Indy Republican’s View of last nights GOP Senate Primary Debate

After all the coverage we have devoted to the GOP Senate Primary. We all tuned into the Primary Debate between Congressmen Luke Messer, Todd Rokita and State Representative Mike Braun.

After the Moderator WIBC’s Tony Katz’s opening of the debate. The candidates proceeded with their opening remarks. Todd Rokita started out by welcoming Mike Braun to the Republican Party, and snidely saying welcome back to Indiana to Congressman Luke Messer. Rokita is referring to State Representative Braun’s past history of voting in the Democratic primaries reported on by fellow blogger Paul Ogden click here to read Paul’s post on Braun. As to his saying “Welcome Back to Indiana” to Luke Messer he is recycling the nonsense line that Messer is not an inhabitant of Indiana. Messer owns a house with his mother in Greensburg that he and his family stay at when he returns to Indiana from Washington, D.C. Unlike Senator Dick Lugar who sold his property in Indiana in 1977 and preceding to put the address of the house he sold on his tax returns, voter registration, and even his campaign paperwork he filed for his abortive 1996 Presidential Campaign. Click here and here to read Gary Welsh and Paul Ogden’s posts on Dick Lugar. 

In contrast Braun and Messer refrained from making condescending remarks about Rokita or each other. The two men also didn’t behave in a self righteous manner as Rokita did by bragging about how great he was and we should vote for him because he claims to sleep in his Washington office. Rokita may have opened himself up to attacks by bragging about his service as Indiana Secretary of State. As we have documented on this blog Rokita’s questionable past as Secretary of State here. 

On healthcare the candidates largely argued that Congress has done nothing to make healthcare better. Unlike some of our fellow conservatives and Luke Messer we are not in favor of eliminating the filibuster in the Senate. In fact we say extend the filibuster to the House to guard against majoritarian rule. 

Messer and Rokita both tried to tap dance around whether they would support President Trump’s Parental Leave proposal. State Rep. Braun was the only one of the candidates to say they did not support the Parental Leave program. Tony Katz did a good job as a moderator although he understandably seemed to get irritated at times with Todd Rokita. Totally understandable Todd is an extremely annoying person. Probably his being a control freak doesn’t help his case much. 

After watching the debate we would have to say it was a net loss for Rokita. His manner made him come off as just a self serving office seeker with an inflated ego. We rate the debate a draw between Mike Braun and Luke Messer if for no other reason than both men actually behaved as men and did not sink to Todd Rokita’s level.

If anyone wants to watch the debate. Click the video below:

Christine Scales Calls Out Indianapolis GOP Councilors for backing Stephen Clay

City-County Councilor Christine Scales 

Earlier today Indianapolis City-County Councilor and friend of the blog Christine Scales wrote a letter to the editor of the Indianapolis Star in which she criticized the move by Council Republicans to vote Democrat Stephen Clay in as Council President.

Here is the text of Councilor Scales Letter to the Editor:

“Politics makes strange bedfellows.”  That quote aptly describes the recent forged alliance between City-County Council Republicans and Democrat Council President Stephen Clay. The public remains puzzled by this odd coupling, even as their union appears misbegotten and doomed.

In his Jan. 12 Letter to the Editor, Republican Councillor Scott Kreider attempted to rationalize why all but one member of their caucus would vote for Clay as council president. Kreider’s reconstruction of his caucus’s mindset and events that led to Republican votes securing Clay’s presidency contradicts the reality of what transpired and why.

Clay is someone with whom Republican councillors have ideologically zero commonality. In 2012, every Republican councillor voted against Clay’s appointment to the Police Merit Board. Council meeting minutes give evidence to Republican statements about Clay’s political partisanship. Now, once numerous complaints about Clay's divisive partisanship have been replaced with Kreider’s claims of Republican’s newly found faith in Clay’s bipartisan leadership abilities.

Kreider’s laundry list of complaints against the Democrat majority included accusations of stalled or killed Republican proposals due to partisan gamesmanship. It’s a matter of public record however, that more Republican proposals move smoothly through the Council process to successful passage, than not. It was Kreider and his Republican caucus who authored Proposal #6. This controversial proposal created a new crime prevention grant funded with nearly half a million dollars. It passed 24-1. A search of other successfully passed council proposals will prove that this Indianapolis City Council enjoys greater bipartisanship than any led by the Republicans.

In his letter, Kreider also bemoaned the fractures within the Democratic caucus over Council leadership--  as if this has caused them anything other than delight. He failed to mention that behind the scenes, he and fellow Republican councillors continually fed the conflict, playing both sides, wheeling and dealing their votes in exchange for committee chairmanships. When then-Council President Maggie Lewis refused the use of council committee chairmanships as bargaining chips, the Republicans found Clay willing to do their bidding.

The slights Kreider magnifies into justification for handing Clay the council presidency pale in comparison to political shenanigans historically engaged in by the Republican Council Caucus. After the November 2011 elections, in their last months as the Republican majority and without a Council vote to approve the funds, well over $200,000 was paid to a GOP political operative to redraw the council district boundaries. In order for their 11th hour gerrymandering to work, Republican councillors and Mayor Greg Ballard also sought to eliminate the four at-large seats, all held by Democrats at that time. The Republican dominated Indiana Legislature granted their request. 

In his Letter to the Editor, Kreider apparently hoped all his reasons for finding promise in a Clay presidency might be found plausible to IndyStar readers. What he seemed to have forgotten was that I was a member of the Republican Caucus in January of 2017.  At that time, Republican Caucus Leader Mike McQuillen suggested we Republican councillors have some "fun" with the council presidency election. Instead of voting for Lewis, who enjoyed her Democrat Caucus's support at the time, McQuillen encouraged us to vote for Clay. His motivation was that Clay would be so ill equipped to serve in that role, and make so many mistakes that Clay's actions would raise the public's ire against all Democrat councillors, not just Clay. Republicans would then enjoy the public's support in votes during the next municipal election cycle to reassume the majority on Council. I, and a handful of other Republicans opposed playing partisan games with such an important matter. With the 2019 council elections looming, and without me to rain on his political parade, it appears that Minority Leader McQuillen found a caucus more receptive to carrying out his plot.

Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows. The Clay coup orchestrated by McQuillen and his caucus affirms the truth of that quote. While explanations to account for the whys and wherefores of votes donated to Clay abound, Republican Caucus members only dig themselves in deeper to their deception to avoid accountability for their destructive partisan gamesmanship. We elected councillors can do better and we will -- if those among us will abandon selfish, desperate desires for greater power and work as humble servants in unity of purpose that will ensure the well being of our community. 

Christine Scales

Indianapolis City-County Councillor

Is Blogging Worth It? Yes it is!

It has been almost two years since IR started to opine on the Central Indiana Blogsphere. We started writing a short time before our good friend Gary Welsh passed away. At first we thought we had to write as often as Gary did in order to be a good blogger. But as we have continued to speak our minds on the things that matter most to us. We have experienced great joy. We have managed to increase our output greatly since we began. But we no longer feel a need to compete against our friends Gary Welsh, Paul Ogden or Jon Easter. Don’t get us wrong we look up to all of these men and strive to have the same good qualities they do. But we must be ourselves above all. We miss Gary Welsh to this day and we feel his loss now as much as we did when he died. But we also feel as much gratitude and brotherly affection for him and his work as we ever did. All of our lives are better off that he lived. IR has gained to our great satisfaction an excellent readership. We only have hundreds not the thousands of daily readers that Advance Indiana had and our readership is still far below that of our friend Paul Ogden’s Ogden on Politics blog. But we have never been happier. Pliny the Elder said: 

“True glory consists in doing what deserves to be written; in writing what deserves to be read; and in so living as to make the world happier for our living in it.”

Gary Welsh, Paul Ogden, Jon Easter and ourselves have made the world around us happier for having lived in it. So we will keep firing away as we deem necessary at the villains of the world. We must do so on our own terms and no one else’s. We would encourage anyone who wants to blog to do so. But always remember that your blog should help lift you up not wear you down. If it starts to wear you down take a break. The world will not stop nor will the sun stop shining if you take time away from blogging.

For a thoughtful treatise on being yourself click here to read this piece by Joyce Meyer. 

Indy Democrat’s Jon Easter’s Excellent Coverage of The Stephen Clay Drama

Pastor Stephen Clay 

While IR continues to take a little breather from our regular blogging. We want to refer you our readers to Indy Democrat’s Jon Easter’s posts about the embattled President of the Indianapolis City County Council Stephen Clay. We were going to write about this ourselves. But when we read Jon’s articles we knew we couldn’t top them so we are sharing links to his fine work. Please take the time to read the following posts and give a little shout out to Jon Easter and let him know his work is much appreciated.

Here are the posts for your reading pleasure:

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2018/02/council-dems-say-bye-bye-to-clay.html?m=0

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2018/02/wthrs-milz-talks-to-duke-oliver-about.html?m=0

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2018/02/clays-leadership-continues-to-draw-fire.html?m=0

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2018/01/wrtv-report-calls-into-question-clays.html?m=0

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2018/01/council-committee-chairs-show-politics.html?m=0

http://indydemocrat.blogspot.com/2018/01/council-shocker-clay-elected-council.html?m=0

Indy Republican presents our readers with Mozart and Neil Diamond for your listening pleasure

We are working on several blog posts right now as well as working at our full time job. So we thought all of you out there could use some good music to unwind with. So we present the following Mozart’s “Eine Kline Nacht Musick:

Neil Diamond’s indelible ditty “Sweet Caroline”:

Enjoy! And we will get back to you as our schedules permit. Thank you all for your continued support! 

Indiana GOP Establishment Pushing Greg Pence to fill Luke Messer's Congress Seat

Greg Pence RINO

Previously we have written about Vice President Mike Pence's older brother Greg Pence's decision to run for the congressional seat now held by Luke Messer. Mister Messer is forgoing another run for his U.S. House seat and is instead running in the Senate GOP Primary to hopefully faceoff against the incumbent U.S. Senator Democrat Joe Donnelly. The party bosses in Indiana as you all know are hell bent on doing everything they can to elect Greg Pence to Congress. Fortunately the voters of the Indiana 6th Congressional District do not have to settle for another milquetoast Pence to represent them in Congress. Running in the GOP 6th CD Primary is Stephen Mackenzie. Mr. Mackenzie has had a good career in business, he has been a missionary, as well as serving in the Air Force Reserve.

Mr. Mackenzie released this statement on his Facebook page earlier today regarding the establishments pushing Greg Pence on Hoosier voters:

Stephen Mackenzie Real Republican

Stephen MacKenzie For Congress

48 mins ·

To date, twelve out of nineteen counties within the sixth Congressional District have announced their annual Lincoln Day Dinners’ dates and guest speakers. Two of those, Rush County and Franklin County, have announced Congressional Candidate Greg Pence as their speaker, despite the fact that the Republican Party, from county to state to the federal level, is encouraged to be objective towards all of the candidates running during the Primary season. Unfortunately, in this GOP Primary Congressional race, it has been proven to not be the case.

Here is Stephen MacKenzie's official statement:

“The Party Leaders have made it very clear that Greg Pence, the Vice-President’s older brother, is their chosen candidate in this GOP Primary. Greg might as well be the incumbent candidate for how the Party Elites have behaved behind the scenes. The Establishment has been involved in this Primary race at every level, from county to district to state to the Vice-President himself, attempting to get me to quit. But the last time I checked, the United States of America was a Constitutional Democratic Republic, where we, the people, have the right to choose our own candidates and vote for who we want! Yet the Establishment has done everything in its power to shut me out and destroy my candidacy.

But they didn’t count on me, a candidate with a strong military background, strong Christian values, strong ethics, and the will to fight back and expose them. You see, I know what is important to the people of Indiana and I intend to go to Washington to represent YOU, not the best interests of the Republican elite. And they didn’t count on you, the people, who are informed enough to know that the Establishment fights the true Conservative candidates more in the Primary, than they fight the Democrats in the General!

The two GOP counties who are hosting Greg Pence as their guest speaker for their Lincoln Day Dinner, while ignoring the rest of the candidates in this Congressional race, are merely proof of what has been happening to me privately behind the scenes since I declared my candidacy. I sincerely hope the Indiana voter will not let the Establishment get away with crowning Greg Pence as their next U.S. Representative, but will rise up to tell the Party Elites: “Enough!”

Indy Republican stands with Stephen Mackenzie and says: "Enough"! Enough with the Establishment and their tools telling us who we should and should not vote for. For this reason IR is proud to endorse Steve Mackenzie for Congress! Give them Hell Steve!

UPDATE: An IR reader was kind enough to bring to our attention a tweet from Stephen Mackenzie with a photocopy of his full statement and some additional background information on the eGOP's trying to "persuade" Mackenzie to drop out of the race for congress:

Here’s my official statement on how the Establishment is attempting to shut me out of the GOP Primary as the #MAGA Conservative running for Congress in Indiana against the VP’s Brother: pic.twitter.com/jbwOBnicEB

— Stephen MacKenzie (@mackenziein6) January 29, 2018

Link to Mackenzie's Facebook announcement: https://www.facebook.com/MacKenzieForCongress/?hc_ref=ARS5a1Hm7t8r4Z2uOM0cZzwDdjJVJJAx5U8XsyvF1HyQ9HgUfLo56PpypLy7MzIT79o&fref=nf

More of the Shithole Debate

The band Trump Beatles wanted to add there two cents about the Shit Hole crisis sweeping the nation.

Ladies and Gentlemen The Trump Beatles:

Former DCS Director hired by Attorney General Curtis Hill

Chris Sims over at Indystar reported yesterday that Mary Beth Bonaventura who resigned as head of the Department of Child Services last month. Will be starting work as Special Counsel for Attorney General Curtis Hill.

Sims writing for the Indianapolis Star said:

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill announced Bonaventura will be joining his staff as special counsel in a new release on Wednesday.

Bonaventura was appointed lead DCS in 2013 by then-Gov. Mike Pence. On Dec. 12, Bonaventura wrote stinging letter of resignation to Gov. Eric Holcomb.

Bonaventura, who has worked in child welfare for 36 years, said could not watch Hoosier children "being systematically placed at risk, without the ability to help them."

"I feel I am unable to protect children because of the position taken by your staff to cut funding and services to children in the midst of the opioid crisis," she wrote. i"I choose to resign, rather than be complicit in decreasing the safety, permanency and well-being of children who have nowhere else to turn."

“I am honored and excited to have the opportunity to work with (Attorney General) Hill on continuing the fight against the opioid crisis and tackling the many challenges facing Hoosiers and their families,” Bonaventura said.

The hiring of Bonaventura by AG Hill has led to rumors in political circles that there could be a rift between Hill and Governor Eric Holcomb. Bonventura's very public and angry resignation as head of DCS did not please Holcomb and has caused him much misery. We will be going more in depth regarding Bonventura's resignation and the issues at DCS in future blog posts. We apologize for having taken so long to get to this story. But the staff has had a hectic few months. Marisa Kwiatkowski provided a link to Bonaventura's Resignation Letter here. IR recommends that our readers take a look at the letter. We appreciate your support and patience with us. If you have any information or suggestions for other posts please contact us by email at: 6vwts@notsharingmy.info, or the contact form on the blog webpage.

Trump International Hotel ranked as a “Shithole” on Yelp

Yesterday Paul Ogden of Ogden on Politics fame discussed the recent controversy over President Donald Trump’s reported “Shithole” comments about some other countries. We have since learned that apparently some people out there have decided that “Shithole” is the proper label to apply to some of President Trump’s hotels.

The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky wrote yesterday:

Hundreds of reviewers on Yelp in recent days have given the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., one star and described it as a "shithole."

Between Thursday and Monday, nearly 800 reviews were posted that used the word "shithole" to described the hotel, according to CNN, which cited New Knowledge, a company that tracks the spread of misinformation online.

At the top of hotel's page, Yelp says the business is "being monitored by Yelp's support team for content related to media reports."

The hotel currently has an average rating of 2 stars on Yelp. It had an average rating of 4 stars just five days ago, CNN noted.

Between Thursday and Monday, nearly 800 reviews were posted that used the word "shithole" to described the hotel, according to CNN, which cited New Knowledge, a company that tracks the spread of misinformation online.

At the top of hotel's page, Yelp says the business is "being monitored by Yelp's support team for content related to media reports."

The hotel currently has an average rating of 2 stars on Yelp. It had an average rating of 4 stars just five days ago, CNN noted.

To read the rest of Miss Savransky’s article please click here.