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 ...

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. 

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” ...

Here you go, Slick Jeffie -- I fixed it for you.

Yep, it's another Seabrook-sliming mailer from the DemoDisneyDixiecrats, and I just took a few minutes to make it accurate, because while ploys like this play well on the Kool Aid Corridor, the rest of us know the truth. 

Don't forget it was Jeff Gahan who raised your sewer rates.

Speaking of remembering:

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.

Don't forget it was Jeff Gahan who raised your sewer rates.

In 2017 Jeff Gahan's sewer board ... and make no mistake, it's a sewer board in Gahan's vise grip ...

Jeff Gahan pays himself around $11,000 each year to head up the sewer board. Shouldn't Gahan attend the city council rate increase hearing on February 6 and listen to public comments?

... asked city council to raise sewer rates.

TONIGHT: Public hearing to discuss the sewer rate increase (and yes, it is an increase).

Yes, Virginia, it is a sewer rate INCREASE, in spite of what you may have read elsewhere.

Bump? Hike? If sewer rates are higher, then that's an increase, by definition.

City council complied, but it would be sophistry to suggest these annual sewer rates increases were not applied at Gahan's behest, or that they're anything other than a tax increase on Gahan's watch.

A week or so ago Slick Jeffie began attacking Mark Seabrook for raising sewer rates, which raised more than a few jaded eyebrows. Exactly how does a county commissioner have control over a sewer utility process controlled lock, stock and barrel by the mayor?

Jeff Gillenwater explains.

The reference is to Seabrook’s time as a City Council Representative. He did vote for sewer rate increases at the time as the City faced an EPA mandate to perform sewer system upgrades that had been needed but neglected for decades.

What they’re not saying: The sewer rate increases were championed by then Democratic Mayor Doug England and passed by a Democratic majority Council.

As a minority member, Seabrook voted WITH the Democrats. Then Councilman Gahan voted against, railing against the sewer department as corrupt but while offering no repair or upgrade alternatives other than personal grandstanding as the City faced potential fines and legal action from the EPA.

Fast forward a few years: Mayor Gahan appoints himself as president of the sewer board (a paid position in addition to his mayoral salary) and tries to take public credit for paying down sewer upgrade debt even though he consistently voted against the plan to do the work and pay down the debt.

In review, Floyd County Democrats now say that Seabrook is awful for having voted with a Democratic majority on the Council and a Democratic Mayor. Likewise, Gahan said the sewer plan that the Democratic majority and Seabrook voted for was horrible right up until it started to work as designed and he took public credit for it.

An addendum from Bluegill:

And lest any local Democrats again try to falsely accuse honest folks of lying, here’s the official, straight from the mayor’s office public appeal from Gahan (acting as both mayor and paid sewer board leader) requesting the passage of an ordinance that seeks to raise sewer rates on an annual basis. Gahan can argue that it’s a good idea to raise those rates but a) laying sewer rate increases at Seabrook’s feet while his own party is most responsible and b) trying to act as though he doesn’t support regular sewer rate increases himself are just more lies from an all too common source.

And these explanations are why I no longer trust local DemoDisneyDixiecrats to tell the truth, or the local chain newspaper to bother performing its historical function of setting the record straight.

Accordingly, this is why NA Confidential exists, and when it comes to determining why local DemoDisneyDixiecrats detest NA Confidential, Occam's Razor is the best source for the answer because the simplest answer is best: They hate me because I tell the truth about them.

In closing, lots of Gahan's supporters profit from his stewardship of the sewer board, don't they?

Breathtaking school building bunk goes to show lies are lies, whether they're Trump's or Gahan's.

Note the use of the word "we" in this shameless whopper from Slick Jeffie.

SUPPORTING EDUCATION: With the help of school administrators and concerned parents, we succeeded on an initiative that rebuilt 2 brand new city schools, remodeled current facilities, invested in new equipment and technology, and created better spaces for learning for our children and families. Let’s keep moving New Albany forward!

Note to Abigail.

A simple rule for using numbers in writing is that small numbers ranging from one to ten (or one to nine, depending on the style guide) should generally be spelled out. Larger numbers (i.e., above ten) are written as numerals.

You'd think they'd teach this rule in school.

Rebuttals?

MC: "Wow. Talk about taking credit when none is due. The voters of Floyd County, through a referendum, approved all of this. What’s next? Taking credit for the sun coming up tomorrow? I mean, how desperate do you have to be to come up with actual accomplishments? How about telling us the total debt load of New Albany now versus when you came to office. I’ll even let you off the hook by excluding the sewer department, which has it’s own budget."

RC: "Exactly HOW did either the mayor or New Albany government make this happen?"

SW: "Let me get this straight -- so he supported education by taking property tax money away through TIF, forcing the school system to run a deceptive referendum campaign for a huge tax increase?"

KC: "Help me understand what the city had to do with this."

BM: "Heard Gahan was taking credit for the incredible full moon tonight as well."

Calling yourself a "progressive"?

Here's an idea:

Hold Jeff Gahan to the same standard of truthfulness that you maintain with Donald Trump. Think you can do that?

Has Gahan done anything "progressive" in eight years?

Running up debts for your children and grandchildren to pay isn't really "progressive," is it?

How can you "move forward" with an anchor as your official symbol?

#FireGahan2019

Side-splitting Jeff Gahan stand-up comedy: "What I do best is listen to a lot of people."

Listening.

That's why he's here, you know.

Just one question: When has Slick Jeffie ever heard what's being said?

Watch Jeff Gahan abuse (a) the League of Women Voters' Q&A format, (b) Mark Seabrook and (c) the intelligence of voters.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Slick Jeffie's snarling true colors in last evening's non-debate.

I didn't attend the League of Women Voters' fix-is-in-non-debate, and here's why.

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

Watch Jeff Gahan abuse (a) the League of Women Voters' Q&A format, (b) Mark Seabrook and (c) the intelligence of voters.

Our political prima donna Slick Jeffie won't agree to debate his opponents if "debate" is taken to mean "debate," but his legendary bad temper comes to the forefront near the end of this short clip from last evening's made-for-Gahan soiree at the Silver Street Pleasure Dome.

Gahan also confused the issue, extrapolating overall budgeting from TIF district pillage.

You broke the rules, Mayor Chump. 

Naturally the League didn't do a thing about it. Like I said ...

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Slick Jeffie's snarling true colors in last evening's non-debate.

#FireGahan2019
#DrainTheGahanSwamp
#SocialistsForSeabrook

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Slick Jeffie's snarling true colors in last evening's non-debate.

Roger did not attend Bill Hanson's paint-by-numbers soiree at the Silver Street Pleasure Dome.

I didn't attend the League of Women Voters' fix-is-in-non-debate, and here's why.

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

But the Green Mouse did.

---

"The only moment of nastiness last night was when Mark Seabrook answered a question about city finances and then passed the mic to Jeff Gahan to answer the same question. Gahan asked the moderator to repeat the question and while she was looking for the card he lashed out at Seabrook. 

"Unsurprisingly, the moderators did not say anything about his outburst.

"Gahan raised his voice and made this petulant snarl about how his balance was perfectly budgeted and the city's finances were in great shape. He yelled at Seabrook and said 'you're one to talk' since he's never had a balanced budget, and some other inaudible crackling.

"Slick Jeffie did a great job of showing his true colors. Seabrook definitely got under his skin last night."

---

Just imagine if Hanson and the League of Women Voters had the chutzpah to stage an actual debate.

It took the consummate narcissist Jeff Gahan a full 16 years to say the word "opioid," and now the hypocrite-in-chief thinks he's Jonas effing Salk.

Crazy, isn't it?

"Silent Jeff" Gahan served eight excruciatingly underachieving years as a councilman, followed by seven years and 238 days as the city's second-worst mayor ever (behind Warren Nash) before at long last becoming vaguely aware of an opioid crisis in New Albany -- wait, I'm sorry, make that "Floyd County" -- none of which has the slightest thing to do with a tough re-election fight just around the corner.

Whatever. I pulled the only relevant paragraph from Gahan's boilerplate recitation of things we already know.

The City of New Albany has already taken an important step by bringing legal action against the manufacturers and distributors. Floyd County officials, unfortunately, have opted to not join the lawsuit against opioid distributors. I am urging county leaders to recognize this problem and join the lawsuit. Now that we have solid data concerning the problem, we need to do more as a community.

It's the ceaseless war against Floyd County government, yet again. This war is the only imperative for Gahan's tenure, and not a single Democrat in New Albany can recall exactly why it's being fought apart from their need to preserve political patronage as local Democrats have always featherbedded it.

This emperor has no clothes; Gahan cares not a jot about societal ills apart from his skill in spinning them to his advantage. Now, how about an uplifting round of  loaded Rice Krispies Treats?

#SocialistsForSeabrook2019

Colonial Manor Redevelopment Visioning: "We are people who just passionately want to create stronger and better neighborhoods and help build a better community together."

"If it wasn't an election year it would have passed 9-0 ... this opportunity is gone." Anyone got a Kleenex?

As Team Gahan continues to pout, the grassroots activists behind Colonial Manor Redevelopment Visioning continue to work. The report below was filed at Facebook.

At this point, shouldn't City Hall and the Democrats be resolving to be a part of the solution, rather than staging election-year temper tantrums?

Hello, everybody!

It has been an extremely busy past month for our Colonial Manor Redevelopment Citizens Coalition. So, time for an update.

We have gathered and curated an ever-growing collection of community feedback and taken an expanded look at our marketing data. We have held conversations with the Colonial Manor owner in California and his representation locally. And, we have spent many hours identifying and initiating one-on-one conversations with locally-owned businesses and organizations that may be thinking of expanding, considering new or additional locations, or just starting up.

We have worked to match our listening data and demographics up with businesses and organizations that may be a really good match for redeveloped and renovated space. Plus, we've been working hard to build some strategic partnerships between businesses, helping some of them figure out how they could perhaps mutually support and strengthen each other in a space like that.

Last week, we brought just a few of those businesses and organizations together with an owner's representative to begin to explore some possibilities, discuss needs and vision, and take a quick survey of some potential funding sources and options for support.

NOW---we want to broaden our vision and potential partners! If you have a local retail or service business, a cafe or restaurant, or are a not-for-profit seeking to make an increased impact in serving our community---and may be interested in exploring a renewed Colonial Manor---we would love to draw you into our exciting conversation.

Our aim as volunteers is to support, encourage, and assist the owner in any way we can with building a new day for the center and, in turn, enhancing the quality of life for our local neighborhoods. Have some ideas? Want to get together with some of us and talk? Interested in volunteering? Just send us a message and let's do some dreaming and help some of our local businesses and organizations perhaps make some extraordinary things happen.

Thanks to all who have continued to be encouragers, helpers, and sources of learning for us. We aren't real estate developers. We have no ownership interests in that development. We are just a growing group of ordinary, everyday people (with other jobs!), big hearts, relentless energy, diverse skills and talents, and what we believe is a bit of a gift for listening and matching people/businesses with our neighborhoods and our community's needs.

We are people who just passionately want to create stronger and better neighborhoods and help build a better community together. Please continue to support us in any way you can as we continue the journey.

Jeff Gahan's persistent transportation hypocrisy: Electric cars win, bicyclists lose.

If you prefer alternatives to cars, like a bicycle, then get ready to risk your life because all Jeff Gahan can do is laugh and give you another meaningless sharrow.

⚡️New Albany’s first electric car charging station -providing the power to choose cleaner energy.⚡️ Proud to provide options to our neighbors that prefer alternative energy sources.

Never forget that Jeff Speck showed Gahan exactly how New Albany might leap to the front of regional leadership when it comes to bicycling and a bicycle-friendly grid. But Gahan the suburbanite C-minus student can see only cars -- and he cannot see how two-wheeled alternatives would provide him with the same campaign finance pull as car-centric street designers.

Can you even begin to imagine the mayor on a bicycle on a street with a succession of sharrows?

I can't. Neither can he, which is why street grid stupidity like ours keeps happening.

Some Bike Infrastructure Is Worse Than None at All, by Eric Jaffe (CityLab)

It’s time to put the sharrow to rest.

Denver gave rise to the sharrow in the early 1990s, and now two researchers there offer a compelling case to put the lowly form of bike infrastructure to rest.

You’ve seen a sharrow painted on city streets: it’s that image of a cyclist below two arrows in the middle of a lane that—you guessed it—is meant to be shared by bikes and cars. The Federal Highway Administration gave sharrows its official blessing in 2009, and the symbol is now ubiquitous across urban America. It’s also arguably the least-loved nod to cycling, a low-cost way for cities to say they’re doing something about safety and street design without really doing much at all ...

"If it wasn't an election year it would have passed 9-0 ... this opportunity is gone." Anyone got a Kleenex?

"It's all private property."

Yes, Deaffrey ... it is private property, and YOU can do anything you want with it.

Texas anti-masturbation bill moves closer to becoming law, by Adam Lusher (Independent)

Under the Man’s Right to Know Act, Texan men would be fined $100 for every 'unregulated masturbatory emission' - although they may be reassured to learn this is a satirical bill highlighting how women have been targeted by anti-abortion laws.

A bill that would see Texas men fined $100 (£82) for masturbating has taken a step closer to becoming law after it received its first reading in the state’s House of Representatives.

Under section 173.010 of House Bill 4260, the Man’s Right to Know Act, Texas men would only be allowed to masturbate under supervision, inside approved health care and medical facilities ...

Looks like it's time for Adam to have that father-to-son chat with Deafferson.

Wait -- what was that?

The article's from 2017 and it isn't even about Colonial Manor?

My bad. Thanks to J for directing me to the real piece of belated local journalism.

Back to 'square one' for Colonial Manor redevelopment in New Albany

City officials still consider area a priority

"If it wasn't an election year it would have passed 9-0," New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan said. "The council's vote killed this opportunity. This opportunity is gone ... the council's no vote killed the deal ... a corridor study about what? It's all private property ... it was decided to move forward and buy the property ... we missed our chance to revitalize Colonial Manor. Nothing is scheduled to happen at this time. It's a disappointment."

Gahan's Colonial Manor solution?

Fact is, redevelopment's fix was a hurried election-year political ploy from the start, but as we've noted previously, politics is a bauble for Gahan alone. No one else can be allowed to play with his ... er, toys.

 Our mayor's quite the crybaby when he doesn't clutch get his own way, isn't he?

Slip sliding away, Vol. 2: "In researching Indiana Code, it was discovered that the City of New Albany abused the power of eminent domain in acquiring land for a public utility."

Last night Kelly Feiock, a Mt. Tabor Road resident, patiently sat through the regularly scheduled city council meeting so she could rise during public speaking time and offer a few facts for the consideration of the city's presumed legislative body.

Slip sliding away, Vol. 1: A desperately Deaf Gahan seeks to divert your attention from Mt. Tabor malfeasance by attacking the citizenry for doing their homework. Voters, call his arrogant bluff.

Her testimony was devastating, but the image I'll never be able to erase from my memory was that of her councilman, Matt Nash, staring at the floor; inert, used up, unable to act autonomously without Jeff Gahan, Adam Dickey or Shane Gibson handing him a script. How very depressing.

Afterward a friend messaged me.

I don’t see Gahan surviving past the primary. His sins are stacking up. It’s over.

To which I replied:

Maybe. Don’t forget the people who benefit from his sins, who’ve convinced themselves that Gahan is the devil they know.

One would think that fair-minded Democrats (as Nash himself used to be) would be appalled by the steadily accumulating stench emanating from Gahan's Down Low Bunker of Misgovernance.

ON THE AVENUES: Donnie Blevins tells his story.

Isn't bullying like that inexcusable -- and what on earth does one man need with all this money?

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 20: Buying and selling a city? Our master list of 59 Gahan wheel-greasers is a pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.

Pay to play corruption, Mt. Tabor malfeasance, the intimidation and bullying of city employees ... folks, it's no longer about party affiliation. It's about cutting out a cancerous growth so this city can have a democratic future. Democrats, your party has aligned itself with tyranny, and I encourage you to vote for David White on May 7. 

The following is from Kelly Feiock, and approximates what she presented last night.

---

It appears the City of New Albany has misappropriated government funds by abusing the power of Eminent Domain with the Mt. Tabor Road Project.

The City proposed the Mt. Tabor Road project in 2013, which is federally funded (80% federal and 20% local funded). The total cost was originally estimated at $6.5 million, with the city contribution being approximately $1.3 million.

This project severely affected approximately 40 properties on Mt. Tabor Road and Klerner Lane in New Albany. Although the City needed roughly ten feet of property for grass buffers and sidewalks on many of the properties, it acquired an additional 13 feet (or more) of right-of-way on these properties for overhead power lines.

In researching Indiana Code, it was discovered that the City of New Albany abused the power of eminent domain in acquiring land for a public utility. The public utility, in this case Duke Energy, is responsible for using the power of eminent domain for rights-of-way of its powerlines. In doing so, Duke Energy should take, acquire, condemn, and appropriate an easement itself.

Please see Indiana Code as it pertains to Eminent Domain:

IC 32-24-2  Chapter 2. Procedures for Cities and Towns

Per IC 32-24-2-3 "Property" is defined for Cities and Towns as used in this chapter, "property" refers to real property or personal property.

IC 32-24-2-6 Application of chapter; condemnation resolutions; notice;

remonstrances

Sec. 6. (a) This chapter applies if the works board of a municipality wants to acquire

property for the use of the municipality or to open, change, lay out, or vacate a street, an

alley, or a public place in the municipality, including a proposed street or alley crossings of

railways or other rights-of-way. However, this chapter does not apply if a municipality wants

to acquire the property of a public utility (as defined in IC 8-1-2-1).

IC 32-24-4 Chapter 4. Procedures for Utilities and Other Corporations

IC 32-24-4-1 Public utilities

Sec. 1. (a) A person, firm, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation authorized to do business in Indiana and authorized to: 

            (1) furnish, supply, transmit, transport or distribute electrical energy, gas, oil, petroleum, water, heat, steam, hydraulic power, or communications by telegraph or telephone to the public or to any town or city;

            (2) construct, maintain or operate turnpikes, toll bridges, canals, public landings, wharves, ferries, dams, aqueducts, street railways, or interurban railways for the use of the public or for the use of any town or city; may take, acquire, condemn, and appropriate land, real estate, or any interest in the land or real estate to accomplish the essential delivery of services described in subdivisions (1) and (2).

IC 32-24-4-2 Fee simple or easements

Sec. 2. The condemnor may take, acquire, condemn, and appropriate a fee simple estate, title, and interest in an amount of land as the condemnor considers necessary for the condemnor's proper uses and purposes. However, for rights-of-way, the condemnor shall take, acquire, condemn, and appropriate an easement.

See also: https://www.duke-energy.com/community/trees-and-rights-of-way/what-can-you-do-in-right-of-way/distribution-lines-guidelines-and-restrictions

Slip sliding away, Vol. 1: A desperately Deaf Gahan seeks to divert your attention from Mt. Tabor malfeasance by attacking the citizenry for doing their homework. Voters, call his arrogant bluff.

True story.

Previously, the photos.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Deaf Gahan may be juiced to the bejeezus-belt on donor cash, but he's not getting any votes from the Mt. Tabor Road construction zone, is he?

As of 12:00 noon on Tuesday morning, there's been nary a peep in Hanson's Folly (periodically known as the News and Tribune) about revelations offered near the end of last evening's city council meeting about the project only Deaf Gahan could have so pompously named: The Mt. Tabor Road Restoration and Pedestrian Safety Project.

Perhaps this is to be expected given the tendency by publisher and editor to allow Gahan's in-house propaganda commissariat to write and pre-approve New Albany stories for them.

In turn, failures of duty like this are why stakeholders living on and near Mt. Tabor Road have been compelled to devote inordinate amounts of time completing the same sort of homework Gahan never bothered with in school, having still not cracked open a book since he took up permanent residence in the Oval Crooked Office.

For eight years prior to running for mayor, Gahan constantly was running for mayor. As witnessed by his pay-to-play campaign finance haul since 2011, Gahan never has stopped running for mayor during all the years since.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 20: Buying and selling a city? Our master list of 59 Gahan wheel-greasers is a pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.

$438,000 surely buys plenty of Rice Krispies Treats and Kool-Aid, although these folkloric medications only worsen the self-delusion, arrogance and hubris that have characterized Gahan's career in politics.

But we must be honest and concede that while the office may have exacerbated these tendencies, they've always existed deep inside the shadowy cranium of an otherwise mild-mannered veneer peddler whose only real achievement since attaining his current position of authoritarian tinpot has been to constantly inflict his will on those who never mistook his dull-witted plodding for inspired genius.

Now during an election year intended by Gahan as royal coronation, it laughably transpires that “running for mayor” is an insult Gahan directs at others, though of course never at himself -- and lots of folks who seek municipal contracts are perfectly content to fluff Deaf's inflated ego as "Democrats" stand idly to the side, pretending they're progressive.

Of course if a guy like Gahan walked into a tavern every day for seven years, during each visit reminding the patrons of his exalted, divine-right perfection, it's barely conceivable the regulars might gently mock him while at the same time tolerating his presence as comic relief from a minor eccentric.

Conversely, he might also be kicked out the door and straight to the curb as an obnoxious blowhard.

And so over there stands the mayor, dimly aware that because it's an election year he can't duck the media on every question, agreeing to speak with WAVE about an unnecessary road-building project that defines his tenure in office -- albeit it NOT the way he thinks it does -- then taking this opportunity to trash stakeholders for contesting his exalted, divine-right perfection.

Lest we forget the last time Gahan opened his mouth about this issue.

Click through, read the whole story, and join me as we await the newspaper's inevitable backpedaling.

Volume 2 here

Back and forth in New Albany over Mount Tabor Road project by Sara Rivest at WAVE-3

Progress on Mount Tabor Road construction questioned

A neighborhood dispute over new sidewalks in New Albany has now spun into debate over where money is being spent and whether it will even be finished as planned.

Those concerns came from a resident who said she’s done her homework, as well as one council member who wanted to hear her out on the Mount Tabor Road project.

Resident Kelly Feiock said she filed a complaint with the Indiana Bureau of Auditors on Monday.

“The intersection and the east side of Mount Tabor Road has been put on hold,” Feiock claimed. “There is no plan, there is no funding.”

Feiock lives on that road, has watched the project unfold and brought what she stirred up to the city council Monday.

“Anybody know why the project was reduced from one mile to a half a mile?” Feiock asked. “Alright, how about $6.5 million that was initially proposed and now its $3.1 million -- what happened to the other $3.4 million? Anybody? Seriously? Tell me because you’re the councilmen?!” ...

ON THE AVENUES: Tender mercies, or why Democratic Party luminaries didn't want to be seen at the "Protect Hoosiers from Hate" rally.

Sunday's rally for an inclusive hate crimes bill took place at Bicentennial Park in the heart of New Albany. We had to scoot home a few minutes before the conclusion, but I can safely say the event was impeccably organized by Indiana Forward and Southern Indiana Pride.

The roster of speakers was balanced in every way one might imagine, and comments were kept brief and incisive. The one-week weather delay may have slowed momentum in terms of the rally's overall turnout, but my guess is all those choosing to be involved deemed it a great success. I agree.

In the aftermath of the rally there have been several comments made about the spirit of bipartisanship on display. Broadly speaking, this seemed to be the case, although with a sprinkling of nuance. In New Gahania, things aren’t always what they seem, and when everyone's carrying a hammer, nuance has all the appearance of a nail.

Progressives will disagree, but in New Albany it cannot be denied that Republicans have taken the initiative on an inclusive hate crimes bill and similar issues such as the refurbishment of New Albany's Human Rights Commission. Bravo to them.

Ranking Floyd County Republicans in attendance on Sunday included Ed Clere, Al Knable, Mark Seabrook and Scott Stewart. Other city council members in attendance apart from Knable were David Barksdale (R-Inanimate Objects), Bob Caesar (D-2nd) and Matt Nash (D-5th). Municipal candidates from both parties were there, too.

Interestingly, while local Republicans turned out their best and brightest, the Floyd Democratic Party's upper echelons were noteworthy only by their glaring absence. This should come as no surprise. Jeff Gahan, Adam Dickey, Warren Nash, $hane Gibson – well, these aren't the sort of conniving backroom functionaries who play well with others.

After all, the clique abides.

I searched the crowd in vain for those reliable yearly Gahan campaign finance donors, for whom checkbook calculations truly must be a lonely, anti-social, narcissistic endeavor. Alas, no Dowell, no Ginkins, no Neace. Couldn't they at least pretend it isn't all about the money?

The galling reality about Sunday is that had the egotistical local Democratic hierarchy attended, they'd have been compelled to share the limelight with Republicans, who in the main have been more progressive than the local Democratic drain trust as it pertains to matters like human rights and freedoms.

As I’ve been pointing out since the Pleistocene, the behavior of local Democrats in an institutional sense reflects an unofficial but very real tactic of “bait and switch.”

"Bait and switch is a sales tactic that tricks consumers into buying something other than an advertised item."

Gahan, Dickey, Nash, Gibson and their chief operatives cultivate a crafted image of heartfelt concern for victims of discrimination and the downtrodden, as though to make common cause with the sort of social justice issues commonly identified with the Democratic Party nationally. They even pay occasional bored lip service to the classic Democratic Party platform’s support for workers and advocacy for the economically disadvantaged.

It’s what they say, but not what they do.

The purely Clintonite party chairman Dickey, who has seldom glimpsed a larger World removed from Disney, only mouths platitudes and mimics the national party’s eagerness to tenderly stroke the very same oligarchic economic concentration that has kept America’s downtrodden perpetually disadvantaged.

In return for talking a good game about social justice and the empowerment of a better local economy, our Floyd County Democratic Party is thus freed to enthusiastically buttress its own New Albany-based pay-to-play political patronage system.

(Albeit only within city limits, seeing as the remainder of Floyd County lying outside New Gahania has been lost to the “other” side, and now functions in the role George Orwell reserved for Eurasia and Eastasia. In short, GOP control outside the city is the “enemy” justifying vigilance and periodic ProMedia propaganda attacks … at taxpayer expense.)

Given that veneer is “a thin decorative covering of fine wood applied to a coarser wood or other material,” it turns out that Gahan’s only real political skill is an ability to suck wads of bulky cash through a garden hose, hoovering money from individuals and companies doing business with the city, and wetting his beak from the millions of tax dollars required to erect bright shiny objects we don’t really need, all the while making them look as uniformly dull as those Formica countertops HWC Engineering grew up idolizing.

Small wonder Ed Jolliffe has funneled so much cash to Gahan. Evidently they bonded over Bud Light Mang-O-Rita and a shared fondness for suburban plastic shrubbery clustered around Ikea tumescence.

I’m digressing a wee bit, so let’s return to the point.

Each day between now and the November election we’ll be seeing Gahan’s face on something. For quite some time it has been seen on Kroger shopping carts.

Every last piece of taxpayer-funded city advertising in magazines and newspapers bears Gahan’s airbrushed cherubic image, usually ludicrously outdated. It amounts to branding the city of New Albany with one man’s face.

Personality cults rely for nourishment on a repetitive insistence that nothing of value or substance can happen without a blessed great leader’s intuitive impetus and inspired guidance. Gahan has grasped this and harnessed it to the full weight of taxpayer-funded public interest announcements, with the prerequisite that all such blurbs credit him.

As such, it’s meaningless propaganda, although in the present era of fake facts, there is a patina of normality -- the more exaggerated, the better.

Obviously when it comes to self-aggrandizement Gahan’s gone full frontal Ceausescu – but he couldn’t be bothered to attend Sunday’s rally for an inclusive hate crimes bill, and neither could the cream of his stunted political crop.

To repeat, this wasn’t unexpected.

It’s the same Gahan who enabled a Human Rights Commission for maximum propaganda value, drowned it in a vat of Kool-Aid, smothered it with a souvenir Visit Rock City pillow, and put it completely out of his mind.

Did human rights make a donation this year, Warren? They’d best get on it if they expect a ribbon cutting.

Then one day as Gahan was endorsing huge campaign contributions from Clark Dietz PAC, Faegre Baker Daniels and Beam, Longest & Neff, he became vaguely aware that Knable, a detested Republican, was taking the lead to restore the HRC.

Damn these people with principles!

Caught with his trousers down and unable to squirm out of making two appointments to an entity Gahan had euthanized, now being resuscitated by a deadly political foe, Hizzoner showed THEM, all right: he selected two old white guys, giggled, and returned to his bank vault for quality time alone with his money.

Me being the kind of guy who wants to believe the best in people, at Sunday’s rally I took two postcards for mailing to Indianapolis in support of meaningful hate crimes legislation. On one of them I used our home address. On the other I inscribed Gahan’s, as copied from his most recent CFA-4 campaign finance form.

You know, just in case he forgot.

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Recent columns:

March 5: ON THE AVENUES: Prom planning's nice and all, but New Albany still needs an autonomous independent business alliance.

February 26: ON THE AVENUES: Pretty in pink slips, aren’t they? Those who mutilated Speck need to be cashiered.

February 22: ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL: Take your cult of personality and shove it, Dear Leader.

February 19: ON THE AVENUES: I'd stop drinking, but I'm no quitter (the 2019 Gravity Head remix).