IS IT TRUE October 31, 2012
IS IT TRUE that the Ford Center project audit is finally going to happen according to Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke?…the Mayor received notification yesterday from Bruce Hartman, who is the head of the State Board of Accounts that the request for the SBOA audit that was made in the summer will be honored?…there is no time line available on when the audit will start or when it will finish?…it leads one o wonder that other than curiosity and the chance that another $1.6 Million will be found under a rock just what actionable information could come from this audit?…this could and should have been done all along and could even have been available before the election?…strategically speaking the timing could not have been better to mitigate any risks that the audits findings will impact any election at all?…that how the City of Evansville conducts its business is quite important in the decisions that people of the entire county are making on how to vote in the referendum on consolidation?
IS IT TRUE that buried in the details of the recent campaign finance disclosure form that expenditures were made of two polls on behalf of the YES Team?…YES (approval of consolidation) has been reported by several MOLES to have been running nearly 20 points behind the NO Team that calls itself CORE?… the same MOLES have reported and the disclosure confirms that YES spent about $100,000 of their over $300,000 war chest that was sent down through the local Chamber on local advertising?…that the second poll that was run after the $100,000 was invested in ads found that YES has only closed the gap by a couple of percent that left the YES Team trailing the NO Team by over 15 points?
IS IT TRUE that the MOLE NATION tells us that someone at the state level said pull the plug on the TV budget and withdraw the remaining dollars that were made available to close the gap at the end of the campaign?… that local YES officials were not pleased with this decision and tried to push the issue, saying that was meant to budget the TV campaign, and was told “No!, why spend another dime to lose when the first $100,000 only moved the vote by a couple of points?â€â€¦the CCO is shocked at the magnitude of the gap reported by our MOLE NATION and while we have done no polls ourselves were expecting a very tight race with both sides still having a decent probability for a win next Tuesday?…if the MOLES are correct about these POLLS that it should be obvious as the pullback in local advertising should be visible to those who watch local TV stations or maintain awareness of other advertising efforts?
IS IT TRUE that the CCO has maintained all along that consolidation is a good idea but that the plan that we are voting on is a toothless plan that actually forbids even touching the lowest hanging fruit for finding efficiency in government?…that a paltry savings of only about $750,000 only represents 0.2% of the combined current City-County budgets?…these are the budgets that are already over 50% higher per capita than peer cities that offer similar services?…if consolidation goes down at the ballot box the YES Team which has done a very professional job can pin the tail on that donkey of a consolidation committee that concocted a plan that was toothless and a vote without threshold rejection for both the City and County residents?…the CCO believes that if the consolidation provided for threshold rejection and identified some respectful amount of savings from consolidation like 10% ($36 Million) that this would be passing by a 20 point margin instead of struggling against an underfunded opposition?
IS IT TRUE that if and we still do mean if consolidation fails that should he City of Evansville go on an annexation binge that the only winners will be attorneys and that the well for working together will be poisoned by such aggressive tactics?…if one believes in the concept of consolidation as the CCO does and believes it to be appropriate for the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County that the best course of action going forward after a loss by the forces for YES will be to immediately form a new consolidation committee with a goal to find 10% savings and to spare no sacred cows?…after that is finished another referendum can be held in 2015 or so with threshold rejection so the entire county can work together willingly to make this a better place?…if no committee can muster the courage or the brainpower to find tangible and achievable savings that consolidation would be best served to wait until a group of leaders come forward with the brains and courage that it will take to forge an alliance of skeptics?