A blog dedicated to carrying on the work of Gary Welsh's Advance Indiana by continuing the fight for the Republican Principles of limited government, free speech, advocate for good government, rule of law, civil liberties, and opposing cults. We oppose the Church of Scientology. Send any requests, news tips, or gossip. Email: 6vwts@notsharingmy.info. Use the Contact Form on the right side of the screen. Follow on Twitter: @IndyRepublicanX
Just looking through the old Indy Republican mailbag and we have found something that caught our eye. One of our readers thinks there is a chance that Texas Congressman Kevin Bray the current chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee could have some relation to the late Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. We view this as unlikely. But we will share this tweet from Jonah Goldberg and let you decide:
Am I the only one worried that the Soviets may have created an immortality serum and Nikita Kruschev used it, faked his own death, and now runs the House Ways & Means Committee? pic.twitter.com/v2W67HJED8
We have like many our fellow conservatives and republicans have watched with dismay as it appears Fake Christian/Conservative/Republican Roy Moore seems to be on his way to winning his race for the Senate in Alabama. But earlier this week a man has entered the Senate race as a write-in candidate against pedophile Judge Roy Moore and Pro-Abortion Extremist Doug Jones. This man is worthy of being in the United States Senate. Indy Republican is proud to endorse Colonel Lee Busby for the Senate seat in Alabama.
When retired Marine Col. Lee Busby read it was too late for a write-in candidate for the Alabama Senate race, he said, “Hold my beer, we will just see about that.”
Busby told The Daily Beast on Monday he is launching his long-shot bid to stop Republican nominee Roy Moore from reaching the Senate.
“I have no idea if the allegations against him true or not, but I don’t see anything within his experience as a judge that qualifies him for the job.”
Busby said his state needs a choice other than Moore or Democrat Doug Jones.
“Alabama is not happy with the two choices we have down here. They are not appealing.”
Lee Busby, 60, of Tuscaloosa, Ala., said he thinks that the allegations of sexual impropriety against Republican nominee Roy Moore have created an opportunity for a centrist candidate to win more than a third of the state’s votes in the Dec. 12 special election.
“I think you can flip this thing. If this were a military operation, the left flank and the right flank are heavily guarded,” Busby said. “I think that gives you an opportunity to run straight up the middle.”
“I just don’t believe that either one of them are qualified to be in the U.S. Senate,” Busby said of Moore and Democratic candidate Doug Jones, noting that both men’s professional experience was in the law.
As for the allegations of Moore having inappropriate contact with teenage girls, which Moore has denied, Busby said he was not certain of the truth.
“It has created enough distaste in my mind,” he said. “As a voter, I don’t need to get to the bottom of it.”
Busby said he voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the 2016 Republican presidential primary and Donald Trump in the general election. He said he supports Republican efforts to lower taxes, though he has not examined the House and Senate tax reform proposals. He said that he wants to repeal Obamacare and that life begins at conception, though there should be exceptions in antiabortion laws for cases of rape, incest or threats to the life of the mother.
“At some point, it becomes a human life,” he said of an unborn fetus. “And you have to protect those who can’t protect themselves.”
Busby said he had not spoken to Kelly about his plans, but he foresees talking with him if his last-minute campaign gains traction.
“It may make an interesting phone call,” he said.
Senator Richard Shelby R-AL
The last minute entrance of Busby into the race is all the more interesting. Because Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby told The Hill he didn’t vote for Roy Moore:
"No, no, no, I voted absentee. I didn't vote for him. I voted for a distinguished Republican write-in," Shelby told reporters when asked if he would vote for Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.
Sorry to just be getting to this story now. Work has been hectic. A very good and dear friend of INDY REPUBLICAN asked us to give our take on a story out of Carmel. Back on October 31st, 2017. Lindsey Erdody wrote a piece about Carmel's annexation of an unincorporated community in Clay Township called Home Place. Erdody reports:
The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s decision to allow Carmel’s annexation of a small community in Clay Township known as Home Place to move forward.
The lengthy battle between the city and residents of the 1,017-acre unincorporated area of Clay Township centered at 106th Street and College Avenue started in 2004 when Carmel voted to include the community in the city's boundaries.
A majority of the 2,200 households of Home Place objected to the annexation and filed a lawsuit to prevent it. In 2005, Hamilton County Superior Judge William Hughes ruled in favor of the property owners, saying Carmel didn’t prove it could financially afford to annex the area.
But, in 2007, the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed that decision. The Indiana Supreme Court declined to hear the case and sent it back to the trial court for further review.
Both parties agreed to postpone proceedings until the end of 2015, and the case returned to court in April 2016.
In June 2016, Special Judge Matthew Kincaid ruled that Home Place residents did not prove all the elements necessary to prevent the annexation. The residents needed to prove that they received certain services, such as police and fire protection and street maintenance, without the help of the municipality trying to annex the land.
They also are required by state law to show that the annexation would have “a significant financial impact” on residents and that it is opposed by at least 65 percent of the property owners.
Kincaid sided with Home Place residents on most of the elements, but agreed with Carmel when it came to who provides fire protection services. Clay Township technically provides the service, but does so by contracting with the Carmel Fire Department.
The residents argued that it’s still the township’s responsibility, but the city refuted that argument by saying Carmel firefighters are the ones responding to incidents in Home Place.
Because the residents did not prove all of the necessary elements, Kincaid ruled in favor of Carmel. Home Place residents appealed the decision, but the appellate court affirmed the ruling in an opinion issued Tuesday.
“The trial court did not err in using a straightforward factual analysis in making its determination, and it correctly found that landowners failed to prove that fire protection was being adequately furnished by a provider other than Carmel,” the opinion stated.
Matt Milam, who has been leading the residential group opposed to the annexation, said neighbors will have a meeting in November to determine whether to appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court.
“From working with these people for about 15 years, my gut feeling is they will want to appeal to the Supreme Court,” Milam said.
Interestingly enough one of our readers pointed out that the attorney for Clay Township is none other than Indiana House Speaker Brian Bosma. And that Steve Buschmann is the attorney representing Home Place and that he is also the attorney for the Indiana Township Association. It seems to IR that it would be fair to say that many of the lawyers who represent townships are just trying to pad their legal bills. Bosma has a conflict or should because as Speaker of the State House he is in a position to help get legislation enacted that could possibly benefit him. It will be interesting to see if this case is taken to the Indiana State Supreme Court how they will rule.
More bad news for Indiana State Employees. Kara Kenney of WRTV reported on Monday November 13th, 2017 that Suzanne Esserman a 25-year veteran of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) lost her whistleblower case against the State of Indiana.
The Indiana Supreme Court has ruled against an ex-state employee who said she was fired for blowing the whistle on misuse of state tax dollars.
In a decision handed down November 2, the Indiana Supreme Court found the state of Indiana is immune from a claim made by Suzanne Esserman under the Indiana False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act.
Esserman told Call 6 Investigates she was fired from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management when she refused to rubber stamp questionable claims.
In a split decision, the Indiana Supreme Court agreed with the Marion County Superior Court’s dismissal of her lawsuit against IDEM.
Most of the Supreme Court justices said the state is immune from non-tort claims because the whistleblower act does clearly show the state could be sued for violations of the whistleblower statute.
Esserman’s attorney says Indiana workers should be concerned about the ruling, because it makes it more difficult for government employees to expose wrongdoing.
“Ms. Esserman and I are very disappointed about this decision,” said Esserman’s attorney Mary Jane Lapointe. “This decision has the effect of insulating the State from liability for its own misconduct and penalizes the employee who tries to stand up for the taxpayers.”
Justice Steven David dissented, arguing when the law says “employer,” state government should be included in that.
Esserman and her attorney are calling for the state legislature to update the law to specifically include state government as an employer that can be sued under the Whistleblower Act.
“I agree with the dissenting Justice that the term ‘employer’ is clear as a bell, and in our case the State is the employer so the law should apply,” said LaPointe. “We can only hope that the General Assembly will amend this law to make clear that an ‘employer’ includes the State.”
Esserman had worked for IDEM for nearly 25 years and was terminated on January 17, 2014, while working as a senior environmental manager.
The Marion County Superior Court decided IDEM had immunity and dismissed the case.
The Supreme Court ruling pointed out that state workers have another option to sue, under the State Personnel Act.
But Esserman’s attorney said that’s not enough to make up.
“We have utilized that remedy, however, the State Personnel Act’s whistleblower provision does not protect those who object to illegal activity but do not put it in writing—and Ms. Esserman had more oral complaints than written ones,” said Lapointe.
Under the State Personnel Act the employee can’t collect more than 30 days of back pay, and no attorney fees.
Call 6 Investigates has contacted IDEM for a response to the Indiana Supreme Court ruling.
Kara Kenney had first covered this story back in October here.
While we all agree that the State's Whistleblower Law needs to be much better written. IR is skeptical that just enacting a great whistleblower protection law for state employees will do very good. Simply because if the law is never enforced it is meaningless. Longtime readers of INDY REPUBLICAN, ADVANCE INDIANA, and OGDEN ON POLITICS may remember Paul Ogden's fight to be reinstated at the Indiana Department of Insurance after he reported violations of law being committed by an upper-level supervisor. Mr. Ogden was promptly fired for doing his job and reporting illegal activity. We all appreciate and respect Kara Kenney's longstanding commitment to investigative journalism. Ms. Kenney's report on the IDEM Whistleblower reminds us all of Deanna Dewberry's report on Whistleblowers at the Indiana Department of Workforce Development back in 2012.
Here are some links to further information about past state employee whistleblowers:
Yesterday Jeff Miller a Republican on the Indianapolis City-County Council was charged with child molestation. Katie Cox over at WRTV reported:
Jeffrey Miller, 50, a city-county councilman for District 16 is charged with three felony counts of child molesting. District 16 serves the near southeast, south and southwest sides of Indianapolis.
The Marion County Prosecutor's office filed the charges Friday afternoon.
The investigation began after a 10-year-old girl came forward claiming Miller had massaged her and made her uncomfortable on more than one occasion.
The probable cause affidavit for the case details multiple conversations investigators had with children who frequented Miller’s home.
UPDATE: Sorry to just be updating this now on August 16th, 2018. But we originally reported that Jeff Miller resigned last year. He actually didn’t resign until now.
It seems that Governor Eric "Bagman" Holcomb just got dragged into the middle of a huge knock down drag-out fight with fellow Indiana Republican and attorney Jim Bopp. The great Tony Cook of the Indianapolis Star reports on the upcoming slugfest between Holcomb and Bopp:
A class-action lawsuit accuses the state of Indiana of illegally collecting more than $1 billion in fees from truckers across the nation — and could set up a high-stakes showdown between two top Indiana Republicans.
The lawsuit filed Friday in Marion County Superior Court accuses the Indiana Department of Revenue of collecting annual Unified Carrier Registration fees from hundreds of thousands of truckers across the nation without authorization under Indiana law.
The attorney behind the lawsuit is Jim Bopp, a high-powered Republican attorney from Terre Haute best known for representing Citizens United in a U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned restrictions on political spending by corporations, nonprofits and labor unions.
His client is the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, a trucking industry trade group with a colorful and controversial leader who recently organized a parade of big rigs in Washington D.C. to promote expanded gun rights and who has been accused by the Federal Trade Commission of deceptive business practices.
On the other side of the lawsuit is the administration of Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb — specifically the Indiana Department of Revenue and its commissioner, Adam Krupp.
A spokeswomen for Holcomb did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue said she couldn't immediately comment on pending litigation.
"I’m a conservative who does not want to see government overreaching, taxing people and collecting money unless the people authorize it through the legislature," Bopp said. "What’s important to me is that government stays within its bounds. This has got to be one of the most expensive violations of law that I’ve seen."
Indeed, the stakes could be huge.
Indiana handles registrations and fees on behalf of 41 states under the so-called Unified Carrier Registration Plan, a federally authorized compact that allows interstate truckers to register and pay fees just once a year, rather than in multiple states.
Bopp said the state collects $100 million a year in UCR fees from close to 400,000 truckers a year. The fees depend on the size of the fleet, the form of payment and location of the truck's home base, but begin at $76 per vehicle, according to the lawsuit.
"Without such authority under Indiana law, INDOR’s nationwide collection of the UCR-related fees is unlawful and every trucker since 2008 is entitled to a refund of these illegally collected fees," Bopp said.
The lawsuit comes four months after the state settled the second of two class-action lawsuits over unauthorized Bureau of Motor Vehicle fees. Between settlements and voluntary refunds, the BMV admitted to overcharging Hoosier drivers more than $115 million over 15 years.
Well INDY REPUBLICAN doesn't know enough about this particular lawsuit to comment on the merits of Mr. Bopp's case. But Bopp's legal skills are good and he is not crazy. So for him to file such a lawsuit means that he thinks that it is a good case. So far as Governor Eric Holcomb has continued the tax-and-spend legacy of his master Mitch Daniels. It will be interesting to see just how this all goes down. Bopp is also a former Vice Chair of the Republican National Committee and has been a Republican National Committeeman from Indiana. Not exactly somebody that Holcomb wants to get into a fight with. Here's to old Eric getting his ass kicked!
Back in May we reported on Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard's suspicious April 2017 car accident. In that same post we also mentioned that this is not the first car accident that Brainard has had during his almost quarter-century reign as Mayor of Carmel:
Carmel city officials say there is no record of Mayor Jim Brainard taking a drug or alcohol test after he crashed a city vehicle in April. They also say – despite the city’s own employee alcohol policy – that he didn’t have to.
On April 20, Brainard crossed the center line and crashed his city vehicle into a trailer while driving on 3rd Avenue Southwest.
The mayor told responding officers that he thought he may have fallen asleep, and that he’d been “struggling to stay awake earlier.”
After checking to make sure he wasn’t injured, the officers offered to give Brainard a ride back to city hall. He declined multiple times, saying instead that he would walk back.
One of the officers, Carmel Police Lt. Adam Miller, was wearing a wireless microphone that captured the conversation (You can hear the conversation yourself by clicking on the video at the beginning of this post):
Lt. Miller: “Mayor, how are you doing? You alright?”
Brainard: “I’m fine, thank you. I don’t know, I may have slipped over. I was struggling to stay awake earlier. But I don’t think so. Maybe.”
Lt. Miller: “As far as the whole testing process and everything, do you just want to do that through HR? Or do you want us to help you with that? How do you want to handle that?”
Brainard: “Oh, do I need to be tested? Yeah, I do, don't I?”
Lt. Miller: “Because it is a tow-away.”
Brainard: “Yeah.”
Lt. Miller: “If we’re going to tow it.”
Brainard: “Yeah, sure.”
Carmel’s drug and alcohol testing policy requires city employees driving city-owned vehicles to take a post-crash test as soon as possible if one ore more of the vehicles involved “incur disabling damage and must be transported away from the accident scene by a tow truck.”
Carmel Employee Policy
Based on the conversation caught by Miller’s mic, the officers thought Brainard was on his way to do just that.
Officer 1: “He’s walking back to City Hall to talk to Barb so he can go get his pee test.” Officer 2: “OK good.” Officer 1: “I know, he’s going to have to go get tested.” The official report for the incident lists fatigue as a contributing factor to the crash. The boxes for drug and alcohol testing were left blank.
Following months of records requests and digging through crash reports, dash cam video and city policies, Call 6 Investigates found no evidence that the mayor ever submitted to a drug or alcohol test following the crash.
Call 6 Investigates specifically asked the city for any communications, invoices or proof that the mayor followed Carmel’s drug and alcohol testing policy and received the following response: “The city has identified no records that are responsive to your request.”
The city declined a request for an interview with Brainard, but was willing to answer questions via email.
Our first question: Why did the mayor fall asleep while driving?
“The mayor was very tired, having worked several long days in a row,” wrote Nancy Heck, director of community relations and economic development for the city of Carmel. “He had been in downtown Indianapolis for an early morning event and had not had a break while on his way to his next event.”
And about the mayor’s apparent acknowledgement that he might have to take a post-crash alcohol and drug test?
“The mayor, when talking to the police, said he understood he may have to take a test, but he also knew he had a speech to give at the historical society and he did not want to cancel at the last minute,” Heck wrote.
Heck also said that, despite the wording of the city’s employee drug and alcohol policy, the mayor is exempt from the post-crash testing requirement because he is an elected official.
Call 6 Investigates went through the city’s employee handbook and drug and alcohol testing policy and could not find any language exempting elected officials from it. Heck acknowledged that there is no language specifically exempting elected officials, but said they are, nevertheless, exempted.
“Elected officials are not employees. That’s not a policy, it’s just a fact,” Heck wrote. “They are not hired by the City. They are elected by the residents of Carmel.”
Heck said Brainard did in fact meet with officials in the HR department following the crash, but that he did not take a drug or alcohol test. She said the mayor had not had any alcohol on the day of the crash.
Call 6 Investigates was able to confirm that Brainard did keep his appointment to speak at the Carmel Clay Historical Society less than an hour after the crash.
The other driver involved in the crash was cited for driving without a license and driving without insurance. No injuries were reported by either party.
INDY REPUBLICAN would like to thank Mr. Lewbel for an excellent story last night. And for following up on this story. We are curious to find out if Mayor Brainard really is exempt from the policy that applies to those who work for him? We do not know if Brainard had taken any substances that day or if he was simply exhausted. But imagine that you or us had crashed a car into Jim Brainard's city vehicle. Would we be allowed to avoid taking a blood alcohol test? We don't thing so! Let us keep up the pressure on the media to get to the bottom of this. If Mayor Brainard God forbid has another car crash. He or others maybe injured or even killed.
Please click the contact tabs on the following news websites and demand they keep looking into this. Don't just call, email, or submit contact forms. Submit, email and call them every 15 minutes! 24/7 if nobody is there leave them a message on their voicemails! Hand deliver letters to there offices! Tell them the ghost of Gary Welsh sent you!
In a shocking turn of events Sean Hannity has given Roy Moore 24 hours to answer the allegations against him and if he doesn’t Hannity has said that Moore should leave the Senate race.
UPDATE: The following day after Roy Moore sent an open letter to Sean Hannity. Hannity said he thinks that the issue of Roy Moore staying in the Senate race is one that should be left to the voters of Alabama. Showing once again that Sean Hannity is an establishment tool!
Publicly, the Trump confidant and Breitbart chairman has stood behind Moore, who is now accused of attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl. Bannon has also railed against what he and his allies dub “fake news” and the GOP establishment for trying to push Moore out of the race.
But over the past few days, Bannon has begun privately taking the temperature of those in his inner circle to see what they think of the Moore allegations and to get their sense of how to proceed, according to four knowledgeable sources. Late last week, the Breitbart chairman said, “I will put him in a grave myself,” if he determines that Moore was lying to him about the numerous accusations, a source close to Bannon relayed.
Bannon emphasized, to both friends and colleagues, that he’s uncomfortable with the charges of sexual harassment and child molestation that have been levelled at Moore. But he wasn’t convinced that the initial flood of on-record testimony, starting with the first Washington Poststory last week, was anything more than a hit job. And he believes it may have been planted by #NeverTrump operatives to put the screws to Moore’s campaign.
Several of Bannon’s most trusted allies have already told him that it would be “insane,” as one put it, to believe at this point that the Moore accusations are baseless. They have also warned that the time is rapidly approaching when he would have to disavow Moore before it appeared as though he was simply caving to political pressure. (Critics of Bannon, of course, argue he should never have backed Moore in the first place.)
Additionally on Tuesday, the front page of Breitbart featured a prominently placed headline that read, “POTUS TO REVISIT ROY MOORE SUPPORT AFTER RETURNING TO U.S." from his Asia trip—roughly the same position Bannon now finds himself in.
