Posted by the CCO without edit, opinion, or bias

Letter to the Editor: Is Bribery Running Rampant in Evansville Politics?

Dear Editor,

It has now been more than a week since I made my first phone call to Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann. I wanted to know whether there was any follow up investigation into a bribe which allegedly took place over the course of the downtown hotel debacle. Although ample opportunity has been given for Mr. Hermann to respond to my inquiries, alarmingly I have heard nothing from him in this regard. As a consequence, I am resorting to my next method of recourse – this letter to you, dear Editor.

I like to think of myself as a reasonable man. I am not usually impetuous or impulsive in my actions. I try my best to champion reason and eschew irrationality whenever possible, but some things have come to light of which I believe the people of Vanderburgh County deserve to be privy.

In the course of the recent hotel debate, I personally know of one, and have heard from reliable sources that two more incidents of bribery took place involving three different Evansville City Council Members.

According to information I received directly from one such Council Member, at least one of these bribery attempts was reported to Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Nick Hermann. In this alleged bribery attempt, the perpetrator, a “friend” of this Council Member, offered $50,000 and an assurance of no contest in the next election if said Member voted “yes” to the, then, $37.5 million subsidy package for the downtown hotel deal. This alleged bribe came at a time in the process when it was looking to most savvy observers as if one vote would swing the outcome.

Although the Council Member in this incident insists the alleged bribe could have been a “joke”, she felt it was serious enough to report to some authority “just in case”. To this end, according to her, she reported the alleged bribe attempt to County Prosecutor Nick Hermann. In this decision, the Council Member must be applauded. She obviously did the right thing in reporting the incident to one whom she felt was a proper authority.

While I realize this alleged bribe by an admitted friend has placed this Council Member in a difficult moral position, and while I also realize this letter, if published, might add to that discomfort, I do not believe it a betrayal of her confidence to disclose that the name of the Council Member in this alleged incident is Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, Councilwoman from Evansville’s Ward 3.

I believe the people of Evansville deserve to know, if not WHO made the alleged bribe attempt, whether this matter is being taken seriously by the proper authorities to whom the incident was disclosed. It was in pursuit of this latter end that my phone calls to the office of Nick Hermann were made, and it has been to my great disappointment my inquiries thus far have gone without reply.

Perhaps most shockingly of all, as I alluded to above, this was not the only incident of bribery rumored to have taken place over the course of the hotel debacle. Two other incidents have been rumored as well – both involving other Council Members, both involving an attempt to influence the outcome of the vote, and both attempting to influence the vote to the negative. According to one rumor, a Council Member was threatened with a negative repercussion to their business if they did not vote “no”. In the other, the Council Member was offered free advertising in an area print publication throughout their next campaign for office in exchange for a “no” vote.

While I was an opponent of the deal involving a $37.5 million subsidy, I am even more vehemently opposed to the idea that bribery is a legitimate means in the pursuit of political ends. Likewise, I am opposed to the seeming lack of serious attention being given these rampant allegations of bribery in our local political process.

While I must commend Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley for her courage and prudence in reporting her incident to the County Prosecutor, I have to question whether this incident has been properly investigated given the fact the public has heard nothing about it. The failure of Prosecutor Nick Hermann to return my phone calls doesn’t bolster my confidence in the investigative process. Furthermore, I must question, if the rumors in the other two incidents are true, why didn’t they get reported to the proper authorities as well? While it is not specifically a crime in the State of Indiana to fail to disclose bribery attempts, such failure is illegal in many other states, and at the very least, I’m sure we can all agree, it constitutes an ethical lapse unbecoming an official holding the public’s trust.

So, dear Editor, in closing I urge all public officials to follow the example of Councilwoman Brinkerhoff-Riley and promptly report any perceived attempts at bribery and to always recuse themselves from votes in which they hold a business interest, however remote. I call upon County Prosecutor Nick Hermann to update the public on any ongoing investigations involving bribery of public officials in Vanderburgh County. And I leave you with the words of former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare John Gardner: “Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.”

With Sincerest Thanks,

Brad Linzy

By Jesse Wilson
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Lincoln State Park in Southern Indiana will be expanding its total size by 180 acres thanks to the Bicentennial Nature Trust.

A dedication including Gov. Mike Pence will take place Wednesday at the park. The celebration will include a mile long hike called “Walk A Mile With Mike” in which participants will walk and talk with the governor.

“Abraham Lincoln spent his formative years right here in Spencer County,” Pence said in a statement. “Reflecting on his monumental contributions to our state and nation, I think it’s a fitting tribute that we set aside this land he knew as a boy in honor of our state’s Bicentennial Celebration.”

The park – already 1,747 acres – will gain land both to the west and south of the park as well as adding a mile of new hiking trails.

“This addition to Lincoln State Park underlines the 2016 Bicentennial Commission’s commitment to nature conservation in Indiana,” said former Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman.

Skillman and former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton are the co-chairs of the Bicentennial Commission, which oversees the Bicentennial Nature Trust.

First lady Karen Pence is the ambassador to the commission.

“We look forward to hearing and celebrating many more success stories for the Bicentennial Nature Trust in the months and years to come,” Hamilton said.

Former Gov. Mitch Daniels launched the Bicentennial Nature Trust using $20 million in state funds and $10 million from the Lilly Endowment. The goal is to expand trails, conservation areas and recreation sites.

So far, the commission has approved 59 projects and 19 have been completed for a total of 2,591 acres.

Jesse Wilson is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com
John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – The coming battle over same-sex marriage in Indiana may give social conservatives some taste of what it’s like to be gay.

It may show them what it’s like to be marginalized.

In just the past few days, the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce and Indiana University, the state’s largest institution of higher education, have come out against putting a ban against same-sex unions into the Indiana Constitution. The opposition to the constitutional ban from the chamber and IU is in sync with the drumbeat of opposition to the measure from many of the state’s largest employers.

The news of the Indy chamber’s opposition, in particular, prompted a note of petulance from supporters of the ban.

“The myth that public policy support is somehow bad for business is nothing more than a red herring and a scare tactic,” said American Family Association of Indiana Executive Director Micah Clark, who knows something about scare tactics.

Clark also tried to wave the populist pitchfork by adding that the “future of marriage belongs in the hands of Indiana voters, not the board room of the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce.”

(At this point, I should disclose that I once was the executive director of what was then the Indiana Civil Liberties Union, which on my watch challenged the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.)

If Clark’s tone sounded somewhat aggrieved, it’s because he’s facing opposition from quarters he previously considered friendly. That opposition is leaving him and other social conservatives feeling increasingly isolated.

In fact, this whole battle is beginning to resemble a large-scale family quarrel. By Indiana law, the Indiana General Assembly must vote in favor of amending the ban into the Indiana Constitution in this upcoming legislative session so that the measure can go onto the ballot for the state’s voters to decide next autumn. If the lawmakers don’t vote in favor of the measure – or if they alter it in any way – the state’s ponderous constitutional amendment process starts all over again.

Because Republicans control the governor’s office and have super majorities in both the Indiana Senate and the Indiana House of Representatives, this largely will be a squabble between the two big wings of the GOP.

Clark and his fellow social conservatives, who supply a lot of the party’s activist energy and drive, want the ban. Business leaders, who provide most of the party’s money, don’t want the ban because they think it will be a drag on the state’s economic growth.

Being shunned by members of their own team – being told, in fact, that something that means a great deal to them is damaging to the state – doubtless is an unpleasant experience for Indiana’s culture warriors.

That may give them an insight into what it has meant to be gay for much of this state’s and this country’s history.

It will teach them what it’s like to have their needs neglected, their concerns ignored and their views disregarded by their fellow citizens simply because of who they are. It will enlighten social conservatives about what it’s like to have their “lifestyle” – there is no other word that can mock in such a subtle and cruel manner, as if it were a fashion statement, something as important as one’s love or faith – disparaged.

In short, it will teach social conservatives what it feels like to be treated as second-class citizens in a state and nation in which citizenship isn’t supposed to be structured on a tier system.

We’re all supposed to have the same rights.

In a kind and sane world, the insights social conservatives could gain from this experience of marginalization might lead to empathy.

And empathy might lead to understanding.

This, though, is not a kind or sane world – at least in regard to this issue. That means that, faced with what they’re likely to see as abandonment and betrayal from people they once saw as allies and partners, social conservatives are likely to run a different gamut of emotions.

Bewilderment will beget resentment. Resentment will beget anger. And anger will beget bitterness.

Perhaps not coincidentally, gay Hoosiers and gay Americans know something about those feelings, too.

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