N&T: Our System is not "Busted" and Race is not the Reason for Low Racial Diversity

Monday Morning. 7:45am. 2/25/19.

I just walked into my office after starting a pot of coffee. The smell of fresh ground coffee beans fills the air as the sound of the hot, brown water starts to fill the coffee pot.

As I often do, I bring up the News & Tribune website to browse the latest local headlines. Today's have me tilting my head and wondering how these two articles land on the front page. The only thing I can think of is the N&T sowing the seeds of liberalism by misrepresenting the facts with one sided opinions. 

With that, I will offer a different set of opinions. 

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Dan Canon says local politics is "busted"

Dale Moss wrote this piece about how Dan Canon thinks local politics is busted. He can't seem to figure out why he lost. In the article he is quoted saying:

"I went into it, from day one, to represent people against power..."

Let's think on that for a moment; people against power. What does that even mean? As I read through the entire piece, the only thing that jumps out at me is that this guys just doesn't get it. We don't live in a dictatorship. We live in a republic where we democratically elect our representatives. If you are working against the people in power, you are working against the majority of your neighbors who took part in a fair election. 

What Dan Canon stands for is everything wrong with our system, not the other way around. He simply wants to oppose the majority with "HIS" vision, not support "OUR" vision. 

Dan lost because he is only interested in the few, not the all. Dan lost because he ran a campaign of attacking his opponent. He lost because he just doesn't understand the simple life lesson that you will catch more bees with sugar.

So here we are, almost as year after he lost in the primary. He is still complaining about things being "busted". It's not busted. It is working exactly how it was meant to work. Change is slow. If he wants to change things, then maybe he needs to go about doing it a different way, be an educator. Honestly, the way he is currently going about getting people to support him is "busted".

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Low Diversity in Government

The next head scratcher is talking about how there is low racial diversity in local government. Oookkkaaayyyyy……..

On a date in early February, there is a filing deadline. People show up at an office and fill out a piece of paper to run for an office. They check box to show which political party they are with, where they live and such. Then in May, those who identify with the beliefs of that political party elect which from the group of candidates they want to run against the other political parties in November. In November, everyone comes out to vote for the ones they think will represent them the best. Some vote for a party while other for the person in each race.

Here's the key to all of this; there is low diversity in local government because very few people who may be from a (insert diversity) diverse background sign up to run for the office.

The even bigger thing to consider is not just who is running, but is that person running actually capable of being that elected representative? Just because they come from a specific type of labeled minority does not mean that diversity is an automatic license to know all things or be all things. 

Here is why I say that... Shawn Carruthers was elected in a community that arguably has the highest concentration of affluent, white people in this part of Southern Indiana. Do you know why they elected him? It's because of what he stood for. It's because he's a good man. It's because his message resonated with more people than his opponent. He didn't win the race because of race. He won the race because the people who elected him believed he was the best man for the job. 

Some will say the people elected a black man over a white man. I WOULD ISSUE THIS CORRECTION: They elected one man over another man. 

Here comes a truth bomb and I WHOLEHEARTEDLY BELIEVE THIS.... Most people do not see color anymore. Those who do, seem to be the ones to make sure to call you racist for not seeing color or call you homophobic for not supporting a gay man/woman for office. 

(DISCLAIMER: Yes, there are people to judge based on race, sexual preference, etc. I contend THOSE people are the real minority, the ones who judge based on race, religion, etc...)

People vote for who they know. They vote for who will do the best job. They vote for who speaks to their topics. The people who lose are the ones who are talking about things that don't matter to the ones they are asking for votes from. The fact there is low "racial" diversity is the same reason there is low "sexual preference" diversity, low "religious" diversity, low "gender" diversity, low "educational" diversity, low "insert diversity" diversity. 

In reality, those diverse people who could be a great candidate are not filing to run for office. If they are, and they don't win, I contest it's not because of (insert) diversity, it's because they weren't the best person for the job. If they were, then they did a poor job of getting people behind them which coincidentally is a key part of being an effective office holder. 

And again, this is all another reason our system is not "busted". 

What do you think?

Do you have the scoop?

Let us know in the comments below.

What's in Store for 2019?

2019 Will Be, Should Be Fun!

It's local election time for Southern Indiana. What a fun time this will be to see how all the local races shake out!

Let's start with the Mayor Races.
In Charlestown, Mayor Hall has been trying to clean up his city. While no one can argue his intentions, his methods have raised lots of eyebrows and attracted national attention, but not in a good way. i.e. Pleasant Ridge.

I've been hard pressed to find anyone outside of the residents of Pleasant Ridge who doesn't think the temporary housing units of WW2 have outlived their intended life. I was extremely surprised when Indiana Landmarks jumped in to help save them. If you've never been there, take a drive and form your own opinion. I do know that before Mayor Hall jumped in on this area, it accounted for proximately 80% of all crime activity in the City.

Moving forward, Mayor Hall has to face former Democrat turned Trump Republican David Abbott. Dave is the classic run for everything politician. I honestly don't think Dave has a shot. Once past Dave, Mayor Hall will face newcomer ultra-liberal Treva Hodges. She has no shot in my opinion as she is way to left leaning for such a rural community.


In New Albany, Mayor Gahan has a very real challenger in David White who came close to knocking him off in the last cycle. The question is, how much has Mayor Gahan done and will the baggage of some of his administration be used against him?

On the Republican side, longtime County Commissioner Mark Seabrook has finally stepped up to actually file to run for Mayor. The real and honest question I've been hearing from both sides of the isle is, does he still have the health to work a campaign and has he passed his prime?

While he has been in county politics for what seems like forever, no one really knows what his platform is. I heard one of his campaign representatives say recently he is "currently listening to what the people want." For someone who has been involved as much as he has not to have at least a handful foundational policy stances is a little bit concerning. So far, I'm not really impressed and think Councilman Al Knable would have made a better Mayoral candidate to over come the left leaning city of New Albany.


In Jeffersonville, there's going to be a replay of the past with the exception of role reversal: Former Mayor Galligan Vs. Mayor Moore. Mayor Moore is riding high on the growth of business and infrastructure improvements throughout the city. Former Mayor Galligan is running out of spite the best I can tell. Maybe he's mad about the canal, maybe it's because he's bored, who knows.

I don't think and haven't heard of anyone else jumping in on this race so we will have to wait to see things heat up as we approach November. One thing is for certain, the closer to November we get, the more fireworks we will see in this race. If you want my opinion, TG would've been better off not throwing the hat in on this. I personally think he's going to embarrass himself. Barring some major unearthed scandal out of the Mayor Moore camp, I cannot think of a single person who can realistically give Mayor Moore a real contest.


Council races across the region: There hasn't been many surprises so far but we are still a week out from the filing deadline. I'll withhold my complete thoughts until after. The two interesting in-district primary contests so far will be Bill Burns taking on Ed Z in Jeffersonville and Scott McVoy taking on Martina Webster in Sellersburg.

What are your thoughts?

Do you have the scoop?

Put them in the comments below!

Take Your Ball and Stay Home

"Honestly, it's a bit of a relief that I didn't win because going up to Indianapolis all the time was going to be a huge hassle and take a lot more time away from my family. Now I will have many fewer worries and obligations than I would have if I won. On top of all that, I knew that I wouldn't realistically be able to accomplish much in Indianapolis, especially since we only won one other seat in the Senate. I may have had a slight impact, but there is still an overwhelming Republican super majority, so all of the additional effort for me to be in Indianapolis would ultimately not create much real change. So there is definitely a silver lining to losing. Freedom."

-Anna Murray

So here we are, post election. I've been sitting back watching all the former candidates. Some of them are now "office-elect" and others are just former candidates. So far most have been gracious with the exception of two. Anna by far is the biggest disappointment in how she's handled herself. 

Above is from a public Facebook post she made on November 8th. Such a let down. What a slap in the face to all that supported her. 

"...relief I didn't win..."??? 

For a person to come off after an election where she so humbly asked for people to support her only to find out she didn't want to be there in the first place is truly a let down. I respect anyone who puts themselves in a position to hold office but complaining about what it would've been like to have won is not the kind of people we need to have in office. 

I compare it to the person who shows up to work everyday pissed off they are there. They are always negative, disconnected, and always place blame on others. Not to mention they have no allies to work with and are generally ineffective. 

I think Southern Indiana as well as our state dodged a bullet by not electing Anna to the Senate. Let's hope she stays away although rumor has it she is looking at running for a local office. Mark my words, if she does and manages to get elected, her mark on our community will not be a positive one.

What do you think?

Do you have the scoop?

Put it in the comments below.