
IS IT TRUE January 9, 2014
IS IT TRUE the four official endorsed candidates by Wayne Parke the Chairman of the Vanderburgh County Republican Party took a trip to the Civic Center yesterday to formalize their candidacies?…incumbent County Commissioner Marsha Abell who is facing a primary challenge when asked by Tri-State Homepage why she was running stated, “No, it doesn’t change my campaign at all. I’m running because I’m good for the office, and I’m running for myself and Vanderburgh County. I’m not running against anyone?”…this one will play out for all to see as Bruce Ungenthiem and Marsha have had a battle of the ballot box before during the consolidation referendum?…Ungenthiem led CORE handed Abell, Winnecke, Kasha, and the rest of the pro-consolidation movement a whipping they will never forget?…we will all know in the next several months just how much the residue of consolidation and the recently announced naming rights deal for the Centre that really is not a naming rights deal at all will play out among registered Vanderburgh County Republicans?…the real item of interest will be “if Ungenthiem wins the Republican primary, will Abell supporter Parke throw his support to Ungenthiem against a Democrat challenger?â€
IS IT TRUE Knight Township Trustee Kathryn Martin received what amounts to a de-facto endorsement from the Vanderburgh County Republican Party for her re-election campaign as a Democrat this week when they tried to entice her to change parties?…Chairman Parke has gotten lots of heat over this move that he did not personally participate in but the reality of the situation is that Kathryn has done a masterful job in cleaning the mess that her predecessor left at the trustee’s office?…in the business world the best place to go to hire a good person to any job is to a successful competitor?…that is precisely what the Vanderburgh County Republicans did by trying to get Ms. Martin to switch parties?…the winners here are Kathryn Martin and the people of Knight township?…with the de-facto endorsement of the opposition party and the certain endorsement of the Democrat party, Martin should have a cakewalk against any strawman candidate the Republicans may choose to run against her?…if there is indeed a Republican candidate that opposes Martin that person will be the Republican’s SECOND CHOICE for this elected position?
IS IT TRUE that the whole issue of selling the naming rights to the Centre has been of interest since during the entire existence of the Centre no one has come forward to buy the flagship marquee?…if the naming rights are really worth $14 Million for 30 years then the County Commissioners during the last 10+ years have been derelict in their duties by not selling this valuable brick billboard to someone?…if however this is a big smokescreen the responsible parties are off the hook?…the downtown Mole Nation tells the CCO that the responsibility for selling these naming rights was placed with SMG years ago by the County Commissioners and that they have attracted NO TAKERS?…the whole deal bears much need for scrutiny by the shareholders of the Old National Bank as paying this much for a commodity proven to have no value needs to be examined before going forward?
IS IT TRUE when the downtown convention hotel groundbreaking was postponed the first estimate of delay given by Mayoral Chief of Staff Steve Schaefer was 2 weeks, quickly followed up by Mayor Winnecke in an interview with WFIE to be a month, but the reality is these guys really don’t know?…the back peddling after the “irrational exuberance†of prematurely scheduling the golden shovel moment is becoming laughable?…when one reads statements from yesterday that say “Officials say it’s hard to have a groundbreaking when you can’t get the shovel in the ground†coming from the same mouths that scheduled this circus on the coldest day of the year, one has to wonder if the temperature in the Civic Center has gotten so cold that the electrical impulses needed to think are not functional?…there are problems with the lot and the golden shovel moment needs to be delayed until the problems have been solved, the permits are approved, and all financing is in place?…if that pushes the opening date beyond the 2015 election cycle then so be it?…Evansville has waited over 5 years for this golden shovel event and another quarter or two will make no real difference?…doing things right would have constituted testing and characterizing the lot 5 years ago?…as we have come to expect, no planning has been done this time either?