GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Jeff Gahan launches his 2019 campaign with more of the same threats, intimidation and mobster tactics. Is this what city employees deserve from a mayor?

New Albany is 14 months away from the primary election in 2019, and yet Team Gahan already is brandishing the well-worn brass knuckles.

Seeing as intimidation is Gahan for Life's single strongest suit, this comes as little surprise, although it's a pleasant twist that no one (apart from public housing residents) has been threatened with TASERing -- at least yet.

The Green Mouse says that Sunday's riverfront clean-up quickly became a showcase for Jeff Gahan to campaign against probable primary opponent David White.

In particular, it seems that some rank-and-file city workers were reminded again that visible public support for any opponent of Gahan's might lead to reprisals or termination.

I suppose the whip is one way of inspiring devotion.

It's a timely reminder that genuine progressives cannot trust the local Democratic Party structure to share their values when the party is invested in the continued power of a mayor who pays little heed to them. If a Democrat will not disavow Gahan's persistently non-democratic tactics, how can he or she be implement the first tenet of progressivism?

It can't be done.

If you've experienced threats and intimidation at the hands of Gahan and his thuggish inoperatives, let NA Confidential know -- confidentially, of course. Your story needs to be heard by the voters.

#FireGahan2019

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As an addendum, NA Confidential has been unable to confirm whether New Albany Mayor Jeff M. Gahan or anyone working in the city's administration is under federal investigation or indictment for corruption, bribery or racketeering. It is standard policy of the U.S. Justice Department to refuse to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of investigations or subjects of investigations. A similar policy exists at the F.B.I.

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Last night at city council, the News and Tribune looked the other way as McLaughlin condoned Duggins' TASER hilarity.

My frustrations with local media's coddling, in a nutshell.

New Albany City Council adjusts some parking fines, by Chris Morris (Sweet Home Alabama)

Haven House receives $50,000 appropriation

NEW ALBANY — The New Albany City Council made some amendments to parking violations Monday night. Motorists can expect higher fines and to be towed for parking in an intersection, blocking a fire hydrant or crosswalk, parking on a sidewalk and parking illegally in a handicap space.

It's the usual by-the-numbers council coverage, and that's just lovely -- until someone who was present volunteers to fill in the missing bits.

By the way, Mark Cassidy attended last evening.

"At city council mtg. Pat making excuses for David Duggins. Al and David A. both had strong statements condemning such comments by an official."

Making excuses for Duggins' TASER misbehavior?

Cluelessly normalizing ugliness of this magnitude might be the default reaction of almost any ranking Democrat in town, but in this instance, it's 4th district's Pat "Methodical" McLaughlin, formerly the council president, now as ever joined to Mayor Jeff Gahan's swiveling hip in a surely forlorn hope that (a) Dear Leader might opt for the monastery some sweet day, and (b) McLaughlin then could become the biggest fish in this painfully small pond.

(Interestingly, Gahan didn't fight at all for Bob Caesar's bid to become council president in 2018; Caesar lost, and now his sinecure on the Redevelopment Commission has ended, too. Perhaps this is Gahan's pleasant way of saying "sorry, Bob, but your own mayoral ambitions just ain't happening.") 

I asked Mark to elaborate on the public vetting of Duggins on Monday night.

Al (Knable) brought it up at the beginning of the meeting. He said he'd talked to the Mayor about it, and also talked to Duggins. Knable thought it was totally inappropriate, but the person harmed is the only one who can accept Duggins' apology or not. He didn't think anyone should lose their job over it. David Aebersold wanted to know if Duggins now was on a short leash (paraphrased), suggesting that Duggins can't screw up again and still represent New Albany. Knable said yes. Next Aebersold stated that he's received far more e-mails and calls about this (TASER hilarity) episode than anything else since he's been on the council, and he didn't want to go through any of it again. I believe that if it had been up to Aebersold, he would've fired Duggins. After that is when Pat made his milquetoast defense.

And exactly how spineless was it, Mark?

Pat said "familiarity" probably was the reason Duggins said what he did, and that we all make comments that we shouldn't. 

Mark concludes with a concise thought, one that every DemoDisneyDixiecrat should read, reread and read again.

True, but that doesn't excuse it, especially not coming from an official with control over peoples' lives.

On second thought, it might interest a newspaper's editorial board, too. That is, if the newspaper ever gets around to taking its Fourth Estate obligations seriously.

Cue the inevitable Valentine's Day poll and chocolate pairing.

Here's where a newspaper reporter might start -- because see, there was a discussion at a council meeting about a tawdry lapse by a public official, at which it was divulged that the council's current president has discussed the issue with the mayor, who as yet has had nothing to say about it.

Here's an idea, Chris.

Shouldn't you go talk to the mayor, too?

Week in review: Jeff Gahan created the Duggins debacle at NAHA, so stop normalizing his efforts to remain aloof.

This week's coverage:

BREAKING: Keith Henderson will not file criminal charges against David Duggins for threatening a resident of public housing.

ON THE AVENUES: Did you hear the one about Duggins' deep TASER regrets? I laughed until I cried -- and so did the folks in Keokuk.

David Duggins' TASER fetish: Hoosier Action has the lowdown, as Mayor Jeff Gahan remains hunkered in the down low bunker.

Team Gahan circles the wagons as David "Knucksie" Duggins' TASER fetish becomes the big story today at the News and Tribune.

Duggins releases new New Albany Housing Authority logo, picks up a sixer of Bud Light Lime, heads out to the TASER range to shoot a few ... rounds.

BREAKING: Keith Henderson will not file criminal charges against David Duggins for threatening a resident of public housing.

NA Confidential has learned that the Floyd County Prosecutor's office has chosen not to file criminal charges against David Duggins, as related to Brandon Brown by an Indiana State Police investigator.

Duggins, the "interim" director of the New Albany Housing Authority, had threatened Brown with TASERing following a recent NAHA board meeting. Duggins later issued an indirect apology, and to date, no disciplinary actions have been taken.

ON THE AVENUES: Did you hear the one about Duggins' deep TASER regrets? I laughed until I cried -- and so did the folks in Keokuk.

Brown also has filed a complaint with the New Albany Police Department, HUD in Indianapolis, and (perhaps) the NAHA. The status of these complaints is not known at this time.

In other news pertaining to the takeover and occupation of the housing authority by Mayor Jeff Gahan, a question has arisen.

If Duggins still is designated as being in an "interim" position, how many interviews has the NAHA board held with applicants for the permanent NAHA Director job?

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As an addendum, NA Confidential has been unable to confirm whether New Albany Mayor Jeff M. Gahan or anyone working in the city's administration is under federal investigation or indictment for corruption, bribery or racketeering. It is standard policy of the U.S. Justice Department to refuse to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of investigations or subjects of investigations. A similar policy exists at the F.B.I.

ON THE AVENUES: Did you hear the one about Duggins' deep TASER regrets? I laughed until I cried -- and so did the folks in Keokuk.

ON THE AVENUES: Did you hear the one about Duggins' deep TASER regrets? I laughed until I cried -- and so did the folks in Keokuk.


A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

I started a joke which started the whole world crying

But I didn't see that the joke was on me, oh no

-- Bee Gees

A sense of humor is a serious business; and it isn't funny, not having one.

-- Martin Amis

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But seriously, do you want to know something really funny?

Thanks to the News & Tribune and the Associated Press, our humble anchor-laden city astride the mud flats by river’s edge – where unsold Bicentennial books double as paving stones and stray sheep are increasingly scared – has at long last achieved national renown.

In fact, David “Earthbound” Duggins has done the impossible, pushing celebrated basketball wunderkind Romeo Langford completely off the front page, in the process making New Albany into an overnight sensation, and the hottest go-to destination for every addled sociopath in America who gut-laughs and guffaws at the continued humiliation of our community’s most vulnerable populations.

That’s right, dear reader: We’ve been transformed into the place where you want to be, if being here means empowering an "interim" public housing director who remains utterly bereft of meaningful qualifications, one who blithely swaps administrative responsibilities for stand-up comedy, tells idiotic “jokes” about shooting, tasering and other acts of random violence, mumbles an insultingly insincere apology, and still keeps his job.

Evidently it's why the Associated Press is here: from sea to shining sea, up pops the same news story: Philly, Houston, LA, Seattle, Chicago and even US News and World Report, for Adam’s sake.

New Albany Housing Authority interim director David Duggins says he's "deeply sorry" for his comment after last Monday's housing authority board meeting.

The News and Tribune reports Duggins asked an officer to deploy a stun gun on Brandon Brown after Brown used a cellphone to record the meeting, where an activist spoke out against a plan to raze public housing units for a redevelopment project. Brown says the stun gun comment was frightening.

Faster than Duggins can deeply chug an ice-cold Bud Light Lime, something he actually is highly qualified to do, his cancerous ego and underdeveloped funny bone have combined to render our shakily recovering municipality into a laughingstock throughout the entire country.

Just as predictably, mired in his customary default condition of confusion, narcissism and cloistered stubbornness, Mayor Jeff M(ilhous) Gahan has said absolutely nothing to indicate he cares a single jot about this nasty situation, although it would surprise no one if he awarded Duggins yet another laudatory raise in pay.

How much money is enough for Team Gahan, anyway?

Seeing as Gahan’s sole purpose from the outset of his farcical public housing takeover has been to rid the city of what the mayor obviously regards as a parasitic class of unattractive poor people, why would he be bothered by TASERs, pistol-whippings or other acts of official intimidation if these are the tools deployed by his most trusted of monetizing adjutants to get ‘em the hell out?

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NON-DREAM SEQUENCE

“Davey, you’re doing a heckuva job,” tittered Gahan as his armor-plated golf cart rolled noisily down Erni Avenue, the heart of vanquished, conquered Baghdad – or was it Lane Land?

The giggly mayor gaped at his ubiquitous colonial coordinator Irving Joshua, who was diligently rubber-stamping demolition orders.

“Hey Irving, now that we’ve toppled the impoverished once and for all, can we start building some big-time luxury here? Daddy needs some campaign finance.”

“I don’t know,” replied Joshua. “We may have maxed out all of our TIF-Plus cards until 2046 – wait, where’s Dugout? He was standing here just a second ago, and I warned him against speaking with other humans.”

“Aw, he’s fine. Knucksie’s over there sweet-talking one of them non-citizens. Let me give Coffey a call and get this party started!”

A bearded man in a pith helmet was observed posturing over by the bus stop.

“Stop me if you’ve heard this one before,” Duggins jauntily yelled at a cowering resident.

“Ready? Okay, so I walk up to you and say that if you don’t do exactly as I please, I’ll have you shot, TASERed, drawn, quartered, muzzled, kicked out, and if that doesn’t do it, then we’ll get really rough.”

There was a pause. Duggins appeared puzzled.

“Why aren’t you laughing? I mean, that’s some funny shit, right?

Silence.

“All right, how about this one. Do you know they’re paying me six figures to drive a bulldozer though your house?”

---

Here’s another knee-slapper.

As the days have passed since Duggins provided final, definitive and irrefutable evidence of Gahan’s morally bankrupt judgment, all sorts of nervous time-servers whose quivering beaks urgently rely on the mayor’s slop bucket for rivulets of sustenance have taken to earnestly advising Public Housing Resident Zero, offering him heartfelt counsel.

They’re all warning Brandon Brown to be super-duper careful about soulless agitators, conniving communists and malign influences hailing from outside the immediate vicinity of his square footage in Nawbany, accusing these troublemakers of having politics on their minds ... and maybe even reading books.

The horror!

As if the mayor hasn’t gotten out of bed a single time since 2003 without first pondering the political implications of getting dressed – and everyone knows you can’t stuff a fat bribe in a book; it causes an unsightly bulge where the ideas used to be.

The good news thus far is that Brown is coping quite capably, thank you. A few days after Duggins made his characteristically impeccable bid for immediate termination, the aforementioned Joshua, yet another gray-eminence Redevelopment toady brought to the NAHA to help man the wrecking balls, spent roughly ten minutes urging Brown to keep TASERgate safely in-house among “friends” – where it belongs, lest toxic vapors waft in the direction of Hauss Square.

Joshua fairly cooed: Son, just file a complaint with the NAHA board of bootlicking sycophants, where the paperwork will immediately come to none other than Joshua himself for lubed and expedited resolution.

Joshua continued: Better yet, newfound bosom buddy, why not come over to the conference room for a little down-home, closed-door chat with me – and Duggins, and a couple of police officers, and whomever else wants to get to the bottom of this misunderstanding as ol' pals and companions … and no one else knows yet, right?

At this juncture, finally able to wedge a word into the mellifluous spiel, Brown simply noted that he’d already complained to HUD in Indianapolis.

(This revelation produced a remarkable change in Joshua’s demeanor, but yet to be answered is why Joshua enjoys such an immense degree of unelected clout, which he has been wielding at Redevelopment since at least 2005, and surely before, as installed and maintained by successive Democratic mayoral regimes. Does this mean he has the incriminating photos under lock and key?)

Running the gamut from grubby to squalid and shamelessly shabby, Gahan’s operatives are covering every conceivable nuance, aren’t they?

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In short, just about everyone with something to lose has rushed straight to Brown in an effort to keep him quiet in the wake of Duggins’ latest outbreak of inexcusable and inappropriate behavior involving the powerless – as opposed to respectable high-dollar developers and engorged oligarchs, because hell, you can always reason with the golf-course set over bets, booze, beefsteak and broads.

And by doing so, we also see that Gahan’s minions aren't bothered in the least by "jokes" about injuring townspeople, but rather are spooked by those damned intruders from somewhere else – like Hoosier Action from Bloomington, the News & Tribune from Jeffersonville and NA Confidential, the latter a mere two doors down from the home of 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps, who once campaigned on a platform of social justice, and now believes it can begin only where city limits end.

Then again, xenophobia is in fashion, so how dare these disruptive foreigners come to Giddy Giddy City to disrupt our own Peculiar Civic Institution of Patronizing and Patronage?

The consummate irony of this situation is perfectly obvious, because what most of these radical “outsiders” share is nothing more than a sincere desire to represent New Albany townspeople who are at risk, when the majority of the city’s elected representatives have fled the scene in abject panic.

It has been nauseating. With the notable exception of State Representative Ed Clere (at-large councilman Al Knable is at least being responsive), the default response of local elected officials to the accumulated unpleasantness of Gahan’s housing putsch, whether Democrat, Republican or “independent,” has been drone-like rote agreement or hurried, abject capitulation.

Most commonly: “It’s not my area,” or “it’s nothing to do with me,” and “what can I possibly do?”

Your job, perhaps?

So very sorry to inconvenience our ruling bloc of (mostly) 50-something white males, all of whom attended Bulldog High, but you see, gentlemen, this was bad enough even before Duggins’ latest act of compounded incomprehension, which has irrevocably embarrassed the city of New Albany before a national audience.

I’ve already received a call from an intrigued eastern seaboard writing acquaintance asking for background about the putsch, which I speedily and happily provided.

Verily, Gahanism is rotten to the core, and living, breathing people like those residing in public housing are suffering the brunt of Jeffrey’s hastening implosion.

He's governing for some, not all, and when Dear Leader’s self-aggrandizing sand castle washes away, lots of local Democratic pillars are going to find themselves stranded by the tide – and council Republicans needn't smile, either, seeing as they're not exactly draping themselves in glory.

My suggestion is for the cadres to begin a long overdue rethink about this Gahan-engineered debacle – for instance, ceasing to listen to the groundless New Albany public housing mythology playing in their heads, and starting (for once) to look at reality on the ground.

Isn’t the departure of Duggins a fine place to begin the necessary cleansing?

When will enough be enough, whether it's campaign finance, embedded anchors or threats against life and limb?

As the Associated Press providentially has helped us to see,  Duggins no longer is a liability to the city's deaf, dumb and blind ruling class alone. Now the contagion has spread, and we’re all being thoroughly slimed by his chortling, clueless and remarkably stupid idea of a joke.

The ball's in your court, mayor.

Can you at least make a gurgling sound to let us know if you're still breathing?

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Recent columns:

January 25: ON THE AVENUES: David Duggins’ violent “jokes” will continue until the New Albany Housing Authority’s morale improves – or Duggins is fired. We advocate the latter.

January 18: ON THE AVENUES: During our State of the Gahanaissance Address for 2018, feel free to resort to hard liquor. I did, and will.

January 11: ON THE AVENUES: Return to sender; decency is such a lonely word ... the sounds of silence reign o'er me.

January 4: ON THE AVENUES: Opposition? It is defined as resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument, and in New Gahania, now's the time for it.

David Duggins' TASER fetish: Hoosier Action has the lowdown, as Mayor Jeff Gahan remains hunkered in the down low bunker.

Hoosier Action has a way you can help, so give the NAHA a call and tell them what you think about TASER "jokes."

Don't forget that it isn't the rank and file at NAHA posing the problem. It's the imported colonial overlords.

While you're at it, here's another handy phone number: 812-948-5333, straight to City Hall -- because Mayor Jeff Gahan can't hide forever. Gahan owns the public housing debacle, and it's time he answered for it.

Tell NAHA Interim Director David Duggins: threats are no joke.

We Are New Albany Deputy Chairperson Brandon Brown has shown courageous leadership in defense of the public housing residents whose homes Duggins and Mayor Gahan are threatening with demolition. When Duggins "jokes" that Brandon should be tased, we see that for what it is: intimidation in retribution for Brandon's leadership.

If you want to let Duggins know you stand with Brandon and will not tolerate such threatening "jokes," the NAHA phone number is 812-948-2319. Tell us in the comments what you said, and how it was received.

Earlier: Team Gahan circles the wagons as David "Knucksie" Duggins' TASER fetish becomes the big story today at the News and Tribune.

Team Gahan circles the wagons as David "Knucksie" Duggins' TASER fetish becomes the big story today at the News and Tribune.

Thanks to the newspaper for picking up this story from NAC. Our arms were getting tired.

The reporter Grady does a very good job here.

Threat or joke? NAHA official's Taser comment questioned, by Danielle Grady (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — One side is calling it a threat, the other, an inappropriate statement with no malice behind it: At a meeting last Monday, the interim director of the New Albany Housing Authority told a police officer to deploy a stun gun at a resident after the resident recorded a video of the gathering.

Even the newspaper itself understands that certain of its older, male, New Albany-based reporters wouldn't pursue the story with this degree of thoroughness. Now it's up to the somnolent and detached editorial board to begin grasping the depths of depravity on the ground amid Jeff Gahan's public housing putsch. Note also that this photo by Josh Hicks ...

... previously enraged Duggins so much that he threw a tantrum behind closed doors, which I believe his adjutant Tony Toran would be able to corroborate, if he cares to do so. Kudos to the newspaper for using it today.

It isn't so much that Duggins' apology is entirely insincere, although he'll be dismissing it, giggling and rolling his eyes the next time his posse convenes over Bud Light Limes and Fireball shots.

Rather, it's that Gahan's placement of Duggins at NAHA is a preposterous and cynical absurdity. Gahan owns this catastrophe, and the rehearsed backslapping of sycophants like Irving Joshua merely make the land-grab scenario more damning.

Staged apologies obviously aren't enough. It would be an act of mercy for Gahan to relieve Duggins of responsibilities which he is professionally and temperamentally unsuited to perform. Duggins always has insisted he could make far more money in the private sector.

It's time to let him monetize elsewhere, isn't it?

Click here for previous NAC coverage of Duggins' NAHA bullying.

Duggins releases new New Albany Housing Authority logo, picks up a sixer of Bud Light Lime, heads out to the TASER range to shoot a few ... rounds.

The week began with David Duggins "joking" about bodily harm to public housing residents, then shifted into an all-points denial on the part of Team Gahan.

Duggins is Jeff Gahan's own personal Frankenstein. Gahan owns this debacle. When's he going to answer for it?

Here's a recap. If you're a Democrat, it's time for a mirror gaze. Is this really the sort of embarrassment you wish to continue sanctioning?

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

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: "Individual bullying is usually characterized by a person behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person."

NAHA vs Pleasant Ridge: Deaf Gahan is appalled that he didn't think of mass taserings first.

We don't need a TASER Tsar at public housing.

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

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

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

(Randy Smith provided significant assistance in writing today’s column)

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At last.

It took a few days, but finally a local journalist has gotten around to covering an important story about the inexcusable abuse of power by a public official.

Jtown Attorney To Thieneman: “I’ll Do My Damned Level Best To Break Your Neck”,by Rick Redding (Louisville KY)

Jeffersontown city attorney Schuyler Olt ignited a firestorm of controversy Jan. 23 when he started an online fight with Chris Thieneman over the treatment of police in the media.

The post that started the brouhaha by Thieneman was simply a screen shot of a story by Joe Gerth in the Courier-Journal headlined, “Police must root out racist officers.” It concerned Prospect police officer Todd Shaw’s racist remarks that led to his firing.

Olt, who claims on his Facebook page to be a minister at Carlisle Presbyterian Church, responded first with a comment claiming that Shaw’s behavior was “horrible” but adding that the job is stressful. The two traded comments until Olt ended that part of the discussion with “You, quite frankly, kinda suck” ...

… The most damaging comment from Olt came later. Thieneman took a screen shot of the damaging post, which Olt has since deleted. It amounts to “terroristic threatening” as defined by Kentucky law: KRS 508.080(1)(a) covers the most commonly encountered form of terroristic threatening and requires (1) a threat to commit any crime, which is (2) likely to result in death, serious physical injury, or substantial property damage to another person. “Crime” means any misdemeanor or felony.

Here is that comment: “I’ll do my damned level best to break your neck.”

Olt eventually apologized for his threats, saying his anger got the best of him. Thieneman called for Olt’s resignation; after all, can Olt be trusted any longer to tame his anger?

There’s a line in the sand, and when a public official pole-vaults over it, an apology simply isn’t enough. Rather, we see the misbehavior as clearly marking the transgressor as temperamentally unfit for the job; if he or she also is professionally and intellectually unsuited for the job, then it’s an even easier call.

At least Olt actually appears to be an attorney, although it remains to be seen if the business of preaching is best served by the use of brass knuckles as opposed to Bibles.

And this brings us to Monday’s eventful meeting of the Synod of Sanctimonious Sycophancy, otherwise known as the New Albany Housing Authority’s handpicked board of current and former Gahan for Mayor campaign donors.

This is very serious, indeed.

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After the board’s Monday meeting, David Duggins threatened a client by suggesting that a New Albany police officer “shoot” the client, who is a resident of a New Albany Housing Authority (NAHA) property.

In the meeting, Duggins -- appointed on an interim and well-remunerated basis last year by New Albany mayor Jeff Gahan to direct the affairs of the annexed housing authority -- was challenged by a spokesman for We Are New Albany, the activist group seeking to prevent an announced program to demolish publicly owned properties and to reduce the number of clients served by as much as half.

Duggins offered a lengthy defense, which was videotaped and shared on social media by Brandon Brown, a resident, a client, and the Vice President of We Are New Albany.

(This writer, too, is a member of that organization.)

By late Monday, I had been made aware of the incident and by mid-day on Tuesday had verified the events to the best of my ability.

The question arises: Did Duggins threaten Brown? Did whatever Duggins say cause Brown to feel threatened?

Brown had just videotaped Duggins’ very public speech, which dripped with condescension. It was less a reply to a question than a self-aggrandizing polemic. There is no dispute that Duggins is annoyed with, if not dismissive of the We Are New Albany group.

Brown was holding a conversation with the city police officer assigned to NAHA, Officer Schneider, when Duggins interrupted from across the room: “Brandon, are you on my side?”

Duggins approached Brown and Schneider, then said that if Brown were to videotape a meeting again, Officer Schneider should shoot him (Brown).

Brown was startled at the casual, offhanded violence of the instruction, which Duggins promptly amended: “Well, just shoot him with your Taser,” the interim director told Schneider.

(In the vernacular, Schneider was told to use his law-enforcement-approved Taser™, or generic “tazer,” to inflict an electric shock designed to temporarily disable Brown.)

Subsequently and outside the building, Brown approached an acquaintance and told her what had happened. As she looked on, Duggins ran hurriedly from the building, yelling “You know it was just a joke, right?”

Officer Schneider is not strictly under the direction of Duggins, to be sure. He is a sworn officer under the direction of the New Albany Police Department. Yet, his current job is full-time service to NAHA properties, and it’s reasonable to believe that both Brown and Schneider felt that Duggins, as the mayor’s appointee, would be able to exert at least some compulsion toward Officer Schneider.

In any event, Schneider did not rebuke Duggins. The threat was retroactively diminished, almost certainly because both Duggins and Schneider knew it was, at a minimum, completely inappropriate – and this recognition came within a few minutes of the interaction.

Did Brown feel threatened? Did he believe Duggins could direct retaliation toward him? Brown says with certainty that he did, on both counts, and the tone of Duggins’ laughter suggested the interim director was intrigued with the idea of hurting him.

I believe him. Three days later, is Brown safe?

We can’t know for sure. It worries me. He has filed an incident report with the NAPD. He has filed a complaint with the mayor’s office. The Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has been informed of the incident. Assistance and counsel from civil rights attorneys have been sought. And Duggins’ employers, the board of directors, have certainly been informed in anticipation of a formal complaint.

Context does matter. Brown is a vocal and visible opponent of the mayor’s plan to demolish public housing. He is not a “buddy” of Duggins. In fact, as a client, he and his family are vulnerable to myriad actions that could affect his well-being.

I’ve spoken to Brown and others this week. There is no question that Duggins’ instruction was inappropriate. None. Zilch. Nada.

But it raised a question in my mind – a question that has dominated public discussion for several months. What is inappropriate behavior and what is the proper consequence to mitigate it?

Imagine for just a moment that Duggins had made a crudely sexual suggestion to a client, then downgraded it just a bit from, let’s say, sex to groping, only then to come back at the client to say it was only a joke.

Would a man or woman be within their rights to complain?

The question now must be put to Mayor Gahan. Is this type of conduct to be tolerated in city government? Isn’t this something that requires a public response? Does the city have a zero-tolerance policy for threats of violence, sexual assault, abuse, and harassment?

And finally, will disciplinary action be taken by the mayor or the NAHA board of directors? By HUD? Via legal action?

Or, yet again, it is to be swept beneath the increasingly bulging bunker throw rug? Gahan never has been in a hurry to animate his Human Rights Commission, the enabling ordinance of which was written by none other than Stan Robison, currently one of Duggins’ sworn enablers on the housing board.

Now we know why the HRC is up on blocks in the street department’s garage.

---

For today’s column, I’m soft-pedaling the polemics, although it should be said that in recent weeks, Duggins has comically rushed between Egg McMuffins at various area McDonald’s, pathetically spluttering about “fake” news and “false” rumors.

But rest assured there’s nothing fake or false about Duggins’ blatant unsuitability for his current position. Had Brown “joked” about shooting or tazing Duggins, would he have gotten away with it? Would he even have made it from the meeting room uninjured?

Only with power comes the “right” to say it was all a joke, and make no mistake: Duggins’ threats to Brown were all about power. So was Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing. People? They're just in the way.

Perhaps you remember the entertainer's explanation last fall of why he masturbated in front of women:

“When you have power over another person, asking them to look at your dick isn't a question. It's a predicament for them."

If, like Brown, you find yourself wondering whether a highly paid public official with a policeman standing by his side is joking – that’s a bit of predicament, isn’t it?

Jeff Gahan owns this predicament. For too long, Duggins has been empowered, and we see clearly what this means to him. Duggins needs to go, and he needs to go immediately, before someone gets hurt.

We're looking at a dick, Jeffrey. How can Duggins ever be trusted after this?

---

Recent columns:

January 18: ON THE AVENUES: During our State of the Gahanaissance Address for 2018, feel free to resort to hard liquor. I did, and will.

January 11: ON THE AVENUES: Return to sender; decency is such a lonely word ... the sounds of silence reign o'er me.

January 4: ON THE AVENUES: Opposition? It is defined as resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument, and in New Gahania, now's the time for it.

December 28: ON THE AVENUES: It's the beginning of the end of insipid Gahanism, so let's look back at the Top Ten columns of 2017.

NAHA vs Pleasant Ridge: Deaf Gahan is appalled that he didn't think of mass taserings first.

We're still trying to understand why a public official clocking in at $120K per annum thinks it's hilarious to threaten a resident of public housing with shooting/tasering, merely because the resident exercised his rights to free speech and assembly.

Maybe it's because in David Duggins' bloodshot eyes, they're not really people: We don't need a TASER Tsar at public housing.

Jeff Gahan placed Duggins in this position of alleged stewardship trust at NAHA, and the ethically challenged Taser Tsar has run through his first allotment of Dear Leader's trust. The tank's empty.

It's theoretically possible that Team Gahan might publicly explain and take responsibility for this latest fiasco before Thursday afternoon, when ON THE AVENUES will break it down -- and while we're busy handicapping, perhaps anyone walking on the northern Spring Street sidewalk today should use caution lest a stray piano drop from the third floor of Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats.

Meanwhile over in Charlestown, where the mayor doesn't even try to pretend he's a Democrat, there is more ugliness over a very NAHA-like situation, with the primary difference between the Pleasant Ridge and NAHA land grabs being that public housing residents in New Albany have even less clout than targeted "non-citizens" in Charlestown.

According to our 9th district Democratic congressional candidates, Pleasant Ridge is a very bad deal, indeed, and deserving of denunciation.

My advice to them: Take a good, hard look at the interim director of NAHA. People there need you now, not after the primary. Isn't a terroristic threat just the same irrespective of who utters it -- and shouldn't there be a higher bar for a public official like Duggins?

You can only hold your noses for so long, right?

Or, does shit stink only when it cascades to the ground from the posterior of a Republican?

Lawsuit accuses Charlestown officials, developer of extortion scheme to buy land for a song, by Justin Sayers (Louisville Courier Journal)

Some property owners accuse Charlestown, Indiana city officials and others of an extortion scheme that used fines to pressure them to sell their properties well under market value.

The federal lawsuit filed Friday claims that nine property management companies and landlords were persuaded to sell more than 100 Pleasant Ridge rental properties, most of them for only $10,000 each, to Pleasant Ridge Redevelopment LLC, the company hired by the city to redevelop the low-income neighborhood.

Prior to the sale, the city of Charlestown levied code-enforcement fines on the homes, some of which amounted to thousands of dollars a day for the owners. Once the properties were sold, the fines were waived, according to the suit filed in the U.S. District Court in New Albany.

The plaintiffs claim their constitutional rights were violated under the equal rights protection act. They also argue that coercing owners to sell to a private entity violates federal anti-corruption laws.

Named as defendants were Charlestown Mayor Bob Hall, members of the city council and public works board, the Charlestown Redevelopment Commission and the development team, including the chairman of Pleasant Ridge Development LLC, John Neace ...

From pizza & matchmaking to threats against public housing residents, our versatile Team Gahan truly does it all.

They just want to help, don't you know.

We don't need a TASER Tsar at public housing.

#FireGahan2019

We don't need a TASER Tsar at public housing.

The Green Mouse has learned that David Duggins still hasn't gotten the memo that intimidation and threats aren't permissible management tactics at the New Albany Housing Authority -- even at his heightened pay grade.

True, the former redevelopment commission chief cashier knows where all the cash-stuffed envelopes are buried ... but at what point does Deaf Gahan finally begin to grasp the potential liability -- not only to his own bid for re-election, but to the community at-large?

I'll be discussing Dugout's latest meltdown at length in Thursday's ON THE AVENUES column, and meanwhile, the Green Mouse makes this prediction:

Now that Team Gahan knows that we know, expect the public apology from Duggins before Thursday's column appears, because even Jeff Gahan can't sweep this transgression under the Down Low Bunker's soiled rug.

Also: From pizza & matchmaking to threats against public housing residents, our versatile Team Gahan truly does it all.

"There is a huge difference between an insult and a threat, and ... it isn’t actually that hard to tell one from the other."

This isn't food for thought. It's a five-course meal.

Two Views on Speech, by Adam Gopnik (New Yorker)

... The absolutist American view, let’s stipulate at once, still has much to be said for it. It says that once the state gets into the business of distinguishing acceptable dissent from unacceptable dissent then what we have is no longer dissent. Instead, we have state-sponsored and defined dissent, like that of the tiny “dissident” parties that were allowed to persist, once upon a time, in Eastern Europe, pendant to the chief Communist one. As John Stuart Mill said, in what is still the greatest defense of freedom of speech ever written, the free contest of ideas, even bad ones, is necessary to discover the truth of things. Or, to borrow a turn of phrase from the N.R.A.: it takes a good man with a pencil to stop a bad man with a pen.

But the view that governs the opposite position, in Canada and Europe alike, is not irrational or truly hostile to liberty. The laws and rules vary, but all have a simple distinction at their core, which is that criticizing an ideology, including a religious ideology, however vociferously, is different from inducing hatred of a people or persons. In plain English, hate-speech laws are based on the simple truth that there is a huge difference between an insult and a threat, and that it isn’t actually that hard to tell one from the other.