Donald Trump and Jeff Gahan have the same self-serving explanation for not obeying the law.

Both of them, Donald and Jeffie, blame their own illegality on their political enemies. Their sycophants chortle, and the only clear winner is two-party hypocrisy.

As we contemplate the extent of City Hall's newfound (purported) compliance with a law about information requests, a law that makes no mention of the questioner's party affiliation or history as candidate, don't kid yourself. Team Gahan has treated these requests like toilet paper before, refusing full 100% disclosure, and they'll continue doing so.

There is considerable irony in the fact that the News and Tribune itself could clear up some of these questions about taxpayer dollars and advertising revenue.

And it won't. Why is it no one, including the alleged newspaper of record, seems to want to tell the truth about the money?

New Albany officials provide records after missing deadlines, by John Boyle (Hanson's Non-Disclosure Journal)

NEW ALBANY — One of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed against the City of New Albany has stated that city officials have complied with a records request.

The legal battle began Nov. 1, when Floyd County residents Irvin Stumler, Stephen Roberts and Heather Rae Peters sued the city for failing to respond to public records requests that were submitted in August. The trio sought documents related to River Run Family Water Park, Denton Floyd Real Estate Group, ProMedia Group and advertising in the News and Tribune.

Up until Monday, the city had missed multiple deadlines to provide the information requested. Now, Stumler said he has learned that city officials have made a delivery to the office of his attorney.

“I heard that sometime yesterday afternoon, the city brought some records and a check to my attorney’s office," he said. "I haven’t seen it. I don’t know what all’s in there. My attorney’s out of town.”

The presence of the check is likely the product of a default judgment issued by special judge Vicki Carmichael on Dec. 18. Her order mandated that the city produce the documents no later than 10 days after the judgment — with a fine of $50 for each subsequent day. Payment of $1,642.50 for plaintiffs' attorney fees, $162.10 for filing feels and $300 to the plaintiffs by the city was also required.

New Albany officials maintained the administration's position that the request was politically motivated in a statement to the News and Tribune.

"At this time, we have supplied documents per the request," city spokesman Mike Hall said in an emailed statement. "As mentioned before, Mr. Stumler is a former mayoral candidate and critic of this administration who has unsuccessfully sought local elected office numerous times" ...

Local Democrats angrily rally against openness and transparency as "The City of New Albany Defies Court Order on Records’ Requests."

Local Democrats angrily rally against openness and transparency as "The City of New Albany Defies Court Order on Records’ Requests."

At this point just about any fair-minded citizen can't avoid the only real question.

Gahan's public records scandal: WDRB's Marcus Green breaks it down as the News and Tribune flails ineffectually.

Exactly what is Gahan hiding?

Go to The Aggregate for the scoop.

The City of New Albany Defies Court Order on Records’ Requests, by Nick Vaughn (The Aggregate)

 ... The default judgement, issued on December 18th, ordered the city to provide the plaintiffs with the documents they requested back in August within 10 days and the payment of over $2,000 in legal fees.

On December 30th, The Aggregate News staff checked in with one of the plaintiffs, Irv Stumler, regarding whether the city had provided the documents and court fees by the December 28th deadline.

In a text message, Mr. Stumler stated that "No, we have not heard from anyone at the city" ...

Gahan's public records scandal: WDRB's Marcus Green breaks it down as the News and Tribune flails ineffectually.

On Christmas Eve, Marcus Green of WDRB broke down Jeff Gahan's public records scandal; the screenshots and transcriptions follow. Green concludes with three questions:

1. Why didn't (city hall) respond to the citizens' request before (the judge's ruling)?
2. Does it believe it doesn't have to respond to requests it deems politically motivated?
3. Why didn't it respond to the access counselor?

To which I can add only one additional query:

Where the hell was the News and Tribune for all those weeks prior to the judge's ruling?

The Aggregate reports: "The City of New Albany was ordered to pay over $2,000 after it failed to fulfill a public records request."

Green makes it so simple that even a Democratic precinct committee-person can understand it.

---

Marcus Green @MarcusGreenWDRB

This is an interesting public records case from New Albany.

A judge rules that @NewAlbanyIN must release records sought by citizens: https://bit.ly/39b6yoc

Ok. Let's break this down.

Judge rules New Albany must release requested public records

NEW ALBANY — Just under two months after a lawsuit was filed against the City of New Albany for failing to respond to public records requests made by three residents ...

The city's attorney, Shane Gibson, told the @newsandtribune this:

“The city was sued by former political opponents and non-city residents' days before the November mayoral election to try and influence the outcome," Gibson said in an emailed statement. "We are pleased those efforts failed. While these actions were politically motivated, the City of New Albany intends to comply with any court order regarding the matter.”

First, the citizens filed the lawsuit only after @NewAlbanyIN ignored their records request, which was made in August, per @newsandtribune. They then asked for Indiana's public access counselor for an opinion.

The counselor, the state office that addresses public records disputes, says @NewAlbanyIN's city attorney, city controller and parks director refused to respond to its questions.

The state then found New Albany violated the law: https://in.gov/pac/advisory/files/19-FC-105.pdf

Then the citizens sued.

The city attorney now says @NewAlbanyIN will comply with the court order.

Questions: Why didn't it respond to the citizens' request before? Does it believe it doesn't have to respond to requests it deems politically motivated? Why didn't it respond to the access counselor?

The Aggregate reports: "The City of New Albany was ordered to pay over $2,000 after it failed to fulfill a public records request."

Did the News and Tribune just get scooped ... again?

The story goes back months -- well, years, actually. Now The Aggregate is reporting that a judge has ruled in favor of plaintiffs who seek nothing more than Mayor Jeff Gahan's compliance with Indiana public records laws.

First, the background.

• Gahan begins search for a disposable scapegoat as Indiana's Public Access Counselor finds the mayor in violation of the state's public records law.
• Team Gahan's failure to fulfill open records requests? That's Gahan's political conspiracy against transparency, and it's HIS problem, not anyone else's.
• Reader writes about River Run: "I was under the impression public records HAD to be made public."
• River Run Family Water Park: Why won't the city of New Albany comply with the law and grant Randy Smith's public records request to view the financials?

Then the most recent news. The city's caterwauling should come as no surprise to anyone who has been paying attention to the Gahan administration's congenital paranoia.

You're advised to click straight through and read the entire piece, highlighted here.

New Albany Sued for Failure To Produce Public Records, by Jake Sipes-Salter(The Aggregate)

Last Wednesday, the City of New Albany was ordered to pay over $2,000 after it failed to fulfill a public records request.

On November 1st, a trio of Floyd County residents filed a civil lawsuit against the city of New Albany for failing to provide access to public records in violation of the Access to Public Records Act. In a public statement, the plaintiffs claim that, “at its core, it is all about the ideal of open and transparent government.”

snip

The plaintiffs, Floyd County residents Irvin Stumler, Steve Roberts, and Heather Archibald-Peters, claim their rights to access public records were violated when the city of New Albany did not respond to their records requests. Their inquiries, hand-delivered by the plaintiffs to the city on August 28, ranged from legal fees concerning the city of New Albany to revenue data of the River Run Water Park.

snip

On December 10th, Judge Hancock recused himself from the case and the case was given to a special judge. Taking over for Judge Hancock was Judge Vicki Carmichael who presides over Clark County’s 4th Circuit Court.

Shortly afterward on December 18, the waiting game came to an end and the court granted default judgement in the case, meaning that the Court found against the City of New Albany for their failure to adequately respond, despite being granted an extension. As a result, the defendants have been ordered produce the records within 10 days (by December 28th), and are ordered to pay the plaintiffs’ fees in the amount of $162.10 each as well as their attorney fees amounting to $1,642.50.

Even after the city’s extension was granted by the court, they still did not respond to the summons ...

Indiana mayor, a Democrat, is arrested after an FBI investigation.

Did I mention the mayor in question is Dennis Tyler, the mayor of Muncie?

For all of those who have ever asked why some of us pose the questions we do, Muncie is the reason.

What's happening in Muncie could happen in any city in the state. All the potential moving parts for malfeasance are there, defined in terms of business as usual, behind the scenes and out of view; there's lots of money, and precious little transparency.

This is why a municipal habit of ignoring and obfuscating public information requests is worrisome.

Someone in Muncie wouldn't let it go, and the feds got involved.

Were it so, just a little bit closer to home.

Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler arrested by FBI agents, by Douglas Walker and Corey Ohlenkamp (Muncie Star Press)

MUNCIE, Ind. – Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler was arrested Monday by FBI agents at his northside home.

'I can confirm an arrest warrant was executed at the home of Mayor Dennis Tyler this morning and he is currently in custody," Christine Bavender, a spokesperson for the FBI, told The Star Press.

The doors to the mayor's wing at City Hall, normally open during business hours, were closed about 9 a.m. Monday. A sign that frequently hangs on that door when the offices are closed said, "Out to lunch. Will return shortly."

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler scheduled a press conference, with FBI agents, to discuss the arrest and charges. Tyler is accused of accepting a $5,000 bribe in exchange for what federal authorities said was "steering lucrative excavation work to a local contractor."

According to the indictment, Tyler received the cash from Tracy Barton, the Muncie Sanitary District’s superintendent of sewer maintenance and engineering, for “awarding of contracts under Tyler’s influence.”

A federal investigation of allegations of corruption in and near the Tyler administration has been under way for nearly four years.

The probe apparently began in early 2016 with allegations against Craig Nichols, at that time Tyler's building commissioner.

This timeline mentions a high-powered Indianapolis legal firm which has been known to scatter largess in the direction of certain mayors around SoIn.

Muncie mayor arrested: A timeline of the FBI probe into city of Muncie (Muncie Star Press)

This article, initially published Jan. 5, 2017, recapped developments in the FBI's investigation of Muncie city government to that date. It has been updated with later developments.

MUNCIE, Ind. — Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler was arrested at his home by FBI agents the morning of Nov. 18 in the latest in a series of events since May 2016, when The Star Press first reported on the FBI investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the Muncie city administration ...

... In November 2016, The Star Press reported that the city's Indianapolis law firm, Ice Miller, had been paid more than $160,000 since the beginning of the FBI probe and Shroyer lawsuit. After The Star Press published its story and City Council member Dan Ridenour called for information, Ice Miller acknowledged $92,000 of the legal fees were for the Shroyer lawsuit and grievance process for Gretchen Cheesman, a fired city employee. As of September 2017, Ice Miller had been paid more than $390,000 since early 2016.

Tyler said the FBI investigation had nothing to do with his decision to retire after two terms. The Republican candidate won big, in part by campaigning against documented corruption.

Dan Ridenour cruises to mayoral win in 2019 election, by Corey Ohlenkamp, (Muncie Star Press)

MUNCIE — Election night saw major changes come to the city of Muncie as Dan Ridenour rode atop a Republican wave through the election on Tuesday, winning the mayoral race in dominating fashion ...

 ... Ridenour kicked off his victory speech with the core arguments and goals that were his focus since he announced his campaign.

“I can tell you right now we are going to do what we said we're gonna do,” Ridenour told an ecstatic crowd.

“We're gonna be open. We're going to be honest. We're going to be transparent. We're going to seek input from the public, from our not for profit partners, from our businesses, and we're going to help Muncie get back to where it needs to be,” Ridenour said as the crowd broke out into a round of cheers and applause.

Hmm. Where have I heard this before? The problem is ... well, you know.

Gahan begins search for a disposable scapegoat as Indiana's Public Access Counselor finds the mayor in violation of the state's public records law.

Thanks to WDRB's Marcus Green for tagging me at Twitter. Here's the link to Public Access Counselor Luke H. Britt's advisory opinion.

"This case involves a dispute over a municipality’s lack of responses to multiple public records requests."

Here's the conclusion.

In the instance of Randy Smith's ignored request, these three posts are relevant background.

River Run Family Water Park: Why won't the city of New Albany comply with the law and grant Randy Smith's public records request to view the financials?

Reader writes about River Run: "I was under the impression public records HAD to be made public."

Team Gahan's failure to fulfill open records requests? That's Gahan's political conspiracy against transparency, and it's HIS problem, not anyone else's.

Britt informed Smith that his complaint was taken into consideration in formulating the advisory opinion.

I didn't realize the story had made it to the Associated Press. WDRB has it, dated November 4.

Indiana city faces records lawsuit after counselor's opinion

NEW ALBANY, Ind. (AP) — Three southern Indiana residents are suing the city of New Albany for allegedly failing to fulfill their public records requests.

The Floyd County lawsuit comes after Indiana's Public Access Counselor, Luke Britt, found that New Albany had violated Indiana's public records law.

The three plaintiffs say they requested public records in August, including electronic correspondence related to River Run Family Water Park. They sought Britt's opinion after officials in the Ohio River city failed to acknowledge their records requests.

The News and Tribune reports the trio say their suit was filed in response to "a consistent pattern of failing to acknowledge, let alone respond, to a citizen's inquiry into the affairs of local government."

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan says city officials "greatly look forward" to their day in court.

———

Information from: News and Tribune, Jeffersonville, Ind. 

Gahan's toxic Colonial Manor farce is reason enough to vote against him.

It's endlessly fascinating to watch peak, self-interested Gahanism in action.

Gahanism is about power, money and control; all ideas must emanate from the same centralized source deep inside the Genius of the Floodplain's cranium, although it bears repeating (again and again) that if absolute power really does corrupt absolutely, you'd have to go to Belarus or Pyongyang to find a better example of it than right here in Anchored Down City.

Collated instances of our municipal #CultureOfCorruption would fill a War and Peace-sized volume, but there's no better example than this year's Colonial Manor episode.

ON THE AVENUES: Amid Deaf Gahan's "victory" over grassroots activists at Colonial Manor, the toxic paranoia is no less rancid.

Suffice to say that in 2019, when Team #MyNA Gahan belatedly learned there was a grassroots neighborhood initiative underway, the ruling clique reacted to this thoughtful, well-conceived and firmly non-partisan effort by sending Warren Nash in riot gear running through inhumanely heated and cooled City Hall corridors screaming "EBOLA! We're all gonna DIE!"

And so the Redevelopment Commission's upper echelon of fixers went into late-night hyperspace. Boilerplate plans from a campaign donor firm quickly were cobbled together, a public comment session with no public comment allowed was held, the battered TIF piggy bank was shaken down to its hooves, and voila -- here's the official plan, straight from the unprecedented mind of Dear Leader, ready to be rubber-stamped just in time for the primary election.

City council wasn't buying the offal.

Council rejects Gahan's, Redevelopment's Colonial Manor tax increment financing lollapalooza by a 5-4 vote. Alterations to come?

Given that the Redevelopment Commission is regarded by Jeff Gahan as his personal plaything, and the Colonial Manor purchase with the TIF One Platinum card plainly was intended as a rushed feather in Dear Leader's re-election bonnet, things now get interesting.

It was yet another example of a phenomenon described with typical clarity by NAC's junior editor, Jeff Gillenwater.

Gahan isn’t remotely interested in input. His personal insecurity, control issues, and need to generate campaign kickbacks from the contractors involved keep any sort of real input from ever happening. Citizens get expensive, poorly conceived and executed projects and Gahan gets a flood of tax dollars into his campaign coffers. It’s a worst case scenario, repeated frequently enough to be the hallmark of his tenure as mayor. New Albanians two generations from now will still be paying for his ego trip.

If you haven't yet exercised your right to vote, then I suggest you vote against Jeff Gahan by voting for Mark Seabrook. New Albany needs a break from the cartoonish buffoonery of Big Daddy G's megalomania. Let's just let Gahan haul away his $100k in leftover special interest campaign finance donations (but not without first paying taxes on it, mind you), exit the down-low bunker and accept his next powder-puff position as a political consultant -- or would HWC even consider hiring an ex-provider?

Three reminders:

Election 2019: The buying and selling of a city, or our updated master list of 73 Gahan wheel-greasers, a veritable pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.

These 30 free-spending special interest donors top Jeff Gahan's 2019 pay-to-play campaign finance windfall of $150,000 (so far).

CFA-4 Follies: OMG, just look at Gahan's huge pile of special interest donor cash flowing to out-of-towners.

Yep, Mr. Zevon, the local DemoDisneyDixiecrats have some effed-up shizz. It explains their silence in the face of Slick Jeffie's ethical shambles.

The late, great Warren Zevon (2000).

I have a question for my Democratic friends.

In your own personal world -- your life, not the lives of others -- do you believe the end justifies the means?

Do you believe it doesn't matter if people and principles are trampled, so long as you get what you want?

Do the rights and wrongs of the procurement process matter, or is to have and to hold the exciting bright and shiny object enough for you?

How's it working out for you to become accustomed to cringing and looking the other way?

This fall many of my friends will have cast their ballots for Gahan, a mayor who has consistently fudged, bullied and self-monetized his means in justification of his ends.

Friends having done so remain friends all the same, at least on my end. But I harbor the strong suspicion that many of these same voters don't sanction those means embodied by Gahan's political behavior when they pertain to the ends in their own private worlds.

I suppose they tolerate it from Gahan because the daily rationalizations borne of Democratic Party affiliation are all too easy: the "nice" things they choose to see look so good; all politicians are corrupt but he's on OUR team; we can always pay the bills some other time; or least convincing of all, "the Republicans are worse."

This entire year I've been asking the following questions of Democrats. I'd ask them of Gahan himself, although as we know transparency and accessibility are the very least of his considerations -- and he routinely refuses to debate political opponents.

• So tell me, why does Gahan get a pass from you when he can't tell the truth about budgets, rate increases, taxes and TIF debt?
• Is saying that "things look good" satisfactory without asking how they got that way, and who's paying the bills?
• Have you noticed that every street grid "improvement" hailed as a victory for walkability actually enhances car-centrism?
• Why does one man need almost $700,000 in career campaign donations, or to spend more than $200,000 of it in one year?
• Does it bother you that these out-of-town special interest donors receive no-bid contracts and sinecures, just like magic?
• What is there in the Democratic Party platform that encourages "luxury" development to the exclusion of public/affordable housing occupants?
• Is it a healthy civic trend for mayors to bully and harass city employees whose only offense is to opt out from worship of him?
• Isn't the "silo" approach of all decision-making, emanating from a tiny clique at the top of a pyramid, ultimately injurious to our city's success?
• Isn't Gahan's personality cult akin to self-deification, and can this ever be a sign of stable mental health?

The only substantive comment I've received in return all year long came from an Independent/Libertarian, which of course I appreciate. It would be nice to hear a die-hard Democrat answer the preceding questions.

Although the fact of their persistent refusal tells us quite a lot about cognitive dissonance, doesn't it?

---

ON THE AVENUES: Socialists for Seabrook, because we desperately need a new beginning in New Albany.

---

Election 2019: The buying and selling of a city, or our updated master list of 73 Gahan wheel-greasers, a veritable pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.

These 30 free-spending special interest donors top Jeff Gahan's 2019 pay-to-play campaign finance windfall of $150,000 (so far).

CFA-4 Follies: OMG, just look at Gahan's huge pile of special interest donor cash flowing to out-of-towners.

For a mayor scared of debating his challengers and terrified of fulfilling information requests, CHICKEN is an apt analogy.

Slick Jeffie has enough money to buy Frightened Chicken Dinners for everyone.

Team Gahan's failure to fulfill open records requests? That's Gahan's political conspiracy against transparency, and it's HIS problem, not anyone else's.

Jeff "No Debates" Gahan ecstatic as League of Women Voters ditches the candidate debate format.

But it's escargot and filet mignon for Gahan's fat cat special interest donors.

Election 2019: The buying and selling of a city, or our updated master list of 73 Gahan wheel-greasers, a veritable pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.

These 30 free-spending special interest donors top Jeff Gahan's 2019 pay-to-play campaign finance windfall of $150,000 (so far).

CFA-4 Follies: OMG, just look at Gahan's huge pile of special interest donor cash flowing to out-of-towners.

If nothing else, he balanced the stonewalling: Team Gahan has yet to account for the handily vanished financials of the Bicentennial Commission.

Back in 2011, when the city of New Albany was preparing for its gala Bicentennial celebration in 2013, the guiding force behind the Bicentennial Commission was 2nd district councilman Bob Caesar.

The commission itself was chartered to exist, then to dissolve once the party was over. Here's the ordinance.

BI-CENTENNIAL COMMISSION

§ 33.165 CREATION.
(A) There is hereby created the New Albany Bi-Centennial Commission.
(B) The membership of the Bi-Centennial Commission shall be composed of nine citizen members, five appointed by the Mayor and four appointed by the Common Council. The terms of office of the membership shall be for the period of time commencing with appointment and concluding at midnight on December 31, 2013. The Mayor and Common Council may remove and appoint its members at will.
(C) The mission of the Bi-Centennial Commission shall be to plan, coordinate and implement projects and events to celebrate the city’s bi-centennial. The Bi-Centennial Commission shall work with local citizens, businesses, organizations and institutions to accomplish its mission.
(D) The Bi-Centennial Commission shall adopt by-laws. These by-laws shall address such issues as meeting times and places, rules for the conduct of meetings, and other rules for the efficient operation of an advisory commission.
(E) The Bi-Centennial Commission shall appoint members to an advisory committee that it will work with to engage local citizens, businesses, organizations and institutions to accomplish its mission.

(Ord. G-09-06, passed 3-19-2009; Ord. G-12-01, passed 2-6-2012)

It somehow was determined to publish a book, as eventually to be written by a Tennessee-based freelancer when of course local writers might have been chosen to inject genuine feeling into the project, but then again the Bicentennial itself sank beneath the weight of same-old-generic-planning.

On November 16, 2011 the newspaper laid out the parameters of the tome to come.

New Albany Bicentennial Park moving ahead, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

BOOK DEAL

In related news, Caesar updated the redevelopment commission on the status of a bicentennial book being prepared for release next year.

To produce and print 5,000 copies of the book will cost $144,000, Caesar said.

“I know that’s a lot of money, but there’s a lot of work that goes into these,” he said.

Redevelopment funds were used as a loan to the bicentennial commission to get the book started, and Caesar said the advance will be paid back after sales start accumulating.

Standard copies of the book will be sold for $40, but 200 limited editions will be sold for $200 through an invitation process, Caesar said.

As Caesar said the $144,000 will be derived from donations to the cause, proceeds from the book sales will go straight to funding bicentennial activities.

About $107,000 of the production total has already been raised, Caesar said.

He added the book will be extremely detailed and an appropriate representation of New Albany’s history.

“We feel there won’t be any problem selling it,” Caesar said. “These stories will have flavor to them.”

With the preceding as background, and not forgetting that others intimately involved with the workings of the Bicentennial Commission subsequently raised public questions about the group's financial operations (see here and here), allow me to review the chronology detailing the city's refusal almost six years later to release the commission's financial records.

And if the city actually does not possess financial records from an entity chartered by ordinance and subject to the same rules and regulations as any other, exactly what does this say about the city's commitment to any rules or regulations?

Background 2011 – 2014

New Albany 2nd district city councilman Bob Caesar became chairman of New Albany’s Bicentennial Commission at its inception in 2011. In June 2013 former Bicentennial Commission treasurer Vic Megenity asked City Council for an audit of the commission (links above), citing concerns over expenditures which he alleged had not been addressed either by the commission or Mayor Jeff Gahan. Council voted against the audit.

In January 2014 at a city council meeting I asked Caesar about the status of the special Bicentennial book, Historic NEW ALBANY Indiana: By the River's Edge, which was published thanks to a “loan” of indeterminate amount in 2011 from the Redevelopment Commission to the Bicentennial Commission; the book's cost supposedly was $140,000, or $28 per book for 5,000 books).

There was no reply.

2015

A year later, in April of 2015 at another city council meeting, I again asked Caesar for financial records detailing the committee’s activities. Specifically I sought details about the book: How was it contracted, published and sold? What was the status of the Redevelopment Commission’s loan, without which the book wouldn’t have been published at all? Had it been repaid?

At the time, and up to the present day, these books were being routinely gifted by Mayor Jeff Gahan at ribbon cuttings and public ceremonies. If the original press run hadn’t been sold, how many books remained? Where were they being stored? Who paid for them? Was it wholesale or retail?

Publicly in front of his council colleagues at this 2015 meeting, Caesar said he would get the information for me. By early June, I’d heard nothing, so I e-mailed him.

Monday, June 08, 2015:
“Do you recall a few weeks back, when I spoke a city council and expressed interest in learning about the state of the Bicentennial finances? Consider this my follow-up.”

The following day, Caesar replied.

Tuesday, June 09, 2015:
“None of the financials are on line. They are upstairs under a lot of stuff. I can tell you all bills are paid, and paid on time. All reporting to the state is done. And we did not use all of the city money. There was about 5 to 10K that stayed in the city funds … Give me a little time and I’ll get them.”

Roughly 118 days passed, and I tried again in an e-mail on October 5, 2015: “I was reminded that it's been a few months. Do you have this (book) information yet?”

Caesar did not respond to the e-mail, but I saw him at Harvest Homecoming just a few days later and asked whether he received the e-mail. He nodded assent. I told him there was no particular hurry, but I'd love to see the figures. He said okay.

I did not hear from him after that. Ever.

2016 Request and Public Access Complaint

On June 6, 2016 at yet another city council meeting, I used my public speaking time to ask Caesar about my information request.

Now, more than a year later, his memory apparently failed him. He couldn’t recall our previous public chats in the council chamber, or our e-mails correspondence -- and he'd turned petulant.

I reminded him that 418 days was a long time to wait for public records, and he replied, "You know, I think they're on-line now."

I asked him if there was a URL.

He replied: "I don't know."

(The next day I searched, and the records weren’t on line.)

Our last city council meeting conversation on June 6, 2016 concluded this way.

Baylor: "If you're not going to get me these numbers, I can file a FOIA request."

Caesar: "Okay."

Baylor: "So, is that what I must do -- file a FOIA?"

Caesar: "You can if you want to."

Consequently I submitted this request to corporate attorney Shane Gibson.

---

Roger A. Baylor
NA Confidential
1117 East Spring Street
New Albany, Indiana 47150

10 June 2016

Shane Gibson
Corporate Attorney
City of New Albany, Indiana
Hauss Square
New Albany, Indiana 47150

Dear Mr. Gibson:

Under the Indiana Access to Public Records Act § 5-14-3-1 et seq., I am requesting an opportunity to obtain copies of public records that pertain to the financial dealings of the Bicentennial Commission, the creation and operation of which is detailed in New Albany’s code of ordinances (33.165; attached).

The period being requested encompasses the Bicentennial Commission’s inception through the present time.

Details should include all bids, contracts and expenditures for Bicentennial Commission activities, prime among them the process through with the Bicentennial book (“Historic New Albany, Indiana: By the River’s Edge,” by James Crutchfield) was contracted, published and sold, and the status of the Redevelopment Commission’s loan to make publication of this volume possible.

As part of this request, I am requesting to know the current status of inventory with regard to these books. If books remain unsold, how many remain, and where are they stored? Also, when a Bicentennial book is given away at a public ceremony, who paid for it? These invoices are to be considered part of this request.

As part of this request, I am further requesting copies of the official e-mail correspondence between Robert Caesar and other members of the Bicentennial Commission pertaining to these plans and transactions.

I would also like to request a waiver of all fees in that the disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of what it cost to honor the city’s Bicentennial, and how these decisions were made, under the aegis of a free press (NA Confidential blog). My request is strictly for news gathering purposes and is not being sought for commercial purposes.

The Indiana Access to Public Records Act requires a response time within seven business days. If access to the records I am requesting will take longer than seven days, please contact me with information about when I might expect copies of the requested records.

If you deny any or all of this request, please cite each specific exemption you feel justifies the refusal to release the information and notify me of the appeal procedures available to me under the law.

Thank you for considering my request.

Sincerely,

Roger A. Baylor

---

On June 16, 2016 Gibson acknowledged my information request and stated that there would be a response by July 8, 2016.

July 8 came and went. Approximately three months later, having received no communication of any sort from Gibson, I sought the opinion of the Indiana Public Access Counselor, who accepted my complaint, informed Gibson about it, and set a date of December 5, 2016 for the counselor to hand down a decision.

Then on November 30, with the access counselor’s ruling imminent (both Gibson and I received an e-mail to this effect), Gibson finally replied.

In essence, he said I could have only what I didn’t ask for, and as for the rest of the financial records of the Bicentennial Commission, these were unavailable: “The city does not possess the above referenced items.”

To summarize, the city had formed a commission to spend several hundred thousand dollars. Caesar conceded they were in his possession. He would not produce them, and presumably because a councilman was keeping public records in his garage, attic or at the landfill, the city could not produce them either.

To reiterate: Given the intent of Indiana's public access laws and the obligation of city officials to produce information when requested, Caesar's and Gibson's tandem obfuscation constituted a thumbing of noses at the law. In 2016 I chose not to pursue the issue any further; I had a life to live and things to do, and 600 days is a long time to wait for what should have taken a person with a conscience roughly ten minutes to produce.

Thus I conclude with the same question I've been asking all these years: If Gibson, Caesar, Gahan and whomever else participated in the wretched shamefulness worked this hard to avoid providing information about a "mere" three hundred thousand dollars, to what lengths will they go to duck and over when the sums get real?

You can do as you please, but I won't vote for people who can't be trusted.

Team Gahan's failure to fulfill open records requests? That's Gahan's political conspiracy against transparency, and it's HIS problem, not anyone else's.

Team Gahan's failure to fulfill open records requests? That's Gahan's political conspiracy against transparency, and it's HIS problem, not anyone else's.

It's like this.

These information requests are about money. The money comes from taxes, not an elected official's alchemy lab.

Taxpayers in the broadest sense have a perfect right to ask how their money is being spent. If there is day-to-day institutional transparency and the expenditures are available for open perusal and discussion, it's all good, but when these conditions are absent, these citizens also have the right to pursue a resolution according to state-established procedures, and this is what some of those who have been deprived of answers have found it necessary to do.

Why? Because Team Gahan has not complied with procedure, because this non-compliance is illegal, and because the buck stops with Jeff Gahan.

Gahan would have you believe that the Indiana public access counselor's findings on behalf of complainants is a political conspiracy against him, but his self-serving paranoia isn't relevant, because the issue of timing cuts both ways.

Just remember this: these requests date back months. At any point over a period of months, Gahan's underlings might have cooperated in the spirit of doing the bare minimum required of their job descriptions -- not to mention honoring the stipulations of Indiana state law.

However, as we've observed so many times before, Gahan's political imperatives always intrude -- the habitual secrecy, the lust for control, and the bizarre certainty that anyone who differs with his power games is a threat to be checked stymied rather than the person who pays his inflated effing salary.

In a final instance of raging hypocrisy, Gahan informs the typically somnolent News and Tribune in effect that he believes someone living outside city limits forfeits the right to ask questions of him.

And yet, how many hundred thousand dollars has he been given by special interests with mailing addresses ... that's right, outside city limits?

Suit filed against City of New Albany over public records

NEW ALBANY — Three Floyd County residents have filed a civil lawsuit against the City of New Albany, for failing to fulfill open records requests.

The lawsuit was filed by Irvin Stumler, Stephen Roberts and Heather Peters in Floyd County Superior Court No. 2. The suit comes following the opinion of Public Access Counselor Luke Britt that the city violated the Access to Public Records law.

The trio filed the suit Friday. The requests for information covered a variety of topics, including legal fees incurred or paid by the City of New Albany, electronic correspondence and revenue and expenses of the River Run Family Water Park.

“What is at play here goes far beyond individuals request for information. At its core, it is all about the ideal of open and transparent government,” states a news release from the three. “What brings us here today is a consistent pattern of failing to acknowledge, let alone respond, to a citizen’s inquiry into the affairs of local government” ...

For once Deaf Gahan is right: The hilltop Fairfield atrocity is a "perfect fit" with maximum pay-to-play monetization.

The Fairfield Chain Hotel Atrocity in the newly created mudslide zone off State Street is a remarkably ugly building to be serving as the crowning achievement of any triumphant suburban development, much less atop a plat denuded and strip-mined to make way for it.

And yet Deaf Gahan somehow is impressed by all this. It can't be the aesthetics unless he's also blind, so it must be the campaign finance donations from the profiteers involved with the hotel's construction. After all, deaf, dumb and blind boys still know how to count the money.

Gahan's crack team of Goebbels-intensity spinners has gotten lots of mileage from this misplaced development obscenity, and we can only hope voters are sufficiently hip to see through the malarkey.

Naturally went WLKY went for the bait.

“It's a perfect fit and now there's talk about even adding another one (hotel) up here, along with a convention center. So, we're really thrilled about it,” said New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan.

That's right. A convention center, of the sort Gahan is resisting elsewhere in Southern Indiana -- isn't he currently peevishly boycotting the tourist bureau's convention center feasibility study? -- but moreover, a convention center on top of a denuded strip-mined hill, accessible by a single road, presumably to be augmented by helicopter, escalator or the Starship Enterprise's transporter.

Well, we "built" this city on Gahan's lies.

Time to get real, voters.

If you’re singing joyful hosannas for a greed-driven car-centric multinational chain hotel with low paying jobs squatting on an environmental disaster area when so many infill properties nearby sit weed-choked and unused, and of course an extravaganza reliant on heavy municipal subsidies for its very existence ... well, I feel sorry for you.

To be fair, a friend offered intelligent counterpoint to the effect that there's a case for "overflow" hotel space in Southern Indiana to serve the Louisville convention crowds, with the prospect of luring guests downtown.

This is true. However, I'm not contesting the potential utility of such a hotel or the fact that our obscene neoliberal economic system in America (masquerading as free enterprise) strives to create chains, which I abhor.

It's the fact of this hideous building sitting atop what once was a forested hillside, which could not had been built at all without the active "partnership" of a corrupt municipal government.

We have many spaces where infill construction in the form of a hotel would have killed a few developmental and economic birds with one stone. Instead we're subsidizing the sheer greed of property owners.

Remember: Generic mediocrity + pay-to-play monetization = Gahanism.

Scammers, fraudsters, and the task of "Un-Corrupting City Hall."

This long read helpfully explains why New Albany's Ethics Commission was stillborn.

Un-Corrupting City Hall, by Ethan McLeod (CityLab)

These cities all suffered notorious municipal scandals. What have officials and voters done to tackle corruption and keep it from happening again?

H. Philip West Jr. breathed a sigh of relief in June when Providence’s 294-room Graduate Hotel decided to remove the portraits of Vincent “Buddy” Cianci from its guestrooms. The longtime mayor, who died in 2016, is an iconic character in the Rhode Island capital’s history. But as far as West is concerned, Cianci is a stain on Providence—one that he’s spent years trying, unsuccessfully, to scrub away.

It was only five years ago that Cianci—out of prison after a racketeering conspiracy conviction in 2007 and twice forced to resign from office due to felony convictions nearly two decades apart—mounted a third run for mayor. He lost, but West, former director of Common Cause Rhode Island, was still troubled to see him draw 45 percent of the vote.

“When you’ve dealt with such a brilliant scammer and fraudster, how can you convince people that they should not support him? I’m not sure you ever can,” says West, who helped write a new city ethics code and create a municipal investigatory body after Cianci’s 2001 indictment. “Ultimately you just have to say, ‘We’re going to build a structure that’s going to hold anybody who’s elected going forward accountable.’”

That’s the same pledge that voters and leaders have made in other places where civic corruption has been a chronic issue. Weary from national embarrassment and seeing history repeat itself, cities like Baltimore, New Orleans, and Chicago have responded to political scandals with charter overhauls and executive orders, empowered independent investigators to probe corruption, and challenged problematic local political traditions.

But successfully leading a wave of reform can be a tall order, with human nature and deeply entrenched political culture standing in the way. “This is about personal greed,” Tim Krebs, chair of the University of New Mexico’s political science department, says. “As long as you have human beings in government, you’re not going to be able to root [corruption] out entirely.”

Boosting oversight doesn’t always work, and for some, the jury is still out as reforms await testing. But in cities large and small, when voters and officials commit to challenging corruption and embracing transparency, they’re seeing results.

Examples are offered from Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit, Greater Los Angeles and New Orleans, before the narrative turns back to Providence.

The Providence Ethics Commission didn’t actually meet until 2015 ... West said he’s proud of the ethics code and other reforms he helped with, but is bothered that he hasn’t yet seen the commission enforce the new rules for any violations. “With a power, you can’t really know what it is until you exercise it and you find out what the resistance is. I really can’t say that they’ve got decent enforcement power until I see that they’re using it.”

The coda.

“It takes a long time to build good government, and sadly, a clever, corrupt official can do great damage in short time,” he says. “Until those people retire and are gone, corruption will still have its presence, its taint.”

C.R.E.A.M. y'all: Slick Jeffie releases cookout menu for Saturday, September 7 love fest.

I get the whole Wu Tang thing, but Eric Cantona?

Maybe he's taking a parks department job.

Gahan eats a Danish, installs campaign finance-themed pedestrian crossing signals.

The Green Mouse received a link from a friend: Danish city installs Viking-themed pedestrian crossing signals (text below). What happened next was very predictable.

It's 2:00 a.m., and a phone rings near Main Street, muffled by the ornamental grasses in a nearby median.

"See here, Rosenbarger. This Viking crosswalk light thingy has potential. Didn't the Vikings raid and pillage everywhere they went? That's some really good shit, but $150 to convert the lights? Say what? How do those Danish mayors get their families to Disney World twice a year on $150? Look, some of our Special Friends can do these for at least $500 each, although you need to make sure we're getting the volume warehouse discount for $100 actual cost, then we can convert every light in the city and put those cute anchors on them -- wait, that's no fun, how about my FACE on each one?

"HAH! That Chowchewsku guy never managed THAT, did he?"

Now for the straight dope.

Danish city installs Viking-themed pedestrian crossing signals

Aug. 26 (UPI) -- A city in Denmark is celebrating its Viking heritage by replacing the crosswalk signal lights with the images of the historic Scandinavian warriors.

The city of Aarhus, which was founded by Vikings in the 8th century, unveiled the first of the Viking-themed crossing signals Monday. The city is planning to install the lights at 17 crossings in the city.

Buenyamin Simsek, a councilor in the Aarhus city planning department, pitched the scheme early in the year and the Moesgaard Museum, located just outside of the city, teamed up with officials to bring the idea to fruition.

Officials said each walking signal costs about $150 to convert.

"There are reasons to be cheerful. These are the dying days of a rancid old order."

On the one hand, the essay linked below by Will Sutton bears a degree of thematic unity with my column last week.

ON THE AVENUES: Unless you open your eyes, “resistance” is an empty gesture.

But it's an ideal link for posting because the Democratic Party swamp meme needs to be seen as often as possible between now and November.

There are reasons to be cheerful. These are the dying days of a rancid old order, by Will Hutton (The Guardian)

In the UK and the US, the political wind will soon change in favour of those demanding good government

Don’t despair. We may be living through an attempted rightwing revolution, but its foundations are rotten. There may be a counter-revolution, as there is after every revolution, and it will be built on much firmer ground. The charlatans may be in control in both Britain and the US, but their time is limited. Their programmes are self-defeating and destructive and they do not speak to the dynamic and increasingly ascendant forces in both our societies ...

At The Aggregate, a discussion of the ethics and legality of Slick Jeffrey's 4-H Fair propaganda blitz.

As we've pointed out numerous times in the past, the campaign finance cash Jeff Gahan collects from pay-to-play special interest donors and the tax proceeds we all pay into local government are often co-mingled to the point of pea soup fog. Too many voters shrug it off. They shouldn't.

The problem is compounded by the mayor's ego, which has long since swelled past the dimensions of a dirigible. He genuinely believes the press clippings generated by his own propaganda commissariat, and he can't tell the difference between the city and himself.

We can do something about this in November: #FireGahan2019

Gahan for Mayor at the Fair?, by Daniel Johnson and Madison Miller (The Aggregate)

Last Wednesday, on a sunny day in New Albany, the Fair in Floyd County was offering everything from classic fair food to a full rodeo and grandstand events. It has been a long tradition, particularly in our smaller communities, for kids to bring their livestock and show them off before the market sale. For many of these kids, the Fair will be the highlight of the season. In the photograph above, Jeff Gahan, the current Mayor of New Albany, who is up for re-election this year, enjoys this event alongside his constituents by handing out free ride tickets in front of a Floyd County Democratic Party tent. Voters will be sure to remember this at the booth come election day. This was one of many Mayor’s Nights that have been going on for years, and it was not the first time Gahan has participated. However, this act of kindness has some political implications that, it could be argued, are unethical, or worse, illegal.

As voters in a republic, we all deserve to have the full context of actions taken by elected officials ...

#CultureOfCorruption: Consider the privileged arrogance of Gahan's clique, planting political signs in spite of being asked not to do so by the Election Board.

We have DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party chairman Adam Dickey's own words.

"Some vote center sites such as area churches have expressed concern about candidate signs being placed on their property and, in particular, signs being left after voting hours. In response, the Election Board is asking candidates to not place signs at vote centers."

Seems clear enough, but as we already know, Gahan and his brown-nosed lickspittles don't believe they need to play by the same rules as the rest of us. That's why it's Tricky, Dickey.

Can they get any more arrogant?

#FireGahan2019 
#FlushTheClique

Our out-of-touch, tone-Deaf Gahan, bought and paid for by special interests. Let's hear YOUR stories about Gahan's #CultureOfCorruption.

Mayor Jeff Gahan's campaign finance reports are like iceberg tips. There is far more down below the water line, out of our view, originating in the familiar cash-stuffed envelopes -- and fully including favors (remember David Duggins' classic Keeneland junket at Denton Floyd's expense?)

NA Confidential's special election year coverage already is under way.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 3: Eight-year donor Terry Ginkins and a consistency of beak-wetting.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 2: Of fire stations, amphitheater studies and Axis Architecture and Interiors of Indianapolis.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 1: Mysterious CRS Marketing and the inevitable HWC Engineering tie-in.

But I need YOUR help documenting our ruling elite's #CultureOfCorruption. Tell me about your experiences with the Jeff Gahan Money Machine, and together we can pull back the curtain and reveal the truth behind the propaganda -- and make absolutely no mistake, because that's exactly what Gahanism is, pure propaganda masking pervasive corruption.

Confidentiality is assured. Write me and we'll talk. Thank you.