David White's endorsement of Mark Seabrook wins the Top Ten post review for October.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

Otherwise your only choice would be the Jeffersonville News and Tom May's Evangel-bune, and that's a fate almost as unrewarding as insipid light beer consumption. In fact, judging from the strong numbers for posts about local politics, there is considerable interest in the topic that the local chain newspaper simply refuses to serve.

As Bluegill noted just the other day:

Another story of a Gahan administration refusal to provide public information to the public. This was pretty early in Gahan’s tenure. Nothing has changed and refusals are ongoing regardless of who asks or how much money is involved. The News and Tribune has been aware of these refusals for years on end but never bothered to report the behavior. Now that a formal lawsuit has been filed, though, they give Gahan whatever column inches he needs to claim the suit is just an election year stunt - something the News and Tribune has long known isn’t true. An actual newspaper doing its job would’ve demanded information for years, accurately reported the refusals, and likely filed their own suit. This is front page news that the “newspaper” simply chose to ignore in favor of ongoing advertising dollars.

Yep. Sad but true.

October was a fine month by the numbers. Following are five honorable mentions, followed by the top ten posts.

Last month: Gahan's ineptly reinstalled "fork on the sidewalk hidden by cars" leads September's Top Ten at NA Confidential.

OCTOBER HONORABLE MENTION (5)

733

Kiwanis Pancake Breakfast 2019: "That is one hell of a big tent right there!"

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738

Gahan can't even tell the truth about Warro the K-9 dog's tenure. Seems a desperate Slick Jeffie will say ANYTHING to get re-elected.

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741

In a mounting sign of desperation, Gahan and the DemoDisneyDixiecrats are going full-tilt negative slimeball against Mark Seabrook.

Read about Tricky's latest Goebbels moment, right here -- and don't forget that at least one DemoDisneyDixiecratic council candidate has told the truth this campaign season.

Jason is said to be a close friend of Seabrook's. I wonder how he feels about his party's decision to plunge to rock bottom with negative campaigning?

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749

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

827

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.

We've been plumbing the depths revealed by almost nine full years of the Committee to Elect Gahan's CFA-4 campaign finance reports, and I'm happy to announce that my gag reflex has been tamed by the sheer numbness of repetition -- and gin.

Let's repeat some numbers.

2011: $56,515
2012: $16,575
2013: $30,350
2014: $58,795
2015: $103,532
2016: $51,799
2017: $56,225
2018: $64,250
2019: $147,739 (first three quarters)

Total: $585,780

OCTOBER TOP TEN

907

Gahan predictably AWOL from Sherman Minton repair meeting as Republicans seek to avoid a total bridge closure.

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977

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Kind words at my workplace, and I'm touched.

It was a fine Guinness pour on my part, and I'm reminded that it's time to lose thirty pounds; a few too many chins, but I'm almost 60, and nowadays my primary vice seems to be gluttony, not drunkenness. Anyway, Cassie gave me advance notice of my turn as subject of the employee profile, and she did a fantastic job with it. It hasn't always been easy finding my footing these past four years, but verily, it's getting better all the time.

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991

ON THE AVENUES: In which Team Gahan's looming appointment with unemployment is examined.

Against this backdrop we see that Gahan dropped 1,000 votes between 2011 and 2015, then hemorrhaged another 300 in the 2019 primary. Some of these departing voters succumbed to low-turnout indifference. Others sided with David White during his two Democratic Party primary insurgencies and did not return in the fall. Some died; some moved.

Some may have found a different religion. Others want to know when they can vote for Trump again. Conversely, perhaps getting to know Gahan better isn't a tremendously positive experience.

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1,113

The curious question of 3rd district candidate Alex Bilbrey's yard signs.

It's hard to imagine Bilbrey (R) breaking 40% of the vote in the 3rd council district against two-term incumbent Phipps (D); after all, the 3rd district is to pretend-progressive Kool Aid as Porto is to vintage port wine, and Bilbrey -- who registered to run at the last possible minute without the knowledge of his party's chairman -- has been all but invisible for the entirety of 2019.

Except for yard signs.

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1,142

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

So far in 2019, Jeff Gahan has raised $147,000 (on top of roughly $128,000 cash on hand) and spent $204,800 to remain mayor.

$140,000 of these expenditures has gone to companies and individuals outside New Albany's city limits.

That's 68%.

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1,163

Time erases: Signs, signs, everywhere signs; some coming, some going.

Quite a few of us always will love Chef Israel Landin and his food, and we enjoyed his ill-fated previous restaurant, La Rosita's, but isn't it pleasant at long last to see the old sign gone, the building being painted and a business (RecBar 812) coming close to occupying it? Next up: That annoyingly permanent Preston's signage, always a decaying reminder of the store's demise eight years ago.

---

1,447

Homelessness, 8th Street Pizza's move, Clean Socks Hope's mission and an addendum by Exit 0.

Interestingly, this is one of those infrequent times when food and social issues actively collide, because to put it bluntly, City Hall's stance on homelessness is as clear as alluvial mud -- not at all clean like white socks. Ronald Reagan famously avoided saying the word "AIDS" aloud; Jeff Gahan's bugaboo is the word "homelessness," as he doesn't communicate well and as a suburbanite generally avoids topics he finds personally distasteful.

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1,546

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?

NAC: Do you think River Run is losing money?

RS: That’s actually beside the point. The city’s water recreation facility probably loses money — a lot of money. That’s OK. Elected officials can choose to lose money to provide a wading pool, splash pads, waterslides, and a “lazy river.” Those of us who thought the “pool” was a poor use of borrowed money can but criticize it now.

But, we are entitled to see the numbers.

---

2,949

Hull & High Water is winding down, so go over there and say goodbye.

As I reported earlier at Food & Dining Magazine, Hull & High Water is winding down. Owner Eric Morris made the announcement earlier today at Facebook.

---

3,034

Democrat David White: "I am asking ALL the people who have supported me over the years to help Mark Seabrook put People First!"

In our country’s current political climate, we have seen so many being marginalized. I find it important now more than ever to stand on the right side of history, even if it means standing alone.

After much thought and prayer, I have decided to endorse Mark Seabrook for mayor of New Albany. Mark clearly understands and shares my passion and vision for the future of our city. I am asking ALL the people who have supported me over the years to help Mark put People First!

Your participation in this election cycle is supremely important and every single vote will matter.

VIDEO: David White endorses Mark Seabrook; "We have a lot more in common than we don't have in common."

Let's put it this way: At NA Confidential, articles about local restaurants usually garner the most page views -- except the post on October 8, 2019, when David White's message to his supporters took the top slot at the blog for the month (Hull & High Water's closing finished second).

The post and David's written endorsement are reprinted here. See also: ON THE AVENUES: In which Team Gahan's looming appointment with unemployment is examined.

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Democrat David White: "I am asking ALL the people who have supported me over the years to help Mark Seabrook put People First!"

As most of you know, my friend David White stood for mayor in the 2015 and 2019 Democratic Party primaries.

He has submitted this endorsement of Mark Seabrook, the Republican Party candidate, and I'm delighted to publish it here. You'll recall that Seabrook has my endorsement as well.

In May of this year, 1,400 of you opted to cast your vote for David; four years ago when I ran as an independent for mayor in the general election, I received 500 votes. It wasn't quite enough to tip the balance in either case, but beginning this week you can finish the job by taking our word for it and voting for Mark Seabrook.

---

Dear Citizens,

Since the primary this past spring, I have been overwhelmed by the positive response to my message of putting People First. The concept of fiscal responsibility, honesty and transparency in our city government and support for our most vulnerable populations has resonated with many of you. 

It had been my hope that Mayor Gahan and the Democratic leadership would recognize these are key issues and incorporate them into his platform moving forward. To-date, my requests have been met with silence.

My candidacy may have ended on May 7, but my vow to serve you did not. You see, People First was never just a campaign slogan — it was always my promise to you!

In the last 90 days, Mark Seabrook, Republican candidate for mayor, has reached out to me regarding my People First pledge and my 100 Day and Year One plans for New Albany. Our conversations have been open, candid and productive. I have spoken publicly for several years that my Democratic Party’s leadership is wrong for what they are doing to our city and our most endangered families. 

Mark and I agree that our citizens and city cannot take another four years of deception, dishonesty and bullying. The reckless spending, feuding between city and county and class warfare are preventing New Albany from reaching its full potential. We also agree that a true, modern city government must be inclusive and diverse.

I have known Mark since I was a teenager. Both our families have invested in and served New Albany for six generations. While we have chosen different paths politically and do not always agree on issues, I know he is a good and honorable man. 

For over 35 years, Mark has served this community well as a businessman and civic leader. His roles as funeral home owner and director, Harvest Homecoming president and chairman, city councilman, and county commissioner have endeared him to many. 

Most importantly, these positions have allowed him to meet people from all walks of life. Mark has always been accessible, and having been both a New Albany city councilman and a Floyd County commissioner, he has unique insights into the ways we can work with each other, not against. 

Finally, it is my belief that Mark will surround himself with people of decency, integrity and a desire to put the best interest of our community first.

On a very personal note: upon the passing of our 4-year-old daughter Ashley in 1987, Beth and I entrusted her into Mark’s care. Like many of you who have similarly tasked Mark with your loved ones, we too have been treated with the utmost respect and mercy. I feel that Mark’s heart for people is one of the reasons he has connected with Democrats, Independents and Republicans over the last 35 years.

It was not an easy decision to diverge from my party as a mayoral candidate, and it is not easy now as a private citizen. I still am and will always remain a proud Democrat. In our country’s current political climate, we have seen so many being marginalized. I find it important now more than ever to stand on the right side of history, even if it means standing alone.

After much thought and prayer, I have decided to endorse Mark Seabrook for mayor of New Albany. Mark clearly understands and shares my passion and vision for the future of our city. I am asking ALL the people who have supported me over the years to help Mark put People First!

Your participation in this election cycle is supremely important and every single vote will matter. 

Please join me in supporting Mark Seabrook for mayor of New Albany, and put People First.

Democrat David White: "I am asking ALL the people who have supported me over the years to help Mark Seabrook put People First!"

As most of you know, my friend David White stood for mayor in the 2015 and 2019 Democratic Party primaries.

He has submitted this endorsement of Mark Seabrook, the Republican Party candidate, and I'm delighted to publish it here. You'll recall that Seabrook has my endorsement as well.

In May of this year, 1,400 of you opted to cast your vote for David; four years ago when I ran as an independent for mayor in the general election, I received 500 votes. It wasn't quite enough to tip the balance in either case, but beginning this week you can finish the job by taking our word for it and voting for Mark Seabrook.

---

Dear Citizens,

Since the primary this past spring, I have been overwhelmed by the positive response to my message of putting People First. The concept of fiscal responsibility, honesty and transparency in our city government and support for our most vulnerable populations has resonated with many of you. 

It had been my hope that Mayor Gahan and the Democratic leadership would recognize these are key issues and incorporate them into his platform moving forward. To-date, my requests have been met with silence.

My candidacy may have ended on May 7, but my vow to serve you did not. You see, People First was never just a campaign slogan — it was always my promise to you!

In the last 90 days, Mark Seabrook, Republican candidate for mayor, has reached out to me regarding my People First pledge and my 100 Day and Year One plans for New Albany. Our conversations have been open, candid and productive. I have spoken publicly for several years that my Democratic Party’s leadership is wrong for what they are doing to our city and our most endangered families. 

Mark and I agree that our citizens and city cannot take another four years of deception, dishonesty and bullying. The reckless spending, feuding between city and county and class warfare are preventing New Albany from reaching its full potential. We also agree that a true, modern city government must be inclusive and diverse.

I have known Mark since I was a teenager. Both our families have invested in and served New Albany for six generations. While we have chosen different paths politically and do not always agree on issues, I know he is a good and honorable man. 

For over 35 years, Mark has served this community well as a businessman and civic leader. His roles as funeral home owner and director, Harvest Homecoming president and chairman, city councilman, and county commissioner have endeared him to many. 

Most importantly, these positions have allowed him to meet people from all walks of life. Mark has always been accessible, and having been both a New Albany city councilman and a Floyd County commissioner, he has unique insights into the ways we can work with each other, not against. 

Finally, it is my belief that Mark will surround himself with people of decency, integrity and a desire to put the best interest of our community first.

On a very personal note: upon the passing of our 4-year-old daughter Ashley in 1987, Beth and I entrusted her into Mark’s care. Like many of you who have similarly tasked Mark with your loved ones, we too have been treated with the utmost respect and mercy. I feel that Mark’s heart for people is one of the reasons he has connected with Democrats, Independents and Republicans over the last 35 years.

It was not an easy decision to diverge from my party as a mayoral candidate, and it is not easy now as a private citizen. I still am and will always remain a proud Democrat. In our country’s current political climate, we have seen so many being marginalized. I find it important now more than ever to stand on the right side of history, even if it means standing alone.

After much thought and prayer, I have decided to endorse Mark Seabrook for mayor of New Albany. Mark clearly understands and shares my passion and vision for the future of our city. I am asking ALL the people who have supported me over the years to help Mark put People First!

Your participation in this election cycle is supremely important and every single vote will matter. 

Please join me in supporting Mark Seabrook for mayor of New Albany, and put People First.

Alternative Politics: "What if David White had run as an Independent instead of in the Democratic Primary?"

Nick Vaughn indulges in a harmless bit of alternative history. Meanwhile, here at Resistance Central, we can't help speculating about what might have been in a different place and time.

If Mark Seabrook had mounted a mayoral campaign in 2011, wouldn't Jeff Gahan be a forgotten former councilman by now?

And as a bonus, the city would be solvent. The mind reels.

Before we return you to inspiring views of the Market Street Beautification that the Descendent of Benito Mussolini Built, read Nick's thoughtful analysis.

Alternative Politics: New Albany’s Mayoral Race

Instead of tackling a big question with many moving parts, I am going to tackle a smaller question and look at the 2019 New Albany Mayoral Race. The question: What if David White had run as an Independent instead of in the Democratic Primary? The answer: well, it depends. One thing that makes alternative politics a little bit easier to analyze is because we have numbers and data to look at.

While there are most certainly intangibles behind each and every vote, for argument’s sake I will be ignoring that and just looking strictly at the numbers. I’ll also throw in some of my own analysis and opinion to make the answer to the question a bit more interesting.

Five post-primary thoughts in stream-of-consciousness format.

There'll be more as I try to catch up with my life.

Lots of fringe area residents wanted to vote, but couldn't because they live in the county, not the city -- but the city defines their terms of daily engagement. In truth, they wanted to vote against Jeff Gahan. I'm sure Squire Adam has duly taken note and will continue to take whatever steps are necessary to exclude them.

Democrats have little consistent grasp of usage. The word "Republican" can be used as an adjective or noun, but even a donkey should now that "Democrat" is a noun and "Democratic" an adjective. But still I hear self-described Democrats insisting they belong to the "Democrat" party. Maybe Susie can help you with that.

Jason Applegate scored more votes than Gahan, placing him in a good position to win a council at-large seat, probably at the expense of David Aebersold. Unfortunately he did so without revealing a single position on anything, apart from enthusiastically representing the ascendant "beautiful people" wing of the DemoDisneyDixecratic (not DemoDisneyDixiecrat) party.

David White may have lost, but he honored the Democratic (not Democrat) party's platform of supporting the little guy against big money. It was White's "People First" versus Gahan's "Luxury Beautiful Connected People First," and the latter won -- because for all his numbing stupidity, Gahan at least understands greed and knows where the real money lies.

For those who recall what newspapers used to be, and how they once participated in the electoral process, perhaps the biggest loser in the 2019 primary is the News and Tribune. It claims to identify with the community (but which one?), then provides scant to non-existent coverage of an election; when turnout scrapes rock bottom, can't it be said that the newspaper actually ignored the community and was complict in low voter turnout?

ON THE AVENUES: Greg Pennell tells his story.

Greg Pennell is proud of his career as a police officer with the New Albany Police Department.

During 29 years of NAPD service Pennell never once was suspended, even briefly. He won a medal of valor in 2009 for capturing an armed shooter who’d murdered a co-worker at the Pillsbury plant; Pennell pioneered the NAPD’s computer crimes unit along with his and his colleague, Sherri Knight.

Perhaps most impressively, during his police career Pennell conducted himself according to a personal value system of constant accountability to the public.

“As a police officer my boss always was the population of this city,” Pennell says. “I worked for the citizens of New Albany, in my mind and my heart.”

Recently I spoke with Pennell by phone from his home in Florida, where he moved after retiring from the NAPD in mid-2016. When I asked Pennell to explain why he chose to leave the police department when he did, his answer came clear and crisp.

“I supported David White for mayor in 2015.”

Evidently freedom of speech and association had ramifications for Pennell, as it has for others in New Albany, before and since.

---

White’s announcement came on September 12, 2014 at the Scribner House in downtown New Albany. Pennell attended the short kickoff in the company of several city employees, including longtime street department workers Donnie Blevins and Clifford Swift.

Pennell remembers glancing across the intersection of Main and State Streets to the sidewalk by Wick’s Pizza and seeing three of Mayor Jeff Gahan’s closest City Hall associates standing there, intently studying the crowd at White’s gathering.

Missy Sarkisian Stotts also came to White’s announcement at the Scribner House. She had worked for many years for the city prior to being downsized in early 2012, less than a year after the 2011 Democratic Party mayoral primary, when she supported the candidacy of one of Gahan’s opponents.

Once Gahan became mayor, Stotts lost her job. She harbors no doubt that picking a primary candidate other than Gahan cost her employment.

Ron Grainger knows, too. He lost his job early, in late 2011, because someone had to be cut to allow the mayor’s future son-in-law Chris Gardner to become flood control director without the slightest relevant experience or qualifications.

Blevins and Swift were pressured and bullied subsequent to their support of White in 2015. They were long-term city employees with exemplary work records, but both opted for early retirement rather than risk being fired from their jobs.

Blevins’ own conclusion about Jeff Gahan is sweeping and comprehensive in its brevity.

“Jeff is a bully.”

---

“In 2012 I didn’t know much about Gahan,” says Pennell, who at the time had the merit rank of captain and was the NAPD’s chief of detectives.

The incoming Gahan administration formed a committee and opened a process for officers to interview for the jobs of police chief, assistant chief and major. Pennell decided to interview for the assistant chief’s job. He was offered the position of assistant police chief and accepted it.

Pennell served in the position of assistant police chief for two years, until May of 2014, when he asked to be reassigned back to chief of detectives. His request was concurrent with Knight stepping down as chief.

News reports during this period reveal the NAPD suffering from several internal controversies, with allegations of misconduct and discrimination, merit board decisions and an investigation by the Indiana State Police. In September of 2014, Floyd County Prosecutor Keith Henderson announced that no criminal violations had been found.

“I no longer had confidence in the Gahan administration,” says Pennell, who prefers not to go into further detail.

White’s campaign launch at the Scribner House occurred one week after Henderson’s press conference, and coincidentally, almost immediately thereafter the former police chief and then-current day shift captain Merle Harl retired from the force.

Normally this would have created a vacancy for a new captain to be promoted from the waiting list of sergeants. However, Chief Todd Bailey – Gahan’s choice to replace Knight – called Pennell into his office.

“He asked me to take the day shift captain’s job instead.”

To Pennell, working as day shift captain might as well have been a demotion compared with being chief of detectives. “Why not promote a sergeant?” he asked Bailey – and there was a long silence.

With pins dropping and crickets chirping, it quickly occurred to Pennell that Bailey wasn’t giving him a choice in the matter.

“I could see the handwriting on the wall,” Pennell said. With no options, he resolved to accept Bailey’s decision and also to insist that the chief put into writing what was happening: the day shift captain’s assignment was temporary, and there would be a clear timetable for Pennell’s return to chief of detectives.

Bailey seemed reluctant to produce such a letter but eventually he did. It stated Pennell would return to being chief of detectives by October 12, 2015.*

Reassured, Pennell performed his daily duties as day shift captain and as the date drew near, he prepared for the mandated transition back to chief of detectives.

Then came another plot twist. Shortly before the October 12 deadline a fellow officer alerted Pennell to a message posted by Bailey to the NAPD’s messaging system, stating that the position of chief of detectives was being eliminated – effective immediately.

This was an unexpected and shocking development. As Pennell points out, there had been a chief of detectives in the NAPD for as long as anyone could remember: “It goes back at least to the 1880s, and maybe to the beginning of the police department in New Albany.”

Clearly, Pennell couldn’t return to a position that no longer existed. Upon reading the message he drove to police headquarters to discuss the matter with Bailey, and as luck would have it, the chief was seated in an adjacent squad car as Pennell pulled into a parking spot.

“Todd, do you have a minute to talk about the message?”

Stammering and visibly uncomfortable, Bailey replied that he had only a quick minute, so Pennell got straight to the point and asked about the signed agreement for his return to chief of detectives.

Bailey told Pennell he could go back to the detective division, but not as a captain, meaning Pennell would have to give up his merit rank of captain, which he had earned through the testing procedures put forth by the New Albany Police Merit Commission.

According to Pennell, the police chief “just walked away.” Pennell had the written evidence and still possesses it, and yet he’d been outflanked and knew it.

“I had the letter, and I could have hired an attorney, but what good would an empty promise do?”

So much for trust.

---

Pennell concedes that Bailey’s abrupt elimination of the chief of detectives position was upsetting, as was the police chief’s overall attitude toward him.

“Not many things bother me,” says Pennell, “but this one did.”

Recalling Blevins’ account of workplace harassment at the hands of Gahan’s subalterns, as well as those of other former city workers who still fear what might happen if they publicly tell their stories, it’s a familiar and destructive cycle.

What are the effects of bullying? Targeted employees can experience fear and anxiety, depression, and can develop a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder -- leading to psychological harm and actual physical illness. This leads to absenteeism and turnover as bullied employees avoid or flee the torturous workplace.

For Pennell, the mental stress exacerbated pre-existing physical conditions, and eventually he took sick leave to try and get better. He was off work for a long period. In mid-2016, Pennell chose to retire rather than continue in an unmanageable situation.

“I didn’t want to string out sick leave, and that was that.”

So it transpired that for Gahan’s purely political reasons, the NAPD lost a highly skilled, veteran officer.

Our chat concluding, Pennell recalls that the work he and Knight were doing at the computer crimes unit was noticed by none other than the Secret Service, which deputized him as a federal marshal from 2007 through his retirement in 2016.

“I think Bailey disbanded the computer crimes unit,” chuckles Pennell.

“Maybe he brought it back after I was gone.”

---

Footnote

* Ironically, Bailey himself is a rare survivor who probably can attest to the whims of Gahan’s vindictiveness. He was chief of police at the end of Doug England’s third term, and chose to support England’s handpicked successor, Irv Stumler, in the 2011 primary. Gahan handily defeated Stumler, and Bailey was removed as chief when Gahan took office in 2012. The private terms presaging Bailey’s subsequent comeback remain unknown, but he has since become a frequent Gahan campaign contributor who is willing to openly campaign for the mayor during election season.

---

Recent columns:

April 23: ON THE AVENUES: Gehenna, Franklin Graham, Jean-Paul Sartre and Fred Astaire lead us straight to Hell.

April 16: ON THE AVENUES: Amid Deaf Gahan's "victory" over grassroots activists at Colonial Manor, the toxic paranoia is no less rancid.

April 9: ON THE AVENUES: It's time for a change, and David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing.

April 2: ON THE AVENUES: Donnie Blevins tells his story.

ON THE AVENUES: It's time for a change, and David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing.

I trust that readers will have gleaned my strong support for David White in the forthcoming Democratic primary.

By whichever method you intend to vote, please do so, and whatever your party affiliation, be aware that you can do a wonderful service to New Albany and help set the stage for an intelligent, sensible dialogue this fall … by voting for David White today.

One playing field at a time, please, so let’s begin today’s discussion with a line from George Clooney, as delivered in the film Michael Clayton, which addresses life as so many of us actually experience it.

"I'm not a miracle worker, I'm a janitor."

My position as a White supporter is that the city of New Albany needs a mayor capable of repeating this phrase, following through on it, and making it his or her own.

That’s because there is no such thing as a miracle, only hard work being done behind the scenes, and furthermore, if you take just a little time to glance behind the attractive facades of Jeff Gahan’s “miracles” that aren’t, you’ll find a truly humongous toxic waste dump, growing by the minute.

I keep hearing questions like, “What’s White going to do about this, that or the other?”

But before White or any other person “does” something about this or that specific issue, our nasty toxic waste dump must be remediated. Owing to Gahan’s colossally expensive delusion that he’s a miracle worker, New Albany needs precisely such a janitorial service before we gather to regroup.

Job One is to remove the cancer. Only then can the patient’s rehabilitation proceed, and we simply cannot address White’s curative platform without documenting the extent of the problem -- and recognizing that we'll all be expected to take our turn at the weed-whacker.

Unfortunately many Democratic voters view the incumbent mayor as an Oz-level producer of miracles; “look at all these nice, bright, shiny objects,” they say, and Gahan does everything he can in terms of self-glorifying propaganda, often paid for with taxpayer dollars instead of his own campaign finance larder, to encourage this quasi-Biblical view of his two terms.

However, Ponzi schemes are not miraculous in the least.

As defined on-line, “A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors.”

In municipal terms, with a city’s general fund budget subject to limitations borne of variable tax revenue and state oversight, the Ponzi-style “miracle worker” solution is to bond and/or borrow from elsewhere.

After a huge leap during Gahan’s first few years in office, New Albany’s limited annual general fund budget is now increasing by a far smaller yearly amount. The returns flatten, and this fact of budgetary life won’t be changing any time soon.

It’s an existential conundrum for Gahan, because on a strictly practical level, one problem with all those bright, shiny objects is the annual cost of maintaining and repairing them. Up and up goes these costs, while revenue lags.

Moreover, for Gahan to keep producing these miracles out of nowhere, and crucially, to continue extracting huge pay-to-play campaign finance donations from faraway no-bid contractors and vendors, there constantly must be more bright and shiny object construction projects to keep the wheels turning.

But how to finance them?

One way is the Redevelopment Commission’s tax increment financing (TIF) mechanism, which borrows against future tax revenue increases. There’s also a huge pot of money at the sewer utility (Gahan himself is president of the board).

Incredibly, even the New Albany Housing Authority has become an investment agency. Under the management of former redevelopment bag man David Duggins, NAHA has become a NAHA-ATM, with $13 million in funds originally earmarked by former director Bob Lane for 1:1 housing rehabs now being used to buy commercial properties all around town

These properties are best suited for lucrative commercial development, not scattered site public housing, but as the late Bud Dry once noted, “why ask why?”

There’s a sudden imperative to annex a couple thousand properties on the north side. That’s because the city reckons it can turn a “profit” of close to $2 million of tax revenue annually once the hoops are cleared.

The same goes with money controlled by New Albany Township, now administered by the mayor’s close ally David Brewer, as well as Gahan’s constant badgering of the Horseshoe Fund-ation for more, and more, and more.

You’ll see that one prominent thread links the preceding, aside from an obvious and increasingly desperate search for ready cash -- itself a sure sign of the Ponzi scheme, full in, like an addict in search of another hit.

The link is the non-elected clique. Apart from Gahan himself and four remaining Democratic members of city council, the vast majority of human beings involved with transacting these bright, shiny objects -- preserving Gahan’s campaign finance haul and using someone else’s (your) money to do it -- are political appointees, not elected officials.

Political appointees are the lifeblood of the patronage machine. They answer to the mayor, and must buff and polish Dear Leader's personality cult in order to preserve their own “big fish, little pond” fiefdoms. In the case of some, loyalty as an unpaid commission member leads to remunerative beak wetting at the day job (see Ginkins, Terry).

Gahan’s political patronage system is a closed circle impervious to “public input.” In fact, it is erected precisely to avoid public input. The governing clique is composed of a few trusted subordinates and augmented with many other reliable sycophants, and it exists to perpetuate the mayor’s and the clique’s power.

And it retards civic progress, not advances it.

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The jackals are braying: Why keep talking about Gahan? What about White?

• Because Gahan isn’t a miracle worker.
• Because he is a toxic waste generator.
• Because we need a janitor.
• Because White knows that cleanup comes first, followed by getting out of bed every day as mayor and doing the fundamental things needed to address needs, not wants.

There’s only one genuine question for a voter to answer in 2019:

Is Gahan’s unprecedented power, and the money buttressing it -- and the stooges reinforcing the fix -- good or bad for the city?

If you think financial malfeasance, unprecedented power and social toxicity is good for the city, then yes, Gahan’s your man.

Meanwhile candidate White disagrees. He says no, these things aren’t good, and what we’re witnessing is an old axiom brought to life:

Gahan’s absolute power corrupts, absolutely.

Gahan plays politics every minute of every day of his public life, and when someone disagrees with him, they’re accused of ... wait for it ... playing politics.

But the fact that Gahan somehow believes an equation wherein his tenure as mayor and the very practice of politics in this town are intertwined, synonymous and inseparable -- that Gahan possesses a monopoly on political power, as though to suggest political power is exclusive to Gahan himself -- openly threatens the very principle of democracy, and is the single best indicator that he has gathered far too much power for one ill-equipped man.

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Hence the case for White as mayor begins not with grandiose promises of Christmas mornings to come, but with clear-eyed realism, because what’s needed is a mayor with the ability to understand that “miracles” are nonsense and objects not as bright and shiny as their facades -- and that their ongoing cost is an unwelcome, burdensome “gift” to future generations.

There is a mess, and White will do his best to clean it up. The mess isn’t only financial. It’s also a clear and abiding abuse of power.

White’s solution is to devolve power, to dismantle the governing clique’s patronage machine, and to disperse power to the grassroots.

Hence, People First. It really isn’t a slogan. It’s a way of addressing Gahan’s governing cancer by loosening the reins and allowing democracy to determine solutions, not an entrenched special interest group.

White knows he’ll be spending much time just listening to people – people in neighborhoods, people standing on street corners, people calling him, people living in public housing and people waiting to be heard after eight long years of being patronized, threatened or flatly ignored by the Gahan privilege machine.

By clearing the patronage clog-ups and communication blockages -- by cutting pay-to-play donors from the equation -- White has a realistic chance of finding out what real people are thinking, and of devising ways to help them.

Look at White’s basic platform.

It’s the sort of program any political party would be proud to espouse, which leads to another point, seeing as I’m also told that any challenge to an incumbent is to be viewed as a contagion to be vigorously suppressed, because: Democratic Party unity!

How dare the party’s elite’s slate of fellow elitists be questioned?

To which I reply: “Equine feces.”

By this reasoning a ball club wouldn’t play exhibition games before the regular season starts. For a sports team, practice games help establish routines and reinforce tactics, but when it comes to a political party, small groups of elders on “both” sides prefer fixing the starting lineup before the real games even start.

It makes no sense outside the boundaries of elitist cliques.

As for Democrats, the advent of a candidate like White, who is both an independent thinker and a party member, should be regarded as a heaven-sent opportunity to bring people back into the equation.

A local Democratic Party like ours, which remains under the control of a small clique of power-brokers, incessantly rationalizes that its oppressive central control is necessary to (a) preserve local patronage networks, and (b) mobilize the cadres for state and national election cycles.

Consequently real people living right here in New Albany finish a poor third on the list of priorities. As far as the Democratic Party here is concerned, ordinary people are to be seen, not heard. Why do you think planning and communications have trickled (oozed?) down not unlike coal ash sludge from the lofty heights during two Gahan administrations?

Ruling elites forever view the inseparable political objectives of money and power as far more easily attained and preserved if public input is kept to a bare minimum.

This is why I laugh so heartily every time Team Gahan invites citizens to public meetings, because I’m so old that I can remember he way it was done in Communist countries of old, when Poles, Romanians and Cubans (not to omit North Koreans even today) were invited to come cast their votes in favor of the only name on the ballot, which of course had been pre-determined without input of any sort from citizens.

Or, just the same way Adam Dickey and the Democrats do it right here in Anchor City. The boot-lickers preen, the so-called progressives pretend the prevailing toxicity is healthy, and the “fix” stays permanently in place.

Again, notice the gist of David White’s platform points and consider how they might apply to life within the Floyd County Democratic Party itself.

How would the democratization (pun intended) and decentralization of the party damage its obligation to support candidates up ticket?

It wouldn’t.

Can too much democracy, too much transparency and too much participation ever hurt a human endeavor meant to be shared by all on the first place?

No, it can’t.

The only casualty would be the imperative to concentrate money and power in the hands of a small clique dispensing political patronage for the benefit of their own operatives and not that of the commonweal.

It is indisputable that David White has ample qualifications to be the Democratic nominee for the office of mayor, and to serve as mayor if elected to the position.

But White would be the first to tell you he’s no miracle worker, just a janitor – or, for that matter, doing what any number of blue collar workers do cleaning, lifting, fixing, maintaining, and performing other behind-the-scenes hard work, with their faces never once appearing on sewer bills or lifestyle advertisements.

Join me in voting for David White for Mayor. It’s time for a change, which begins with a whole lotta scrubbing.

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Recent columns:

April 2: ON THE AVENUES: Donnie Blevins tells his story.

March 26: ON THE AVENUES: Gahan's hoarding of power and money is a threat to New Albany's future.

March 19: ON THE AVENUES: In 1989, six months of traveling fabulously in Europe.

March 12: ON THE AVENUES: Tender mercies, or why Democratic Party luminaries didn't want to be seen at the "Protect Hoosiers from Hate" rally.

A Tax Increment Financing (TIF) primer, noting TIF's chumminess with insider corruption, and certain grassroots alternatives to big ticket glitz.

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) came up a lot when I ran for mayor in 2015, so much so that the Bookseller created a paper for consultation by our team.

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A Baylor Paper on Tax Increment Financing

HISTORY: Tax Increment Financing, commonly known as T.I.F., is a method created by the legislature that allows a city to invest borrowed money in the hopes that the investment will increase property values in a specific geographic area. To the extent that property values do increase, the city may use those new tax dollars to retire its debt on that investment.

TIF areas have expiration dates. Other taxing entities are barred from collecting taxes on the increased value, if any, until the expiration of the TIF area.

PREMISE: Cities are severely limited in how rapidly they can grow their revenues, which are based largely on the assessed value of properties within the city limits. Cities have no control over assessments and their revenues are capped by annual growth limits. Thus, tax increment financing is one way to make ambitious, if speculative, investments in the future without waiting for growth.

But TIF-ability is an asset that must be carefully used and its benefits must be calculable. The Gahan administration has been irresponsible in that respect and has used the T.I.F. function more like a piggy bank or a blue-sky wish list. Current officials won’t be around when the bills have to be paid.

PROPOSAL: I’ll conduct an immediate audit of our T.I.F. programs and will publicly report to the citizens of New Albany the whos, whats, whens, whys, and wheres regarding them.

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I haven't asked Democratic mayoral candidate David White yet, but I strongly suspect his view of TIF programs and the abusive tendencies of their local application corresponds with the preceding. However, I can state with certainty that White fully understands the challenge to future municipal solvency posed by serial TIF misuse. He'd rather face up to it than kick the can further down the high-maintenance-cost road.

As an aside, I cannot recall a time when 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps girded up to disagree with current Anchor Office occupant Jeff Gahan's addiction to TIF areas as de facto credit cards intended to be pumped dry so as to enable bright shiny "piggy bank" and "blue sky" wish lists, while leaving the burden of debt management to be left for our grandchildren.

Yesterday I spoke of the no-gimmicks Strong Towns platform as a "third way" for New Albany.

+ Stop valuing efficiency and start valuing resilience;
+ Stop betting our futures on huge, irreversible projects, and taking small, incremental steps and iterating based on what we learn;
+ Stop fearing change and start embracing a process of continuous adaptation;
+ Stop building our world based on abstract theories, and start building it based on how our places actually work and what our neighbors actually need today;
+ Stop obsessing about future growth and start obsessing about our current finances.

For more about TIF's positives and negatives, read this article from the Strong Towns Knowledge Base. It's also worth contemplating this: How much of Gahan's pay-to-play campaign finance enhancement would be possible without the gravy generated by TIF projects? He may be corrupt, but he's no fool when it comes to undercover math.

Your Questions Answered: Is TIF Always Bad? by Jacob Moses

 ... This week’s question: Is TIF always bad?

Tax increment financing (TIF) is a financing method used by local governments, often to redevelop blighted or disinvested areas where market-rate development is seen as unprofitable without assistance. Under a TIF agreement, a local government incentivizes a developer to work in a designated geographic area (called a TIF district) by subsidizing a portion of the development costs. The subsidy may help pay the up-front cost of either private development or associated public infrastructure. The city raises the money by selling bonds to investors, and the bonds are gradually paid back out of increased property taxes over the next 20 or 30 years.

As redevelopment causes the value of the property to increase, more property taxes can be collected from within the TIF district. Rather than adding these to the city’s general budget, any additional tax revenues above the amount paid at the time the TIF was established are set aside in a special fund. That fund is reserved for gradually paying back the initial TIF bonds. Once the TIF is paid off, local governments can use the future property taxes for anything—road maintenance, schools, etc.

Questions to ask, and alternatives to be considered.

The intention behind TIF is not always bad—but here is a list of questions you can ask yourself or your elected officials to discover if TIF is best for your city’s or town’s financial health.

Have you considered incremental development?
Incremental development means making small bets on many small projects over a broad area over a long period of time. Because local governments don’t have the ability to guarantee the future success of a project, they should consider growing incrementally.

Instead of constructing a rail line, you start with a shuttle bus; instead of building an apartment complex, you start with a duplex.

This same philosophy applies to TIF districts, which are often used to jump-start large scale redevelopment projects, and justified on the basis that no such mega-project would have been viable without TIF. But should the city first consider a smaller investment to develop the area? Could they invest in helping the existing local grocery meet its needs? Could they practice economic gardening and seek to help hardworking, entrepreneurial residents of the area start and grow companies? Could they make sidewalk and traffic-calming improvements that improve street safety and make a business district more walkable and lively?

What would it take to gradually bring up the value of existing properties instead of doing full-scale redevelopment?

We know these alternative solutions aren’t as shiny and new as the proposed, TIF-funded megaproject. However, because they are small bets, local governments can preserve their resilience if they don’t succeed.

Is the public losing anything?
Before local government can approve a project for TIF, they must ensure the project passes the “but for” test: but for the TIF subsidy, the development wouldn’t happen.

If that’s true, then the TIF is jumpstarting development but the public isn’t losing anything, because the money to pay off the initial TIF subsidy is coming from property taxes that otherwise wouldn’t have been collected at all.

The problem, however, is that it’s challenging to actually assess that “but for” test in practice, meaning lots of projects that get TIF money probably don’t pass it. That means TIF can end up starving the local government’s general fund—which pays for most city services—because the property taxes are going to the TIF district instead.

Before approving projects for TIF, it’s essential that local governments—to the best of their ability—ensure that the TIF money is going to truly necessary, value-creating projects that can’t happen any other way, and not to subsidize development that could have been achieved by another means.

David White speaks with the News and TomMayBune about the Harvest Homecoming Festival Foundation.

The Harvest Homecoming Festival Foundation strikes me as good stewardship, especially since the fest doesn't have its own TIF areas to suck dry.

My own love-hate relationship with Harvest Homecoming is a matter of public record and I'd be a fool to disavow it, but at the same time considerable progress has been made during recent years toward the shared objective of adapting the festival to the emergence of business concentration and residency downtown.

I feel better about it now, and that's what communication is all about. There's been far more of it recently from Harvest Homecoming, although the same cannot be said about Jeff Gahan's forever hermetic City Hall.

Change out the mayor and just think of the possibilities. Voting for David White in the Democratic primary is an excellent place to begin the cleansing. It also bears noting that Harvest Homecoming's physical "booth days" footprint lies entirely within the 3rd council district.

Just imagine a council person in the 3rd who actually knows what indie business ownership involves. Indies don't get tenure, you know.

Foundation ensures Harvest Homecoming for decades to come, by Chris Morris (Unlimited Tom May Only $9.99)

For 51 years the Harvest Homecoming Festival has grown to one of the most popular, and largest in the state. There is nothing like it and each October, thousands come to enjoy the festivities.

Over the span of two weeks people are entertained by a host of activities from a parade to kick off the festival, to the popular booth days which attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to downtown New Albany.

But the festival is only as good as the weather because almost all the activities are outside. A few years of bad weather can not only disappoint the thousands of visitors, but also put a squeeze on the festival's operating budget.

That is why the Harvest Homecoming Festival Foundation was established.

The foundation, administered by the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana, will ensure yearly interest income so bad weather or lost sponsorships won't threaten the festival.

"The festival success is dependent on weather," said David White, who served as Harvest Homecoming's chairman of the board in 2017 and 2018. "Harvest Homecoming has been blessed with good weather and leadership and has been able to put on a quality family event. But all it takes is a few bad years and we would have to maybe cut a few events if our revenue drops ... "

David White: "On May 7th, you will have the opportunity to get your city back, but I need your help."

The filing period has commenced; more on that tomorrow. Yesterday David White made it official, and he's in the mayoral race.

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: As David White's mayoral campaign begins, let's briefly survey the electoral landscape.

David White's video reassures city employees on the shop floor and condemns politically-motivated retribution from above.

ON THE AVENUES: In the 3rd district, that "stepping aside" time finally has arrived.

Will Deaf Gahan debate White this time around? Four years ago, Gahan refused, citing absolutely no reason whatever for ducking a fact-to-face meeting with his challenger.

I suppose we can't all be courageous. From April 19, 2015, here's the flashback.

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It's the hologram, Adam: Jeff Gahan's refusal to debate David White insults New Albany voters.

Late last week, the sycophants inhabiting Team Gahan circled their rickety wagons and condemned the Courier-Journal for not somehow compelling Jeff Gahan to return phone calls.

Jeff Gahan texts Greg Fischer: "OMG, the CJ called, LOL."

Shunning the C-J is inexplicable, but for Gahan to duck David White's frequent invitations to publicly debate the issues is all too understandable. The mayor is incapable of improvisation, and simply cannot hold serve in unscripted settings. Team Gahan knows this, and shelters him accordingly.

We might appeal to the Democratic Party chairman, but Adam Dickey is anything but neutral. He sits on the Redevelopment Commission, instigator of TIF-funded capital projects designed to serve as re-election photo ops. Gahan's corporate attorney, Shane Gibson, manages the party's money. The incumbent's campaign war chest is sufficient to spend in excess of $10 per voter, with cash left over to buy multiple rounds of Bud Light longnecks at the Roadhouse.

David White is on the outside looking in -- into an incestuous political fix, that is.

A joyful noise? The six most-read ON THE AVENUES columns of 2018.

A joyful noise? The six most-read ON THE AVENUES columns of 2018.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

"If Potter gets hold of this Building and Loan, there’ll never be another decent house built in this town. He’s already got charge of the bank. He’s got the bus line. He got the department stores. And now he’s after us!"

Poor George Bailey gets a vision of awful, grasping Potter getting everything and naming everything after himself: Pottersville, a hideous ego-plutocrat takeover. And if he had a hotel chain, it would be called something alliterative, no doubt, like … Potter Palace?

Summit Springs?

The Jeff M. Gahan Family Fun City Hall?

We can't fault The Guardian piece's writer, who knows all about It's a Wonderful Life but hasn't witnessed the Potter-like proclivities of our own dull mayoral eminence.

And so our scene opens with a panoramic shot of the city filmed by drone, gradually zooming to street level. Stuffed to the turducken with campaign cash, Dear Leader is seen waddling toward Bunker Hatch #4.

He seems to be humming a tune: "You wish me a Merry Christmas -- or else."

Naturally the captive local news media dares not take him to task. The Genius of the Flood Plain’s wretched anchor tattoo adorns every street sign and trash can. Sewer lift stations and Rice Krispies coeds titter when he is ushered into the photo-op by a team of drooling glad-handers.

Discarded envelopes flutter to the floor beneath the Pedestal of the Fruit Baskets, accumulating like snow (sic) drifts atop David Duggins’ desk at NAHA.

But hey: That’s why he’s here.

Those 37,000-plus city residents who currently do not enjoy the perks and privileges of inner circle membership somehow have managed to stumble to the conclusion of New Gahania Year Seven, known as "2018" to the wider world existing outside the confines of the Open Air Museum of Ignorance, Superstition and Backwardness.

Well, come what may, my job at NA Confidential is to provide the other side of the story. Truth actually mattered when I was growing up. You can count me out of the ring kissing. I don’t do idol worship, and I won’t pretend to honor the credentials of a middling mediocrity of a veneer salesman who hasn’t read a book since Ray-Gun was president, although I’d be remiss without offering a helpful suggestion: Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis.

On second thought, never mind. It would be pearls before bovine.

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Let’s have a glance at the six most-read ON THE AVENUES columns of 2018, with a necessary caveat.

As recently explained, the “scoring” system at Blogger underwent a manner of bizarre and largely unexplained alteration in October, and statistics for the past three months don’t correlate with those of the year’s first nine.

I regret my blog being situated at this perennially inept platform, and if 13,400 posts hadn’t already adorned the tote board since 2004, I’d do something about it. As such, we begin with one honorable mention, based not on Google hiccups, but an informal tally of Facebook engagements.

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This November 29 column looks to be tops for the months of October, November and December.

ON THE AVENUES: "That's why I voted no," explains Scott Stewart, pausing to duck rocks feebly lobbed by Team Gahan's propaganda pygmies.

City council president Al Knable’s inspired 2018 appointment of Scott Stewart to the cloistered confines of the Redevelopment Commission was a signal for New Albany’s suburban-minded, self-congratulatory ruling caste to move with characteristic pre-election haste to make the city safe for all the people just like them.

Accordingly, when Wile E Gahan pointed his ego toward someone else’s idea about a recreational rails-to-trails, and headed down to the Quality of Life Pawn Shop for the cash to pay approximately 3% of a long-term project located almost entirely outside city limits, Stewart asked a series of excellent, pointed questions.

These concerns were batted away by redevelopment’s the-fix-stays-in sycophants, who quickly reaffirmed their pre-determined vote prior to sliming Stewart in subsequent social media Trump-o-grams, which almost certainly were written by Adam Dickey, lifetime redevelopment wheel-greaser, who also serves as Democratic Party chairman.

Nepotism much?

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Number Six appeared on January 4, previewing the coming year’s renewed non-transparency.

ON THE AVENUES: Opposition? It is defined as resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument, and in New Gahania, now's the time for it.

Tome May’s News & Maroon kicked off 2018 with another triumph of unalloyed stenography, providing Jeff Gahan with excessive column inches to belch his exaggerated feats of Kool-Aid consumption. Our forever posturing mayor heartily congratulated himself with the “shucks, just can’t help it if I’m perfect” plea familiar to cloistered autocrats (or Greg Fischer) since time immemorial.

I dissented, reminding readers that just because the local chain good-news-paper won’t tackle the hard issues, it doesn’t mean they’re not there: a flawed and unsafe street grid realization, luxury parks deficit funding, clearcutting of the urban canopy, the public housing putsch, criminal neglect of civic assets like the doomed Moser Tannery, and worst of all, Gahan’s pay-to-play lovefest with special interests.

There also was advice for Republicans: If Gahan won’t give a State of the City with real people in the room, interacting, then a Republican needs to give one instead. The marketplace of ideas is preferred by many, though abhorred by the likes of Gahan. I urged the GOP to full-court press him, because I’m getting damned tired of doing it all alone.

Not as though they ever began -- or I ever stopped. Such are the burdens of commitment.

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Number Five took a look back, and was as relevant on February 15 as it had been three years earlier.

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: No more fear, Jeff (2015).

From the moment Gahan settled into the anchor’s seat in 2012, he began drinking deeply of the ego-driven power potion, as preferred the world over by big fish swimming in small ponds. The bullying and intimidation has only escalated in the following years, and transparency has become as rare as mountain oysters on downtown vegetarian restaurant menus.

Free speech seems a particular irritant to Gahan and the Floyd County Democratic Party, especially as it pertains to social media. In the marketplace of ideas, they’re a one-party dictatorship, albeit without any verifiable dogma to protect from scrutiny apart from daily compounded monetization of municipal contracts. It is telling that Chairman Dickey rivals Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin in his eagerness to block dissenters.

I’ve actually been to places where fear was a daily consideration, but New Albany isn’t East Germany, and we can do better than this.

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On September 30 there was reason for hope. It's Number Four.

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: As David White's mayoral campaign begins, let's briefly survey the electoral landscape.

On November 6, the Floyd County Democratic Party’s ramshackle jalopy bottomed out on a speed bump in a snail’s path.

In the aftermath of a certifiable Red Wave, the Alamo Scenario materialized: Gahan, his party chairman and a scant four remaining city council Democrats placed in a last-ditch, us-against-them scenario, tattered and bedraggled but with no choice except defending the lucrative system of political patronage that Gahan has adeptly exploited these past seven years.

David White already had declared his intention to challenge Gahan in the 2019 Democratic primary, and Gahan's steadily multiplying negatives make a strong case for White, given the centrist (at best) and right-leaning (bingo!) tendencies of those older local Democrats who actually bother voting.

White is a fiscal conservative, and while no flaming radical, his concern for the community’s most vulnerable citizens, coupled with libertarian attitudes toward social issues, is a welcome change for those of a more youthful and progressive bent, given they'd no longer have to clench their teeth and tolerate Gahan's reactionary worldview in an ongoing Faustian bargain to preserve the party's declining prospects for ward heeling.

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Coming in at Number Three, there was a nostalgic remembrance of employment, which was published on March 1.

ON THE AVENUES: Scoreboard daze of old.

Three decades ago, my introduction to the Open Air Museum was a gig at Scoreboard Liquors, located across the street from the Federal Building in an oppressively ugly structure long since demolished -- for once, rightfully.

Package stores of Scoreboard’s socioeconomic ilk remain an ongoing psychological experiment. During my tenure, insights into the human condition were plentiful, and sometimes fairly hard to stomach.

It was my introduction to good beer, and we did a fairly good trade in imports, given their obscurity and the fact that whenever I wasn’t on site to explain what they were, consumer requests generally were greeted with a sneer by Duck, the manager.

“Huh? I don’t drink that shit.”

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The year's runner-up at Number Two came on January 25. Truth-telling isn't always easy; it took far too much effort on my part to interest the newspaper in this story, so most of what we know was disseminated right here. 

ON THE AVENUES: David Duggins’ violent “jokes” will continue until the New Albany Housing Authority’s morale improves – or Duggins is fired. We advocate the latter.

In early 2017, Gahan seized control of New Albany Public Housing, firing NAHA’s longtime director and packing its board with a collection of shameless, kowtowing lickspittles unparalleled in venality even by New Albany’s subterranean standards.

Gahan appointed his flagrantly unqualified campaign fund bag man David Duggins to one of the city’s top-paying positions as NAHA disheveler-in-chief, and Duggins missed very few opportunities to remind us what a dreadful idea his appointment was in the first place, as when he emerged from a board meeting in January of 2018 and threatened a NAHA resident with an impromptu disciplinary tasering.

The ruling caste predictably laughed it off -- Davey, well, he's OUR boy -- but of course had the same NAHA resident “joked” about shooting or tasing Duggins, he likely wouldn't have emerged from the meeting room uninjured.

Our city hall C-students -- almost all of them white, male and insular graduates of New Albany High School --- seem unable to grasp that only with disproportionate power comes the “right” to say it was all a joke, and make no mistake: Duggins’ threats were about power. So was Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing.

People? They're just in the way.

Jeff Gahan owned this predicament when it occurred, and he still does. Duggins has been empowered for far too long, and after he made a fool of himself and exposed the intellectual vacancy of Gahanism in the process, his power actually increased.

This made me sick then, it makes me sick now, and it should make readers sick, too. Duggins should have been fired on the spot, and still should be -- before someone gets hurt.

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It should come as no surprise that my commentary about a new luxury city hall for "inhumanely" treated city workers was Number One, and the most-read ON THE AVENUES of 2018 (June 12).

ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a luxury city hall "want" is simply obscene in a time of societal need.

Whenever Gahan, a presumed Democrat, pontificates about the Reisz Mahal project being “a move to protect our history," I sadly recall the fate of Haughey’s Place and so many other remnants of the city’s past, buildings that might have been adaptively re-used, but didn’t meet the threshold of narcissistic grandiloquence demanded by the mayor’s ethics-free selective reasoning and laughably elevated self-image.

In a city more allergic to irony than pollen or ragweed, Gahan’s newfound tender concern for the historical imperatives of the Reisz building is profoundly ironic, too. Do you recall those two words, “dilapidated” and “neglect”?

They’re not mine.

Rather, they come straight from Dear Leader’s mouth, via the medium of Mike Hall, the Shadow Mayor & Big Word Interpreter & Imperial Court Food Taster, and they serve as the convenient excuse for Gahan to don his Halloween leftover Superman outfit and rescue this pathetically abused historic building from the scandalous clutches of its shirker owner, who after all, has allowed it to deteriorate to the current juncture of high urgency.

Except the neglectful "villain" in this instance has been remunerated far above market value for his stubbornness. The redevelopment commission surreptitiously gifted the Reisz’s purchase price of $390,000 to the city’s preferred contractor Denton Floyd -- by sheer coincidence a firm frequently contributing to Gahan’s campaign war chest -- which duly passed the money to the Reisz building’s owner, who as Gahan himself concedes, rendered it dilapidated in the first place.

In consequence-free Nawbany, the words “miraculous government-enabled windfall bailout” spring immediately to mind.

Eagerly abetting Gahan’s desire to erect a lasting memorial to his shimmering and saintly benevolence is councilman David “Tunnel Vision” Barksdale, a thoroughly camouflaged Republican and prominent historic preservationist, who has let it be known that the Reisz building is so very important to the city that no cost is too great to “save” it.

To summarize, for at least thirty years the structure has rotted, but only now, with a crucial municipal election coming in 2019, does time suddenly become of the essence. The decision about Reisz must be made right away, with as little transparent public debate as possible, or else the city’s forward progress will be halted dead in its tracks.

And people still wonder why I’m cynical.

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Recent columns:

December 6: ON THE AVENUES: Straight tickets, unsociable media and whether Democrats should rally around Gahan's gallows pole.

November 29: ON THE AVENUES: "That's why I voted no," explains Scott Stewart, pausing to duck rocks feebly lobbed by Team Gahan's propaganda pygmies.

November 22: ON THE AVENUES: A few thanks to give before we return to our regular anti-anchor resistance programming.

November 15: ON THE AVENUES: Notes on Solidarity after a visit to the European Solidarity Centre in Gdansk.