The restructuring of Allen County government, known as HB
1346, will be a referendum question posed to voters this November. Should you vote for or against it? While I personally like the idea of
restructuring county government, I have to advocate against the proposal being
offered due to current local political conditions.
WHY ARE LEGISLATORS
OUTSIDE OF ALLEN COUNTY WRITING LEGISLATION THAT PERTAINS ONLY TO ALLEN COUNTY?
HB1346 affects only Allen County. [1] It was originally
authored by Republican State Representative Dan Leonard, who primarily represents
Huntington and Wells Counties and only the southwest part of Fort Wayne/Allen
County. [2] Leonard started this process on January 14,
2014 and two weeks later, Republican State Representative Dick Hamm joined
Leonard as a co-author of the bill. [3]
Hamm has no affiliation to Allen County.
He is a representative from Wayne County. [4] For me, personally, right there waves a red
flag. Why would folks outside of Allen
County have an interest in the structuring/restructuring of Allen County
Government? What’s in it for them?
Now, in the two weeks since Leonard authored the bill, a
flurry of activity took place. Hamm
became a co-author as discussed above. Later,
local representative Republican Bob Morris was added as a co-author. Indiana Senator Phil Boots, of Fountain,
Montgomery, Parke, Vermillion, Warren and a portion of Boone County [5], and Senator Dennis Kruse, of Portions
of Allen and DeKalb counties, [6]
were added as sponsors. Both of these
Senators are Republicans and both serve on committees necessary for passage of
this legislation. Boots serves on the
Committee for Local Government; Kruse serves on the Committee of Rules and
Legislative Procedure.
Besides being Republicans, there is something else all of
these guys have in common. They are all
supported financially, directly or indirectly, by the Indiana Republican Party,
the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, and/or Steel Dynamics, or
subsidiaries, associates or affiliates thereof.
[7] This cozy “affiliation” is a little too
coincidental for my tastes and sends up another red flag. (Folks, remember, the Ash Brokerage projects
and most of the so-called “economic development” projects all use structural
steel, as manufactured by Steel Dynamics.)
WHY IS THIS
REPUBLICAN INITIATIVE BEING SUPPORTED BY DEMOCRATS?
Now, please understand that this is not only being supported
by Republicans. Democrat State Representative
Phil GiaQuinta became a co-author as of March 10, 2014. [8] His district is in Allen County. [9]
At first, GiaQuinta’s involvement may seem peculiar. The Republicans have a super majority in the
Indiana Statehouse. These Republicans
don’t “need” a Democrat, particularly this one, to push through their
agenda. But then, wait….GiaQuinta also
supported by the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, and/or Steel Dynamics,
or subsidiaries, associates or affiliates thereof. [10] (Mr. GiaQuinta is also responsible for
another interesting piece of legislation that created the Fort Wayne-Allen
County Capital Improvements Board and allows “excess” money that Allen County
receives from the Food & Beverage Tax to be redirected/funneled into the
CIB. Alas, THAT is a topic for another
day.)
You see, having a “token Democrat” allows these Republicans
to pass the bill off to the general public as having “bi-partisan” support. In reality, these Republicans and Democrat
are not acting in good faith of the general public, their constituents, but
rather are working on behalf of their financiers and campaign supporters—-the
people who put them into office. This
means that as it gets closer to November, we are all going to start hearing
both Democrats and Republicans promote the passage of HB 1346.
WHAT ARE REPUBLICANS
AND DEMOCRATS WHO ARE IN FAVOR OF HB 1346 SAYING ABOUT ALLEN COUNTY GOVERNMENT
RESTRUCTURING?
To make sure all these talking heads are using the same
talking points, a website has been created.
This website is dedicated to the passage of HB 1346, called Advance
Allen. (http://www.advanceallen.com) The website was developed as of June 30th,
2014 by Asher Agency, who does a LOT of work for the Allen County Republican Party
as well as the Indiana Republican Party.
[11] This information by itself is insignificant
until you take into account how much money Asher Agency normally charges and
then come to the realization that local media isn’t really giving much exposure
to the subject of county government restructuring. Why pay money to fund a one-sided publicity
battle? Because its real purpose isn’t
to educate the public, but rather to keep the message consistent with both the
Republican and Democratic talking heads…uh, erh….”public servants.”
The website touts the talking points in favor of county
government restructuring, as follows:
MORE EFFICIENT: Decision-making will be streamlined AND there
will be a single point of contact for economic development. (Phase I promotion)
MORE EFFECTIVE: Allen County will be able to compete better
nationally in attracting businesses and jobs AND better, more direct
representation. (Phase II promotion)
MORE ACCOUNTABLE: The public will know exactly where the buck
stops – who the ultimate decision maker is in county government AND will create
a better system of checks and balances. (Phase III promotion, if needed)
Think I’m making this up?
Let’s review part of an op-ed piece that Republican Allen County
Commissioner Nelson Peters, published on July 28, 2014 in The Journal Gazette: “On Nov. 4, vote to make Allen County
government more efficient, more accountable and more effective. Vote yes on the
single county executive referendum.” [12]
More efficient. More accountable. More effective. Yep, all three talking points are here. (shaking head) (Interestingly and not
surprisingly, Nelson Peters is a member of the Northeast Indiana Regional
Partnership and was a member in 2013 and in 2012, his campaign was financed by the Bruce Dye, Ronda
Hanning, Bill Bean and other associates and affiliates of Northeast Indiana
Regional Partnership, and/or Steel Dynamics, or subsidiaries. You may also remember Ronda Hanning, who has
an active role in the Downtown Development Trust/Downtown Improvement District,
and her husband, Bill Bean, who is a local real estate developer---from the Ash
Bokerage/Hanning & Bean project.
Hey, you need land to construct buildings that require steel structural
rails. What some of you may find
surprising is that Peters was also financed by Midwest Pipe, which is a Henry
family-owned business. ‘Cause when you
build buildings, you need to have restrooms with pipes for water and sewage.)
WHAT ARE REPUBLICANS
AND DEMOCRATS WHO ARE IN FAVOR OF HB 1346 NOT SAYING ABOUT ALLEN COUNTY
GOVERNMENT RESTRUCTURING? (AND WHY I AM IN FAVOR OF NIXING HB 1346)
However, the devil is in the details and its in what is not
being said that residents and voters alike need to be made aware of.
First, please understand that this referendum is asking County
residents (which includes the residents of all cities and towns, like Fort
Wayne, New Haven, Huntertown, Woodburn, Leo, Grabill, Monroeville, Hoagland,
Zanesville, Arcola, etc) if local county government should be
restructured. Generally, I am for the
restructuring of County Government. Most
residents don’t understand how county government operates and that lack of
understanding makes it easier for the County to engage in willy nilly practices
for which the electorate has a difficult time holding anyone in County
government accountable. If County
government operated like City government, accountability would increase. In theory, anyways. Note that this means, I am in agreement with
many of the talking points listed above.
Having said that, however, I am vehemently opposed to HB
1346 and here are the main reasons I would nix HB 1346:
(1) Representation at the county level would be imbalanced
as there would be an overrepresentation of Fort Wayne and New Haven and an
underrepresentation of everyone else in the County. (See images below)
(2) There would be an increase in cost as the single County
Executive would likely receive a salary increase (similar to the Mayor of Fort
Wayne) and County Council would also likely receive a salary increase (similar
to members of Fort Wayne’s City Council), all under the guise of an increased
workload. This means that the nearly
$140,000 “saved” by eliminating two commissions would evaporate with a pay
raise to the remaining County Executive and the increased membership of County
Council. Matter of fact, it would
actually cause an estimated annual increase of about $9,000 to $10,000. [14]
[15]
(3) With more members on County Council comes more “pet
projects”---usually so-called “economic development” projects that usually
offer very little, if anything, in the way of true economic development but
cost the taxpayers more and more each year…..so much so that last year, the
County and Fort Wayne City Council worked together to create the LOIT (Local
Option Income Tax), by way of the Allen County Income Tax Council, and then
increased it. [16] [17] [18]
Folks, the reality is that so-called “economic development”
projects are really taxpayer-backed government subsidies given to businesses. Here in Allen County, all of these subsidies
can be directly tied to corporate cronyism, with the most recent Ash
Brokerage/Hanning & Bean project being a gem of an example. Local subsidies lead to state subsidies,
which are dependent on “substantial local investment” and/or “local
municipalities have offered significant incentives.” [19]
The Indiana Economic Development Commission, as created by Governor
Mike Pence (who is also funded by the same entities listed above) and is headed
up by former Fort Wayne Republican mayoral candidate Eric Doden (also funded by
the same entities listed above), is hoping Indiana cities and regions…..emphasis
on REGIONS (i.e. Northeast Indiana REGIONAL Partnership) can do “to transform
themselves into national economic powerhouses.” [20] Hhhmmm…..tranform??? Now, where have we heard that term
before?? Oh, yeah, the Legacy Fund seeks
transformational projects. [21] And the Ash Brokerage/Hanning & Bean
project is a multimillion dollar “transformational” project. [22] And nearly $5 million is comimg from the
IEDC. [23] (There is more here,
but alas, that topic is best discussed another day.)
The truth is that the more “efficient” and more “effective”
county government supposedly is, the easier it will be to rubber-stamp
corporate cronyism projects---especially those benefitting the Northeast
Indiana Regional Partnership, and/or Steel Dynamics, or subsidiaries,
associates or affiliates thereof. [24]
(4) Lastly, even if I were for this referendum, it has one
huge flaw that simply cannot be overlooked.
Voters are being asked to vote blindly for a new County Council make-up
without knowing exactly how they will be represented by council, geographically. This information needs to be presented to
the voters BEFORE they vote, so they know what exactly it is they are voting
for. To ask residents to cast a vote for
the referendum before all facts are made available is just bad public
policy. (See images below)
.JPG)
This is the best option for giving unlimited access for so-called economic development projects in Downtown Fort Wayne, maximizing the benefit to the associates, affiliates, and subsidiaries of the Northeast Regional Partnership, Steel Dynamics and others discussed above. It is unknown how the remainder of the county will be divided up.
Special Note: The above images are representative only and not drawn to any scale.
______
SOURCES:
[19] http://iedc.in.gov/tax-credits-exemptions/economic-development-for-a-growing-economy-tax-credit
