Dave Hein asks a reasonable question

In another post, "Sparks" (i.e. Dave Hein) asks:

Buzz, why would Indiana want to be like Texas? While it is true that Texas has no income tax, they make up for it by levying the highest property taxes in the country.
Texas ranks # 15 in total taxes while Indiana ranks #17. However, Texas spends the least per capita on education and the most per capita on jails. They also have the most polluted air in the country,one of the highest infant mortality rates along with poor ratings for public health. This combination of pollution,high crime rate and poor educational system will hamper future economic growth.

There's a number of things here:

1) Property taxes are preferable to income taxes.  They are more stable, they are more of a wealth tax than an income tax (although they are highly correlated to income, too), and they are far less economically destructive than income taxes.  That is why Texas is growing faster than Indiana, which relies far more on income taxes.

2) "Polluted air" can't be separated from climate.  Hot, sunny climes like Texas, Arizona, and California are naturally going to have a lot more ozone than the midwest.

3) Border states like California, Arizona, and Texas naturally have a lot more illegals and legal Mexican immigrants, which will naturally drag down public health and crime metrics.

 Ultimately, we need to find a public policy mix that works for Indiana.  I think the "Texas Way" makes sense for the "Dirtbag Hoosiers" that we have.  We have some energy resources (coal, shale gas and oil, wind, ethanol) that we need to exploit more.  We need to put ourselves on a path to eliminate our income tax, including county income taxes.

Mayor McCheeze is right, Lake County Voters are responsible for George Van Til

On WDEM this morning, Mayor McCheeze was asked what responsibility he had as Lake County Democrat Chairman for the Van Til indictment.

Mayor McCheeze said that he did all he could to get Van Til off the ballot, but that ultimately Van Til was re-elected by a crushing majority, even though voters knew full well that Van Til's office had been raided and that he could be indicted.

I think I agree with Mayor McCheeze.  STD's (Straight Ticked Democrats) are ultimately responsible for who they elect.  In Van Til's case, it was a guy who will be the 63rd Democrat to go to the federal slammer.

I still don't have an answer for what to do about the STDs.

Too many "Dirtbag Hoosiers"?

I use the term "dirtbag" with affection. ;)

This article discusses the state of Indiana's economy.

We're generally moving in the right direction.  We are not quite Texas yet, but we are getting there in terms of taxes and regulations.  We are not a bad place to do business.

It seems the problem is Hoosiers themselves.  We're not exactly leading the nation in terms of educational achievement.  It is ironic that a state that is famous for its colleges (Purdue, IU, Notre Dame) has so few college grads.

In fact, it is a dirty little secret that there is actually "reverse affirmative action" at Indiana colleges, where in-state kids get preferential admission because there are so few Hoosiers going there compared to surrounding states.

The usual suspects will want to come up with preferred public policy "solutions" that cater to their political outlook, but this is a cultural problem, one that is not amenable to policy solutions.  Hoosiers will achieve educationally when Hoosiers value education.  Right now, they don't, and I see it all the time here in Northwest Indiana.

Gary Bankruptcy Watch, Census Edition

New Census estimates of population are out for Indiana cities.

Not surprisingly, Gary continues it's frightening depopulation, losing another 1.4% of its population since 2010.

Here's the rest of Lake County.  In general, the numbers suck, and show that the income tax is a terrible idea (the numbers ain't gonna get better!)

Crown Point: grew 3.1%,
854 people

Dyer: declined 1%, 28 people

East Chicago: declined 0.8%,
222 people

Gary: declined 1.4%, 1,124 people

Griffith: declined 1%, 167 people

Hammond: declined 1.4%,
1,144 people

Highland: declined 1.1%, 

269 people

Hobart: declined 1.1%, 324 people

Lake Station: declined 1.4%, 

180 people

Lowell: grew 0.7%, 64 people

Merrillville: grew 1.1%, 385 people

Munster: declined 0.8%,
190 people

New Chicago: declined 0.9%,
18 people

St. John: grew 3.2%, 485 people

Schererville: declined 0.5%,
142 people

Schneider: declined 0.7%,
2 people

Whiting: declined 1.2%, 60 people

Winfield: grew 11.4%, 501 people

Where to start cleaning up Lake County

In my post about who is responsible for George Van Til, I got this comment:

80,294 = Gary population 201057,762 = Gary 18+ population 201061,185 = Gary registered voters 201236,218 = Gary ballots cast 201224,927 = Gary STD ballots cast 2012 7,675 = Gary absentee ballots cast 2012 

That is where we need to start cleaning house in Lake County.  Clean up the rolls in Gary, to start.

George Van Til could act with impunity because he knew that he had  24,927 Gary STD ballots.  It is incredibly hard to come back against that.

Who is responsible for George Van Til?

Obviously, George Van Til is responsible for George Van Til, but he has had many enablers.  He would not be where he is today without a lot of help.

1) Lake County Democrats: They supported this guy for many years, and even in 2012, they pushed for him knowing that he would be indicted and they would get to pick his successor.  They are a criminal organization that should be taken apart via RICO laws.

2) STD (straight ticket Democrat) voters.  Van Til actually lost in the general in sane places like Highland, his home town.  It was only because of STD voters in places like Gary that he won so overwhelmingly.

3) The Times editorial board and Doug Ross.  They chose not to make endorsement in the Surveyor race because, "the job should be appointed, not elected".  How does that make sense to anyone?  Is it any wonder that I constantly call out Doug Ross as an idiot?  Can you blame me?  I bet Ross' own mother thinks that he's an idiot.

4) The Lake County Republican Party.  It isn't like we've given voters much of a choice over the years.  One word: Jason frickin' Reeves.

5) Jim Deedlow and WJOB.  He is still kind of defending George Van Til.  Deedlow is another guy that I just don't understand and totally cannot relate to one iota.

Did I miss anyone?

Bill Nangle is an idiot, 5/20/2013 edition

The Times Bill Nangle is now saying that Lake County Democrats need to be RESPONSIBLE with all the new money they've stolen from us taxpayers.

This guy is seriously delusional.  How do you explain this?

Scheub and those with an anti attitude need to shed their negativity and join those with a positive and progressive outlook. 

Millions upon millions of dollars are about to be handed the Lake County Council as a result of the income tax. While open and serious discussion needs to be held on how to spend the money, I hope it will be in a civil manner. 

Spending the money in a thoughtful, necessary way is a must. I can assure you The Times will be watching how every dime is spent.

No, Billy.  The Times cannot be trusted to "watch how every dime is spent", because the Times is part of the machine that is spending the money.  With it's "One Region" syndicate, the Times steamrolls all opposition to its schemes.

The money should not be spent, because those spending it cannot be trusted.  What needs to happen is that those of us in the citizenry need to stand up and demand that every dollar raised in income tax go to lower property tax by an exactly equal amount.  No increase in spending, then we don't need to worry about Lake County Democrats stealing the money.  It is that simple.

Lake County Democrats are already looking for new revenue

The Lake County Income Tax is not enough.  That is the message that Rich James is delivering for the Lake County Democrat party, for which he is a mouthpiece and well compensated for.

I don't care what Rich James says, the only way a convention center should happen is if those who will benefit from one pay for it themselves.  The poor schmuck taking his family out to eat once in a blue moon should not be burdened with the ambitions of Rich James and anyone like him.  He has no right to decide that for anyone else.

Besides the food and beverage tax, look for Lake County Democrats to push for a wheel tax and increased income taxes.  After all, "every other county has one".

Van Til Walking up to courthouse to be taken into custody

That is his favorite sweater vest.  Did you guys notice that it was 90 degrees out today?  Why is George so cold?

In other news, he plead not guilty and will go to trial.

The King of Lake County: Tom Dabertin

Debertin is out as Mayor McCheeze's chief of staff.

He still has a $50,000 consulting contract with Hammond (laundered through the Sanitary District) to figure out how to bail out College Bound (Dave Hein's favorite welfare program, from what I hear).

So... how much money exactly does Dabertin make "consulting" to Lake County government?  He is the "human resources director" for the county, and does something else down there as well, right?  Anything else?

Are there no other competent people in Lake County?

I do have to say, Dabertin sounds intelligent when he comes on WDEM.  The same can't be said for Dumbass Buncich.

As for Mayor McCheeze's chief of staff making $94k, interesting that this article came out AFTER the income tax vote.

Is Dominguez going to run for Sheriff again?

Who is more incompetent than both Gerry Scheub and Dumbass Buncich?  Only one man, Former Democrat Lake County Sheriff Roy Dominguez.

Allegedly, if you add up all the costs due to mismanagement at the jail under Dominguez's watch, it adds up to $22 million.

The rumor going around is that Dominguez is running for Sheriff again.  This surprised me, I thought that he had to take 2 election cycles off before he ran again (like Dumbass Buncich did).

BTW, I heard Dumbass Buncich on with JED the other day, must have been Wednesday.  He sounds even stupider than he looks.

Should e911 equipment be competitively bid?

You would THINK that the answer would have to be yes, but you would be wrong.

I like this:

Munster Police Chief Steve Scheckel responded officials spent the better part of a year setting up a bidding process, but the commissioners' former consultants so mismanaged the process they had to cancel it. He said to restart would delay selecting a vendor until the fall, and the county could risk missing the state consolidation deadline.

Lake County Democrat incompetence rears its ugly head yet again.  Who did that consultant work for, again?  Gerry Scheub, I believe.  Yet another thing Gerry fucked up.

With that said, the State of Indiana has a program, very similar to the Munster laptops, where they pre-negotiate with a preferred vendor and get a very good rate for the equipment, one that is close to what you would get in a competitive bidding situation.  In this case, it is Motorola.

The story says that 15 of the municipalities already use Motorola equipment.  That begs the question of if any of that equipment can be reused, and if not, why not.

Why are Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond's Property Tax rates so high?

I have asked the question about why the north Lake County city tax rates are so high when we all have 1/2/3 tax caps.  Why have a tax rate higher than 3% if nobody pays it?

I graphed property taxes vs. assessments for the 3 cities, plus Merrillville, Schneider and St. John Township.  As you can see, in the Lake County cities, with their low assessments, there is a cliff from when your assessment exceeds the mortgage and homestead deduction ($48,000) and when the tax caps finally kick in (around $100k).

Seeing as how most property in these cities is less than $100k, a lot of people do pay higher taxes than they would if the tax was only 3% (Schneider is slightly over 3%).  They do make money by having their taxes higher, irrespective of gaming the tax caps and the income tax distribution, but not a lot of money.

I think there needs to be a maximum property tax rate in Indiana, and it needs to be something like 3.5%.  If you are losing 50% of your levy to the tax caps, something needs to be done!

Tom McDermott, Gerry Scheub, Dumbass Buncich, and all the other D's must be shitting themselves

It is well known that George Van Til has a file cabinet full of "dirt" on various officials in Lake County.  I have it on good authority that he has told people that he is not going down alone.

The big powers in Lake County have to be shitting themselves tonight.  In particular, whatever deal Tom McDermott tried to cut with Christine Cid and did with Mike "The Flipper" Wepay is going to give him some sleepless nights.

Van Til under indictment!

Watching live stream of federal indictment of Van Til.

They got him campaigning on public time with county property.  Nothing on the bid rigging stuff that I dragged up and provided to the FBI.

The interesting thing about all this is that the FBI out of Indianapolis is behind this indictment.  There was no local FBI presence at this press conference.

Is the Merrillville FBI office compromised with Lake County Democrats?  This was highly unusual.

Is Democrat Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott going to resign?

I've speculated that McDermott will cut a deal with the Feds to resign in return for not being prosecuted, the same deal that former Gary Mayors Scott King and Rudy Clay are reputed to have gotten.

The rumor going around now is that McDermott is going to Washington D.C. to be a lobbyist.  That makes absolutely no sense to me, but that's what is going around.

One has to speculate that some deal was cut between McDermott and Repay to get Repay to flip.  Does Repay want to be appointed Mayor when McDermott resigns?  Somebody should ask them.

Did Rich James get fired from the Times?

Total speculation here, but I'm wondering if Rich James was fired from the Times.  His latest column was pulled (the one where he defends Repay), it is no longer available online.

James is a Democrat mouthpiece hack, we can only pray that the Times canned him.  That would be cosmic justice.

Democrat Lake County Commissioner Gerry Scheub quits Democrat Central Committee

What is going on here?

Scheub is PISSED at Repay and McDermott.  He feels betrayed by Repay, and that McDermott engineered this income tax, including Repay's flip flop.

I kind of ticks me off that Scheub says that Democrats are, "the party of the people".  As I have said before, this is not 1938 and Tom McDermott is not FDR.  The Democrats are not, "the party of the people", they are the party of big government, which this income tax fiasco has shown for all to see.

Is Disgraced Democrat Lake County Surveyor George Van Til about to get his just desserts?

There will be federal indictments today.  Who will be indicted?

We can always hope that it's Van Til, but I am skeptical.

You know what's funny?  Democrat Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott said last Friday that the days of corruption in the Democrat party were in the distant past.  What planet is this guy from?  Does he not know Tom Philpot, George Pabey, and Al Salinas?