Click Here to Download the Safety Board Minutes from 12/21/2011
AG seeks to intervene in appeal of Governor deposition order
Zoeller: A dangerous precedent for future officeholders if ruling stands
Today Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller took action to appeal a court ruling last week that ordered the Governor to give a deposition in a civil lawsuit. State law prohibits a civil deposition of a Governor about his official duties, Zoeller contended in court papers today that ask the court to allow the Attorney General to intervene in the appeal.
“Requiring any sitting Governor to appear for a deposition would set a dangerous legal precedent for state officeholders and constitutes a threat to the separation of the coequal branches of government. A statute on the books for more than a century shields any Governor from testifying, so the trial court’s interpretation should be reviewed by a higher court before the overall lawsuit proceeds,†Zoeller said, noting the Attorney General’s Office has the responsibility for representing all state elected officials and all branches of state government.
On December 15, a Marion County Superior Court judge issued an order requiring Governor Mitch Daniels to testify in a deposition in a lawsuit and countersuit between the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA) and IBM over a canceled contract for welfare-delivery services. A deposition is sworn testimony with cross-examination taken outside of court.
FSSA is represented by outside counsel in both lawsuits and seeks to stay, or prevent, the deposition from taking place and to appeal the deposition order to an appellate court. The Attorney General filed a motion and brief today seeking to intervene in the case and represent the Office of the Governor institutionally during the appeal of the deposition order only. Today’s filings set forth the Attorney General’s legal position for why an immediate appeal should be allowed.
The FSSA and Attorney General seek to certify the deposition order for interlocutory appeal, meaning they ask the lower court to allow its ruling to be reviewed by a higher court – either the Indiana Court of Appeals or directly to the Indiana Supreme Court. If a stay is granted, no deposition of the Governor would take place in the FSSA-IBM lawsuits in the meantime. Once the appellate court rules on the legality of the deposition order, then the case would be sent back to the trial court where proceedings would resume in the overall lawsuit and countersuit.
Judge David Dreyer has not ruled yet on the Attorney General’s motions.
EVPL locations closed for holidays
December 21, 2011 – Evansville, IN – All eight Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library locations will be closed for the upcoming holidays.
All locations will be closed Saturday, December 24th – Monday, December 26th for Christmas and Saturday, December 31st – Monday, January 2nd for New Year’s.
Customers can access EVPL information, downloadable materials, and databases anytime at evpl.org.
Downtown Today: 12/22/2011
Time 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM
Subject BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
Location 301
Recurrence Occurs every Thursday effective 12/1/2011 until 12/29/2011 from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM
Reminder 15 minutes
Sharon Evans @ 4982
Categories ROOM 301
Time 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Subject LICENSE & DISCIPLINARY BOARD
Location 318
Recurrence Occurs the fourth Thursday of every 1 month effective 12/22/2011 until 12/22/2011 from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM
Reminder 15 minutes
LINDA PENDELTON@ 7880
Categories ROOM 318
Law of Agendas for ERC Special Meetings
The Applicable Law:
I.C. 5-14-1.5-5 of the Indiana Open Door law provides that if the ERC intends to utilize an Agenda and does in fact utilize an Agenda for the Special Meeting, it must post a copy of the Agenda at the entrance to the meeting room location prior to such Special Meeting.
Attorney’s Opinion
I believe the ERC is not required by law to actually state the purpose of the Special Meeting prior to such meeting unless it is set forth in the Agenda, which must then be posted on the meeting room door prior to the Special Meeting.
Comment
The ERC has an opportunity to be transparent with the people of Evansville but is deliberately choosing not to be. The law does not require that they post any agenda period with respect to this special meeting and they are hiding behind that law. Just because it is legal does not make it right. There is much public interest in two items and those are of course the McCurdy and the downtown hotel. The courtesy of agenda line items is the least that we as citizens and taxpayers should expect from these appointed officials.
What we get however is the equivalent of a middle finger and a condescending stare from what has become a tribunal of foolish arrogance. SNEGAL was invented for these people and the puppet master that pulls their strings.
IS IT TRUE? December 21, 2011 “Will there be Charges Filed over this Bull?”
IS IT TRUE? December 21, 2011
IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission has called a “special meeting†for December 28th, 2011 at 10 AM in Room #307 of the Civic Center?…that no agenda has been released so we must engage in some speculation?…that maybe we will learn the identity of the “MAGICAL MYSTERY DEVELOPER†that supposedly already has a contract in place to assume the agreement between the ERC and City Centre Properties LLC to turn the Vintage McCurdy Hotel into an apartment building?…that the ERC would have to give their blessing to any such agreement and maybe 5th 3rd Bank who holds the first mortgage would too?
IS IT TRUE that it would be even more sinister after Christa Lockyear stood on behalf of the Kunkel Group before the Evansville City Council Monday night stating that the details of a binding contract would occur under the Winnecke Administration turns out to be incorrect?…that there are those who expect that a binding agreement will be jammed through before the end of the year and this may only surprise the 8 members of the Evansville City Council who pulled the wool over their own eyes by voting for the supposed “unnecessary, non-binding, resolution with no legal standing†on Monday night?…that only Republican City Councilman Dan McGinn had the presence of mind and good sense to call for the resolution to be brought before the 2012 City Council?…that if the ERC meeting turns out to be for the purpose of announcing a signed binding agreement that there will be absolutely no credibility left for the 4 departing and 4 returning members of the 2011 Evansville City Council?
IS IT TRUE that Mole #13 has told us from a high level of authority that the Department of Justice has been in Evansville conducting an investigation of the hiring practices of the Weinzapfel Administration in the Evansville Police Department and the Evansville Fire Department?…that these investigations have been going on without much fanfare for roughly one year?…that this news is worthy of mass media and paparazzi but we are willing to bet that not a TV station or the Courier will have the courage to report this news?
IS IT TRUE that this is yet another BALL AND CHAIN hoisted onto the Winnecke Administration by the sloppiness and secrecy of the Weinzapfel Administration?…that the collateral damages are starting to stack up as incoming Police Chief Billy Bolin and Fire Chief Mike Connelly getting fitted for their first BALL AND CHAIN that is not related to their core jobs?…that we would all be better off if the entire Weinzapfel Administration would just go to sleep for the next 10 days?
IS IT TRUE that President Barack Obama on a recent segment of “60 Minutes†when asked to reflect on his presidency so far volunteered where he thinks his administration ranks against other presidents?…that in the foreign policy department President Obama ranks himself somewhere in the top four and only mentioned the possibility that Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, and Lyndon Johnson as “possible†equals?…that President Obama is really putting himself into the winners circle with some presidents who have stood the test of time and in the cases of FDR and Lincoln who were literally cast into situations where the truly transformed or saved the United States?…that many would say that President Obama needs to have his “MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL†moment with a more realistic version of self evaluation?…that it has been opined many times that President Obama was elected to repair the economy which he really can’t claim much tangible progress with?…that the most memorable magic trick is the one where “creating jobs†miraculously morphed into the term “saved or created jobs†so the president with a healthy ego can claim to have saved pretty much any job that he choose to?
Redevelopment Commission Calls Special Meeting for December 28th
Today notices went out announcing a special meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission has been called for December 28, 2011 at 10 AM in Room 307 in the Civic Center.
No agenda has been released.