One of the better things the Fishers Town Council does (and I have often been critical of them) is to hold regular council meetings in the evenings. They also live stream the regular council meetings from the town website, and council minutes are also available in a pretty timely manner.
They do not however, routinely allow citizen comment on anything other than those things legally required to be open to public hearing, such as budgets and annexations. Many other units of government DO allow, within reasonable limits, citizen comments. Some even have a short "open mike" period for citizens to raise issues, or to praise something good.
As Fishers transitions from "town" to "city", I would urge the local government to be receptive to more citizen involvement and comment. A good way to start would be the "open mike" suggestion, and citizen involvement in the transition to becoming a City, such as citizens being involved in drawing the new council districts, something the current council members are WAY too personally interested in.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Charlie White sues Carl Brizzi
According to this article in The Indiana Lawyer just published, defrocked Secretary of State Charlie White has sued the attorney who defended him in his vote fraud trial, former Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi, alleging legal malpractice.
It should be recalled that Brizzi rested the defense without presenting witnesses, a common defense tactic used to test the legal sufficiency of the State's case. The jury convicted White of 6 out of 7 felony charges, and he appealed. However, White later dropped the appeal, pursuing instead a "post conviction relief" action in Hamilton County alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and selective prosecution. That matter is scheduled to be heard August 15th.
Brizzi has recently been the subject of another malpractice suit by a high-profile client who was a public officeholder (as stated in the article) plus he has been implicated in a bribery charge by his former deputy, David Wyser, who is under Federal charges and has reached an agreement to testify against Brizzi.
It is not known at this time how Brizzi's problems will help White in his efforts to get his felony convictions overturned. One of the issues that keeps popping up in my mind is that White, also an attorney, would have had to agree to Brizzi's strategy of not putting on witnesses. But we will see how that plays out in Court.
The never-ending saga of Charlie White. Stay tuned.
It should be recalled that Brizzi rested the defense without presenting witnesses, a common defense tactic used to test the legal sufficiency of the State's case. The jury convicted White of 6 out of 7 felony charges, and he appealed. However, White later dropped the appeal, pursuing instead a "post conviction relief" action in Hamilton County alleging ineffective assistance of counsel and selective prosecution. That matter is scheduled to be heard August 15th.
Brizzi has recently been the subject of another malpractice suit by a high-profile client who was a public officeholder (as stated in the article) plus he has been implicated in a bribery charge by his former deputy, David Wyser, who is under Federal charges and has reached an agreement to testify against Brizzi.
It is not known at this time how Brizzi's problems will help White in his efforts to get his felony convictions overturned. One of the issues that keeps popping up in my mind is that White, also an attorney, would have had to agree to Brizzi's strategy of not putting on witnesses. But we will see how that plays out in Court.
The never-ending saga of Charlie White. Stay tuned.
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