Political Games People Play And A Quick Ethics Note

For at least the past six Presidents of the Indianapolis City County Council, it has been tradition for the Council Minority Leader to read any requested recognitions of deceased persons and conduct the adjournment of the Council proceedings. By council rules it is the decision of the Council President to decide who does this task. As a matter of courtesy, it has traditionally been extended to the minority party.

I don't know all of the details, but this past year the Council Vice-President, Ryan Vaughn (R), apparently went to Council President Bob Cockrum (R) and made a request to be allowed that privilege and while nobody can know for certain, since we're dealing in politics and it can be an unpleasant game, it was presumably to either (a) increase Councilor Vaughn's visibility for future political career ladder climbing or (b) intentionally diminish opportunities for the Democrat Minority Leader, Councilor Joanne Sanders, to speak in one of the few formal duties traditionally done by the minority party. Let's assume both and understand that neither concept is new or shocking to politics.

Regardless, well before his switch to the Libertarian Party, Councilor Ed Coleman (L) saw the political gamesmanship and took exception to what he perceived as a show of disrespect for the minority party and treatment that he feared could all too easily just be reciprocated after 2011, when it is likely the council could shift back to the Democrats. So, he introduced a proposal (#63) that would have permanently codified who was responsible for the task. While it's a fair argument that this proposal was one that perhaps more restricted than liberated, it did make a point and ensure there was some debate on what was going on.

I attended the committee meeting where the measure was voted down on a strict party line vote (4-3) with Republicans opposing. What struck me was that Councilor Coleman was very direct that he felt there was a bit of political gamesmanship going on. Laughably, the chair of the committee, Councilor Lutz (R) made some awkward and lame attempt to admonish Coleman for comments against the Council President. Coleman never said it had anything to do with the Council President, just that there were some political games going on. In fact, I don't think Coleman was thinking of Councilor Cockrum at all when he made that statement. And, seriously, Lutz was ridiculous admonishing somebody who merely stated that in a political body, there were some politics going on! But, in fairness, lots of ridiculous things happen in politics, we sometimes call them Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, John McCain, Pete Stark or, for Indiana folks, Pat Bauer (clearly no relation to Jack).

On a much more serious note. The committee also reviewed some ethics proposal that I think would easily be gotten around just by making sure lobbyists are all "salespeople". At least that was my initial impression of what appears to be a loophole big enough to drive a truck through. Of course, it didn't appear to me that this ethics reform would do anything to stop, oh, maybe partners at big law firms that do business with Indianapolis's sports team from sitting on the boards that negotiate the deals with those teams or oversee management of sports facilities. Perhaps we should fix THAT problem first? In fact, I think that's a grand idea.

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