Where There's Smoke

Wonder what the flap over an e-mail sent by four Zionsville town council members to the Boone County Commissioners is all about?

Maybe nothing, but again maybe there's smoke, and where there's smoke there's fire.

At the June 6 council meeting when it came time to allow the public an opportunity to address the council, Wendy Brant came forward and claimed the four councilors had violated the Indiana Open Door law.

Ms. Brant, a former Boone County commissioner, is no stranger to the issue of transparency in government. She was president of the Indiana Coalition for Open Government, and testified at the state legislature for the Public Access Counselor.

Basically, the Open Door Law forbids appointed or elected members of municipalities from conducting business privately, outside of the public view.

The e-mail Brant questioned was sent by Tim Haak, council vice-president, to the Boone County Commissioners on Friday, June 3.

It stated: As members of the Zionsville Town Council we are formerly requesting that you table the Ford Road bridge agenda item from your meeting Monday, June 6th. Zionsville is currently updating our Transportation Plan and the proposed bridge replacement plays an integral role in this update. We feel that the item warrants more discussion between the Zionsville Town Council and the Boone County Commissioners and we would like to formally meet to discuss further.
It was signed by Haak, Steve Mundy, Jeff Papa, and Candace Ulmer.
Zionsville Town Council

Ironically, it was Ulmer who on June 1 asked the commissioners to be on the June 6 meeting agenda to express her opinion about the Ford Road bridge, and request that the commissioners delay signing an agreement to proceed with construction of a new structure.

As reported in the Zionsville Star June 9 edition of the Indianapolis Star, "Brant said the four council members made a decision as a majority of the seven-member council outside the public view, challenging them otherwise to identify what public meeting or where in meeting records the issue was discussed and decided. Official action, under the law, includes to 'make decisions or take final action.' ''

Council president Matt Price, and council members Art Harris and Valerie Swack were not copied on the e-mail. Harris and Swack said they were unaware of the correspondence. Unlike the other four councilors, Price, Harris and Swack are not seeking election in November.

Haak, Mundy and Papa defended their action, Papa the most testily during an exchange with Brant. Papa argued that because the county commissioners did not take any action concerning the bridge there was no violation of the law.

But, the commissioners did take an action about the bridge, delaying further discussion until the July meeting. That action came about when Jeff Wolfe, president of the Board of Commissioners, asked for the delay.

What the four councilors seem to avoid here, is that the four of them formally requested the commissioners to take an action, and the violation is because they did not decide this in a public forum, and consequently there was no record of what they did.

Papa can huff and puff all he wants about the timing of the e-mail, and the urgency of contacting the commissioners, but Ulmer was already on the commissioners' agenda, so why didn't the four amigos let her carry the message from Garcia?

MIBOR Buying the Zionsville Election

It's deja vu all over again - MIBOR trying to buy the Zionsville Town Council election as it did in 2007.

So far, MIBOR, the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors, has dumped $7,200 into the coffers of six candidates of the Citizen's for a Better Zionsville PAC slate.

In 2007, by the spring filing, they had spent only $3000.

And the proof is in the campaign expense reports which shows how deep some candidates for the Zionsville Town Council are into MIBOR pockets; and wonder why?

Namely - Jeff Papa, Candace Ulmer, Elizabeth Hopper, Tim Haak, Tom Schuler, all of whom have been endorsed by MIBOR, which is concentrating solely on the Zionsville races among all the donut counties.

And, what's the tab?

According to the reports of receipts and expenses on file with the Boone County Clerk's office for political campaigns during the period ending April 15 here's who got what from the MIBOR Political Action Committee:

Tim Haak $1,052; Jeff Pappa, $1,500; Candace Ulmer, $1,121; Elizabeth Hopper, $966, and Tom Schuler, $1,069; Susana Duarte de Suarez, $1,500. None was reported for Steve Mundy.

MIBOR helped host a fundraiser on April 30th for the Move Zionsville slate after the filing deadline. The real big money reports come in the next filing. Unfortunately it's after the May primary when the Fat Lady's done singing.

Other contributors to Move Zionsville candidates by candidate are:

Ulmer:
Elizabeth Mueller, spouse of Zionsville Parks board member Steve Mueller, $200
Allan Rachles, Zionsville Plan Commission chairman, $200
Dan Montgomery and Andrea Montgomery, of Montgomery Aviation, $200. The Montgomerys, who are the operators of Indianapolis Executive Airport, were significant contributors to Ulmer's campaign for Union Township trustee.

Haak:
Matt Price, Zionsville Town Council president, $500.
Allan Rachles, $200.
Baker & Daniels, Indianapolis law firm, $250.

Jeff Pappa:
Andrea Montgomery, of Montgomery Aviation, operator of the former Terry Airport that Betty Lee Cooper gave away when she was a county comissioner, $200:
Brett Swanson, Zionsville, $325

Susana Suarez:
Allan Rachles, $200
Andrea Montgomery, $200
Javier Ortiz, Atlanta, Ga.,$300
Maribeth Smith, Indianapolis event planner, $500
Bret Swanson, Zionsville, $380

Elizabeth Hopper:
Larry Mackey, (Barnes & Thornburg attorney) Indianapolis, $500
Robert Grand (Barnes & Thornburg Managing Partner), Indianapolis, $250
Jefffery Qualkinbush (Barnes & Thornburg Attorney), Zionsville, $200

Tom Schuler:
Pamela Cutcliff, Zionsville, $200
Debbie Ungar, Zionsville, $300

The other candidates - Tom Santelli, Steve Schanke, Wendy Brant, David Brown, Chris Brooke, Pete Hawryluk, and Marty Thompson - were not endorsed, nor did any of them receive any contributions from MIBOR. Thompson and Brown received no major contributions to report.

Their significant individual contributors were:

Tom Santelli:
Elizabeth Johnson, Zionsville, $300
James Baumgardt, Zionsville, $500
Johnny Johnson, Zionsville, $300

Wendy Brant:
Charles Eaton, Boone County commissioner, $250
Russell Fortune III, Indianapolis, $5,000
Elizabeth Johnson, Zionsville, $300
John Holliday, Zionsville, $500
John Johnson, Zionsville, $300
Welton (Art) Harris, Zionsville Town Council member, $300
James Baumgardt, Zionsville, $500

Chris Brooke:
Michael & Jean Lisch, Zionsville, $1,000

Pete Hawryluk:
Jim Baumgardt, Zionsville, $500
Johnny Johnson, Zionsville, $300

Unfortunately for the voters, the next campaign reports come after April 15 and post primary when the big money will roll in for the fancy yard signs and phone banks.

Remember in 2007 when the challengers each spent an average of $20,000 to buy the council seats, which pays $5,000 a year.

Get the picture folks? Pay to play - but at you're expense - more housing that doesn't pay for schools.

It's Spring - Snakes Are Shedding

It's Spring when snakes, and politicians facing elections shed their skins.

In Zionsville, with the primary weeks away, two Town Council members - Steve Mundy and Jeff Papa - never put in office by the electorate - have cast off their disguises.

Papa was the only candidate before a Republican caucus, called to replace Judith Essex who resigned. Essex had been the Eagle Township trustee and became an adjunct council member with the passage of the consolidated government ordinance.

Mundy, a retired human resources employee at Eli Lilly & Co., came to the council when Michelle Barrett abruptly resigned because of an overload of domestic responsibilities.

Papa, an attorney for the Indiana Senate, had been a member of the committee which put together the nuts and bolts of the consolidation and was sphinx-like throughout the process. According to the Indiana Economic Digest, at $153,000 a year Papa has the "highest salary in the legislative branch and in the top 20 of all state employees."

Soon after taking his council seat, Mundy set out ingratiating himself to the two factions on the council. His HR approach was atypical, "Some of my colleagues are for it, and some of my colleagues are against it, and I'm for my colleagues.''

But, now Papa and Mundy have joined the pro-development slate being engineered once again by Chad Pittman, who gave you Matt Price, Tim Haak, and Barrett in 2007.

But, Pittman is in the shadows this time around and has his company commander, Doug Rapp, fronting the Citizens for a Better Zionsville, a political action committee formed by Pittman in 2007 to swell the coffers of the Pittman slate.

In a Zionsville Times -Sentinel article of Feb. 5, 2007 entitled , "Fighting for Hope," it states that Pittman started Citizens for a Better Zionsville and outlines how the Pittman and Rapp served in the military together.

Coincidentally, of the $25,500 raised by the CBZ in that election cycle, only 4.6% came from actual Zionsville residents. The vast majority of the cash came from law firms, corporations or individuals in Marion and Hamilton counties engaged in the development industry.

The probable reason for Pittman's disappearing act is that any engagement in politics could jeopardize his position in state government.

But, that doesn't stop Capt. Pittman from hosting a fund raiser on May 13 in the Mayfield cabin at his residence on Ind. 334. In an email circulating around town, invitees are asked to "Move Forward Together" and join Larry Mitchell (past MIBOR president), Mark Plassman (Tim Haak's brother in-law), Heather Gallagher (Judith Essex's daughter) and Chad Sweeney (appointed to the EDC) and Citizens for a Better Zionsville to meet the candidates.

Pittman's stake in the Town Council is development-related, and what he didn't get accomplished during the first term of his hand-picked council, he'll get this election cycle.

For how the new Zionsville Transportation Plan would have been a bonanza for Pittman Enterprises, stay tuned.

Mundy joining town council

Steve Mundy was the only applicant for the open District 5 seat on the Zionsville Town Council, after Michelle Barrett resigned early this month.

In case you're not from Zionsville or have been exploring the Andes the last few weeks, Barrett resigned to, purportedly, concentrate on family and personal matters. However, it came out in the newspapers and on Internet blogs that Barrett may have been having an affair with Matt Price, the council president.

Price denied those allegations at the April council meeting and said he was staying on the board. But perhaps more telling, Barrett's husband, Brian, filed for divorce not long after. Rumor has it that Brian has not been taking the news well, even ripping off Barrett's distinctive "peace sign" decal from the back of her red van.

Anyhow, with Barrett's resignation, a seat on the council opened up, which Mundy will fill after going through a ceremonial caucus later this week. How Mundy fits on the current council will be very interesting over the next couple of months. The current factions on the council were Price, Barrett, Tim Haak, Candace Ulmer and Judith Essex v. Art Harris and Valerie Swack.

Mundy, who is also on the town plan commission, seems to be respected by all in Zionsville, and it's interesting that Chad Pittman or some other influential citizen didn't put any candidates forward. Sources have said the Metropolitan Indianapolis Board of Realtors or the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis were looking for a candidate, but obviously didn't come up with one in time.

Someone named Mark Thompson apparently expressed interest, but didn't live in the required precincts for the District 5 seat. Not much is known about that gentleman.

If Mundy sides with Swack and Harris on issues, it could lead to more conflict, though Price & Company would still have the 4-3 advantage for official votes. There have been whispers that Price may still resign at some point in the near future, that he only stayed on to dispel the affair in the short term.

Nevertheless, it will be interesting in Z'ville, as it tends to be.

That's all for now, readers. See you next time...off the record, on the QT, and very hush-hush....

-David Drexel