Guest Editorial: Sullivan Hardware Threats Against City And Neighbor Remonstrators

The following is an editorial offered by neighborhood activist Clark Kahlo in response to sharp media and community reaction against the successful remonstrance of neighbor activists to a zoning variance requested by Sullivan Hardware's:

Following the Board of Zoning Appeal's December 16th unanimous vote to deny its four requested variances, Sullivan Hardware immediately threatened to close its retail operation at 49th and Pennsylvania. There was also a threat to move the Do It Best Corporation's bi-annual convention away from Indianapolis.

These are bogus threats to the community in response to the BZA's denial of variances. They're intended to pressure elected city officials and to leverage public-sector appeasements.

Regarding the threat to close his store, Sullivan profits from a strong customer base of both contractors serving the residential neighborhood and from nearby residents. They enjoy the convenience of easy access for hardware and landscape goods. Sullivan's site needs were readily accommodated by the City in 1994 when he received variances to build the store. Later, In 2009, Sullivan sought and received additional variances to build a greenhouse along with additional parking variances. Sullivan operates on a site which has worked well for them for 20 years with the aid of the City's and the BZA's two previous sets of variance approvals.

Regarding the claim that the Ft. Wayne based Do It Best Corporation is "so irritated by the city's ruling that it is considering moving its bi-annual retailers convention away from Indianapolis" (a claim in a supporter's broadcast email), this is news to company officials. Actually, its official corporate response is that: "this is a local matter between Pat Sullivan and the City of Indianapolis" (email from a Do It Best communications officer).

As the credibility of its two threats against the City and community continues to erode via proof-to-the-contrary, the Sullivan Hardware camp still has its "mob mentality" to apply against the individual remonstrators and, to a lesser extent, the BZA. Following the BZA's denial, Sullivan's angry, but uninformed, supporters unleashed a cascade of personal attacks on the several remonstrators via the social media and comment websites. Several news organizations (WTHR-13, Indianapolis Star, WIBC) fanned the flames with stunningly one-sided "news reports" and commentary. As for the BZA, which actually denied the variances, and the city's professional planning staff which recommended denial on 3 of the 4 variance requests, the pro-Sullivan mob and the media weren't nearly as condemning or insulting.

Sullivan Hardware also intimated that it might appeal the BZA's decision in court. However, this remains a remote possibility -- in effect, another empty threat -- because Sullivan knows that it has no substantive case in either the facts or the law (even in our legal system which heavily favors property and commerce over the interests of people, communities, and nature).

It's not rare for developers and business operators to make personal threats against neighborhood remonstrators. We saw this last year when the Browning-Sheehan group sued two remonstrators for opposing its massive project which would redevelop several tracts in Broad Ripple with a Whole Foods grocery and residential units. Their claimed damages, allegedly resulting from appeal litigation delay, were claimed to be in excess of $1 million. Their claim and lawsuit went nowhere because they had no legal merit. The developers' attorneys knew the law and their suit was intended only to intimidate and punish. These kinds of lawsuits are generally called SLAPP suits-- Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Indiana law does not favor them. (Whole Foods has withdrawn its intent -- reported by others, but never confirmed by the company -- to put a store in Broad Ripple. That plan was likely a ruse from the start and intended only to help the developers sell the project to the public and to the Metropolitan Development Commission)

Another bullying tactic is to chill neighbor remonstrance by sending a threatening personal letter, as Patachou's Martha Hoover did in 2009 when she sought variances for her new and expanded restaurants at 49th and Pennsylvania. In her letter, Ms. Hoover ominously warned a near-neighbor that she was an attorney and former deputy prosecutor, and demanded that they cease their remonstrance against her variance petition.

Former Nuvo Newsweekly editor Harrison Uhlmann wrote an accompanying essay for former mayor Bill Hudnut's 1995 book The Hudnut Years: 1976 to 1981. He noted that Hudnut was mayor of "a city that has no tradition or talent for public debate. Once the leaders of the community set a priority or start an initiative, the opposition is expected to retire in silence." Fortunately, public participation, including the statutory right of zoning remonstrance, remains a protected part of our democracy, albeit one increasingly weakened by the juggernaut Corporate State. However, neighborhood remonstrators are still subject to threat, intimidation, and personal attack by commercial interests and their friends.

As we've seen in the Sullivan Hardware variance petition, on the relatively rare occasions when insatiable commercial interests are successfully resisted by neighbors via the long-established zoning review process, those interests can become irate, cry foul, and harangue elected officials in private meetings with threats to close stores, pull conventions, and anything else they can think of to gain private advantage at the expense of the public.

Over Half Of GOP Precinct Committee Persons Boycott Slating Convention

Well, I'm glad to see a majority of the Marion County Republican precinct committee persons decided to do what I chose to do today and boycott the Marion Co. GOP slating convention for this year's municipal election. The corrupt and rigged system yielded zero contests for the 25 City-County Council seats and a disingenuous, clueless candidate for mayor who only moved to Indianapolis from Chicago a little more than three years ago and who can't even figure out what his legal voting residence is. Radio talk show host Amos Brown tweets that the certified count for today's slating convention shows that fewer than 50% of the 590 precinct commiteepersons bothered to show up today to participate in the charade. That is a record low turnout.

There are 590 precincts in Indy that should have GOP Precinct Committee folks. At 290 official delegates just 49.2% precincts represented
— Amos Brown (@Amoswtlcindy) January 31, 2015

Room at Ivy Tech, the old Stouffers Hotel where GOP set up for 500. There are bunch of empty seats. Just 290 credentialed delegates here
— Amos Brown (@Amoswtlcindy) January 31, 2015

FLASH! Incumbent Councilman Jose Evans, the only AfricanAmerican GOP councilman is NOT running for reelection.
— Amos Brown (@Amoswtlcindy) January 31, 2015

UPDATE: Here's how a party press release put lipstick on this pig:

Saturday morning, hundreds of Marion County Republicans gathered to select their endorsed candidates for the upcoming 2015 municipal elections. Republicans slated candidates for communities within Marion County including Indianapolis, Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport, Speedway, Homecroft and Warren Park.

Marion County Republican Party Chairman Kyle Walker said, "This is an important year for our Party and I am very encouraged by the quality of candidates we have representing us in neighborhoods across Indianapolis."

The most high profile race is the one for Mayor of Indianapolis. Local entrepreneur and 23-year Marine Chuck Brewer will lead the ticket as the candidate endorsed by hundreds of dedicated Republican precinct volunteers. Brewer owns two restaurants in the Circle City, spent ten years working for a Fortune 500 company, holds Masters degrees from Harvard University and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Business, and served two combat tours during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Indianapolis Republican mayoral candidate Chuck Brewer addressed the crowd by applauding the leadership of Mayor Greg Ballard and rallying supporters to build upon the work of the last seven years. "I love Indianapolis and I'm proud to call it home," said Brewer. "We're a city on the move and it's important that we continue the progress. By working together for safe neighborhoods, more jobs, and great schools, we'll build an even stronger Indianapolis."

County Republicans also endorsed candidates with their sights set on regaining the majority on the Indianapolis City-County Council. Current Republican Minority Leader Michael McQuillen was endorsed to serve another term, as well as incumbent Councillors Janice McHenry, Marilyn Pfisterer, Jeff Miller, Benjamin Hunter, Jason Holliday, Robert Lutz, Jack Sandlin and Aaron Freeman.

Marion County Board of Voter Registration Records Raise Residency Concerns About Republican Mayoral Candidate

An analysis of public records regarding Indianapolis Republican mayoral candidate and political newcomer Chuck Brewer raises serious questions about the candidate's honesty in completing his application to register to vote and documentation he filed with the Marion County Board of Elections last year when he originally planned to seek a seat on the Indianapolis City-County Council in the newly-drawn District 23 on the city's south side in Perry Township.

Brewer initially filed paperwork to open up a campaign committee to run for the District 23 seat on December 30 listing an address in Perry Township just two weeks before he changed his mind and decided to run for mayor instead after Marion Co. Republicans struggled to find a viable candidate to slate at its party convention scheduled to take place tomorrow. Party leaders immediately anointed Brewer as its candidate after conducting little or no due diligence. He is running unopposed at the slating session, although other candidates have filed to run in the May primary, including Deputy Mayor Olgen Williams, Jocelyn-Tandy Adande, Terry Michael and Darrell Morris.

According to his own public statements, Brewer said he moved to Indianapolis in 2011 from Chicago after leaving a corporate job with Sears Holdings Corp. in suburban Hoffman Estates where had worked his way up to the position of a division vice-president. Brewer, a Lt. Colonel in the Marines and Iraq combat veteran with two tours of duty under his belt, said he chose to move to Indianapolis to launch a new Potbelly Sandwich store on Monument Circle, the first of several he planned to open in the area. Brewer never opened any other Potbelly franchise stores, but he did open his own concept restaurant around the corner from his Potbelly restaurant, Soupremacy, which is located on East Market Street.

According to records Advance Indiana obtained from the Board of Voter Registrations ("BVR"), Brewer filed his first voter registration application listing a luxury condominium in the Athletic Club, which is located at 350 N. Meridian Street, as his residence. In the space provided on the application for "Previous Voter Registration Address," Brewer left the space blank, suggesting he had not previously registered to vote anywhere else in Marion County or his previous residence in Chicago. The box next to "New Registration" is marked, indicating it was the first time he registered to vote in Marion County. The BVR redacted the date Brewer signed and filed his new voter registration application despite a state law making that information a public record. The state's Public Access Counselor in an opinion issued a little more than two months ago in response to a similar public records request, which Advance Indiana made to the BVR and which was denied, admonished the agency that it was misapplying the state's law and a resolution adopted by the Marion Co. Board of Elections regarding public records requests for information regarding individual voters.

According to property tax records on file with the Marion Co. Assessor's Office, Brewer recorded the purchase of Unit #607 in the Athletic Club on August 19, 2011, which is consistent with Brewer's public statements about the time frame during which he moved to Indianapolis. That is also consistent with the exclusive interview Advance Indiana had with Brewer's former general manager of his Potbelly restaurant, Sarah Hoyt, who said her former boss lived in a condominium downtown on Meridian Street only blocks from the restaurant. The assessor's records also show that Brewer claimed a homestead exemption on Unit #607 in each of the tax years from 2012 to 2014, indicating that was his principal residence.

Nonetheless, Brewer filed paperwork with the Marion Co. Election Board on June 30, 2014 to form an exploratory committee to run for the Indianapolis City-County Council in District 23. He listed his address as 623 Slate Drive, Apartment #B, Indianapolis, which is located at an apartment complex in Perry Township. Similarly, when he filed an updated report on December 31, 2014 to formally open his campaign committee to run in District 23, he listed that same address. A second voter registration form Brewer completed with the BVR, however, stated he was changing his address to the 623 Slate Drive, Apt. #B address from another apartment in Perry Township, which he claimed as his previous registered voting address, which was listed as 1452 Dakota Ridge Drive with the apartment number missing. Brewer's application has a check mark listed in the box marked "Address Change." Once again, the BVR redacted the date Brewer submitted the change of address information in violation of the state's access to public records law. The BVR provided no change of address form Brewer submitted changing his voting address from the 350 N. Meridian address to the 1452 Dakota Ridge Drive address, although that information was within the scope of my public records request.

The BVR denied Advance Indiana's request for Brewer's voting history in Marion County, which would indicate which primary, general and municipal elections he has participated since becoming a registered voter in Indianapolis, yet another violation of the state's public records law. Advance Indiana made a written appeal to the Marion Co. Board of Elections today to furnish the information on Brewer's voting registration and voting history illegally being withheld by the BVR. The BVR claims it cannot disclose any information contained in the state's Statewide Voter Registration System ("SVRS"), even though that information is provided in bulk to the Democratic, Republican and Libertarian Parties, as well as the state's four legislative leaders, to use for campaign purposes. The state's Election Division requires requests for individual voter information to be made at the county election authority where the voter is registered to vote. Its counsel agrees that individual voting history records are public records, as well as the voter registration information.

Why the BVR continues to defy the state's public records law after being admonished by the state's Public Access Counselor to comply with it is beyond me. The BVR is following the advice of the City's corporation counsel's office and not the advice of the Marion Co. Election's Board's counsel, who is well-versed on the state's election law. The author of the current state law, State Rep. Kathy Richardson, who also serves as the Hamilton County election's chief, concurs with the Public Access Counselor's opinion. Incredibly, the corporation counsel's office claims other counties, unlike Marion County, don't abide by state election laws.

Brewer has not yet filed a statement of organization or declaration of candidacy for his mayoral bid so it remains to be seen what registered voting address he lists on those forms. Interestingly, Advance Indiana's research uncovered an ordinance violation complaint filed against Brewer on June 27, 2014 for conducting outdoor sales without a license. A notice of the violation was served on Brewer at 1452 Dakota Ridge Drive, Apt. #A, the same apartment complex where Brewer indicated on his change of voter registration card he had previously been registered to vote before changing it to the 623 Slate Drive, Apt. # B address. A court entry dated November 20, 2014 indicates an attempt to serve a summons on Brewer at the Dakota Ridge Drive apartment was returned as undeliverable. On December 29, 2014, a prosecutor from the city's corporation counsel's office, Michael Clifford, moved to dismiss the ordinance violation against Brewer, and an order was signed that same day.

It is not disputed that Brewer satisfies the two-year residency requirement to run for Indianapolis mayor; however, there are serious questions about the accuracy of the information Brewer completed on voter registration forms filed with the BVR when he listed two separate addresses at apartment complexes in Perry Township instead of his Athletic Club condominium, which he claims as his principal residence for purposes of paying his property taxes. It gives the appearance Brewer only used a Perry Township voter residence for convenience in order to run for council in District 23 when the evidence suggests he lives far away from that district in his downtown condominium. The voter registration forms completed by Brewer contain a disclaimer stating "All the the above information and all other statements on this form are true," and "I understand that if I sign this statement knowing that it is not true I am committing perjury and can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to three years or both." Suffice it to say, Mr. Brewer has some explaining to do.

Shortly after Brewer dropped his bid for the District 23 council seat, Scott Kreider, an attorney with the Indianapolis law firm of Alerding Castor Hewitt, announced his intentions to seek the District 23 seat. He is running unopposed at the Marion Co. GOP slating convention tomorrow. Kreider's law firm offices are located in the Keystone Group's Majestic Building at 47 S. Pennsylvania Street, the same building where the Marion Co. GOP headquarters is located. The building is also the headquarters for Keystone Construction and Indy Eleven, businesses owned by the shadowy Turkish immigrant, Ersal Ozdemir, who is seeking approval from the state legislature calling for the public funding of a nearly $100 million soccer stadium for his minor league soccer team after just one season of play. Ozdemir's Keystone Group also owns the 47 S. Pennsylvania Street office building. He has served as the finance chairman for the Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee, although he lives in a gated Carmel community up in Hamilton County. He took over that position after Ponzi schemer Tim Durham stepped down as the party's finance chairman.

Republican Council Members Push Approval Of Controversial Criminal Justice Center Project While Key Documents Still Are Being Withheld

The administration of Mayor Greg Ballard has still not made public key documents for the 35-year public-private partnership ("P3") agreement it wants to enter into with WMB Heartland Justice Partners, LLC to construct a new criminal justice center at the site of the former GM Stamping Plant, which could cost taxpayers at least $1.75 billion over the life of the agreement. That includes the proposals submitted by the three competing vendors, scoring information regarding those three proposals, an executed agreement with the P3 vendor, and a financial analysis demonstrating that the use of a P3 is a financially better model for Marion County taxpayers than a traditional publicly-financed and constructed project. Nonetheless, all of the Republican council members except for Councilor Christine Scales, are pushing for immediate approval of the costly, long-term deal despite the absence of key information required to evaluate what on earth it is on which they are voting based on artificial deadlines set by an administration this blog has demonstrably proven engaged in a rigged bidding process.

“Council Republicans just filed the new Justice Center Proposal w all 13 Republicans sponsoring,” Minority Leader Mike McQuillen wrote on his Twitter account. "No more time 4 Democrat stalling! #Progress." As an illustration of just how biased and inaccurate the reporting is by the Indianapolis Star's city beat reporter, check out how Brian Eason opens his story:

After weeks of inaction by the City-County Council on a proposed criminal justice center, Republicans are pushing the plan forward, whether Indianapolis’ Democratic majority is ready or not.  

Democrats in December announced that they would delay a vote on the massive public project until their probe of a controversial Regional Operations Center lease had concluded. 

But facing deadlines that the administration says could threaten the project’s financing, 13 Republican council members on Friday sponsored a measure to introduce the proposal at the council’s Feb. 9 meeting . . . 

First of all, how can the reporter accuse the Democratic-led council of "weeks of inaction" when the administration is still blocking access to all of the critical information the council would require in order to consider the complex and costly 35-year agreement, which will consume close to $50 million a year of the city-county budget when the complex opens for business? If someone is trying to sell you a new home and the seller refuses to provide you a written contract and allow you to independently inspect the home and otherwise carry out the necessary due diligence, is it your fault as the buyer that a closing on the sale of the home hasn't occurred?

Would it also not seem logical to tie up loose ends on the investigation of the costly Regional Operations Center, particularly since the same administration trying to sell the council on the criminal justice center project has stonewalled the administration for more than a year in turning over key information the council needs in order to determine why Marion County taxpayers got taken to the cleaners by entering into a long-term credit-tenant financing agreement that left no outs for the county after it was discovered the building wasn't suited for its intended purpose? It was only recently that we discovered the administration's claim that the city had no other choice than to build the ROC to comply with its agreement with the NFL to host the Super Bowl in 2012 was an outright fabrication.

It is the height of hypocrisy for the Indianapolis Star to bash Gov. Mike Pence's administration the way it did this past week for its efforts to create a centralized news agency website to allow the public easier access to a wealth of information emanating from dozens of state agencies when this newspaper seems to care so little about transparency in any number of governmental decisions, whether it be public financing for a new sports stadium and hundreds of millions in subsidies for their billionaire sports team owners, or the ROC and the criminal justice center project, all of which the newspaper's editorial writers endorsed site unseen with nothing more than a cursory review that largely regurgitated the talking points of those who benefited financially from these public transactions.

The Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star has forfeited the public's confidence altogether. Many like to condemn the political bias of the newspaper's former owners, but at least the Pulliam family required its reporters to dig and dig until every possible stone was overturned on any number of major public matters regardless of the opinions of the editorial page writers. Reporting by the Star's reporters today merely reflect the narrow-minded views of the newspaper's top management, who are made up entirely of out-of-state transplants who have few long-term ties to the community and share few, if any of its values.

IPS Board Member's Charter School Paying $100 Referral Fees To Boost Enrollment

The education profiteers now control every single member of the Indianapolis Public School system's board thanks to the hundreds of thousands of dollars the out-of-state interests pumped into the past two elections to purchase seats for candidates they supported. One of those members is newcomer LaNier Echols, who is the acting principal of Carpe Diem charter school on North Meridian Street. The Chalkbeat blog has a disturbing story discussing how the school recently paid $100 referral fees to boost its enrollment.

The state-funded charter schools' enrollment includes many children from low-income families. According to Chalkbeat, Carpe Diem offered $100 gift cards to persons who provided student referrals to help the school boost its enrollment 40 students by February. That was in addition to money the school spent marketing itself through open houses, distributing fliers to parents and day care centers and TV and radio appearances. Critics are concerned the referral fees lead parents to make less than rational choices when choosing the school to send their children. Echols was unapologetic about the incentives paid for referrals.

People are more excited to do something where they get something out of it,” Echols said. “Parents are like, ‘Oh I do have a cousin that was looking for a school.’ It’s just to encourage people.” 

But she said she is confident offering a gift card wasn’t the reason the school ultimately exceeded its enrollment goals. Two more Carpe Diem campuses are slated to open this fall in Indianapolis, each aiming to eventually enroll 300 students. Carpe Diem combines traditional classroom instruction with online lessons. 

“We are a blended learning school and that’s what parents love about it,” Echols said. “We have children coming from everywhere, not because of the gift cards, but because we’re offering something different. We are filling a niche.”

Read the rest of the story at Chalkbeat by clicking here.

McCain Calls Protesters Low-Life Scum For Protesting War Criminal Henry Kissinger

If you had to pick a list of the ten most evil men in the world deserving of being executed for the great war crimes they've committed against world humanity, Henry Kissinger would rank near the top. Sen John McCain insults our nation by bringing the war criminal to the Senate to testify. Here are some of Kissinger's more infamous quotes that reveal his true character:

"The elderly are useless eaters." -- Henry Kissinger, quoted in the book The Final Days 

"Military men are 'dumb, stupid animals to be used' as pawns for foreign policy." -- Henry Kissinger, quoted in the book The Final Days 

"Depopulation should be the highest priority of foreign policy towards the third world, because the US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries." -- Henry Kissinger, National Security Memo 200, dated April 24, 1974 

"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful. This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond, whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government." -- Henry Kissinger, speaking at Evian, France, May 21, 1992 Bilderburg meeting. Unbeknownst to Kissinger, his speech was taped by a Swiss delegate to the meeting. 

“The emigration of Jews from the Soviet Union is not an objective of American foreign policy, and if they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern.”

"Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac." -- Henry Kissinger, quoted in the book The Final Days

Pence Nixes JustIn State-Run News Site

Well, that didn't take long.

TO: All Agency Heads
FROM: Governor Mike Pence
DATE: January 29, 2015

From the outset of this administration you have heard me emphasize the importance of integrity and accountability to the public, and I am grateful for the manner that each of you has worked to serve the people of Indiana with transparency and a servant’s heart.

As you are aware, concern has arisen regarding the development of a new website for the state of Indiana.

However well intentioned, after thorough review of the preliminary planning and careful consideration of the concerns expressed, I am writing to inform you that I have made a decision to terminate development of the JustIN website immediately.

The original intent of this project was to make press releases more readily available in a onestop website for the convenience of the press and the public. At present, approximately 50 of the 90 executive branch state agencies and commissions post press releases on the state's current public calendar website (www.in.gov/core/news_events.html). This results in the press and the public having to visit multiple sources to stay informed about state activities.

Therefore, rather than developing a new website, I have instructed the Office of Information Technology update the current public calendar website to ensure that the press and the public have unfiltered and convenient access to all press releases and public meeting notices. The updated calendar will be fully automated and designed to post all press releases and public meeting notices in real time.

Accordingly, effective immediately, I am directing you to instruct your communications office to work with the Office of Information Technology to ensure that all press releases and public notices issued from your agency are properly displayed on this public calendar and press releases website.

It is a great privilege for us to serve the people of Indiana and I am grateful every day to serve with men and women like you who share my determination to do so integrity, servant leadership and accountability.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely,

Michael R. Pence
Governor of Indiana