New Albany is a state of mind … but whose? Since 2004, we’ve been observing the contemporary scene in this slowly awakening old river town. If it’s true that a pre-digital stopped clock is right twice a day, when will New Albany learn to tell time?
Showing posts with label Chuck Freiberger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chuck Freiberger. Show all posts
But hasn't Chuck Freiberger, who was one of three county commissioners at the time of the coal ash dispersal scandal, always been loyal to the local DemoDisneyDixiecratic party machine?
And isn't the city's Facebook page supposed to be devoted to information, not partisan politics?
It transpires that Wile E. Gahan, Genius, is so eager to score political points against current commissioner, future GOP mayoral candidate and next-door neighbor Mark Seabrook that he's (a) deploying the taxpayer-funded city government Facebook feed as a blunt political instrument, and (b) throwing former commissioners Freiberger and Steve Bush under the bus along with Seabrook.
The meme from the mayor's minions doesn't specify which one, so we must assume all of them, right?
As for Seabrook's candidacy, someone might remind Exalted Leader that he has a party primary to win first — but his opponent(s) next May probably will be targeted as well.
Increasing numbers of observers can see where the biggest lump of toxic but excessively remunerated waste currently resides, this being in Gahan’s third floor bunker.
When Trump does things like this, y'all get angry. Why is it suddenly okay when Gahan indulges his inner thug?
Here is the Facebook post.
The dumping of hazardous materials by Floyd County Commissioners has forced the city to close the impound lot.
Mayor Gahan ordered the lot closed last week after the property owner informed the city of the hazardous contents at the dump site. The lot will remain closed to protect the public and the City of New Albany employees until further notice.
All releases of vehicles will still be coordinated through New Albany Police Department Headquarters.
I devoted precious coffee time on Sunday morning to surveying the social media feeds of local political officeholders of the Democratic persuasion. Most are on holiday, communications-wise, and have been for a while, but you never know.
While respectful of their positions as inhabitants of a severely listing ship, one that probably needs scuttling to qualify for salvage, it remains that hard times like these are those most in need of something approximating leadership from what we've always been taught is one of two major political parties in America.
So far, not much of this quality is on display, although maybe conditions will change once the shock wears off, assuming it ever does.
Happily, 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps has been quite prominent on social media since Tuesday's reeking debacle. However, much of what I've seen emanating from him is long on bombastic agitprop and short on road maps toward a coping mechanism, as with this meme:
However, perhaps this rumination begs a larger question: If the Democratic Party is to be considered the "legitimate" local political opposition to Trumpism, loyal or otherwise, then whose hand is on the damned wheel?
At times like this, aren't we supposed to look to the calm, measured wisdom of elder statesmen-and-women?
Wait, there's a statement coming through from the down-low ether ...
Never mind.
Are there any elder states-persons still aboard the wreck? Politically, Chuck Freiberger is damaged goods, having now lost three of his past four campaigns (the most recent for County Commissioner, and twice previously to Ron Grooms for State Senate).
Freiberger might have been considering another race for state office, but preferably from a position of electoral strength, and to say the least, this no longer is the case.
In a post at Fb, Freiberger thanked those who've supported him during 28 years in elected office, and there's the rub. He'd have commenced a career in politics at the age of 26 or 27; today, party chairman Adam Dickey's bench is thin and the farm system barren.
It has long been rumored that Jeff Gahan also is desirous of the State Senate seat held by Grooms, who persistently has been rumored to favor retirement, with former Floyd County Commissioner Steve Bush waiting in the wings as a formidable candidate with power bases in both Clark and Floyd Counties.
And Gahan?
Megalomania aside, the mayor's in a bit of a pickle. With C. Pralle Erni excepted, New Albany usually doesn't reward those seeking three consecutive mayoral terms, though Bob Real and Doug England managed it non-consecutively. I still think Gahan will go for Grooms' seat in 2018, because if he loses, there'd still be time for Plan B in terms of the mayor's office in 2019, though he'll likely receive a stiff primary challenge in the spring as well as a stronger Republican opponent than ever before if he makes it through to fall.
Given its steady hemorrhaging in the city, what's to come for the Floyd County Democratic Party without major surgery beginning right now?
In lieu of Dickey's ongoing unfitness to keep his job, are we to consider Gahan as the de facto "leader" of the FCDP? After all, Gahan is the highest-ranking local office holder in the party, and with Freiberger's imminent departure and Dan Coffey's declaration of independence earlier this year, he's now the one with the most experience (two city council terms preceding his tenure as mayor).
Will Gahan take this opportunity to cashier Dickey, whose status has been downgraded to junk bond, and seize the levers for his own Anchor the Mud Flats Movement?
Perhaps the reason why we're hearing nothing but dead air from the Democrats is their seclusion deep in the bunker, behind those perennially favored closed backroom doors, sharpening stilettos for prospective duty.
Between Floyd Memorial's board, the county council and county commissioners -- nineteen public stewards in all -- only Chuck Freiberger's "no" vote broke the placid spell of our collective payday.
"We should've been told about the sale and the process before any of this took place," said commissioner Chuck Freiberger, who had the lone "no" vote. "... Are we really getting a good deal for the hospital?" Later, commissioner Mark Seabrook addressed Freiberger's concern in a heated argument about the transparency of the deal. "It offends me that someone would question my integrity," Seabrook said. New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan had similar concerns days ago, when he released a statement online explaining his disapproval of the deal and asked residents to email public officials with concerns before Tuesday's crucial vote. Gahan was not at Tuesday's meeting.
Let the harvest of county government "must have" post-it notes begin.
The last vote is just three days away, but some the details regarding Floyd Memorial Hospital's sale to Baptist Health have raised concerns among local officials.
We see the city of New Albany's corporate legal puppeteer Shane Gibson searching for loopholes.
Shane Gibson, city attorney, said in an email that the city continually examines things like TIF districts since they have an effect. But he also said the city requested the three appraisals he said are required by state law. Greg Fifer with Fifer Applegate and Pullium was hired to file the request. In a statement, Fifer said that information was denied.
Gibson's a Democrat. So is Brad Striegel, but he's down with the sale, and has been from the start.
(Striegel) said he's satisfied with the final agreement and is confident it'll go through.
“I am pleased with the process and have no concerns with the final draft,” Striegel said. “I believe it is the best thing for Floyd County, the community and the hospital that they will see for decades to come. History will judge us by this decision. I think it will have a positive impact for the community. It will set the county up financially for decades if the money is used properly.”
It's not a Brexit-scale split, although all Democrats aren't on the same page with the sale. Has there been any Republican dissent with the decision to sell the hospital? If so, I'm unaware of it.
Meanwhile, the most totemic of county Democrats, Chuck Freiberger, has continued to be the primary public voice of dissent with the deal -- in large measure, he's been the only such voice.
Has New Albany's mayor gone on record with an opinion?
Chuck Freiberger, county commissioner, said he's still unsure of the deal and doesn't know that he can vote in favor of it.
“We have a big decision coming up,” Freiberger said. “I am still a little hesitant. I still have questions and doubts whether we should sell the hospital, and if we are getting a good deal. At this time I don't see me voting yes.”
Granted, public reaction to the hospital sale has been tepid. Few seem to care, and there seems to be an accepted premise: Well, better to dispose of an asset than risk higher taxes.
And yet, there is a recurring question, down at the foundation: Should we sell the hospital?
The common answer to date has been this: Yes, because we'll never get a better deal than right now.
This is an answer, but not to the original question. It presupposes the answer to the original question: Should we sell the hospital?
Who answered the original question? Who made this decision? Was it the two Republican commissioners? The Republican county council majority? Dr. Eichenberger alone? With or without the Democrats?
There are two major queries here, and they're separate. Should the hospital be sold? If "yes," then is the deal we're getting a good one?
Can someone -- anyone -- show us the chronology of the decision to sell the hospital?
As much as I agree with you that the hospital sale process has been dismally non-transparent as finagled by the GOP-dominated county apparatus, we've endured precisely the same non-transparent operating regimen by the city's Democratic regime.
Give me a goose/gander "fair's fair" non-transparency denunciation of Team Gahan, and I'll emit a concurrent roar.
Until then, it's back to the liquor cabinet and a fresh round of yawns.
NEW ALBANY — Tuesday night, it was the Floyd County Commissioners turn to take a non-binding vote to proceed with the sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services to Baptist Healthcare System.
But unlike the Floyd County Council last week, it was far from unanimous.
Commissioners Steve Bush and Mark Seabrook, both Republicans, voted in favor to proceed with the deal while Democrat Chuck Freiberger voted against it, saying he does not have enough information on the sale and was not kept in the loop during negotiations.
The debate became quite spirited between the commissioners. Seabrook was a member of the task force that negotiated the deal.
"I heard there were 13 bidders, but I don't know who they are. I don't know what the bids were," Freiberger said. "Transparency is a problem. The hospital belongs to the taxpayers, the taxpayers paid for it. The taxpayers don't know who the bidders were. The public should have been told."
I've known of Chuck Freiberger since elementary school basketball. Once we were at Floyd Central, we were teammates in baseball and basketball all the way through, from grades 7 through 12. He then played baseball at IU Southeast, and while I did not follow suit, I tried to do my own small part by drinking oceans of beer with a handful of his teammates. He became a teacher, coach, parent and politician. Nothing wrong with any of that, is there?
We're friends, Chuck and me -- not particularly close, but friends. Obviously he's a local Democratic Party stalwart, and I have my disagreements with that particular entity. There's simply no way that Chuck could be as pinko-lefty as me and survive politically. However, his fundamental instincts are sound, as when he attended NABC's health department board meeting last year and expressed support for our appeal. There isn't much he can do about the two-versus-one Falangist imbalance among the county commissioners; no matter, because perhaps he'll be moving on to bigger things.
You may say: But Roger, you wouldn't have voted for him, anyway, irrespective of his view on HJR-3 (known as the Hoosier Stain). I can't deny that. The difference is that the sheer embarrassment of Grooms's stance, and the lengthy silence preceding it -- almost surely a reticence borne of utter terror -- compels me to be more pro-active than might otherwise have been the case.
I'll be donating to Chuck's campaign, and if he pleases, I'll try to devise a way to raise additional money for it. I'll enthusiastically vote for Chuck, and I'll urge my friends and neighbors to do so, too.
If you believe in human rights and freedoms, in the promise of equality in America, and in basic notions of fairness and compassion, Ron Grooms left you today. He may yet try to explain it, but he cannot. It's over, and Ron Grooms must go.
Please join me in supporting Chuck Freiberger for State Senate (46).
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