rest of us.

He’s just a guy.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

By Antonio Cordero
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Democratic auditor candidate Mike Claytor stood in front of the Indiana Department of Revenue on Thursday to talk about one of his main campaign goals: Equal rights for same-sex married couples.

Claytor, an accountant, focused on the tax policy set by the state Department of Revenue – and confirmed by the General Assembly – establishing that same-sex couples legally married in other states would not be allowed to file joint tax returns in Indiana. That’s even as those couples will be allowed to file federal tax returns jointly for the first time.

Instead, couples in Indiana will be required to file separate individual tax returns. That means same-sex married couples will need to start with a minimum of five different tax return forms, while heterosexual married couples only need two, Claytor said.

“Our state tax policy should not discriminate,” he said. “Filing your tax return should be an easy, streamlined process.”

Claytor is a candidate for the Democratic nomination for state auditor. The party’s nominee will be chosen at a convention this summer and no other Democrats are running.

Earlier this month, the General Assembly voted to keep Indiana’s tax system as is – despite the federal changes – to comply with the state law that doesn’t recognize same sex marriages performed in other states.

On Thursday, Claytor said that the Indiana Department of Revenue has not provided a worksheet to help same-sex couples file their taxes as Wisconsin and Michigan did. So Claytor created a worksheet to facilitate the transfer of information from the federal tax form to the state one. People interested can find it at www.claytor4auditor.com/worksheet.

“This worksheet will begin the process of alleviating some of the headache, by allowing couples to fill out four forms instead of five. I hope this helps, but we can’t stop here. We must encourage our state officials to rescind this discriminatory practice entirely,” Claytor said.

But Bob Dittmer, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Revenue, said the agency’s website — www.in.gov/dor/ – has plenty of information to help same-sex couples navigate the tax situation.

Dittmer said Indiana’s decision not to comply with the federal marriage rules won’t cost same-sex couples more money.

Claytor encouraged people who support equal rights to voice their concerns about the issue to Gov. Mike Pence.

“During this legislative session, we saw an all-out attack on equal rights,” Claytor said.

He also pointed to House Joint Resolution 3 – a proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage – as an example. He said it was the “focus of too much attention and reinforced legal discrimination in Indiana.”

A spokeswoman for state Auditor Suzanne Crouch referred questions about the issue to the Indiana Department of Revenue.

 Antonio Cordero is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College students.