Why John Gregg Lost

As promised earlier this month. INDY REPUBLICAN is giving it's own postmortem view as to why we all got the Governors race here in Indiana wrong. As we have stated here previously we had outlined Eric Holcomb's many weaknesses as a candidate. We stand by every word in those posts. But  as with all elections the Governors race did not occur in a vacuum. Outside events played a role in shaping the outcome of the race. Overall we feel that John Gregg ran a good campaign and Eric Holcomb didn't run the best campaign. However that being said there are several areas where the Indiana Democratic Party messed up with other races and that along with other factors is what allowed Gregg to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Gregg ran a good attack ad against Holcomb arguing about how Holcomb was selected by the State Republican apparatchiks and not by the voters. Which is a criticism of Holcomb we have made as well. But the fact that as we pointed out this summer is how democrats did the same thing when they dumped Baron Hill and replaced him with Evan Bayh to run for the Senate. So attacking the backroom deal way in which Holcomb was selected probably was diluted by the fact Democrats had done the same with the race for the Senate. Hence the attacks on Holcomb didn't land the punches they otherwise would have. Gregg did phenomenally well at fundraising. He raised almost as much as Mitch Daniels did in his 2004 race. We can understand Gregg's campaign being proud of this. However bragging about having raised this near record haul was not a good idea. Gregg's whole campaign was being pitched to the voters that he was a different kind of candidate, one who would bring together both parties, a candidate who was not a typical politician. That seemed to be working. When his campaign decided to boast of his fundraising this sent a message that he was just another politician interested only in raising money and also made him appear somewhat less than squeaky clean. Gregg did make mention briefly of Eric Holcomb's very nasty 2000 race for state representative. But did not elaborate or go in depth as to the details of that race. If he had pointed out how Holcomb had accused his opponent of promoting perversion. That would have seriously undermined old Eric. Since the voters were not given that information simply saying that Holcomb had engaged in one of the nastiest campaigns in state history did not give undecided voters any reason to either vote against Holcomb or to board the John Gregg express. Gregg was good at rebutting attacks on himself which is something most candidates are terrible at. He was not however as skilled at attacking Holcomb. Not that his attacks were bad it's just they should have been better. A experienced candidate like Gregg should have been aware of this. The first mention in campaign ads that Holcomb was the new candidate for Governor actually came from the Gregg campaign. Bad move. They should have let Holcomb be the one to make his first move. With Gregg in the unique position for a Indiana Democrat of having both more money and higher name recognition than his republican opponent. Gregg should have spent his time building himself up, campaigning non stop throughout the state, and until Holcomb was able to actually get his name out there, keep the race about why Gregg should be Governor. So that by the time that Holcomb would have been able to scrape enough money together to run ads. Gregg would have solidified his position even further and Holcomb would have had an even bigger problem. By mentioning Holcomb in an attack ad Gregg simply gave Holcomb free advertising and made Holcomb's name recognition go up. Yes it was bad publicity for Holcomb. But it got Holcomb's name out there and gave him a boost he desperately needed. Gregg should have not mentioned Holcomb period unless or until Holcomb had gotten his name out. Free piece of advice to all you aspiring candidates out there: Do not help your opponent in anyway! Don't attack them unless they give you reason to.

As to why we all felt so strongly that Gregg would win. Simply put given Gregg's skill at fundraising, his having campaigned for Governor for over a year versus Holcomb's three and a half months, combined with the fact that all polling up to that point had shown that Gregg was ahead. With the exception of a last minute Howey Politics poll that showed Gregg and Holcomb tied (more on that in a minute). The trend seemed to be breaking Gregg's way. Even Larry Sabato the great political scientist and publisher of The Crystal Ball thought Gregg would win. What all of us and Dr. Sabato missed is the last minute poll that showed Holcomb and Gregg tied 42-42 and the number of undecided voters having grown. This should have told us that Holcomb was improving his position, that Gregg was not, and with more undecideds that clearly signaled the race was tightening. Hillary Clinton certainly was a drag on Democrats and Trump's margin certainly helped some down ballot Republicans but at the end of the day. Gregg lost because he did not use his resources as well as he should have. If we were Indiana Democrats we would get rid of the dead weight at the top of the state party and work on winning races at the local and state legislative level. Also they need to start calling out the Republican Establishment and their many shortcomings rather than doing things like voting en mass with them to gut the State Board of Accounts! Yes they don't have enough votes now to do much but they can start to earn them by taking principled stands for good government! If they don't even complain about the RINO Establishment of Daniels-Holcomb and their shortcomings than they will not give voters any reason to vote for them. Hopefully we all have learned something valuable here. Mainly how not to fuck up a campaign!

Reasons to be thankful

We know it is hard for many of you to be hopeful at times like this. For we have to look forward to Eric "Bagman" Holcomb as Governor as well as Mike Pence as the next Vice-President of the United States. But there is a lot we all as Hoosiers and Americans have to be thankful for! For one thing we are Americans! We are citizens of the greatest country in human history! We have freedoms that are unparalleled throughout history! Ironically we the people have had these freedoms so long we have started to take them for granted and we are in danger of losing them. But we have them anyway. Yes it is true that Gary Welsh the great Titan of the Indiana Blogsphere passed way to soon. But we all need to be thankful for his contributions to this state and this nation. Thanks to him and Paul Ogden Dick Lugar and Evan Bayh are no longer rotting away in the Senate! Yes Misters Donnelly and Young are no prizes but at least it has been shown in politics that no one is invincible. Paul Ogden is still blogging all of us here have joined the cause as well! Inspired by Gary Welsh and Paul Ogden to be modern day troubadours to sing the songs of good government and freedom! Others here and there along the highways and byways will join us and ultimately we will succeed in making a more perfect state and a more perfect union! We must remember that although exposing corruption is one of our primary goals. In addition we must practice positive active goodness. Our enemies the Daniels, Bayh's, Holcomb's, Delaneys, the Matt Tully's, and the Jim Shella's wish only to continue their nihilistic crusade to destroy the good for being good. Unlike them we wish to be free and enjoy life not just avoid pain. The parasites mentioned above believe that others are merely tools to be used to further their own ends. All of us deal with others by choice and voluntary association. We strive to avoid using anyone in any manner. That is why the powers that be are scared. They know themselves to be full of it! And nothing scares them as much as men and women who can think! Slowly but surely people around this state and around the country are beginning to question the elites! Christine Scales has been the target of both political parties in Indianapolis because of her stateswoman like refusal to be bullied by either former Mayor Ballard and his RINO cronies or by Mayor Hogsett and his minions. Paul Ogden is the object of both praise and hatred for his refusal to stop calling out the garbage that has to long disgraced our state! Together and individually we shall smash the media monopoly in this state! We must remind each other and ourselves that the best things in life happen outside of government. We must remind our elected officials they work for us and we own their fate they don't own us. This struggle has and will be long and complicated. It may take decades and may require both parties to fade into oblivion before we have reclaimed our state. But ultimately we will win because we will not submit. We will honor the heroes gone before us. We will continue the work that Gary Welsh began. We will succeed and cause him and all the other angels in heaven to shout with joy at what we will ultimately accomplish. We will continue to offer advice as time, experience and the Holy Spirit guide us. As David struck down Goliath and the walls of Jericho came a tumbling down. So shall the cracks continue to open and widen in the bipartisan cabal that controls so much of our state! Remember the words of Christ who said: "Let not your heart be troubled", "let none be yee called masters", and lastly our brothers and sisters as the savior also said "Do not worry about tomorrow. For each day has enough worry unto itself. By worrying can you add a minute to your life or an inch to your height." Oh we all here forget to mention word on the street is that Holcomb is already ruffling feathers and might be in for a rocky start as governor. There are many who fear him. But just as many who will undermine him everyday he is in office. He would be wise not to trust anyone.

With that we bid you all Godspeed! May the blessings of God be with you all! AMEN!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's coming up on Turkey Day fellow freedom fighters! So all of us here at Indy REPUBLICAN wish you a Happy Thanksgiving this Thursday! We will be back after the holiday guys and gals! So just kick back, relax and remember to enjoy yourselves! We leave you this great song celebrating freedom from the great Billy Joel:

Election recovery

We here at Indy Republican have been deeply moved by all the attention and support we all here have received from our readers. It's true we were wrong in most of our election predictions. But it happens.  We are still as determined as ever to hold those in power accountable. We will be posting some new items soon. We just need to still recover from this bat sh!t insane election year. See you soon!

Live Blogging the Historic 2016 Election Results

Good evening all! We here at Indy REPUBLICAN will be providing updates throughout the night. Not much in so far. Judging by email and social media traffic we have seen today. John Gregg's campaign seems to still be running strong today. Eric Holcomb's people still seem to be uncoordinated. "Tennessee Trey" Hollingsworth has been campaigning all day in his district and seems to be in trouble in his race. We will bring you more news as we are able.

Stay tuned.......

As of 7:40 PM Trump has carried Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. In Indiana looking rough for Evan Bayh. Trey Hollingsworth and Shelli Yoder are dead even. Ritz and Gregg are behind their REPUBLICAN opponents. Most of the state has not reported. The races for Governor & SPI maybe shaping up to be nail bitters! We will keep you all up to date!

Closing in on 9 in the PM. And the we at the IR newsdesk are wanting to pull our hair out! At this rate it's looking bad for Gregg and Ritz if they lose by these margins we see a lot of mass firings at the Indiana Democratic Party! At least Bayh looks like is done for! We certainly hope so!

More later....

Holcomb, Hollingsworth have won there races. Glenda Ritz has also lost her race. Holcomb's win is the biggest surprise of the night. Will do a full post mortem of tonight's state and national elections. Our only thoughts tonight as to Holcomb's win is that Trump's momentum in Indiana and Hoosier voters dislike of Hillary Clinton was to much for Gregg to overcome. Inspite of some disappoints tonight we are all thrilled beyond measure that Evan Bayh will not be returned to the Senate. That is a huge win for all Hoosiers!

INDY REPUBLICAN's Final predictions for Election 2016

Good evening ladies and gentlemen! You all may recall recently we gave you our prediction that John Gregg will win the Governors race. We still stand by that prediction. We are ready to give our predictions in the Presidential, U.S Senate, and US House races here in old Eerie, IN. We predict that Saint Evan will be defeated by Congressman Todd Young in his bid to regain his Senate seat. Donald Trump will carry the state and Hillary Clinton will become our next president. The Democrats will pickup the 9th district seat when Shelli Yoder defeats "Tennessee Trey" Hollingsworth. Otherwise Indiana's congressional delegation remains unchanged. In the state legislative races Republicans will easily keep control of both houses but will lose super majority status in the State House. Nationally the Republicans will easily keep control of the US House of Representatives with a diminished majority. And we give the Democratcs a 50-50 chance at taking the Senate. If Hillary wins the Democratic Governor and former DNC Chairman Terry McCauliffe will appoint Vice President elect Tim Kaine's replacement and the GOP has a shot of winning that seat in 2018. Okay Indiana don't fail us now! We all have high quality dinners riding on the accuracy of our predictions! So if we mess up to bad in our predictions we are out some serious coinage and unlike "Pampered Pence" and "Bagman Holcomb" we have to pay our own way!

Trouble in Paradise? Angie's List to layoff undisclosed number of employees!

Wednesday  night Fox 59 reported that the taxpayer funded racket Angie's List is going to be making some cutbacks in it's workforce.

Fox 59 said yesterday: 

Angie’s List isn’t being specific tonight on layoffs reported in Indianapolis on Wednesday.

Employees at its East Washington Street campus confirmed to FOX59 that layoffs did in fact take place, but there have been no details released from the company.

Angie's List has been subtly indicating that it would be looking for cost cuttings measures. Marketwatch reports stocks went up 3.5 percent Tuesday after the company publicized that it was putting itself up for sale and exploring strategic alternatives.

Third quarter net losses released Tuesday showed Angie’s List took a $16.8 million hit.

A company spokesperson issued this statement to FOX59 Wednesday afternoon:

As we covered on the earnings call yesterday, we're always looking to drive efficiencies and have identified another $15-$20m in savings. These are primarily workforce related and targeting non-revenue generating headcount.

 Those of you who follow INDY REPUBLICAN, Advance Indiana, and Ogden on Politics are familiar with Angie's List and it's underhanded way of doing business. Former Angie's List CEO & Co-Founder  Bill Oesterle has been a particularly frequent target for criticism by our staff, the now deceased Gary Welsh, Paul Ogden and Charlie White. Although we don't envy the 150 plus layoffs our sources tell us are coming at Angie's List. In a way it's only poetic justice that this Frankenstein monster that Oesterle and his cohorts have created is like the walls of Jericho is "a tumbling down"! Thank God for small favors! No wonder Bill went flying out of Angie's List like a bat out of hell last year! He is forever grateful to "Asskisser" Matt Tully and his minions in the media for not reporting on Billy's lack of business acumen. 

How the Mighty have Fallen! Establishment Rag Indianapolis Star to layoff more staff!

Good morning friends! Well it appears the useless Langley controlled tabloid the Indianapolis Star is falling even further into irrelevancy! In a story reported by Lesley Weidenbener in the Indianapolis Business Journal on October 26, 2016 the Indianapolis Star aka Pravda Indiana is letting go two of it's works and plans to eliminate seven more in the near future. Ms. Weidenbender reports:


The Indianapolis Star laid off two members of its reporting staff Tuesday as part of a larger effort by its owner, Gannett Co., to trim 2 percent of its workforce.
The layoffs were the seventh round of job reductions at the paper in the past eight years—and more cuts are looming.
Negotiators for The Star told union officials Tuesday that the paper plans to eliminate its entire copy editing staff and move those duties to a central copy desk in Louisville.
The move would eliminate seven jobs in Indianapolis, although two of the staff members would be moved to other positions focused on web production and proofreading headlines and front pages, according to a post on the website of the Indianapolis NewsGuild, which represents The Star’s newsroom and custodial employees.
The two employees who lost their jobs Tuesday, Phil Friend and Leah Woodrum, were web producers—reporters who generate online stories and social media content. Friend worked in sports and Woodrum handled general-assignment duties. Both joined The Star about seven months ago after being transferred from the Lafayette Journal & Courier, also owned by Gannett.
Guild President Robert King, a reporter at the paper, said the pair were generating content for The Star and other Gannett papers in Indiana.
“They were new to us but we were glad to have them,” King said. “They were good folks. I don’t think this is any reflection on their work. It’s a decision far above us here.”
Jeff Taylor, a Gannett vice president and its Midwest regional editor, declined in an email to IBJ to comment on the changes.
The announcement about the copy editors—who generally check stories for grammatical and factual errors and write headlines—was part of the paper’s opening salvo in new contract negotiations, which started Tuesday.
King declined to comment specifically on the negotiations. But a post on the union’s website said “guild leaders reacted with concern about the proposal, not only for the job losses but also for the potential damage to the quality of the news product.”
In 2012, The Star moved most of its designers to Louisville, where Gannett owns The Courier-Journal and operates a Regional Design Studio that lays out pages for area papers. Now, the guild said, The Star is seeking a change in its guild contract to allow the copy editor positions to be moved to the Design Studio as well.




“We’re still trying to put out a quality product,” King told IBJ. “And we’ve got some really good people here. But another hit to our staff is always tough.”
Today, the guild represents roughly 75 employees, down from 120 in 2011.The paper has several other job openings and King said it’s not clear whether those positions will also be eliminated.
On Monday, Gannett CEO Bob Dickey sent a memo to employees saying that the company would reduce its workforce by 2 percent as part of an effort to “assertively manage our costs” while working to transform “into a leading, next-generation media company.” Politico said the 2 percent figure represents about 350 jobs.
He said most of those laid off would be notified by end of day Tuesday with all “actions” completed by the end of the week.
“Actions like these are difficult,” Dickey wrote, “but I remain steadfastly committed to reinvesting in our employees and the capabilities required to sustain and grow our company so that we may continue to serve our customers with excellence.”


If Gannet CEO Bob Dickey was at all worried about growing his company and providing excellent customer service the first thing he should do is fire Matt Tully! And hire people like Paul Ogden, Charlie White, and former Star reporters Dick Cady & Ruth Holladay! But Gannet as usual just seems interested in spewing mindless drivel than having any media of merit! We can just here Gary Welsh laughing from his grave at the total train wreck that is the Indianapolis Star!


In the words of that classic 1970's band The Tramps all we can say about the decline of the Star is "BURN BABY BURN"!

Evan Bayh's residency, Scott Tibbs advocates for merit employment, and INDY REPUBLICAN Predicts Governors Race

Hello fellow malcontents! INDY REPUBLICAN is proud to once again have your attention. Hopefully you have all managed to keep your sanity during this madcap election year! Now for news and views that the powers that be don't want you to have!

First item deals with where Evan Bayh lives. Three days ago the establishment run propaganda rag The Indianapolis Star. Breaking with their longstanding tradition of covering Evan Bayh's worthless ass. Ran a column that details according to Bayh's schedule he didn't once stay at his Indianapolis condo in 2010. The column states:

Evan Bayh says that his Indianapolis condominium has long been his home, and that he has spent “lots and lots” of time there since deciding to run for his old Senate seat. But a copy of his schedule shows Bayh did not stay overnight there once during his last year in office in 2010.

The schedule provided to The Associated Press shows the Democrat spent taxpayer money, campaign funds or let other people pay for him to stay in Indianapolis hotels on the relatively rare occasions he returned from Washington, D.C.

During the same period, he spent $3,000 in taxpayer money on what appeared to be job hunting trips to New York, despite the assertion of his campaign that the trips were devoted to official media appearances.

The AP obtained Bayh’s schedule from a source who requested anonymity because the information was private. The Bayh campaign did not dispute its authenticity.

Earlier this month, the AP reported that Bayh spent substantial time during his last year in the Senate searching for a private sector job, while voting for or seeking changes to legislation that benefited the corporate and financial world.

Since unexpectedly entering the race in July, Bayh, whose primary residence is in Washington, has struggled to explain whether Indiana is home. During an interview with WLFI-TV in August he tried to put the issue to rest, but gave the wrong address for his condo, which is listed on his drivers’ license and voter registration.

“I’ll always be a Hoosier,” Bayh said last week. “We own our condominium. Period. From time to time I would stay someplace else, but our condo has always been our home.”

Bayh stayed at Indianapolis hotels roughly a dozen times in 2010, though taxpayers paid only a few hundred dollars because campaign funds or other people helped pick up the tab.

When asked last month how often he has stayed at his condo during the campaign, Bayh said: “I haven’t kept track, but lots and lots and lots.” He also accused his opponent, Republican Rep. Todd Young, of “using this as a distraction.”

Bayh’s schedule shows the four taxpayer-funded trips to New York between September and November 2010 revolved largely around meetings with a veritable who’s who of American banking and finance, as well as a job headhunter.

Senate ethics rules forbid the use of public money for personal travel. Bayh’s campaign says the trips to New York were justified because he also conducted official business, including giving interviews to journalists.

This is the point where we all start saying Bullshit! When the Bayh campaign says the trips were justified because apparently to them giving press interviews qualifies as "official business"! The staff here are not constitutional scholars but as far as we can tell a Senator's official duties are simply to vote on legislation! How in the Hell does schmoozing with media airheads have anything to do with that! Many have raised serious questions about just when did Bayh decide to not run for reelection in 2010? Paul Ogden raised the question as to why Bayh was retiring rather than running for another term in 2010 you can read that here. Los Angeles radio host and author Larry Elder also discussed this in an article he wrote in 2010! It is nothing short of journalistic malpractice that other than a few here and there, no one in the local or national press has ever challenged Bayh on why he did a HALO jump out of his Senate seat six years ago!

On a better note an alert IR reader found a wonderful article written by Scott Tibbs the author of the blog Conservatibbs. Although we here at Indy Republican like Mr. Tibbs are republicans, and consider ourselves to be very conservative we don't always see eye-to-eye with Scott. But he is always interesting to read. Especially this article he wrote back in August of this year titled: "Ending at-will employment for government" INDY REPUBLICAN, Paul Ogden, and Scott Tibbs all proudly back the Republican tradition of Civil Service Reform. The IR staff, and Mister's Ogden & Tibbs can scarcely be called "liberal" republicans by any stretch of the imagination. But we all feel that the Grand Old Party needs to return to it's true conservative roots of eliminating patronage in all levels of government! We will quote Mr. Tibbs article below:

The Indiana State legislature needs to add an exception to Indiana's "at-will" employment law to make it illegal for government at all levels (city, county, township and state) to fire employees without cause. This would better serve taxpayers and protect employees who are doing a good job.

Yes, civil service protections can be problematic and a permanent bureaucracy is not the answer. We have all heard the horror stories about government employees who cannot be fired and continue to be paid on the taxpayers' dime despite the fact that they lack the competence, professionalism, integrity and skill set needed to do their work. But because they were hired, it is nearly impossible to remove them.

But the way government operates now is not sustainable, especially as the workload becomes more complex. An elected office changes hands and all of the employees are frightened for their jobs. Employees are terrified to point out wrongdoing because they are afraid to lose their jobs, so outright theft happens without anyone trying to do anything about it or even letting the proper authorities know about the crimes. Elected officials remove qualified employees and replace them with people who cannot do the job through nepotism, cronyism and patronage. This is a system that does not serve the taxpayers at all.

The solution, then, is to professionalize local and state government by implementing basic best practices. If local government cannot be trusted to do this voluntarily, then the state legislature needs to force them to do it. Best practices includes removing bad employees, after progressive discipline and good-faith efforts to bring under-performing employees into line. (Obviously, there are some things that require immediate termination.) Leave the politics to the legislative bodies while focusing administrative offices on actually serving the taxpayers instead of serving their political parties.

Fortunately, we have an opportunity to move in that direction by casting the right votes in the general election. Republican candidates for office - specifically auditor candidate Ann Boehm and treasurer candidate Ann Collins - have pledged to end the "at will" nonsense in their offices and follow basic "best practices" with their staff. Electing Boehm and Collins would help, but that will only help those two offices in one of the state's 92 counties. The rest of the state needs the legislature to intervene.

Well put Scott!


Now INDY REPUBLICAN is going to offer our very first ever election prediction! After many months of careful thought and observation. We at INDY REPUBLICAN predict that Democrat John Gregg will become the next governor of Indiana! We feel confident in this prediction because with the exception of a single poll conducted since Eric Holcomb became the republican candidate for Governor. Every poll taken has given John Gregg anywhere from a 2 to 12 point lead. With most polls putting Gregg on average from 2 to 5 points ahead. According to a story on Eagle Country Online published October 20th, 2016:


A new Ball State University and WISH-TV Hoosier Survey released Wednesday gives Gregg a five-point lead over Republican Eric Holcomb, 48 to 43 percent.
The difference is within the poll’s 4.8 percent margin of error. The poll surveyed 544 likely Indiana voters.


Also reported is that  "Holcomb’s campaign reported raising $7.7 million in the third quarter while Gregg has brought in $4.5 million. Gregg does have more money in his campaign war chest, $4.8 million to $2.8 million."


So given the facts that we are less than two weeks away from election and inspite of Holcomb raising more money in the third quarter of 2016 than Gregg. That Gregg still has $2 million more in his campaign war chest than Holcomb. Coupled with Holcomb's less than inspiring campaign, and the fact that Gregg's campaign is sending out more emails, and pounding the ground more than Holcomb. We are fairly confident in Gregg defeating "Bagman" Holcomb! We are not endorsing any candidate for Governor but we do not want Holcomb to win! And if this keeps up he won't! You have been reading INDY REPUBLICAN here on blogger. This is IR and it's staff wishing you all long life and happiness! And if he is reading this up in heaven Gary Welsh you are still our hero!