"Perhaps the best solution is for Indiana to do away with its convoluted primary system and treat every political party equally."

This contribution is from 2015 in the Crawfordsville newspaper, which at first glance appears to be a Tom-May-Free Zone.

How do they survive up there?

The author Pickerill, a Republican at the time, subsequently switched to Libertarian. In 2015, he was mad as hell that crafty conniving "blue" Democrats could easily invade the inner Red Light sanctum, but the point is if there's no such thing as a "registered Republican," there aren't any "registered Democrats," either.

And, if this depiction is correct, there's nothing a party chairman could do about such an incursion or a deathbed conversion, apart from mounting the bully pulpit.

I'd consistently been under the impression that a few years back, when Dave Matthews was the chairman of the Floyd County GOP, and Scott Blair sought to run for city council as a Republican, Matthews "refused" Blair, who has twice been elected as an Independent.

Could Matthews have done that? Was it just a clever ruse? Did Matthews strongly discourage Blair, while stopping short of deploying legalistic weaponry he didn't actually possess? 

Beats me. If you're reading and can provide clarity as to a party chairman's position in a situation like this, please let me know.

There’s no such thing as a ‘registered Republican’, by John Pickerill (Journal Review)

Since being elected Montgomery County Republican Chairman in 2013, I’ve heard a lot of people claim how they’ve been a “registered Republican” for a number of years. That always puzzles me. According to Indiana state law there’s no such thing as a registered Republican (or Democrat or any other party for that matter). When you register to vote you aren’t asked which political party you belong to. And there is no mention of “registered Republican” in the Rules of the Indiana State Republican Party. So if there’s no such thing, then how do we know who is allowed to vote in a Republican primary election that decides who the Republican nominees will be in the general election? And how do we tell who is allowed to file as a Republican candidate in that primary election?

The answer is, we don’t. Anyone can vote in a Republican primary and anyone can run as a Republican candidate, even people who are radical left-wing Democrats or otherwise hostile to the principles of the Republican platform (protecting people from government interference in their lives, decreasing regulations and taxes, reducing government spending, promoting free market solutions, supporting the right to life of the unborn, supporting gun rights.)

According to Indiana law, voters are affiliated with either the Republican or Democratic Party based on how they voted in the last primary election. If you cast a Republican ballot the last time you voted in a primary election, you are automatically affiliated with the Republican Party. It doesn’t matter even if the voter is a Democratic Party officeholder. If he cast a Republican ballot last time, Indiana considers him a Republican.

At this point you might be asking yourself, why is someone who is so obviously a member of a different political party even allowed to cast a Republican ballot in the first place? Can just anyone cast a Republican ballot at a primary? The answer is yes, pretty much. On primary election day, the poll workers are given a list of every registered voter (Republican, Democrat, or otherwise) for their precinct. State law says if a person’s name shows up on that list they have a right to vote in the Republican primary, unless the voter is challenged by another Republican voter from that same precinct.

So that challenge can stop them from casting a Republican ballot, right? No, not really. That voter can go ahead and vote in the Republican primary as long as they swear (cross-their-heart-and-hope-to-die) that they voted for mostly Republican candidates at the last general election, and also intend to vote for the Republican candidates at the next general election. But it is, of course, impossible to ever prove if the challenged voter was telling the truth or not.

So it’s pretty easy for someone to fake their party affiliation. And so it’s pretty easy for anyone to run as a Republican in a red county or district, to trick enough Republican voters into thinking they’ll hold office like a Republican, and then once they get elected, to do the very opposite. When a candidate calls himself or herself “Republican” it doesn’t mean a whole lot these days. It certainly doesn’t give a voter much information about the politics of the candidate. All it really means is the candidate checked the “Republican” box on their declaration-of-candidacy form.

So how do we fix this broken system? Well, it’s interesting to note that Indiana law only dictates party affiliation for the Republican and Democratic parties. All other political parties decide party affiliation for themselves. Their own party rules determine who is allowed to vote in their process for selecting their nominees for the general election, and who is allowed to file as one of those candidates. Perhaps the best solution is for Indiana to do away with its convoluted primary system and treat every political party equally. Maybe then the Republican brand will mean something unique again. Until then, it will become more and more like the Democratic Party every year.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

Originally published on April 6, 2015. 

The "yes" arguments favoring the 2016 variant of the school corporation's bond referendum are essentially the same as before, when it was defeated by voters during the 2015 primary election. Perhaps unsurprisingly, so are the "no" arguments. Here is one of them. See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

---

Unctuous, thy name is Bruce Hibbard.

Back in February, when the reigning superintendent of the NA-FC schools appeared at a city council work session along with Brad "Actually Earns HIS Pay" Snyder to tout the May referendum, at-large councilman John Gonder cut straight to the chase and said aloud what everyone in the room should have been thinking.

Gonder said school officials didn’t actively lobby the public in support of Silver Street Elementary School when it was on the chopping block.

Now the system is wanting to build larger facilities while a school that children once could walk to has been closed, Gonder added.

“I do think that the school corporation has a strong responsibility to neighborhoods in the city,” he said.

Of course, "neighborhoods in the city" have tended to be the last thing on the school corporation's mind, apart from demolishing houses near existing schools (does Dan Coffey get a cut of that CCE action, too?), but if we were expecting introspection from Hibbard, it wasn't happening.

The decision to close those schools — which was made almost five years ago — was in reaction to state funding cuts and other issues facing the system at the time, Hibbard said.

“When we closed those four schools, we didn’t need those four schools,” Hibbard said. “It was really about efficiency for the district so we could survive.”

In short: The school corporation, without which Hibbard's pay packet is rerouted to a tar paper-lined sewer ditch on West 9th Street, must live even if our neighborhoods die.

A subsequent suggestion that "efficiencies" in school administration might include periodic examinations of past policy failures and current golden parachutes was greeted with disingenuousness in the form of Hibbard's gurgling sounds and palpable condescension; apparently Snyder is quite accustomed to dual duty as primary plan presenter and bucket o'sawdust-bearing cleaner of his boss's puke piles.

As the referendum's primary slot draws nearer, let's fast forward to last week's NAC post about the built-in lies of America's transportation system.

Marohn on transportation funding: "Facing the Unknown with Courage."

... We’re locked into a transportation system that requires us to lie to ourselves about what we can know about the future and then spend huge amounts to support that lie. When we underestimate our needs, it confirms our bias for building more. When we overestimate, we can explain it away – if we are ever asked to, which we hardly ever are – by citing factors beyond our control (oil price, recession, fickle humans, etc…). This is a dumb system.

JeffG, from whom the link was borrowed, then used Marohn's main point as a mirror, and held it up to the school corporation.

(Marohn's point) pretty well sums up the upcoming school referendum, too, in which the school corporation seeks to solidify its commitment to a driving oriented, suburban school model for the foreseeable future.

NA-FC buses already drive enough to circle the globe multiple times in less than a week. We know that's extremely costly and not sustainable. We know that children, neighborhoods, and our biosphere do better with walkable, neighborhood schools. But, when I suggest refocusing efforts on such walkable schools, I'm told I'm rehashing previous decisions.

The truth is, the current $120 million plan is the one looking backward, extending and exacerbating the misguided trends of the 50s and 60s while ignoring current and future reality. We can't afford the vehicles, roads, and fuel usage we have now, so what's the school plan? To use what's being called a rare financial opportunity to make sure we keep it that way for as long as possible.

We've often made the argument that the single worst aspect of New Albany's archaic one-way street grid is the way it incessantly rows in the opposite direction, 24 hours each day, negating all expenditures and well-intentioned efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods. The school corporation often functions in similar fashion. It would be easier to support this referendum if it might somehow be a part of a deal to bring Hibbard to the table, to improve the school corporation as a participating stakeholder in the process of civic improvement, rather than an entity seemingly always pursuing autonomous agendas. Pie in the sky, perhaps.

Meanwhile ...

From what can be seen on-line and in social media, pending corrections, the only two May primary candidates to make public their views on the referendum are Al Knable (at-large council) and Cliff Staten (6th district council), both in favor.

There doesn't seem to be an organized anti-referendum effort, although the comments appended to two posts from January in the Floyd County IN, GOP group at Facebook, most of them by former Floyd County Republican Party chairman Dave Matthews, amply summarize the opposition from a "no new taxes" perspective.

First one
Second one

The pro-referendum case is made on Facebook at Families for Floyd County (the group's web site is here).

A final link: Referendum tax rate slightly higher than estimated for NA-FC Schools (Jerod Clapp, News and Tribune).

 ... (Snyder) said the district’s reasoning with the .1937 rate was to anticipate some growth in the assessed valuation of properties across the county.

The DLGF came back and told them to avoid assuming any growth in the values and keep them essentially flat, slightly raising the estimated rate.

Let's avoid the TIF discussion for now, shall we? It's only Monday morning, and we're already exhausted.

NA-FC referendum: "A driving oriented, suburban school model."

Unctuous, thy name is Bruce Hibbard.

Back in February, when the reigning superintendent of the NA-FC schools appeared at a city council work session along with Brad "Actually Earns HIS Pay" Snyder to tout the May referendum, at-large councilman John Gonder cut straight to the chase and said aloud what everyone in the room should have been thinking.

Gonder said school officials didn’t actively lobby the public in support of Silver Street Elementary School when it was on the chopping block.

Now the system is wanting to build larger facilities while a school that children once could walk to has been closed, Gonder added.

“I do think that the school corporation has a strong responsibility to neighborhoods in the city,” he said.

Of course, "neighborhoods in the city" have tended to be the last thing on the school corporation's mind, apart from demolishing houses near existing schools (does Dan Coffey get a cut of that CCE action, too?), but if we were expecting introspection from Hibbard, it wasn't happening.

The decision to close those schools — which was made almost five years ago — was in reaction to state funding cuts and other issues facing the system at the time, Hibbard said.

“When we closed those four schools, we didn’t need those four schools,” Hibbard said. “It was really about efficiency for the district so we could survive.”

In short: The school corporation, without which Hibbard's pay packet is rerouted to a tar paper-lined sewer ditch on West 9th Street, must live even if our neighborhoods die.

A subsequent suggestion that "efficiencies" in school administration might include periodic examinations of past policy failures and current golden parachutes was greeted with disingenuousness in the form of Hibbard's gurgling sounds and palpable condescension; apparently Snyder is quite accustomed to dual duty as primary plan presenter and bucket o'sawdust-bearing cleaner of his boss's puke piles.

As the referendum's primary slot draws nearer, let's fast forward to last week's NAC post about the built-in lies of America's transportation system.

Marohn on transportation funding: "Facing the Unknown with Courage."

... We’re locked into a transportation system that requires us to lie to ourselves about what we can know about the future and then spend huge amounts to support that lie. When we underestimate our needs, it confirms our bias for building more. When we overestimate, we can explain it away – if we are ever asked to, which we hardly ever are – by citing factors beyond our control (oil price, recession, fickle humans, etc…). This is a dumb system.

JeffG, from whom the link was borrowed, then used Marohn's main point as a mirror, and held it up to the school corporation.

(Marohn's point) pretty well sums up the upcoming school referendum, too, in which the school corporation seeks to solidify its commitment to a driving oriented, suburban school model for the foreseeable future.

NA-FC buses already drive enough to circle the globe multiple times in less than a week. We know that's extremely costly and not sustainable. We know that children, neighborhoods, and our biosphere do better with walkable, neighborhood schools. But, when I suggest refocusing efforts on such walkable schools, I'm told I'm rehashing previous decisions.

The truth is, the current $120 million plan is the one looking backward, extending and exacerbating the misguided trends of the 50s and 60s while ignoring current and future reality. We can't afford the vehicles, roads, and fuel usage we have now, so what's the school plan? To use what's being called a rare financial opportunity to make sure we keep it that way for as long as possible.

We've often made the argument that the single worst aspect of New Albany's archaic one-way street grid is the way it incessantly rows in the opposite direction, 24 hours each day, negating all expenditures and well-intentioned efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods. The school corporation often functions in similar fashion. It would be easier to support this referendum if it might somehow be a part of a deal to bring Hibbard to the table, to improve the school corporation as a participating stakeholder in the process of civic improvement, rather than an entity seemingly always pursuing autonomous agendas. Pie in the sky, perhaps.

Meanwhile ...

From what can be seen on-line and in social media, pending corrections, the only two May primary candidates to make public their views on the referendum are Al Knable (at-large council) and Cliff Staten (6th district council), both in favor.

There doesn't seem to be an organized anti-referendum effort, although the comments appended to two posts from January in the Floyd County IN, GOP group at Facebook, most of them by former Floyd County Republican Party chairman Dave Matthews, amply summarize the opposition from a "no new taxes" perspective.

First one
Second one

The pro-referendum case is made on Facebook at Families for Floyd County (the group's web site is here).

A final link: Referendum tax rate slightly higher than estimated for NA-FC Schools (Jerod Clapp, News and Tribune).

 ... (Snyder) said the district’s reasoning with the .1937 rate was to anticipate some growth in the assessed valuation of properties across the county.

The DLGF came back and told them to avoid assuming any growth in the values and keep them essentially flat, slightly raising the estimated rate.

Let's avoid the TIF discussion for now, shall we? It's only Monday morning, and we're already exhausted.

Looking ahead to city elections in 2015, the Floyd County GOP has a new central committee.

"Please welcome the new Floyd County Republican Party Central Committee: Chairman, Chris Lane, Vice Chair, Aaron Minnich, Secretary, Dale Bagshaw and Treasurer, Shawn Carruthers."

One out of two proper spellings of Dale Bagshaw's name isn't that bad.

Until proven otherwise, what this reshuffle means to me is that fresh off its recent lopsided wins in the county, Republicans are serious about contending city elections in 2015. Dave Matthews got what he was capable of getting in the county, and a new slate will renew efforts in the city.

I'm no Republican, but it's fairly clear that the party's urban odds have gotten far better in the aftermath of its 2014 county/state performance, and more significantly, in comparison with the continued deterioration of the Demo-Dixiecrat political machine, in both mechanics and intellectual content.

Insurgent lines grow ever more sharp. Voting Republican is one thing, but building a credible alternative to our exhausted and cowardly Democrats is something else entirely. You'd think the latter couldn't afford to lose its left wing during challenging times like these, but you may be giving the censors in charge a little bit too much credit for tactical grasp.

It's fairly certain that Dave Matthews and I disagree on most issues, but I'll give him his due: As he steps aside, he has left his forces in fine fettle.

What does Adam Dickey carry in his wallet?

Perhaps a post-it note with U-Haul prices is advisable.

Seabrook, Clere retain Matthews: “The GOP needs someone to empty the trash and fetch some Hing Wang.”

The "local" chain newspaper reports that Dave Matthews has been re-elected chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party, ensuring another four years of valet service to the ones who actually call the shots.

NAC fully endorses the GOP's decision, seeing as Matthews is so damned entertaining, and always knows just when to top off Mark's drink.

Dave Matthews just hates that Glenda Ritz won.

As always, setting a fine example for our school children.

Laughing out loud.

NEWS AND TRIBUNE LETTERS — For Dec. 11: GOP head wants campaigning out of schools, by Dave Matthews, chairman, Floyd County Republican Party

A huge percentage of parents are tired of the antics of the ISTA and a small number of bad teachers. We feel this kind of “education” has no place in schools that our taxes are paying for.

An uncommonly interesting letters page.

There's an uncommonly interesting letters page at the News and Tribune site. In addition to the marquee "right traffic path" (below), there is the amusing spectacle of GOP chairman Dave Matthews getting very shrill in opposing anti-GOP shrillness, and another gripping subplot in which District 72 House challenger Sharon Grabowski is endorsed at the expense of incumbent Ed Clere ("In fact, it would appear that Clere has little regard for the public schools in general"), prompting whichever Clere Channel media monitoring operative whose beeper happened to go off to parachute to Clere's rescue by misspelling Grabowski's name and tittering, rather like Steve Price used to do.

Turns out Grandpa Jones was right, and truth really is stranger than fact.

News and Tribune letters: Sept. 19, 2012

newsroom@newsandtribune.com

SOUTHERN INDIANA — Reader: Gahan on the right path

I am writing in response to Randy Smith’s letter published Sept. 12 in the News and Tribune.

I very much agree with his position about traffic calming in New Albany and the need for something to change before the Sherman Minton Bridge becomes the only nontolled interstate bridge in the area. I also agree that more two-way streets might be a better alternative to our current maze of one-ways that seems to only take residents and visitors away from our historic downtown.

Where I disagree is Mr. Smith’s comments about our mayor, Jeff Gahan ...

And the Bookseller answers:

Mr. Bonsall, my disappointment in Mr. Gahan continues based first on his 8 years on the city council, where he, among others, opposed the common-sense reversion of our downtown streets to 2-way traffic. Mr. Gahan knows precisely the 3 issues where we disagreed that prevented him from accepting my offer of support in 2011.

Unfortunately, nothing has changed in the 8 months he has been mayor. All 3 of those issues of contention remain between us and you can add his inaction on traffic-calming to that. It is not mud-slinging to point out that issues that need to be addressed. Mr. Gahan earned the bully pulpit and the executive pen fairly. Now I'd like to see him do the right thing. That is all.

Letter: GOP chair Matthews and his grumbling about the "need to contribute.”

In the News and Tribune letter section today, GOP chairman Matthews receives a hiding. I've included a link to his most recent letter, as cited by Mrs. Ryan.

---

Democratic leader: GOP head not looking out for you

This April, my husband and I will again send in our tax forms with thanks that we live in the United States and pleased that our taxes provide good governance and multiple public services we have benefited from our entire lives. I have visited countries with minimal governance and no organized public services, and it is not a place you would want to live.

Dave Matthews, Floyd County GOP chair, recently shared his angst at “having to contribute” to pay for U.S. budgets. How sad that he sees this in such a negative light. More than most Americans, Matthews has benefited mightily from the U.S. government. Retired from military service, he enjoys unlimited free health care for the rest of his life. He benefits from the only truly socialized medical care in the United States.

However, as chair of the local Republican Party, he will work very hard to make sure none of us ever have such fabulous medical support. Matthews was trained as a pilot at a cost to the U.S. government of $1 million (source The Air Force News). Few of us will be able to receive $1 million worth of free education. As a Republican leader, he is sure to lead the charge against Pell grants and other support for low income students. Matthews now collects a comfortable pension that is guaranteed by the U.S. government. Yet, he will fight proposed regulations of Wall Street that would protect others from having their retirement incomes decimated by unscrupulous hedge fund managers.

Coming out of the service, Matthews was able to get a job as a pilot with UPS (thanks to the $1 million of government training). According to UPS, the average salary of their pilots was $174,830 in 2004. Of course, Matthews is a member of the pilot’s union and benefits significantly from that representation. As chair of the local Republican Party, you can be assured that he will work hard to make sure others do not have strong union representation.

Matthews is doing quite well. You think he would feel blessed and pleased to support a government that has provided so well for him and his family and not approach each tax season grumbling about the “need to contribute” so others can have a fair share.

— Susan Ryan, Floyd County Democratic precinct chair, Floyds Knobs

Stand up comic with a hidden agenda.

In his letter to the editor, Floyd County Republican Party chairman Dave Matthews tactfully (?) refrains from mentioning names, but we imagine he’s peeved at Jack Messer, Scott Blair, or perhaps both. That’s because the two independent candidates (for mayor and 6th district council, respectively) probably will take far fewer votes away from the Democratic front-runners in their races than from Matthews’ own handpicked candidates -- and remember how few Republicans actually declared in advance of last spring's primaries?

The world’s smallest violin is playing a tasteful lullaby. Yawn.

Candidates should be who they are

Voters, watch out for imitators! I already know of two cases where our “independent” candidates would have you think of them as Republican candidates ... unless, of course, you happen to be a Democrat. Telling you that they are the Republican candidate is not the truth.

Now fear this: The chair's too big for the chair's feet to touch the ground.

What follows is a series of emails sent to party acolytes from Floyd County GOP Chairman Dave Matthews concerning opinion pieces published by the News and Tribune. A link to each piece is provided below his commentary on them. I wonder what must have happened to him earlier in life to lead to such grievous insecurities.

My fellow Republicans,
Please forgive me if I am about to do something that might annoy you. But, I am becoming so concerned about the blatant, ultra-liberal bias of our local paper that I am about ready to call us to action. I am going to send you three separate "opinion" columns that they have printed just recently. Please feel free to just delete each of these emails if it does not interest you. However, I wanted you to be aware of what is being printed in our local, predominantly conservative part of the State to maybe alarm you as well. It would not be inappropriate for you to send the editor, Shea Van Hoy, an email at his address: Shea.Vanhoy@newsandtribune.com. I am not necessarily encouraging anyone to terminate their subscription, although as little as ten cancellations would sound a very loud message.

I do not subscribe myself, so I would not feel right telling anyone what they should do about their subscriptions. I do watch this section of the Tribune every day on the internet and, as I have previously said, I am alarmed at so obvious an attempt to force a view that is so far left. The Courier Journal is already a lost cause....everyone knows that. I hate to see the Tribune go down the same path. Shea is the new editor, taking the place of Steve Kozarovich. At least Steve made attempts to try to achieve some sense of balance. It appears that may be all but totally gone now.

So, if you feel led, take a look at this email and the following two. They demonstrate views that should outrage us as conservatives. If you prefer not too, I won't be offended....just delete those emails. Hey, you can even email me back if you disagree with my point of view....I'm open to others' opinions. However, if you share my opinion about these, please consider what you might want to do to have your voice heard and to help our local press realize that they in no way represent the majority of readers in our community. I will also list the web site address where you can find the articles. If you go there, note the comments submitted by readers. Some of them will surprise you, several will make you mad and a few you will applaud. Maybe add a comment of your own. Thanks for considering this.....we want to help you keep informed and realize that the battle is right here in Floyd County....not just in Washington D.C.

God bless, Dave Matthews
Chairman, Floyd County Republican Party

HARBESON: The honor in war
........................

The second set of articles (yes, there are two of them) establish the agenda. As a society, it is not enough that the homosexual lifestyle is legislatively accepted. Now, the demand is that all in society must accept this type of lifestyle as just as normal and moral as the heterosexual lifestyle. A Biblical understanding of what God says about this particular immorality is not only criticized but is also called hateful, demeaning and socially unacceptable. Our beliefs and values are under attack.

These articles are perfect examples to look at on the website and see the long list of back and forth comments from the readers. I strongly encourage you to join in and make your opinions known. The "Left" is certainly screaming their opinions from the rooftops.

Dave

GESENHUES: Being gay isn’t wrong
NASH: Tolerance and understanding is common sense
........................

Third and final article from the Tribune. These two are actually letters to the editor. I hesitate to even add this to the list, primarily because it was directed at me. I also hesitated because Steve Fetter tends to come across as obtuse and hard to understand. After all, who would possibly use the fact that children might be unwanted as justification to support abortion. But here it is anyway.

I also add my response as a demonstration of how you can also send a letter to the editor (Shea.Vanhoy@newsandtribune.com) to get your opinion heard. I have often told people that we have more conservatives in this part of the country and State than liberals. The only problem is that the liberals are the ones screaming loudly, demanding that we agree with their philosophy and being published. The stakes are too high for us to stay silent. Let your voice be heard. Make sure the Tribune and Floyd County know that we care about moral, conservative views on these issues.

Thanks for considering this,
Dave Matthews
Chairman, Floyd County Republican Party

FETTER: Remember the unwanted children (letter to editor)
MATTHEWS: Party head responds to abortion letter (letter to editor)

Today's Tribune column: "Hardtack, humbuggery and hangovers."

It's important for me to point to those rare occasions when I agree with the exultant GOP county chairman, Dave Matthews, so here's this month's convergence. It is reported by Daniel Suddeath in today's Tribune.

Matthews said there’s already a “consensus of dissatisfaction with the city council as a whole. You don’t have to look far to see the City of New Albany needs new leadership.”

Who knows? We may harmonize yet again some time next spring. As we await that momentous occasion, here is today's column link:

BAYLOR: Hardtack, humbuggery and hangovers

... There is no uncertainty about the ultimate verdict, because by the time you read this, the eternal futility of America’s two-party power duopoly will have been reconfirmed. The same country that fought a lengthy Cold War on the sacred principle that one-party states are quite bad will have illustrated yet again that two-party states are no better.

If anyone uncovers evidence supporting the proposition that the two party system actually works, please share it with me. I’ll be at the bar, fortifying my liver for next year’s city election cycle.

Chairman Matthews muchly mum: GOP prevent defense?

Perhaps the surest measure of confidence on the part of local Republicans as they go into the November 2 election is that they’ve somehow managed to keep their party chairman, Dave Matthews, and his predictably embarrassing tirades out of the letters column of the newspaper.

But there is still time on the clock ...

Dave Matthews mauled. Again. Dude's a veritable Wile E. Coyote.

In today's newspaper, which I'm reading on-line because we have not received it for two weeks running, Democratic chairman John Wilcox again deconstructs his GOP counterpart, Dave Matthews, in the letters section.

Local Republicans continue to ignore tolling as an issue. It's good for their endorsement pay packets, but if Saint Mitch doesn't loosen the gags soon, some of them might suffocate.

TRIBUNE LETTERS: Oct. 10, 2010 ... Democratic leader responds to letter

... In another matter of importance to Floyd and Clark counties, Chuck Freiberger has taken a strong public stand against the proposed tolls on our bridges. The tolls — in effect an additional tax — would be an added financial burden on our citizens, hurt Southern Indiana businesses and penalize those who must use the bridges to get to work, to health care appointments or any other reason they may need to cross the river.

Amid tittering, Wilcox lances another boil.

I’ve been devoting a few precious minutes each day to improving my vocabulary, with the aim of prompting Dave Matthews into further acts of public confusion over word usage, as noted most recently here: Local GOP's version of Arthur Carlson goes nutzoid ... alas, not for the first time.

It remains my persistent hope that Floyd County’s Democrats might become pro-active rather than reactive in such matters. Having noted this, it is a pure delight to read as the party’s chairman, John Wilcox, skewers his Republican counterpart in the Tribune’s letters section. Wilcox's response is directed toward this recent gem from Floyd County’s highest-placed tea leader: Someone else is biased just like I am -- but that's different.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go manicure the Taxpayers Memorial Patio.

England: "Mr. Matthews has conveniently eliminated context from his accusation and inflammatory rhetoric."

Yep.

In the Tribune, New Albany Mayor Doug England strikes back at local GOP leader and resident hyperbolist Dave Matthews. Excellent work by Hizzoner, don't you think? On the other hand, Matthews has never shown any ability to throw the high, hard one.

ENGLAND: New Albany Mayor clarifies comments for GOP leader

But the “vultures” are indeed not welcome — my reference to slumlords and the like who profit from the misfortunes of others.

It's official.

With his letter to the Tribune yesterday, local GOP chairman Dave Matthews becomes the single biggest hypocrite in Floyd County. That's no mean feat, folks. He'll now advance to the national quarter-finals against Rush Limbaugh.

Go Dave!

I’m sorry, Ms. Wright, but everyone can see that your opinions merely represent the standard tactics of “lie and distract.”

Today's Tribune column: "Giving thanks for iconoclasts."

Ham-fistedness isn't exactly an attribute, but on the other hand, this is the Open Air Museum. At precisely the time that I'd started warming to the assiduous efforts of our ranking local Republican elected official to seem reasonable and re-electable, the Floyd County GOP chairman decided to vomit Beckisms and Limbaughballs all over me.

That's just crazy ironic, isn't it? Not that Dave does irony, mind you. Now the elected official has to start all over again.

Happy feasting, readers.

BAYLOR: Giving thanks for iconoclasts

Thanksgiving is here, and what a great day for an iconoclast’s column to be published in the local newspaper!

Now, I realize that very few people can read more than one paragraph of (my) writings without scratching their heads and saying, “huh?”

Local GOP's version of Arthur Carlson goes nutzoid ... alas, not for the first time.

And there's no Dr. Johnny Fever around for temporary comic relief.

Too bad that it seems to have become personal with Dave Matthews, but at least now I know that reading comprehension skills are not required of Republican county chairmen. Other than that, Dave is entitled to his own diatribes, but readers who correctly noted the elegiac (damn, those big words again) of my original piece universally enjoyed it, and I've seldom received more positive comments than I have since it was published.

One reader liked it so much that he dropped off a copy of his father's self-published WWI memoirs for me to read. Apparently he didn't read the part about my grandfather the mass murderer -- and rightly so, because nowhere was this written.

But in the absence of a coherent party platform, poor old Dave has bankrupt ideology to peddle, axes to grind and straw men to bludgeon. Like I said, too bad. For all his previous bluster and hokum, I actually thought he was capable of reason.

One thing's for sure: He sure isn't going to like this week's column.

Thanks for reading, big guy.

LETTERS: Reader unhappy with Tribune columnist

Now, I realize that very few people can read more than one paragraph of this author’s writings without scratching their heads and saying, “huh?”

Matthews goes nutzoid.

At the very time when Republicans nationwide are showing few signs of an intelligible (intellectual?) pulse, it’s not surprising to see Dave Matthews publicly devolving into bile and spittle.

Floyd Co. GOP chair living bad dream (scroll down)

... Millions of Americans voted last November for “change.” Well, you got your change! e now have an American President who goes around the world and apologizes to foreign nations for America. I doubt you could find any president who would ever have demeaned the office by bowing to a foreign dignitary, much less one representing the radical faith responsible for the terrorist attacks of 9/11. We criticized the previous administration for doubling the national debt, but this guy has tripled that in just the first 100 days.

Look, we tried to warn you that this man was the most liberal, socialist-minded member of the Senate and that he would bring his opinions to bear upon the Presidency if elected. We warned you that he would lead the way with a “tax-and-spend” philosophy that would likely bankrupt the economy and tax our children, grandchildren and all their progeny for decades to come. Wait until he unveils his plan for universal health care! With little to no resistance from any branch of the federal government, we better all hope these four years go quickly. Of course, it could just be a bad dream. Or maybe a comedy routine gone awry! It does, however, make me kind of afraid to ultimately hear the punch line ...

To paraphrase, that's all spleen, no cattle. I never imagined I'd miss William F. Buckley so much.

Looking for constructive proposals from a somehow viable political party? Or, satisfied with venom directed at the inheritors of an America cheapened and degraded by eight years of Republican misrule? Dave's rant does little to enhance a thinking man's options.

It would be far more instructive if Matthews and his Democratic counterpart, John Wilcox, spent their letter writing time explaining to voters how their political parties have platforms and policy positions that actually impact local issues. Everyone knows I respect John, and actually, I respect Dave, too, but what I don’t respect is diatribes like the preceding that offer no solutions, just more of the same blind labeling.

Unfortunately, what I’m seeing at present from what passes for local Republican “leadership” is the same sort of stalking horse obstructionism that already is being done all too well by those passing as Democrats.

Obviously, the time draws near for an alternative movement, one that is non-partisan in the traditional sense of party groupings.

Pants Down Progressives, anyone?

Columns and things.

In today's Tribune column, I'm stealing Stevie Wonder's vibe: BAYLOR: Livin’ for the city.

Over at the Evening News, Debbie Harbeson is busy calling out Dave Matthews (but ever so gently): HARBESON: Let’s learn together, Mr. Matthews.

You'll recall that we already dealt with the GOP head's curiously combative column in defense of his party's legacy: G.O.P. chairman goes nutzoid over columnist's consideration of Abraham Lincoln.

Harbeson is firm and conciliatory, but she lands a solid punch with this paragraph:

I don’t know a lot about Mr. Matthews. The only thing I know — besides the fact that he can get pretty darned disgusted with me — is that he’s also the local chairman of a major political party. Now, if I were a total cynic, I would probably just take notice of the obvious connections that brings to my points and leave it at that.

Ouch!