Not to disagree with my dear friend Abdul, but I think the City-County Council Democrats have hit on a great issue with which to assail Mayor Greg Ballard, who proclaimed himself the King Of Public Safety when he was running his simultaneously reckless and clueless campaign last year.

Ballard promised more cops. His biggest campaign pledge was to take over the police department from Sheriff Frank Anderson. He pledged to make our streets safer.

The only one of those things he’s accomplished was a bureaucratic, administrative move that hasn’t left us any safer.

The call boxes along the Monon were broken for months. It took several people getting attacked before the City did something. People are still being killed in our streets, but Ballard is now claiming he’s unable to fulfill his pledge to fund more officers.

He can play the blame game, but the bottom line is that he’s Mayor, and he can’t keep his promises. (Any of them, for the record, but let’s just talk about public safety for the time being.)

Council Democrats get a big thumbs up for holding Ballard accountable and staying on message.

Thumbs down to the dopey Republican who literally read the explanation of his vote on the budget line by line off a letter-sized piece of paper. For heaven’s sake, man, get yourself a notecard or, better yet, rehearse the party talking points in advance. Jeez.