As for the curious entry of Local Union Boss Mr. Jack McNeely into the inside world of Democratic candidates for Mayor of Evansville, we can only ask why? Is it because Mayor Weinzapfel appointed him to the Board of Directors of the City of Evansville’s Public Works Department with an annual stipend of $3,199.00? Is it because as was reported today that many of the $525,000 dollars in Mayor Weinzapfel’s war chest came from the brotherhood of unions? Is it because he believes that Rick Davis is going to exercise independent judgment as the Mayor of Evansville that is less controllable? We at the CCO are confused by Mr. McNeely’s position as both the Mayor and Treasurer Davis seem to be equal supporters of local collective bargaining units. In every poll that has been running this week Rick Davis has been selected over Mayor Weinzapfel. It is highly probable that Mr. Davis will become the Democratic candidate for Mayor of Evansville. The City County Observer questions the wisdom of Mr. McNeely’s irrational response to a man who has a very legitimate chance to be the next Mayor of Evansville. Perhaps a Republican candidate will emerge that Mr. McNeely is more comfortable with than he is with Mr. Davis as his criticisms were quite severe.
Journalism depends on consistent and reliable sources such as the City County Observer’s Mole #3 who says that if Rick Davis stays in the race for Mayor of Evansville that Jonathon Weinzapfel will not announce his candidacy for that office. He will be more likely to enter the private sector or run for higher office. Mole #3 (Nostradamus of local politics) furthermore predicts that the Democratic primary for Mayor of Evansville will pit Rick Davis against County Commissioner Troy Tornatta, who is currently in a political dog fight to keep his office as the Democratic incumbent against Marsha Abell. That is a story for another day.
The chain of events that led to Mr. Davis’s announcement if nothing else certainly put the Democratic Party leadership, union leadership, and Mayor Weinzapfel on the defensive. Quite frankly, the Mayor and his supporters are acting more like challengers than an incumbent. All of this is coming from a person who has never publicly expressed an interest in running for Mayor of Evansville again. Mayor Weinzapfel has recently had his eye on the offices of Governor or Lt. Governor in Indianapolis as his next objective. The City County Observer is confused over why such an over the top reaction came from the Mayor’s supporters. We are also confused on the Mayor’s silence on the issue while his known supporters are rattling their sabers.
The City County Observer is beginning to finally see some change coming to Evansville. Those changes are within the Democratic Party and they have been needed for decades. It appears as though the torch that should have been passed to a new generation of progressive thinkers long ago is not being passed at all. That torch is either being forcefully taken from the dying hands of an aging machine or maybe that machine just misplaced its torch and the Kennedy Club with Rick Davis as a leader has retrieved it to carry it to higher place. That higher place will hopefully be a place without an entitlement mentality of office holders and is devoid of political patronage positions that are used to keep the herd inside the fences.
Mr. Davis has certainly not been welcomed with the open arms of Central Committee of the Democratic Party. He has however excited the silent majority of Vanderburgh County Democrats who are rallying around his candidacy. That excitement is being expressed from the from halls of the Civic Center to the boothless street of the Fall Festival and like it or not Mayor Weinzapfel and his political operatives are going to have to accept that Rick Davis is a power to be reckoned with.
In conclusion this editorial should be interpreted as a political endorsement. We endorse freedom of speech, freedom of choice, and the right to choose. Rick Davis and any other aspiring candidate for public office has the constitutional right to choose when, where, and how to enter a race without getting permission from any incumbent, party chairman, political action committee, major contributors, or union bosses before doing so. It is up to the candidates to choose when to run and the people to choose their elected officials by having free elections. We say Run Rick Run, Run Troy Run, Run McGinn Run, Run Lloyd Run, Run Winnecke Run, and for that matter Run Jonathon Run. Thanks to the founding fathers of the United States of America that the final decision is still in the hands of the voting citizens.
