Indiana

Saturday Morning Posts

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Apparently there were quite a few things that happened since yesterday.  Here they are.

The Marion County Property Tax Board of Appeals will vote Friday on approving about $63 million worth of tax appeals.  One property owner say a $9 million decrease in his original assessment.  And these are just the first batch.  No word yet on whether lawmakers will try to increase the tax rate to compensate for the loss in assessed value.

I hope the same people who’ve been Mayor Greg Ballard grief for not putting 100 extra cops on the street because there was no money will direct some of their “outrage” toward the Marion County Courts.  The extra criminal court that was supposed to help alleviate jail overcrowding by getting  more inmates through the system was never cretaed. Instead the Marion County judges created an extra family court to deal with the backlog of child custody and child support cases.  The judges have been engaging in better case management to deal with the jail overcrowding issue.  Let the outrage begin.

City-County Council Democrats have introduced an ordinance to delay passing the budget until November 17.  They argue Mayor Ballard should wait until the city has all the numbers regarding property tax assessments.

Marion County Democratic Chairman Ed Treacy apparently has been taking Enztye and has asked one of his members to step down for reportedly missing too much work.  Treacy put out a release saying County Surveyor Mary Catherine Barton should resign for not showing up to do her job.  Apparently Ed isn’t taking enough of the product because he’s never asked other Democrats who’ve either missed work or gotten in trouble with the law to step down.  And by the way, Barton lost slating isn’t running for re-election so she’ll be gone in January anyway.

And finally, what about the polls regarding the Governor’s race.  Here are the latest, believe the ones that reinforce your political world view..

• Daniels - 46, JLT - 42 (MoE - 4%), Indy Star.
• Daniels - 56, JLT - 40 (MoE - 4.5%), Rasmussen.
• Daniels - 52, JLT - 31, (MoE - 3.5 %) Bellwether Research.

My personal opinion is that the race is probably more 53-46 or 54-45, Daniels.  Which is about what he won the last time around.  The word on the street from political insiders is that “everyone knows who’s going to win, now we’re all just betting on the margins.”

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on September 20, 2008 (boomark / email).