FISHERS: The two questions

On the November 6 general election ballot, Fishers residents will be asked two questions that will determine Fishers' form of government.

 

The questions will appear on the ballot as follows:

1. "Shall the Town of Fishers and Fall Creek Township reorganize as a single political subdivision?" (all voters in Fall Creek Township and all incorporated voters in Delaware Township will be able to vote on this question)
2. "Shall the Town of Fishers change into a city?" (only incorporated voters in the Town of Fishers will be able to vote on this question)

The following table shows which form of government you are selecting by how you vote on questions 1 & 2:

 

Question 1	Question 2	Outcome
No	Yes	Second Class City
Yes	Yes	Reorganized City
Yes	No	Reorganized City
No	No	Remains a Town

(the above was borrowed from the Town of Fishers website, http://www.fishers.in.us/futureoffishers/)

Question No. 2 is the one that 1700 registered voters in Fishers petitioned for in May 2010, before the push to move to a "reorganization" even started, at the behest of Fishers Town Council President Scott Faultless.  Faultless sat on the "city vs town" question until the reorganization process was done, despite the fact that the pro-city petitioners asked for a vote in the November 2010 election.  

In the reorganization committee, a majority of the Fall Creek Township members voted against it.  So why is this even being considered?  Because a lame-duck meeting of the former Fall Creek Township Board, with a pro-Faultless majority, adopted it as literally their last act in December 2010.

Notwithstanding THAT, the new Township Board, with Renee Cox as President, adopted a new resolution in July 2011 backing out of the reorganization.  But the county Election Board proposes to put the reorganization question on the ballot anyway.  

This is pretty much a "shotgun wedding", with the elected representatives of Fall Creek saying they want no part of it.  There are no advantages to the merger.  This annexes all of Fall Creek Township (the part actually in Noblesville creates some problems), raises taxes, KILLS THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR A MAYOR, prevents real district voting for the council, and pretty much locks this in place for the indefinite future.

But good for the Fall Creek Township Board.  They have asked the County Election Board to hear their protest that the reorganization should not be on the ballot without their approval.  The Election Board will hear this TOMORROW MORNING, Thursday, August 30, 2012, at 8:00 a.m., in the Government Center in Noblesville.  The public is welcome.

Want to elect your Mayor?  If this reorganization stays on the ballot, you will have to vote NO and then YES.  Complicated?  Yes.  IT WAS DONE ON PURPOSE TO CONFUSE THE VOTERS and to block real representative government in Fishers.  That would disturb the ruling majority on the council too much.  

Want to help elect a Mayor?  Show up at the Election Board meeting.  Go to the CityYes website, www.CityYes.org, and sign up to help, or email them at info@CityYes.org.  Give a donation for expenses such as signs and handouts.  Host a neighborhood meeting with CityYes representatives.  Stand at a polling place on November 6th and pass out handouts.

Don't live in Fishers, but you believe in representative government?  Your help will be appreciated as well. 

Where does Mike Pence live?

Normally, politicians learn good object lessons from the misfortunes of their fellows.  Should another candidate for office experience misfortune that causes them political or personal difficulty, they often (but not always) profit from the object lesson and learn from the mistakes of others.

It seems that Congressman Mike Pence has not learned from the lessons of Dick Lugar, David McIntosh, and yes, Charlie White, as it now has come to my attention that he too may have his own residency issues.

Pence's biography on his Congressional web site says, "Congressman Pence and his wife Karen have three children and reside in Columbus, Indiana."  Other web sites have Pence and family living in a home in Arlington, Virginia. Conflicting slightly with this is Pence's campaign biography, which states, "Mike and his wife Karen have been married for 26 years, live in Columbus, Indiana, and currently rent a house in McCordsville for professional reasons."

It has been learned from reliable sources that one of Congressman Pence's children is enrolled in Hamilton Southeastern Schools in Fishers.  Presumably, that means the Pence family is actually living at the McCordsville rental in Hamilton County, which would be within the Hamilton Southeastern school district.  

The problem?  Congressman Pence is not registered to vote where he and his family appear to be living.  I have confirmed that he is registered to vote in Bartholomew County.  I have not been able to learn if the Pence family moved to Hamilton County prior to the May 2012 primary.   

As I pointed out in a prior post on former Congressman McIntosh's residency issue, Indiana law generally is that your residency for voting purposes is where your family lives.  Indiana Code 3-5-5-11 provides:

The place where a person's immediate family resides is the person's residence, unless the family's residence is: 

(1) a temporary location for the person's immediate family; or

(2) for transient purposes.

I don't know what the "professional reasons" are that Pence is claiming for renting his Hamilton County home, but it may in fact be a lot more personal, as Hamilton Southeastern Schools is one of the state's top school districts.  Quite possibly he just wants his child to attend the best possible school.

Pence has time to change his voter registration.  But like other politicos named above, he seems to think that he can play some shell game about where he lives and where he votes and play "fool the voter" and no big deal.

Pence was under attack earlier (as were Lugar and McIntosh) for really living in Virginia while in Congress for the last 12 years.  That part of the lesson he seems to have learned.  So in the meantime, welcome to my corner of Indiana to the Pence family, and let's see if this ambitious politician cleans up this mess before he gets himself into REAL trouble over this, and becomes the next Charlie White.
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NOTE:  This post has been edited at the specific request of the Pence campaign to protect the privacy of the child mentioned.  The original reference did not include the name or gender of the child, but I agreed to make the reference even more general.  Comment is being solicited from Congressman Pence and his campaign on the residency issues raised.

Gregg Donnelly Reske Open Fishers Office

The Combined Campaign of Democratic candidate for Governor John Gregg, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate Joe Donnelly and Fifth District Congressional candidate Scott Reske have opened a regional campaign office in Fishers, located in the Marsh shopping center on the northeast corner of 116th St. and Allisonville Road.  The address is 11649 Fishers Station Dr.

In 2008, Obama for America created a stir by opening a Fishers office in the same area for the primary, then again in the fall.  That was the first time a Democratic presidential candidate had opened a Hamilton County office in living memory.  Obama later opened offices in Carmel, Noblesville, and Westfield.   The Obama campaign reportedly is still considering opening a Hamilton County office this year.

Likewise this office appears to be a first for Hamilton County, long considered a Republican stronghold.  However, as I have previously noted, Hamilton County has also become attractive to Democratic statewide and Congressional candidates due to its size.   Hamilton County is capable of producing north of 40,000 votes for these candidates, which is one of the largest potential sources of Democratic votes in the state.  It is therefore a logical choice for these candidates to locate here.

I am informed that the campaigns will host regular phonebanking and canvassing from this office.  Potential volunteers are invited to stop in any day between 10 am and 8 pm.