"Mike Pence’s New Fan Club: Wiccans."

Just when I think religion can't ever be for me ...

Mike Pence’s New Fan Club: Wiccans, by David Freedlander (The Daily Beast)

Conservative Christians in Indiana may have accidently protected Wiccans’ religious right to plural marriage, drugs and nudity.

Among the howls of opponents who insist that religious freedom ordinances limit LGBT civil rights, conservative lawmakers in Indiana and other states have found unlikely allies: Wiccans, who claim that any laws that give greater religious freedom are manna from the earth mother.

“I think these bills are horrible,” said Dusty Dionne, High Priest and High Summoner of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Washington State. “But if they are going to open up this can of worms, we are going to shove it right in their face.”

Selected "Southern Indiana leaders talk LGBT protections bill."

Indiana is a lamentably lop-sided one-party state, but earlier this year when Governor Mike Pence's GOP triumphantly embraced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, numerous sycophants from the usual corporate-weighted economic development cadre finally got the willies.

Now, for our entertainment, the same legislators who brought you the idiocy of RFRA will provide anti-discrimination laws to countermand it -- well, mostly. There'll have to be bigotry maintenance exceptions, you know.

Our local state representative broke ranks over RFRA, and accordingly, Ed Clere is quoted here.

State Senator Ron Grooms as yet touts the wonderfulness of RFRA, evidently as viewed from his residence on Fantasy Island, but fortunately, he is not interviewed here.

However, there is one paragraph in need of explanation.

(New Albany council person Greg) Phipps said he's happy to see New Albany's anti-discrimination ordinance working. Though the human right commission hasn't heard any cases, he said a couple of instances of alleged LGBT discrimination have been mentioned, but not acted upon.

It works, though it hasn't been used, and discrimination not brought before the HRC did't occur because there was no action.

In short, Gahanism in a nutshell: Fundamental change is imperative, so long as nothing fundamentally changes. 

Southern Indiana leaders talk LGBT protections bill, by Jerod Clapp (Clark County Today)

SOUTHERN INDIANA — A bill to include LGBT people in existing anti-discrimination laws is on the slate for the State Senate's upcoming legislative session.

The draft, written by Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, comes after the state's heavily criticized passage of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from last spring. The new bill grants protections to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trangender people.

Though some local government and business leaders see the proposal as a step in the right direction, they expressed concern over religious exemptions.

But the implications of the bill don't stop at the rights of LGBT people, but also what it could ultimately mean for the state's business environment and economy are also concerns among leaders.

"It’s time for Pence to lead ... full civil rights protections based on sexual orientation."

Inelegantly written, but hey -- it's a business publication.

And no, I have NOT forgotten the role of Ron Grooms in this debacle.

EDITORIAL: Governor must back full LGBT rights (Indianapolis Business Journal)

Gov. Mike Pence owes the state leadership on LGBT issues that have damaged our reputation nationally while creating an ugly chasm among Hoosiers.

Pence helped to create the problem earlier this year when he pushed the General Assembly to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law that was a poor solution in search of a largely non-existent problem ...

 ... It’s time for Pence to lead—and there’s only one place to go: Full civil rights protections based on sexual orientation.

The move may not put him in good stead with social conservatives, but Indiana needs to make the public statement—a national statement—that it’s the warm and welcoming place that we all enjoy.

Good local travel piece: "A river beckons in Southern Indiana."

It's a solid article with local shout-outs.

I suggest that State Senator Ron Grooms focus on the preface, in which it is explained that his adored RFRA makes it necessary for the rest of us to wage constant damage control.

Thanks again, Ron. By the way, can you please see fit to do nothing, if doing something has ramifications like these?

A river beckons in Southern Indiana, by Joseph S. Pete (The Times of Northwest Indiana)

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act ignited a firestorm and incited many, including prominent Star Trek actor George Takei, to call for boycotts of Indiana. The furor has died down, but the bad press could have biased many against trips to Indiana in unconscious ways for years to come. The Hoosier state, however, offers plenty to see and do. The bimonthly Travel Indiana series highlights what's worth exploring around the state.

Louisville's a pretty cool city to visit.

The city boasts the "Keep Louisville Weird" campaign to keep unique merchants flourishing, chic dining options, a lively indie rock scene that's produced My Morning Jacket and Will Oldham, the Forecastle Music Festival, the Humana Festival of New American Plays, the Louisville Slugger Museum, all the bourbon you could ever handle, the bohemian Highlands neighborhood that's like a college village on steroids, and of course the "decadent and depraved" Kentucky Derby.

Like Chicago and Cincinnati, the Louisville metro spills over into Indiana. And the Indiana suburbs north of the Ohio River are also worth visiting in their own right.

The area is known as Southern Indiana, which is marketed as the Sunny Side of Louisville and symbolized by the iconic Colgate Clock. Because of the Ohio River, it was the first area in Indiana to be settled, and New Albany was actually Indiana's most populous city in 1850. It can feel like the South and is an area rife with natural beauty that’s not as flat and uniform as much of the rest of the state. Here's a look at some potential stops ...

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: When it comes to the RCI, can the RDA opt out of the RFRA?

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: When it comes to the RCI, can the RDA opt out of the RFRA?

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Back on July 20, I attended a pep rally for public officials.

The topic was the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative (RCI), which first came to my attention in 2014 when both Jeff Gahan and Ed Clere attended a sparse merchant mixer meeting to tout the idea.

To me, RCI is just another big-ticket bauble to distract the attention of folks who should be concerned about why we can't fill potholes, reconvert streets to two-way traffic, or recognize the threat posed to us all by income inequality of the sort that RCI's backers accept as the default rules of the game. But I don't, and had the best of intentions to write about my experience before today.

Sorry about that. It didn't happen. RCI is a multi-faceted boondoggle, the usual suspects are swarming, and I've been busy with other things. In the absence of coherence, I'll go scattershot and try to provide a broad outline peppered with venom.

On Monday night, the Clark County Council approved an ordinance authorizing the Regional Development Authority (RDA), this being the necessary first step for participating governmental bodies. Opponents of RCI reckon that the Floyd County Council will follow suit on Tuesday.

Learn about the case against RCI here, and in this video by Martina Webster. There are valid concerns about eminent domain, crony capitalism, corporate welfare and the largely non-existent sources of local matching funds, among others.

Fortunately, none of this means that RCI is a done deal -- at least yet.

The state will choose two winning contestants from those regions submitting proposals, with the losers queuing to try again next time, so it's rather like uncertainty of buying a lottery ticket combined with the Nigerian bank scam e-mail: Even if you win, you have to pay to get the money (20% local match, and 60% from unnamed sources).

Lagos ... meet Galena.

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Purportedly, RCI is the solution to the answer to a question: What's Indiana's biggest issue pertaining to economic development, at least according to how the state's Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development Corporation define economic "development"?

They believe it is Indiana's population stagnation, "largely attributed to its shortfall in retaining and attracting talent." Read about it here ... and here.

This excerpt is from Elizabeth Beilman's coverage.

 ... The Regional Cities Initiative, or RCI, is a state program intended to support “quality of place” projects through regional collaboration.

The state has allocated $84 million to be split among two regions and used for redevelopment projects that would transform those regions into more desirable places to live ...

 ... The General Assembly passed RCI legislation in May, establishing the funds and outlining the criteria for the IEDC to consider when choosing which regions to award funds to.

State Rep. Ed Clere, R-New Albany, who was House co-sponsor of the legislation, said the RCI was a “no brainer.”

“I think what it boils down to is this has the potential to be a transformative opportunity for Southern Indiana ...” Clere said.

Multiple regions across the state are in the process of submitting their comprehensive project plans, due Aug. 31.

One Southern Indiana has taken the lead in producing this plan through a new initiative called “Our Southern Indiana.” The plan includes developments across Clark, Floyd, Washington, Scott and Harrison counties as the Southern Indiana region.

Wendy Dant Chesser, 1si president and CEO, presented the five key areas that the projects cover — waterfront development, regional greenway system, workforce development, River Ridge Commerce Center economic engine and regional water resources ...

 ... In order to be chosen by the IEDC for RCI funds, the five counties’ fiscal bodies that form the region here must approve the formation of a Regional Development Authority, or RDA. Five non-elected or nongovernmental representatives will be chosen and approved by the each county commission.

If chosen, the Southern Indiana RDA would execute the plan that Our Southern Indiana has devised with the input of local officials and residents through various public forums.

A local ordinance and by-laws — which Our Southern Indiana has preliminarily drafted — would outline specific restrictions or obligations tailored to this region’s needs.

The IEDC guidelines suggest the projects are funded through 20 percent RCI funds, 20 percent local public funds and 60 percent private funds.

I'm tired and sober, so let's put it this way.

River Ridge accounts for roughly 60% of the "wish" funding presented as part of the RCI proposal by One Southern Indiana's front committee.

River Ridge was crony capitalism's chosen regional winner decades ago.

The rest of us are intended as ancillary housing habitations for River Ridge.

There's a toll bridge being built straight to River Ridge.

Soon the city of Jeffersonville will be renamed Amazonapolis, and yet, with $434 million being sought, $252 million is slated to go to River Ridge ... and a paltry $200,000 to a study of the state of the region's water resources.

That's an afterthought, a puddle of spittle, and probably less than Dan Coffey has cleared from demolition kickbacks just this year.

And: Not a penny is proposed for public transit, arguably the finest regional use of such funding if one accepts the primacy of River Ridge ... which I don't wish to do at all.

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On the day of the pep rally, Ron Grooms made a typically leaden speech, which of course was widely praised by the usual economic development sycophants in clucking attendance, even though it sounded entirely like the dubbed English language version of the commissars praising falsified crop yields from atop Lenin's Mausoleum during May Day parades of old Moscow times.

Grooms recited the banal boilerplate, stressing how important it is for us to make Indiana a great place to live, to attract talent, and keep our best and brightest right here in Hoosierland.

I've been livid ever since.

What Ron Grooms was, and remains, is an outspoken, unrepentant and Kool-Aid swilling proponent of Indiana's catastrophic Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), precisely the sort of bigoted fundamentalist gibberish actively assisting in the dispersal of Indiana's population, and the prevention of investment in the state, but recognition of facts like these lie so far beyond Grooms's reach as a partisan political hack that he stood right there in a room filled with regional elected officials and told them, in effect: Only by creating an RDA to sign onto the coin-flip of the RCI would they be able to cancel out the deleterious effects of RFRA, as foisted on them by his own party's hypocritical Torquemada wing, to which he is slavishly devoted.

Grooms sees no contradiction in creating one mandatory piece of bureaucracy to chase people away, and then establishing another to bring them back, and mayor's race or no mayor's race, had I packed a Boston Cream Pie for lunch that day, I'd have sprinted to the front and crammed it in his face.

My question, which unfortunately there was no time to ask, and hence this column's title:

Yo, Ron -- When it comes to the RCI, can the RDA opt out of the RFRA?

See you at Pine View on Tuesday afternoon. The meeting's been changed to 4:00 p.m., in case you were wondering.

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Recent columns:

August 6: ON THE AVENUES: Money is the ultimate bully.

July 30: ON THE AVENUES: Homegrown New Albany, but not in a good way.

July 23: ON THE AVENUES: A citizen's eloquent complaint about the parking debacle at River Run reminds us that planners and brooms go hand in hand.

July 16: ON THE AVENUES: Louisville Beer, then and now ... and cheers to Rotary.

July 9: ON THE AVENUES: A mayoral petition as prologue to history.

July 2: ON THE AVENUES: "Water on the brains: Much less for far more will keep us swimming in it."

Sunday reading: Real Indiana and wedges splintering.

A confession: When I land at a newspaper website demanding the answers to stupid questions before being permitted to read the content, I ALWAYS GIVE THE WRONG ANSWERS.

Piss off, Gannett.

Friday's SCOTUS decision on marriage is wonderful, and in Indiana, we still have much work to do.

Locally, this probably means utilizing whatever means are available to extract a clue from the barren consciousness of Ron Grooms, who has learned absolutely nothing from the lessons outlined in these two articles.

It might take until 2018 to pay back Mr. Grooms, by voting against his continued presence in Indianapolis. Let's not forget to do so.

First, Matthew Tully: "Pockets of intolerance and the pettiness of a few influential culture warriors don't define Indiana." I hope he's right.

Dear America, this is the real Indiana, by Matthew Tully (Indy Star)

First, the polls show that the politician most closely tied to the religious freedom debacle, Gov. Mike Pence, continues to pay a severe price for his advocacy of the bill and his handling of the debate. What this shows is that it wasn't only outsiders who were upset with what Pence and his Republican Statehouse allies did. Among the angry were Hoosiers.

Many Hoosiers.

Second, the poll found that Indiana residents strongly support concrete, legally binding actions aimed at inclusiveness. Actions such as the expansion of state civil rights laws to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Next, John Krull observes that political wedges are multi-directional.

Note that in response to these latest reversals, the rapidly shrinking Pence is defiant; if the governor cannot defeat the gays, then he'll raise a middle finger to greenhouse gas emission rules.

When wedges no longer work, by John Krull (NUVO)

... But here in quiet, staid Indiana two events have given the political landscape an earthquake-level shake.

The first involved the mayor of Indiana’s fourth-largest city, Democrat Pete Buttigieg of South Bend. Buttigieg is a former Rhodes Scholar and a Navy reservist who was deployed to Afghanistan for seven months last year ...

... Then, hours later, a poll conducted by a respected GOP pollster – and paid for by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels’ first campaign manager, Republican Bill Oesterle – showed that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (also a Republican) is in real political trouble.

Ayatollah Coffey ruckus redux: Did Mayor Gahan and Chairman Dickey read this article?

Let's focus on just this one passage in Hayden's timely piece.

It was the premise that inclusiveness makes business sense for communities that want to attract good jobs and retain young talent. The conversation focused on how local leaders can talk about using such ordinances to recruit employers who care about more than just tax incentives.

With his grandstanding and invocation-mongering, Dan Coffey (a Democrat) is openly and overtly attacking this premise.

Mayor Jeff Gahan remains silent.

The Democratic Party, rather than aggressively defend and espouse inclusiveness, has chosen instead to applaud the establishment of an organization called Southern Indiana Equality, presumably to do its work by proxy.

NAC and the Baylor for Mayor campaign support Southern Indiana Equality, and are happy to do what we can to help.

At the same time: Where is Jeff? Where is Adam? As Coffey embarrasses a city, shouldn't we expect more from the Democratic Party than silence?

HAYDEN: Mayors venture where lawmakers won’t go, by Maureen Hayden (CHNI)

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana mayors, both Republican and Democrat, are willing to talk about sex and gender.

As much was clear at a gathering of city and town leaders this past week in Kokomo that was hosted by the non-partisan Indiana Association of Cities and Towns.

Discussions covered a range of issues from tax-increment financing to rules about carrying concealed weapons at public meetings.

Those at the closed-door meeting also wrestled with the question of whether they should add sexual orientation and gender identity to local human rights ordinances, according IACT director Matt Greller and others gathered there.

It wasn’t court orders or political pressure that prompted the discussion. It was the premise that inclusiveness makes business sense for communities that want to attract good jobs and retain young talent.

The conversation focused on how local leaders can talk about using such ordinances to recruit employers who care about more than just tax incentives.

“If you don’t have this, you may be seen as being one step behind your neighbor,” said Greller. “It’s become another driver for moving this conversation along.”

But the conversation is not happening in the Statehouse, despite the fact that civil rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was the show-stopping issue of this past legislative session.

Nash: "I do not agree that it is important that a public meeting must start with a prayer."

Reading Nash's column reminds one of the fundamental ongoing problem: A council with no leadership.

Sitting supinely while Dan Coffey merrily hijacks meeting agendas may qualify as borderline presidential (the Wizard of Westside's contract with Mayor Gahan probably stipulates it), but it makes for the reinforcement of New Albany as regional laughingstock.

Hope you can make it next time, Matt. Sanity in the council chamber currently enjoys the same status as water in California. Witness this passage from the newspaper's coverage:

Coffey acknowledged some separation should exist, but added many people in New Albany are of Christian faith. “This is a Christian nation, with Christian values, and if people don’t like that, at least come out in the open to try and change it,” he said.

Groan.

NASH: The council and prayer, by Matt Nash (News and Tribune)

 ... The reason I had wanted to go to the meeting was that the council was to vote on a resolution denouncing Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and calling for its repeal. I wanted to be there to show my support and to hear what our council feels about the legislation. I would have never predicted that the final outcome would be 8-0-1 in favor, especially after some of the debate.

The debate is usually where it gets entertaining and where it easily takes off on multiple tangents. This week’s meeting was no exception. Somewhere along the way while they were discussing a state law that many people believed to be a license to discriminate in the name of religion, the subject of praying before meetings was brought up. As things tend to go it must have escalated from there.

What they're saying: Transparency, with McCourt, Vaughn and Keeler -- and White on solutions to poverty.

As the weeks go past in route to May's primary election, we're providing periodic candidate statements of substance, mostly unretouched, as lifted from social media and news reports. Familiar gems such as "yard signs win elections, not people" and "donate to my campaign first, and maybe I'll have something of merit to say much, much later" will be omitted. That's because it is my aim to determine whether our declared candidates have anything to say at all, and I'll quote all candidates, from any and all parties, whether or not they're in a contested race. Just promising change and new ideas without divulging them won't cut the mustard, aspirants.

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I'd like to begin this edition of "What they're saying" by saying thanks to Kevin Zurschmiede, who was among the first to "like" my own mayoral page at Facebook.

Also at Facebook, Democratic mayoral candidate David White has a question.

"What greater form of poverty can a community have than this? Read this letter to find out the TRUTH! We need your help to bring change to our city!"

Unfortunately, the letter White cites comes to us in the form of a photograph, not a readily usable text format (it does not appear to be featured at White's site, either), and so you'll have to go to the source to read it.

Turning to the council races, Al Knable (at-large council) offers a chance to meet the GOP candidates  -- with locally crafted Honey Creme doughnuts as a bonus,

The Republican candidates for this year's New Albany municipal races will be hosting a "Meet and Greet" Saturday, April 11, from 8:00 to 11:00 AM. 2241 Green Valley Rd. Free coffee and donuts. Free speech. Meet the candidates for one on one discussion. All are welcome. Please help spread the word.

In the 6th district, two of the three Republican council candidates consider an increasingly common topic in the primary, this being the absence of transparency.

First, Noah McCourt.

One thing I often observe around town is a general frustration with the current administration's lack of transparency and limited communication with the public. I've kept up with a lot of the concerns from the New Albany PD to the Little League to the recent debacle with the historical society. Many city officials are not as responsive to the needs of residents as they should be. The city council meeting was maybe an hour and a half about a fourth of it was public concerns and the rest of it was them bickering and personally insulting each other. The current methods of governing are inefficient and often don't serve to combat any of the real concerns. I take a lot of grief from my own party because I am a very blunt individual and I am not always as politically correct as most elected officials are viewed to be. New Albany isn't a circus. It doesn't need more clowns to joke about and it doesn't require more to people dance around the issues. New Albany needs direct and honest leadership. I will not sugar coat and sanction the inefficiency of the municipal government. If elected I promise regained focus, a clear vision and a government that is efficient and accountable to its residents. Vote McCourt for Accountability.

Next, Nick Vaughn.

The confusion with our city's logo is the manifestation of a much greater problem facing our city today. That problem is transparency and communication. Too often it seems that the mayor's office will go behind the backs of the city council. Whether the seal has been changed or not isn't the point. There are boundaries and checks and balances that must occur for our city to run smoothly. Those checks and balances have been dismantled. If elected I will honor all boundaries and make sure the mayor's office stays within those boundaries as well as the council. I will be a strong advocate for transparency and also make it a point to keep an open door policy with my constituents. In order for our city to take that next step we all want it to, we must get serious about our city's actions and hold our elected officials accountable.

On the Democratic side, transparency also is of concern to at-large council aspirant Adam Keeler.

One thing I am hearing from all political candidates in New Albany is the request for increased transparency. I hope this will help show our current elected officials that this is an important issue. It will only help increase ease of access and awareness to current issues the city is facing.

Keeler also has closing thoughts on the anti-RFRA resolution passed at Monday's city council meeting.

I am proud of our City Council for voting yes to repeal the RFRA S.B. 101. However, I am saddened that Councilman Blair, a representative for our entire city, did not support the measure. Equal rights and equal opportunity are what sets the United States apart and allows every individual his or her chance at obtaining their American dream. It may be symbolic, but it shows good precedence.

If anyone or anything is being missed, let us know.

The clothespin on Ron Grooms' nose is not removing RFRA's stench.

Governor Mike Pence "looked awful doing (RFRA)," but as the editorial board of Lafayette's newspaper reminds us, "But for all the justifiable grief piled on Pence in those two weeks, legislators deserve at least as much."

Yesterday our own Ron Grooms, who remained conspicuously silent as the GOP's RFRA-laden ka-ka first started hitting the fan -- and who has been doubling down on the disingenuousness ever since -- remained in a state of abject denial.

According to Grooms, who elevates abject cluelessness to a sort of epochal art form, "Hoosier Hospitality" remains alive and well in spite of his party's determination to smother it by means of New Age Nuremberg Laws.

Hoosier hospitality was on display for the whole country to see this weekend as Indianapolis hosted another successful Final Four. After the fierce debate over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, it was good to see our state’s true character get some national media exposure.

Those on both sides of the RFRA debate were wrongly led to believe that it was going to change the state’s discrimination laws. While the criticism of the law was unwarranted, the economic harm that would’ve come to Indiana without a clarification of the RFRA was real. Hoosier employers were on the verge of losing clients and customers; our cities were poised to lose convention business; and the state’s AAA credit rating was in jeopardy, which would have cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

Now that the General Assembly has acted to clarify the law, I hope people will begin to see that the RFRA is a victory for Hoosiers of all faiths. It doesn’t harm anyone. With passage of the RFRA, Indiana now joins some 30 other states in providing the highest level of legal protection for religious liberty.

The RFRA in its final form is a law that reflects Hoosier values. It recognizes our Constitutional right to free exercise of religion and follows the history of other states’ RFRA’s by specifying that the law doesn’t change discrimination laws one way or another.

Don't you see? That fecal matter Republicans smeared in our faces was perfume-scented lace, and the fact that we couldn't tell the difference was those bad outsiders misleading us -- I mean, it was their fault, and the experience was a positive, and now we all feel SOOO much better trooping off to the showers, don't we?

online.com/story/opinion/editorials/2015/04/03/editorial-rfras-supermajority-debacle/25242381/">After RFRA’s supermajority debacle (Lafayette Journal & Courier)

It’s hard to imagine Gov. Mike Pence handling the past two weeks any worse than he did.

He discounted the readily available signs that Senate Bill 101 — Indiana’s version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — came factory-installed with hints and allegations of discrimination against gay and lesbian Hoosiers. When those hints and allegations started turning into nixed development deals and nationwide boycotts — real deals about money, jobs and convention traffic — Pence blamed the media for smearing a law they misunderstood. He continued to listen to inside cronies with easily traceable ties to anti-gay agendas before giving in to adjustments on the law to save face — not to mention the state’s dwindling reputation.

And he looked awful doing it, wire to wire, from a hide-it-under-a-bushel, private signing of SB 101 on March 25 to Friday’s less ceremonious, but still closed-door signing of supplemental legislation intended to clarify that the law was not aimed at allowing businesses to refuse service of gays and lesbians.
Sneaking out a back door of the Statehouse and quietly leaving for Europe moments after House and Senate leaders brought him a fix to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — even as schools started arriving for the NCAA Tournament Final Four and a mega-weekend in downtown Indianapolis — didn’t help the perception problem much.

Then again, given the heat laid on by the NCAA, threatening it was open to pulling its headquarters from Indianapolis if the Statehouse couldn’t figure how to erase the perception of discrimination hanging off the new law, maybe it was best that Pence disappeared for the sake of clearing the slate before the nation converged for one of Indianapolis’ biggest weekends.

All in all, a terrible week for the governor. And an insufferable week for Indiana.

But for all the justifiable grief piled on Pence in those two weeks, legislators deserve at least as much.

RFRA and localism: Can New Albany's human rights laws trump the state's?

At this evening's meeting, councilman John Gonder has a human rights resolution on tap: RFRA resolution: Gonder rushes in where Gahan fears to tread.

During a conversation at Facebook, Gonder was asked, "Will (the) legislative 'clarification" remove NA's existing human rights ordinance from presumed limbo?"

Gonder answered.

I think the uproar over the state law underscores how important local efforts such as the Human Rights Commission can be. How the "fix" will affect the HRC and such boards elsewhere in the state is one reason why the intent of the resolution is still valid. Locally we need to take the measure of our collective backbone and commit to backing up the good intentions of the HRC and the Ethics Commission with substantive support up and down the line.

Seemingly, we must all now become lawyers. Thanks, Grooms. Now, about the "fix" ...

What The ‘Fix’ To Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom’ Bill Does And Does Not Do, by Ian Millhiser (Think Progress)

Indiana lawmakers released a widely awaited “fix” on Thursday to a new Indiana law that, as it exists right now, can be invoked by anti-gay businesses who wish to discriminate against LGBT individuals in violation of local ordinances. The fix does nothing to expand LGBT rights beyond where they stood on the day before Gov. Mike Pence (R-IN) signed the new Indiana law. Nevertheless, it appears to be expansive enough to neutralize attempts to wield the Indiana law as a sword to cut down LGBT rights protections at the local level.

To understand how the “fix” is likely to work, it’s important to first understand the current state of Indiana’s LGBT rights law, as well as how the bill Pence signed into law functions. At the state level, Indiana does not protect LGBT people from discrimination by private businesses. Several Indiana cities and counties, however, including the city of Indianapolis, have enacted local ordinances protecting against many forms of anti-LGBT discrimination.

... Although the fix does nothing to expand LGBT rights, anti-gay groups started complaining about it days before its language even became public ...

So, what about our local safeguards? New Albany merits a brief mention here.

Do local laws really protect rights of LGBT Hoosiers? by Stephanie Wang (Indy Star)

In the absence of a state law banning discrimination against gays and lesbians — and in the explosive wake of Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act controversy — more cities are considering their own protections of LGBT rights at the local level.

But even though Marion County and 10 other Hoosier communities already have local nondiscrimination ordinances that include sexual orientation, experts say such protections can be so weak that they are virtually unenforceable.

The Bookseller provides greater context for tonight's meeting with these thoughts, as gleaned from the Fb discussion thread mentioned at the top. First, a call and response with Gonder.

Randy Smith: Just declare that our Human Rights Resolution remains in effect and trumps state law. What are they going to do, sue you?

John Gonder: Just this morning, I read that North Dakota was going to pursue industrial hemp without regard to federal law. How different is that than a City standing for principle over process?

Randy elaborates.

A city is an artificial creation of the state with limited home rule (sovereignty) and a state has at least some independent status under the Constitution. However, the legislature, having not addressed municipal ordinances and resolutions (which they could have done), leaves it open to "arguance." The substantial burden defense is a defense, but it need not prevail when a city has established nondiscrimination rules within its boundaries ... that is, it's not a complete defense, especially when a city has legislated community standards that prohibit discrimination. They could have added specific preemption language. They did not. Therefore, I would argue that New Albany's nondiscrimination resolution remains in effect.

As I understand it, we cannot create a municipal broadband utility because AT&T and the other wire carriers (and ALEC) lobbied for a law preventing it. (That should be repealed, btw.) But Scottsburg was not required to divest itself of its own municipal broadband utility, even as laggard cities like New Albany are prevented from doing so. Without specific preemption language, a case in New Albany would have a judge weighing a nebulous defense against a clear nondiscrimination rule. Discriminators can move their businesses to a city that welcomes it.

I'm OK with the proposed resolution to Gov. Pence. Messaging is important. I just think we cities who have human rights ordinances should band together and say "That's not us. That law (RFRA) has no effect here."

Personally speaking, I'm for having the clearest and toughest anti-discrimination rules in the state, and enforcing them accordingly.

Let New Albany's favorite son of an attorney general come after us, if he likes.

What they're saying: Noah McCourt clarifies his RFRA viewpoint, supports police and public safety.

As the weeks go past in route to May's primary election, I'm providing periodic candidate statements of substance, mostly unretouched, as lifted from social media and news reports. Familiar gems such as "yard signs win elections, not people" and "donate to my campaign first, and maybe I'll have something of merit to say much, much later" will be omitted. That's because it is my aim to determine whether our declared candidates have anything to say at all, and I'll quote all candidates, from any and all parties, whether or not they're in a contested race. Just promising change and new ideas without divulging them won't cut the mustard, aspirants.


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On March 31, candidate viewpoints on Indiana's controversial (and since "amended") Religious Freedom Restoration Act were presented in this space. I made a judgment call with respect to 6th district (Republican) city council hopeful Noah McCourt's position.

What they're saying: On RFRA, 8 council and 1 mayoral candidate with viewpoints.

While the 6th district Republican candidate Noah McCourt does not directly address RFRA, his support of Ron Grooms in the context of "principles and values" and the posting date strongly suggests his support for the bill. If this is not the case, please let me know and I'll make a correction.

McCourt messaged me yesterday with a clarification.

I wanted to clarify my stance on the RFRA. When I made the comment on Grooms it wasn't an endorsement of the legislation. It was more so just thanking him for meeting with me. I met with him the day after the bill was signed and as I stated on my page last night as many young conservatives do I stray from the official platform stance. I have a much more libertarian viewpoint on gay rights. I think consenting adults should be free to make their own decisions. I support legalization of gay marriage. There's a lot better discussions to be having nationally and locally.

McCourt quoted Rep. Ed Clere (R-72), one of only five Republicans to buck RFRA in the House.

"Do we want our sign to say ‘Welcome?’ Or do we want our sign to say ‘Closed for Business?’ Or ‘Certain people aren’t welcome?’ Or, as some have suggested, ‘We don’t accept fill-in-the-blank?’"

Later, he posted at his Fb campaign page.

Today I noticed that Governor Mike Pence signed a bill clarifying the Religious Freedom Restoration act. There's been a lot of controversy as of late regarding the intentions of this legislation and it's effect on the LGBT community. Mayoral candidate Roger Baylor inferred from my commentary on my meeting with senator Ron Grooms that I support the RFRA in its entirety.That is not necessarily the case. I merely objected to the entirely inappropriate smear campaign from the left on him and his Facebook page which ultimately accomplished nothing. There are more appropriate ways to handle controversy. I was asked for clarification of my viewpoints on gay marriage and the honest answer is I could never truly find a justification constitutionally for an all out ban. Like a lot of other younger conservatives I stray from the official platform and I tend to look at this issue from a more libertarian viewpoint being "Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships". I personally believe there are a lot more important discussions to be having both nationally and locally.

Last night, McCourt had cause to consider police and public safety needs (also at Fb).

I had a bit of a public disturbance at work tonight in which we had to call the New Albany police department. The call was responded to by officer hall,who is also the president of the local police union. He couldn't say a whole lot while in uniform but we did talk a little generally about the community and it's concerns. I have made several prior comments concerning municipal government and it's role in public safety. In the future I would like to see an Administration that is more supportive of the officers working diligently to respond to emergency situations. I'd like to see a city that is more responsive to the needs of the police department. Please remember to vote Noah McCourt for a better equipped police department and a safer New Albany.

Thanks to Noah McCourt for following up.

RFRA resolution: Gonder rushes in where Gahan fears to tread.

Borrowed from someone.

Who'll show up for this vote? NAC previewed the resolution on Friday.

John Gonder's RFRA repeal resolution, coming to council Monday.

 ... Meanwhile, back here in the Magic Kingdom of Nawbony, where municipal Democrats deploy governing principles modeled so closely on the ones they routinely decry at the state Republican level that only a jaundiced eye can tell them apart, councilman John Gonder is sponsoring a resolution supporting RFRA's repeal and replacement, to be considered at Monday's city council meeting.

The newspaper explains that as usual, Gonder is willing to undertake what most of the other local DemoDisneyDixiecrats are unable to muster. He is to be commended for that.

New Albany council to weigh-in on RFRA, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — The handling of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act by the Statehouse and Gov. Mike Pence gave Indiana a “black eye,” and it’s important for people who oppose the law to speak up, New Albany City Councilman John Gonder said of his resolution calling for the legislation to be repealed.

The nonbinding measure will be considered by the council Monday evening, April 6. The council has taken similar action to show support or disagreement with other matters that weren’t within its control, and Gonder said the RFRA is a case where it’s important to take a stand.

Incumbent hologram and down-low bunker occupant Jeff Gahan is given a shout-out for his murmured, truncated and tepid five-days-late "nay."

As for the RFRA, New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan weighed-in on the legislation last week, as he called for the law to be changed.

“Elected officials have a duty to create an environment that welcomes everyone and discriminates against no one,” Gahan said.

So long as they contribute to the re-election coffers? Finally, there's a housekeeping item.

As required by state law, the council also will vote on a resolution in support of keeping the New Albany Urban Enterprise Zone Association.

The UEZ provides loans and grants to businesses within its boundaries, and is primarily funded through bank loans made to establishments inside the UEZ.

It's a timely reminder that the Urban Enterprise Association, which administers the Urban Enterprise Zone, lost its independence after being forcibly annexed by City Hall in 2012.

Let's not forget that.

Mike Ladd speaks: "Small minds seek small solutions and fight for even smaller purposes.

The settlement of Mike Ladd's lawsuit does little to dissipate the ugliness of his treatment.

What they're saying: A correction. Shirley Baird is in opposition to RFRA.

Thanks to the Bookseller for offering this correction. At-large council incumbent Shirley Baird (Democrat) expressed opposition to RFRA at her personal Fb page on March 31:

"I have commented on other people's posts about the Religion Freedom Reform Act but not on my own page. I want to go on record that I am vehemently opposed to this law. Gov. Pence has set Indiana back by 100 years and will cost this state countless of millions in lost revenue. Why? To prove a point? To cozy up to the GOP?

"He needs to be removed from office and never be allowed to run again.

"And YES I have read the SB/HB 101."

What they're saying: David White on Speck and the RFRA.

As the weeks go past in route to May's primary election, I'm providing periodic candidate statements of substance, mostly unretouched, as lifted from social media and news reports. Familiar gems such as "yard signs win elections, not people" and "donate to my campaign first, and maybe I'll have something of merit to say much, much later" will be omitted. That's because it is my aim to determine whether our declared candidates have anything to say at all, and I'll quote all candidates, from any and all parties, whether or not they're in a contested race. Just promising change and new ideas without divulging them won't cut the mustard, aspirants.

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The backlash against Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which as of yesterday had been amended, was a social media phenomenon. Conversely, New Albany's three mainstream mayoral candidate have been slow to make timely use of the medium. Given the traditionally "old school" nature of primary elections, this isn't surprising.

Candidate viewpoints about RFRA recently were collected in this space. As of today, Republican mayoral candidate Kevin Zurschmiede has had nothing to say for attribution about RFRA, although seeing as the GOP's Lincoln Day fete took place last night with Ron Grooms in attendance, flies on the wall at the Calumet Club may have absorbed more than a few interesting comments.

The Democratic incumbent, Mayor Jeff Gahan, eventually issued a short social media comment about RFRA. At-large councilman John Gonder, who is running for re-election, will introduce an RFRA repeal resolution at Monday's council meeting.

This brings us to David White, Democratic candidate for mayor, and a question I asked him at his facebook page: David White for Mayor of New Albany.

March 28: For the record, as a prospective candidate for mayor of this city, running as an independent, I oppose RFRA (SB/HB 101). I'd be interested to know what you think about it.

He's been out of town on business, and replied last night.

Unnecessary can of worms opened by our Governor. I am not an attorney, but I believe the Clinton 1993 law functionally covers it all.

I asked a second question on April 1: "Speck plan? Yea or nay? We're getting close."

As I shared with you on your front porch that rainy, yet enjoyable morning, Gahan's commissioned Speck plan has become very problematic considering the lack of transparency and credibility as observed in the three public meetings. I'm sure there will be a more appropriate time when this discussion can be held in an environment and culture that is conducive for success.

On the morning in question a few weeks ago, candidate White accepted an invitation to monitor traffic on Spring Street from the vantage point of my house. His response to my repeated efforts to solicit a firm statement from White about Jeff Speck's downtown street network plan, both in terms of design and social impacts, was entirely consistent with his statement above. The closest he came that morning to indicating approval of Speck's proposals was to say, "I'm not against them."

For those gauging their votes on the basis of a candidate's public support for Speck's work, and taking into consideration my interpretation of our porch conversation, White must be counted as "no" as it pertains to two-way streets, traffic calming and the like. It is yet to be seen whether he will overtly align himself with explicit Speck critics, such as Padgett Inc. and the trucking lobby.

Of course, clarification always is welcomed, but I stand by this interpretation.

For the record: Neither Gahan nor Zurschmiede have made comments about Speck for attribution, and as you know, I support full implementation at the earliest opportunity.

John Gonder's RFRA repeal resolution, coming to council Monday.

Yesterday afternoon, Indiana's GOP -- having excluded the legislature's Democrats from its inbred process, as though to acknowledge that the RFRA was a provocative party-derived cabal all along, which naturally it was -- sorta kinda halfway "fixed" their own mistake.

"Here's the busted vase I dropped on the floor. Dude, you can do anything with duct tape. Can I eat supper now?"

Exactly how any of this is supposed to inspire confidence in the hermetically sealed "super majority" isn't clear. In fact, Indiana remains a banana republic helmed primarily by theocratic fascists financed by the One Per Cent, for whom the past week was little more than entertainment between fracking investments.

Meanwhile, back here in the Magic Kingdom of Nawbony, where municipal Democrats deploy governing principles modeled so closely on the ones they routinely decry at the state Republican level that only a jaundiced eye can tell them apart, councilman John Gonder is sponsoring a resolution supporting RFRA's repeal and replacement, to be considered at Monday's city council meeting.

Good for him, although bear in mind that of the council persons seated Monday night, only Gonder and Greg Phipps have spoken publicly about RFRA, whether for or against (they're both against).

Around a half dozen primary candidates have offered a viewpoint, but of the four mayoral candidates, we as yet await a stance from David White (Democrat ... yeah, I know) and Kevin Zurschmiede (Republican). I strongly opposed it from the outset, and incumbent mayor Jeff Gahan (D) finally murmured a truncated, tepid "nay" after five whole days of earnest down-low bunker contemplation.

Of course, Zurschmiede functions as a councilman until he isn't one any longer, and so this resolution must be viewed, at least in part, as an effort to flush him out. The only problem with such a tactic is that it might expose three or more other Democrats who've never gotten the memo about the "democratic" component of their imagined party affiliation.

By the way, Mr. Disney: Does "inclusive" in the document below mean within the Redevelopment Commission only, or does it mean the Board of Works, too?

FUCKIFINO.

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RESOLUTION SUPPORTING REPEAL AND REPLACEMENT OF INDIANA SENATE BILL 568, THE RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT

WHEREAS: The state of Indiana has recently become embroiled in a controversy surrounding passage of Senate bill 568, known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and

WHEREAS: The so-called Religious Freedom Restoration Act seems to allow unfairness to Indiana citizens of certain sexual orientation and gender identification, and

WHEREAS: It is right and beneficial for the laws of state of Indiana, to express on moral, legal, and economic grounds, in unequivocal terms, the inclusion of all its citizens and the exclusion of none of its citizens from the fair application of the state’s laws and protections, and

WHEREAS: Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act is fatally flawed in the delivery of inclusive fairness,

NOW THEREFORE: With this resolution, the Common Council of the City of New Albany, Indiana expresses that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should be repealed and replaced, and

FURTHER: That any replacement of this law should be carefully drafted to ensure that it protect all of Indiana’s citizens equally, without regard to sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, ethnicity, sex, economic status, or any other characteristic which might divide our citizens rather than uniting them.

FURTHER: Upon assent by this Council, the resolution so assented to, shall be communicated to the Governor of Indiana with hopes of moving our state forward to a brighter, more inclusive future.

ON THE AVENUES: On brewing economic development.

ON THE AVENUES: On brewing economic development.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Yesterday the board of directors of the Brewers of Indiana Guild met in regular session, and new business items included a discussion of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its economic (and cultural) consequences for Indiana brewers.

In fact, as we were meeting, the Indiana legislature’s intricate timetable of committee meetings was being thrown into upheaval by the governor’s directive to amend SB/HB 101.

To paraphrase the guild’s simple and eloquent public stance, which will be released soon, “Indiana brewers make lots of different beers for lots of different people.”

Verily, this says it all, and it got me thinking about the many ways that America’s evolving better beer revolution is all about “new” and “future” economic thinking, as opposed to old.

Unfortunately, the old ways hold sway in a place like New Albany. If they did not, there’d be two-way traffic on my street. The shift toward “next” is long overdue.

It needs to start right now.

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Occasionally I’m accused of having an insufficient social conscience, in the sense of preaching about better beer when more important issues beg to be addressed.

Simultaneously, the world of better (formerly “craft”) beer wants to know why I insist on addressing social and political topics to the exclusion, mostly imagined, of those seeking fermentable knowledge alone.

But to me, vacuums don’t exist, and human knowledge rewards connectivity. About the only certainty to be gleaned from all this is that folks pay at least some degree of attention to my canon, which after all, is a writer’s prime and selfish motivation.

As it pertains to my habitat and workplace in downtown New Albany, naysayers have been known to question the growth of dining and drinking establishments over the past decade: How can gluttony and drunkenness alone revitalize a moribund area?

My answer: Unless we discover vast oil reserves beneath our decaying pavements, or find a way to mimic the manufacturing practices of Asian sweat shops and transplant them into our many remaining deteriorated historic structures, then yes, beefsteak and porter are fairly good starter options for regeneration, at least when they’re correctly prepared – the meat served rare, and the beer in a large, clean glass.

I can hear it now: “Roger, you’re just a self-centered drunkest,” and of course this a prime example of purely diversionary, yawn-inducing hokum, predictably emanating from the usual reactive alliance of disaffected troglodytes, fundamentalist nut jobs and elderly white political party members. Rather, I’d venture to say that in its purest form, better beer eloquently personifies a clear and pro-active vision of localist-style economic development.

After all, the better beer business generally reflects an ethos of localism summarized by a 1960’s-era social activist mantra, one refashioned to suit our specific brewing circumstances: “Think globally, drink locally.”

Obviously, I’ve always enjoyed using beer as a metaphor for other aspects of our shared experience, and whenever a clear connection is lacking, it’s advisable to drink beer while discussing the possibilities. The pub is every man’s university, beer is life, and vice-versa … but you already knew that.

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As an adult beverage brewed locally, a new iteration of American brewing is not to be confused with mass-produced, conceptually derivative carbonated urine from multinational industrial manufacturing corporations like AB-InBev, which has taken to foisting the word “craft” on undiscerning drinkers by means of misleading marketing tactics increasingly likely to make Herr Goebbels do a dervish goosestep in the depths of Hell.

Genuine American-made “craft” beer is best consumed locally, where we live and love and work and play, with folks who share the vision and dream the dream. I certainly do my share of sampling, even if far less than when younger, and to my delight and edification, the ongoing revival of downtown New Albany allows me to drink local beer quite locally – when merited, even copiously – and to walk home afterward in a physically beneficial and socially responsible manner.

In fact, our decision to buy the Midtown house we currently occupy, and my company’s 2009 downtown brewery expansion, both were calibrated with walking (and bicycling) in mind. It isn’t “luck” that enables my strolling and biking. It’s planning, as logically rewarding solid, traditional, locally-based principles of life and living within an urban area originally built for precisely those purposes. At one time these notions were the accepted norm. Now they’re being rediscovered by residents and business communities around the country.

Local brewing and drinking fit wonderfully within this paradigm of greater localism, as expressed here by New Albany First:

New Albany First works to create a community culture that values local independents by raising public awareness of the benefits of local buying. We promote independent businesses to help them better compete with national and transnational chains and preserve our community’s character. Through our education and outreach programs, we increase awareness and support for local independent businesses.

Locally brewed beer fully embraces these precepts. Louisville’s own excellent and long-standing locally-minded group, the Louisville Independent Business Alliance (LIBA), hosts an annual beer festival at Slugger Field, offering a stellar example of the linkages. Most Louisville breweries are members of LIBA, and LIBA’s goal of keeping Louisville “weird” (unique and independent) is shared by NA1st, as applicable to beer businesses on the Indiana side of the river.

Why does any of this matter? The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (www.ilsr.org) offers these ten vital commandments in a civic context. They have been embraced by the better beer movement, but they’re applicable to us all.

1. Protect Local Character and Prosperity
Your city is unlike any other city in the world. By choosing to support locally owned businesses, you help maintain your city’s diversity and distinctive flavor.

2. Community Well-Being
Locally owned businesses build strong neighborhoods by sustaining communities, linking neighbors, and by contributing more to local causes.

3. Local Decision Making
Local ownership means that important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and who will feel the impacts of those decisions.

4. Keeping Dollars in the Local Economy
Your dollars spent in locally-owned businesses have three times the impact on your community as dollars spent at national chains. When shopping locally, you simultaneously create jobs, fund more city services through sales tax, invest in neighborhood improvement and promote community development.

5. Job and Wages
Locally owned businesses create more jobs locally and, in some sectors, provide better wages and benefits than chains do.

6. Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship fuels America’s economic innovation and prosperity, and serves as a key means for families to move out of low-wage jobs and into the middle class.

7. Public Benefits and Costs
Local stores in town centers require comparatively little infrastructure and make more efficient use of public services relative to big box stores and strip shopping malls.

8. Environmental Sustainability
Local stores help to sustain vibrant, compact, walkable town centers-which in turn are essential to reducing sprawl, automobile use, habitat loss, and air and water pollution.

9. Competition
A marketplace of tens of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long-term.

10. Product Diversity
A multitude of small businesses, each selecting products based, not on a national sales plan, but on their own interests and the needs of their local customers, guarantees a much broader range of product choices.

Come to think of it, these Ten Commandments form precisely the sort of economic development action plan that our municipal government might encourage with more than words alone. Unfortunately, the old ways hold sway in a place like New Albany. If they did not, there’d be two-way traffic on my street, and yet, in point of fact, the “craft” beer economic development ethos has far more to do with the future of New Albany’s economy than dump trucks, slag heaps and political kickbacks.

In New Albany, the shift toward “next” is long overdue

It needs to start now.

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Recent ON THE AVENUES columns:

ON THE AVENUES: If we're waiving sewer tap-ins, nothing less than gold faucets will do.

ON THE AVENUES FLASHBACK: Regaining consciousness in a city “coming” to?

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: Full Frontal Goebbels erupts as Padgett looks at New Albany as a hole.

ON THE AVENUES: Die Hard the Hunter, or the political impossibility of rental property registration on New Albany.

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: Adam's rib tips.

News and Tribune's principled editorial view of RFRA: "Stop the madness and repeal it."

News and Tribune columnist Amanda Beam also offered her consideration of RFRA, which was followed by an editorial authored by the Jeffersonville office's Shea Van Hoy after consultations with the editorial board.

For that, we can be grateful. If Chris Morris had written it ... well, the mind simply reels.

OUR OPINION: Stop the madness and repeal it

... The RFRA law makes equal treatment an uncertainty, and we urge legislators to repeal it.

This week's beer column: "Our bedfellows are becoming stranger with each passing legislative session."

To be perfectly honest, given the juncture of RFRA and the NCAA Final Four, the prospect of an April Fool's Day spent in the state capital of Indianapolis sounds a bit too much like the plot of a bizarre, parallel-world sequel to Groundhog Day.

But there I'll be, leaving shortly, presumably to pop into a legislative session about HB 1311 (this year's "beer bill"), and then to attend a regular meeting of the Brewers of Indiana Guild's board, upon which I sit as a director.

Yay -- no passenger rail transport to Indy! It sounds almost like an issue of interest to legislators, if they can be bothered to refrain from damaging Indiana business.

In case you have not seen it, here's the link to my weekly beer column, as published on Monday. It's what I expect to be doing today.

The PC: Our bedfellows are becoming stranger with each passing legislative session.

You won’t need to look far amid my scribblings to locate frequent praise for the Indiana “craft” brewing scene. I’m proud of my state when it comes to better beer.

In five years since 2010, we’ve come close to tripling the number of Hoosier breweries, and while it seems a new establishment opens in Indianapolis every week, smaller communities from Aurora to Martinsville to Needmore are being represented, too. It’s overdue, and welcomed.

This Wednesday, I’ll make the drive up I-65 to Indianapolis for a regular board meeting of the Brewers of Indiana Guild (BIG). It isn’t an ordinary week in the state capital. For one, college basketball’s Final Four will be staged there beginning on Saturday, with all attendant sports-driven hoopla. That’s the good news.

The bad news is that just last week, my state made international headlines with a controversial new law, overwhelmingly approved by both legislative bodies and promptly signed by Governor Mike Pence. Because of SB/HB 101, known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), there are mounting calls to boycott Indiana.

Some, including Keith Olbermann, Charles Barkley and Dave Zirin, have gone so far as to urge the NCAA, which is headquartered in Indianapolis, to move the Final Four elsewhere in protest. This is unlikely, but the NCAA has indicated its displeasure, meaning Indiana might be denied future athletic spectacles. That’s bad for all our bottom lines, beer or not.

Amazingly, on RFRA, the farcical pharmacist Ron Grooms has voted against Indiana's best business and economic interests.

When old white guys live in cultural bubbles, this is what happens.

Hoosier business boosters battle boycott from 'religious freedom' bill ahead of Final Four, by Maureen Hayden (CHNI)

... (Chris) Gahl, along with a small army of Indianapolis boosters, is now scrambling to mitigate the public relations damage done by the controversy with this message: “No matter what a signed piece of paper says, it doesn’t kill Hoosier Hospitality.”