SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Which free-spending mayor borrowed "moving forward" first, Mike Moore or Jeff Gahan?

Both Mike Moore and Jeff Gahan have embraced variations of "moving forward" as campaign slogans as they seek lifetime employment.

I suppose the Aussies wouldn't think much of either candidate, as revealed in this article from 2010.

'Moving forward' slogan treats us like imbeciles, says speechwriter, by John Masanauskas (Herald Sun)

JULIA Gillard's constant use of the slogan "moving forward" was treating voters like imbeciles, says a former Labor speechwriter.

Author Don Watson said yesterday he was turned off by the PM's election launch speech on Saturday, in which she used the phrase 24 times.

"It is the cliche of our times. When she started trotting it out I walked away after five minutes. I couldn't stand it any more," he said.

Mr Watson, who has railed against management-speak in books such as Death Sentence, couldn't understand why today's politicians used such language. "I don't know why they think it's a winner. And if it is a winner, then I'm even more dumbstruck. It's hard to imagine what the alternative to 'moving forward' is. I don't know - moving backwards? I suppose that's what she's trying to establish.

"People think the only way you can make a political point or persuade people of an argument is to treat them like imbeciles. It's like training a dog."

Note that imbecilic is an adjective: "Imbecilic (comparative more imbecilic, superlative most imbecilic), like or as an imbecile; so senseless as to be laughable; absurd, foolish, stupid, idiotic."

Moore (R) and Gahan (also an R, but a D for the sake of today's argument) aren't the first two politicians from theoretically opposite parties to share a slogan. This, also from 2010:

Name That Campaign, by Richard Whittaker (Austin Chronicle)

Gov. Perry's new slogan sounds awfully familiar

Texas Democratic Party: Hey, maybe you can get a cut of Perry's t-shirt sales!

If there's one thing that Democrats and Gov. Rick Perry can agree on it's that Perry's new campaign slogan, Moving Texas Forward, is a great slogan: So great, in fact, that it's been the Texas Democratic Party's slogan for the last four years.

Then there's this, from 2012.

Punctuation Nerds Stopped by Obama Slogan, 'Forward.' By Carol E. Lee (Wall Street Journal)

From Both Sides of the Aisle, a Question: Is Ending It With a Period Weird?

The. Obama. Campaign. Slogan. Is. Causing. Grammarians. Whiplash.

"Forward." is the culprit. It was chosen to reflect the direction Mr. Obama promises to take the country if re-elected. It also is designed to implicitly convey the opposite: that likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney would set the nation in reverse.

Simple enough. Except the moment seven characters became eight, things got complicated. Period. Even for some in the president's orbit, the added punctuation slams the brakes on a word supposed to convey momentum.

"It's like 'forward, now stop,' " said Austan Goolsbee, the former chairman of the National Economic Council who still advises the Obama campaign. He added, "It could be worse. It could be 'Forward' comma," which would make it raise the question: "and now what?"

The president signed off on his own slogan, but evidently isn't sold. "Forward! Period. Full stop," he has joked to his campaign staff, according to an Obama adviser.

On that, if on nothing else, Mr. Obama has bipartisan support.

"It's sort of a buzz kill," said Rep. Pete King (R., N.Y.).

The period was a subject of a spirited debate as Mr. Obama's senior advisers and outside consultants spent hours in a conference room at their Chicago campaign headquarters deliberating over the perfect slogan, according to an adviser who was in attendance.

Does a period add emphasis? Yes! Does it undermine the sense of the word? Maybe!

David Axelrod, the president's longtime messaging guru, is a champion of the period. "There's some finality to it," Mr. Axelrod said. For those who think it stops "forward" in its tracks, he has a suggestion: "Tell them just to put two more dots on it, and it'll seem like it keeps on going."

The period debate hasn't been confined to the upper echelons of the Obama campaign. Politicians, grammarians and designers who brand people and products have noticed it, too.

"There's been some speculation that the period really gives the feeling of something ending rather than beginning," said Catherine Pages, an art director in Washington, D.C.

In 1992, George H.W. Bush's line, "Who do you trust?" generated chatter about the use of "who" versus "whom." Dwight Eisenhower's 1952 slogan "I like Ike" is clearly a sentence, but didn't include a period. George W. Bush's "Yes, America Can" slogan included a comma; Mr. Obama's "Yes We Can" chant four years later did not.

Meanwhile, the title of the super PAC supporting Mr. Romney, "Restore Our Future," seems to bend the rules of space and time, if not grammar.

Those who brandish red pens for a living are divided on whether Mr. Obama's campaign slogan passes muster.

"It would be quite a stretch to say it's grammatically correct," said Mignon Fogarty, author of "Grammar Girl's 101 Troublesome Words You'll Master in No Time." "You could say it's short for 'we're moving forward.' But really it's not a sentence."

The only single words that properly end with a period are verbs, Ms. Fogarty added, or interjections such as "wow."

The hilarious Deaf Gahan on Twitter has "drumpfed" them all.

In New Albany's case, the best way for the city to be moving forward is to be sending Gahan backward for a return to veneer sales.

Either the Mayor OR Jeff Gahan; the local chain newspaper itself isn't sure which.

Hmm. The mayor or Jeff Gahan. But who's the mayor, if not Jeff Gahan? Is there a shadow mayor, a body double -- Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, like a Rice Krispies Treats mayor and also one who refrains from intoxicants apart from Bud Light Mang-O-Rita?

Does Tom May know something we don't?

Inquiring minds ...

Jeff Gahan's slick newspaper ad claims the city profits from River Run waterpark. If so, why won't he show us the financials so we can see for ourselves?

There Gahan goes again, taking credit for restaurants and stores. Is he planning Grand Closing ribbon-cuttings ...

 ... for the ones that don't make it? If Gahan birthed them, shouldn't he bury them, too?

Or is this too much to ask of Wile E. Gahan, Genius?

I've no idea how many taxpayer dollars are required to purchase ads like this in the increasingly irrelevant News and Tribune, although as we've pointed out in the past, they're a fantastic investment for Gahan, who uses YOUR money to buy HIS de facto campaign ads, all the while making boasts he has no intention of proving.

They're also not unlike a form of protection money, in the sense that the newspaper typically treats follow-up questions as a strain of Ebola, refraining from the sort of invasive journalism that might result in an embarrassing question like this:

Mr. Gahan, can you PROVE the assertions in this ad? After all, we make sure Roger's claims in a letter to the editor are utterly factual before printing it -- and shouldn't the same rules apply to everyone, even the mayor?

HA HA HA. Can you even imagine it? Gahan would respond by threatening to pull the taxpayer-financed ads -- and that would be the end of it.

Here's the text of the ad. Note that during the River Run waterpark's four previous years of operation, financials have yet to be released in spite of numerous requests to view them. These would address profit-and-loss realities. Wouldn't YOU like to know how much money the fire department transfers monthly to the parks department as "rent" for its station on Daisy Lane, such to (maybe) balance the books?

THE CITY OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA

We replaced problems and potholes with pipes, paving, parks and pools.

Like any city, New Albany has had its share of issues. Unlike most cities, New Albany is focused on fixing them. That's why we pour resources into things you may not see. Like reducing the number of sewers that flood when it rains from 90 to zero. Fixing potholes. Updating and enhancing parks. And creating a popular public waterpark that provides family fun and a profit for the city. All this, plus new restaurants, stores and more that add up to a great quality of life. New Albany...it's where you should be!
cityofnewalbany.com

THE CITY OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan

But here's the funny part. On-line, the photo and text are followed by this:

Check availability with the advertiser as the information and offers in this ad may be time-sensitive.

And where might we conduct this check?

Nothing, not even Mike Hall.

Crickets chirp, pins drop. Somewhere a dog barks ... and Gahan tells lies.

Branding Gahan's "sweet spot," part one: Power-hungry mayor thinks he IS New Albany, but aren't we better than that?

Part two here.

You'd think that after almost eight full years, the luminaries at the pinnacle of the municipal food chain would be able to settle on a slogan, or at least some semblance of a consistent message for use in telling the world about New Albany.

The latest full-page (might as well be a) campaign advertisement in Extol reveals the bar of creativity at low ebb. It is pictured above.

"The new New Albany sets the bar for quality of life."

Oh dear. Quality like this?

Okay, so words typically fail them, but we have anchors galore (you'll recall they're dropped from ships when the captain desires to cease moooving forward) -- and Jeff Gahan's face, as ubiquitous as unenforced ordinances.

Regular blog readers know that certain questions fascinate us, like this: How many tax dollars are necessary to "find your personal Gsweet spot in the new New Albany?"

Let's hope the mayor plumped for the six-issue discounted rate of $8,850, a savings of almost $2,000 yearly. Verily, the more tax dollars Gahan spends promoting himself, the more he saves in the sense of fewer withdrawals from his own whopping campaign finance haul. 

Of course, we already know Gahan's most cherished of sweet spots: Money, power and control.

Gahan's own obsessions run primarily to slobbering in the presence of powerful special interests who write him campaign finance checks, and he has shown little ability to inspire genuine affection on the part of regular townspeople. Still, some of them devour the Rice Krispies Treats and chug the Kool-Aid ...

... By the standards of a small city with a quarter of its residents existing below the poverty line, Gahan has hoarded a vast stock of power. He wields it autocratically with almost no input from outside the ruling circle, and buttresses his power by means of a ludicrous personality cult reflecting a former veneer salesman's abrupt makeover from regular guy to flawless genius.

Here's the way a patronage machine operates. The guy who owns HWC Engineering cuts Gahan his annual pay-to-play check.

Gahan banks a portion of it, then donates to the campaign efforts of local Democrats.

This leaves $1,500 -- and a quarter-page ad in Extol costs only $600, assuming Gahan paid for it out of his own petty cash and not the city's.

Look, we all know that Jason Applegate is the co-owner of Extol. There's absolutely NOTHING necessarily illegal, immoral or unethical about Jason accepting advertising for his magazine and donations for his 2019 campaign from the very same mayor.

Rather, the preceding facts are intended to show the way that movers and shakers in a small city like New Albany routinely scratch each other's backs, and readers may draw conclusions as they will -- or not.

In my view, it's all about the way Gahan sees the city as his possession, and the strange habit of authoritarian "leaders" looking in their mirrors and seeing the Godhead instead of the bald head.

In part two, a closer look.

---

I'm voting for David White.

Democratic mayoral candidate David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing, and NA Confidential advocates just such a deep civic cleansing. 

After eight years on the job, Mayor Jeff Gahan's list of stunning "achievements" is long, indeed: tax increases, budgetary hide 'n' seek, self-deification, daily hypocrisy, public housing takeover, non-transparency, pay-to-play for no-bid contracts, bullying city residents and bullying city employees. Eight years is enough. It's time to drain Gahan's swamp, flush his ruling clique and take this city back from Gahan's Indy-based special interest donors. 

NA Confidential supports David White for Mayor in the Democratic Party primary, with voting now through May 7. 

My letter to the editor about Jeff Gahan's Money Machine: These are down-low times for local journalism and governance -- but I'm just a self-promotional blogger.

I throw back my head and emit raucous laughter.

Roger,

The News and Tribune received a letter to the editor from you regarding the New Albany mayor’s race.

In reviewing the letter, there are a couple of changes needed for it to be published. The parts of concern are highlighted and referenced below:

• The “point of fact” is inaccurate; it is opinion.
• The highlighted phrases and word indicate criminal wrongdoing and since no such criminal convictions exist, cannot run.
• We do not publish Blog promotions in taglines

We are happy to reconsider publication of your letter once those concerns have been addressed.

— Susan

Tellingly the local chain newspaper's editor has found it expedient in the past to take many similar liberties when lambasting Donald Trump, but I suppose that's somehow different.

Roger: Here is my second try. I changed some words and omitted a few others. I don't suppose the newspaper would be willing to divulge the dollar amount of ads purchased annually by taxpayers for Gahan's self-promotional "city of New Albany" ads? The city won't tell me. Perhaps the expenditure comes from a third party. Is that how it works?

Susan: Thank you addressing our concerns. This version is just fine and will run on Thursday’s Opinions page. I don’t have the information you are seeking, but it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to share client information anyway.

Sharing the amount of tax revenue being expended to advance Jeff Gahan's personality cult dozens of times yearly as part of the mayor-for-life's quest to brand a city with his own face?

Jeff Gahan has been branding the city in his own image, and using our money to do it, but we need collective thinking, not the shoddy veneer of a personality cult.

No can do, bucko. Revealing the money in this fashion apparently would violate the sanctity of journalism, which brings to mind the words of Abraham Lincoln to his hesitant general, George McClellan -- paraphrased to suit my own thoughts.

If the Jeffersonville News and Tribune does not want to use journalism, I would like to borrow it for a time, provided I could see how it could be made to do something.

Bill Hanson was cc-ed in the preceding discussion. He never uttered a peep. Perhaps he was busy in the home library listening to Tom May audio books.

Here's my letter. Don't forget to #FireGahan2019

---

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR — For Thursday, Feb. 14

Mayor Gahan has too many outside backers

During the past eight years, Mayor Jeff Gahan has presided over a campaign finance operation of unprecedented scale and dimension. Let’s call it the Jeff Gahan Money Machine.

Presumably collecting campaign finance donations from the usual suspects is Gahan’s only real skill as a politician. The game is simple: self-interested parties give Gahan lots of money, and receive benefits so blatantly obvious that a six-year-old could figure it out.

Could someone run off and fetch a six-year-old to narrate the video?

Let's make one thing perfectly clear. While it’s true that everyone involved is responsible for perpetuating the cynical patronage system Gahan has so laboriously constructed, the upshot is that one person and one person alone might have chosen from the beginning to erect a higher bar and deter the possibility of corruption stemming from the practice of “paying to play.”

That's Jeff Gahan himself, but apparently transparency is too much for citizens to expect from a C-minus student, and so Gahan opted for the behind-the-scenes money. Tens of thousands of dollars have migrated to Jeff Gahan from out-of-town companies, lawyers, lobbyists, unions and PACs. Now there is a pervasive odor requiring a long overdue electoral purge.

Fortunately there’s a better way. Democratic mayoral candidate David White has stated publicly that he will not accept donations from individuals and corporate entities seeking favors to do business with the city. As such, White rejects personal benefit from the disbursement of public funds.

Rather, White seeks to restore genuine merit to the process of vending, consultation and contract seeking. With White we'll have ethical standards from the get-go — not a cesspool on the down low.

I encourage you to visit White’s website, to engage with him and to vote White in the primary. White won't have Gahan's $175,000 campaign finance war chest, much of it coming from outsiders, but he has something even better: straight talk, transparency and an honest desire to put the people of New Albany first, not Gahan's cliques and special interests.

White’s web site: www.davidwhiteformayor.com

— Roger A. Baylor, New Albany

Develop New Albany should refrain from allowing its ribbon cuttings to be commandeered as Gahan-4-Life campaign appearances.

As our junior editor Bluegill correctly notes:

“Whenever a business or organization puts a politician front and center for photo ops they are promoting that politician. The choice to do so is a reflection of their values. Don’t want the association? Don’t do political photo ops.”

Me thinks Develop New Albany very much wants to promote the incumbent, who has remade DNA into an arm of the propaganda commissariat.

I'm reminded of the former New Albany Tribune's policy regarding guest columnists, paraphrased: Elected representatives might be a regular guest columnist by virtue of their office, but once they're running for election, they must take a hiatus.

Develop New Albany hasn't ever been very good with either consistency or ethics. Our purported Main Street organization always has declined to participate in civic questions of importance, citing its non-profit status and supposed inability to be involved with "politics."

But what exactly are these photo-ops? And what was DNA's advocacy of the farmers market buildout a few years back, if not political?

In this instance DNA should for once raise the bar: once declared, candidates for office cannot appear at ribbon cuttings, because such appearances constitute gratis campaign advertisements.

It's not like the former veneer salesman Jeff Gahan knows thing one about independent businesses, or has had anything whatever to do with independent businesses opening. Suddenly when it comes re-election time, he materializes from his Down Low Bunker to claim credit for openings, anniversaries and photosynthesis.

I'm not a non-profit, so altogether now: #FireGahan2019

Cult of personality: Jeff Gahan's face appears on doggie calendars and in newspaper inserts. It's blatant electioneering at the taxpayer's expense.

When the face of Dear Leader is larger than the content his image purports to endorse, then it's no longer about the content. It's about Dear Leader. If you were to ask Jeff Gahan how many mistakes he has made since becoming mayor, he'd pause only briefly before answering: none.

Think about this for just a moment. He's a human, and humans are fallible. Do we need a mayor whose primary interest is self-deification, or do we need a mayor whose policies make a difference for ordinary citizens, like me and you?

And all that money from the same special interests, constantly flowing into Gahan's campaign account. How much money is enough for the mayor and his clique?

Wikipedia on the cult of personality.

The Imperial cult of ancient Rome identified emperors and some members of their families with the divinely sanctioned authority (auctoritas) of the Roman State.[1] Throughout history, monarchs and other heads of state were often held in enormous reverence and imputed super-human qualities. Through the principle of the divine right of kings, in medieval Europe for example, rulers were said to hold office by the will of God. Ancient Egypt, Imperial Japan, the Inca, the Aztecs, Tibet, Siam (now Thailand), and the Roman Empire are especially noted for redefining monarchs as "god-kings".

The spread of democratic and secular ideas in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries made it increasingly difficult for monarchs to preserve this aura. However, the subsequent development of mass media, such as radio, enabled political leaders to project a positive image of themselves onto the masses as never before. It was from these circumstances in the 20th century that the most notorious personality cults arose. Often these cults are a form of political religion.

The term "cult of personality" probably appeared in English around 1800–1850, along with the French and German use.

Hanson issues tepid apology for botched political ad on the cover of Harvest Homecoming's guide, but Democrats might think twice before tittering.

This one's been a spellbinder, with most of the egg fragments splattered in the vicinity of News and Tribune publisher Bill Hanson's face.

I'll get back to that in a moment.

Over the years NA Confidential has had much to say about the peculiar local institution known as Harvest Homecoming, not all of it positive.

However, even critics must concede the usefulness of the Harvest Homecoming organization's stance on political neutrality, especially during election cycles. Given the festival's business model, neutrality makes perfect sense. It's better for inclusiveness, and inclusiveness is better for the bottom line.

So it transpired that local Democrats started tittering at having stolen a march on the dreaded GOP by sneaking a blatant "Vote Democrat" campaign ad onto the cover of the Harvest Homecoming guide, as published by the News and Tribune, which didn't think for even a millisecond to consult the festival's leadership before cashing the check -- thus doing something never previously done, and quite visibly breaking faith.

It's worth noting that it was Clark County's Democrats financing the ad for a Floyd County event, which tells us two things: First, though mistaken in this instance, at least Clark County Democrats have a pulse; second, that Floyd County Democrats must still be behind on their office phone bills, and they might even owe their landlord back rent.

Their landlord being Warren Nash, party guru and human rights commission doorstop, it must be hard looking at the stack of greenbacks in the mayor's campaign fund and knowing you'll be recycling aluminium soda cans to keep Duke Energy at bay.

Harvest Homecoming quickly issued a statement reasserting the organization's political neutrality, concisely and correctly throwing the newspaper under the bus.

For many years that space has been purchased by a local car sales company. This year, they opted to not purchase the ad. With the space up for grabs, The Tribune sold the ad to the Democratic party. This is was completely out of our control and I was not aware of the advertisement until it was published.

By the way, the subtle dig is stupendous: it's not the Tribune any longer, after all, but the News and Tribune, a compound name reminding us daily about the way New Albany is routinely shortchanged in coverage by a newspaper doing business in Jeffersonville.

Shamed into public comment, Hanson couldn't even manage to pen a personal apology. Instead, Chris Morris was enlisted to "interview" his own boss (below), which tells you everything you need to know about the shambles overtaking this persistently misdirected enterprise.

Meanwhile, the social media response of most Democrats has been to defend the ad placement and deride Republicans who have complained about it.

Really?

Can you imagine what these same Democrats would be saying if the advertisement looked like this?

The hypocrisy isn't surprising at all, just indicative of the depths we're plumbing.

The point remains: Harvest Homecoming has the right to declare political neutrality, and the News and Tribune has a professional responsibility to honor it. Hanson's masked apology is maladroit, but at least he did what he should have done.

The rest of it is the usual partisan fluff, which should be deposited in history's dustbin prior to the inevitable excursion to Harvest Homecoming to ingest sugar doughnuts and rolled oysters.

And now, the editor who typically asks no questions interviews the publisher who'd rather not answer any.

News and Tribune apologizes for political ad on cover of Harvest Homecoming guide, by Chris Morris

The Harvest Homecoming Festival is preparing for its 51st year in downtown New Albany. It has grown from a few tables set up along Pearl Street to become one of the largest festivals in the state of Indiana. People look forward to it each year.

The Harvest Homecoming means a lot to the people of Southern Indiana.

But throughout its history the volunteers who operate the festival have never endorsed a candidate or one political party over another. The Harvest Homecoming Festival is independent and appreciates support from Democrats, Republicans, independents and others. It has never been thrown into the muck and mud of politics.

This year the News and Tribune published its annual Harvest Homecoming guide on Sept. 28. The tab is full of festival information, including a schedule of events, booth listings and photos of past festivals.

But it’s the cover that has gotten the most attention, and it has nothing to do with the photo of Mr. Pumpkin. The confusion is with the banner advertisement, paid for by the Clark County Democrats, reads “Vote Democrat” and runs along the bottom of the cover.

The ad’s background color is dark brown, the same as the rest of the cover, so it blends in, making it look like the festival is asking readers to vote Democrat or that the guide was produced by the Clark County Democrats. Neither is true.

“The tab is a product of the News and Tribune and reflects in no way the beliefs of the Harvest Homecoming committee or the event itself,” News and Tribune Publisher Bill Hanson said. “The News and Tribune regrets the uproar it has created among some and accepts all blame anyone wishes to assign.”

The cover is prime advertising space, and in the past has been sold to an area car dealer. In the future, no political ads will be sold on publications such as the Harvest Homecoming guide to avoid confusion.

“I want to apologize for our lack of good judgment in allowing a political party to purchase the ad space on the cover of this year’s Harvest Homecoming special edition,” Hanson said. “Given our current political climate, we should have been more discerning. Lesson learned at the News and Tribune.”

— Assistant Editor Chris Morris

Earache My Eye: Check out Deaf Gahan's full page Anchor Marriage ad in Extol's wedding issue.

This one had to cost taxpayers a pretty penny.

There's just something about the combination of personality cults and lavish weddings that leads a Green Mouse to guess that very soon, Jeff Gahan will be borrowing a page from Rev. Moon's playbook and repurposing Bicentennial Park for mass hitchings.

After the ceremony, he'll "present" a concert or two. Speaking of memories out of nowhere ...

I recall the 1974 album being funnier than the Allmusic reviewer's take; then again, I was 14 years old.

Cheech & Chong's Wedding Album was the first serious misfire for California's best-known pair of stoners. After three albums of trailblazing comedy, Tommy Chong and Cheech Marin inexplicably broke away from the recurring themes and character sketches which had thus far kept fans in hysterics, just waiting to find out what would happen next. No, Wedding Album is a collection of overly simplistic, seemingly leftover bits ("Black Lassie," "The Baby Sitters," etc.) looking for something, anything more substantial to latch onto. But in the end the somewhat inspired "Coming Attractions," along with the album's mandatory musical number, the excellent "Earache My Eye," comprise the only truly essential numbers here.

This tune goes out to the bunker-bound. After last week, they could use a laugh: A purely sadistic week in New Gahania, and even more tales from Corruption Junction.

Shameless self-aggrandizement as Gahan invites 1Si to provide career counseling to local students.

Submitted to NA Confidential with this comment:

This is an ad in the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation's 2018-2019 school directory -- on page 2 no less! Ridiculous spending. Maybe the tagline should be "Brighter futures are made in Southern Indiana unless you try to cross Spring Street." Or maybe, "One day if you try hard enough, you too can be a street sweeper in NA."

If street sweeping is a skilled trade, Wendy Dant Chesser no doubt would agree with Gahan's ad placement -- so I fixed it.

Have you ever wondered just how much taxpayer money City Hall spends to promote Gahan's cult of personality?

Providentially, there's a ballot box solution.

#FireGahan2019
#FlushTheClique

Jeff "Look at Me" Gahan's aquatic cult of personality: He brings us health, all by himself.

Taxpayers are footing the bill for full-page magazine ads like this one, and yet since the River Run Family Water Park's inception, detailed financial records about its annual summertime operation have remained a complete mystery because Jeff Gahan, whose photo dominates the layout, refuses to release them.

Before the city spends at least $8.5 million on a new city hall, shouldn't we know about the financial performance of Gahan's numerous other big ticket, bright and shiny projects? After all, initial expenditures are the proverbial tip of the iceberg. What are the ancillary costs for things like maintenance?

Where are the artful subsidies coming from?

And: the biggest question of all: Why are we spending money for ads like this, which serve primarily to glorify a solitary, grubby mayor?

Ostensibly it's an ad about the city of New Albany, but the biggest font belongs to ... that's right: Mayor Jeff Gahan.

Not only that, it's a pathetic advertisement.

If a city must scream "EXCITING THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN NEW ALBANY! and "A DESTINATION CITY!" in caps with exclamation marks (gracious, who did this, Develop New Albany's in-house graphics department?), they're probably not, and it probably isn't.

It's amateurish and futile as a city tout, but of course, it's not intended as such. Does anyone know how many tax dollars went to pay the chain newspaper for this thinly disguised re-election ad?

I'd ask the city's corporate counsel, but he'd take the request, print it, use it for toilet paper, then send it back with a smiley face and a shrug: "Nope, couldn't find that one, either."

The newspaper itself might ask, but as we've observed time and again, what's the motivation for the News und Tribune to peek into the ethical quagmire of Gahanism for so long as Gahan regularly pays them for ad space?

They may be hacks ... but they're not idiots.

News and Tribune celebrates 250 days of payroll savings by ignoring New Albany.

Wouldn't you love to know how much money is transferred by the City Of New Albany to the paper for what amounts to "Gahan for State Senate" ads?

It's probably a nice revenue stream for a paper that doesn't have a reporter on staff to ask questions about how the City of New Albany spends other sums.

Shall we go FOIA-ing?

LBJ's famous "Daisy" ad.

I'm not sure why I awoke this morning to some oddball subliminal impulse to view this ad, but here it is.

The most famous of all campaign commercials, known as the “Daisy Girl” ad, ran only once as a paid advertisement, during an NBC broadcast of Monday Night at the Movies on September 7, 1964.

Wicked. Just wicked.

Clere vs. Gibson: Mercenary mailings from afar obviously differ in tone.

Yes, Virginia, there is an Indiana Democratic State Central Committee, and it emits political advertising in precisely the same fashion as its Republican counterpart, which we considered last month when Skeletor made his first appearance in the District 72 House race between incumbent Republican Ed Clere and Democratic challenger Shane Gibson: Can't avoid deleting legitimate questions, can't disavow illegitimate attack ads.

Gibson's first big mailing of the season is above, and Skeletor is below.


While it is by no means a guarantee that future Democratic mailings will uphold the positive overall tone of the one pictured above, one needn't be interested in politics, or even particularly perceptive, to grasp at a glance the profound difference in tone between the Gibson and Clere postcards.

Last month's Republican attack on Gibson features a skeleton hand that comes near being life-sized, and spews scattershot negative innuendo about Gibson, while saying nothing about Clere.

The Democratic postcard's attack on Clere (for using Skeletor to tell "lies") uses words, not pictures, and is restricted to a box less than 25% the size of the postcard's back side. Plainly (no more "Clerely" jokes from me), the Gibson mailing concerns the Democratic candidate himself and his qualifications, while the Republican mailing is a full-bore, negative attack.

Does this mean that Clere has not been attacked in past Democratic mailings? No, only that in the current round -- so far -- the huge preponderance of negativity has emanated from Clere's Indy mercenaries, and not Gibson's. I am looking for copies of a Democratic mailing last spring (we did not receive it at the 1117 ESSNA) that allegedly attacked Clere for local neighborhood school closings. If it can be found, we'll consider the charges therein, so if you have a copy, let me know.

Tasty fried fish since 1985 ... and by the way, vote for me.

If Sam Anderson can co-opt his familiar business logo for political gain ...

... then why can't I?



Well, it's sloppy, but you get the idea.

Yeah, I know -- no disclaimer ... but it's hardly an official campaign, is it?

Not an endorsement, but rather an embarrassment.

Elections come and go, and still some candidates find it expedient to ignore Indiana Election Commission guidelines.

Just out of curiosity, NAC visited the Indiana Secretary of State’s website last spring prior to the primary, and found this illuminating information for candidates.

Political Signs and Disclaimer Requirements for Political Literature and Advertisements

WHAT is a “disclaimer”?
A disclaimer identifies who paid for certain political material and whether any candidate approves of the material if the material is paid for by someone other than the candidate.

What are some examples of political materials and literature requiring disclaimers?
Newspaper advertisements, billboards, signs, posters, yard signs, (whether homemade or commercially printed), portable billboards, brochures, leaflets, circulars, letterheads and direct mail pieces sent to more than 100 persons.

Is there a penalty for circulating or publishing literature or other material concerning a candidate without the required disclaimer?
Yes. The penalty is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a $5,000 fine, not more than one (1) year imprisonment, or both. (IC 3-14-1-3)

In a Tribune ad on Sunday, November 4, Hollis -- a former councilman during the Taft administration -- claimed to be "experience" and "knowledgable," though as should be obvious by now, not so much so that he would be aware of spelling, grammar and campaign guidelines.

Not unexpectedly, the faux professor Erika (herself perpetually challenged when confronted with rules of syntax) endorses Hollis for city council, presumably under the wisdom that such a superannuated relic could do no worse at expressing himself than she would have if not for a decisive primary refutation.

Whatever you do, please don't vote for this guy. He's looking for oil lamps to light and cranks to start his engine.

Don't we have enough Luddites in positions of authority already?