In the interest of full disclosure, I work for MySmartGov.org, a bipartisan group dedicated to promoting the Kernan-Shepard recommendations and making local government more efficient.

I was talking to a Republican friend yesterday who was extolling the benefits seizing “classy” moments in politics. We were in total agreement.

That doesn’t mean avoiding rough-and-tumble campaigning or backing off your goals, but when you have an opportunity to, as Mama Wags would say, “do the right thing,” you do it.

Mayor Greg Ballard and former Mayor Bart Peterson get big “classy” points for coming together today to support the elimination of township assessors.

Now, I wouldn’t be a partisan hack if I didn’t give Peterson way more “classy” points. He is, after all, going to be standing next to the guy who unexpectedly beat him last year.

And there are plenty of old-timey Democrats who are not-so-quietly griping about his support for new-fangled, efficient government that will severely dent the political patronage system both parties have relied on for decades. (If we’ve learned anything from Barack Obama, who kicked lobbyists to the curb and raised boatloads of money from average Americans, it’s that you can change the way things have always been by inspiring people who thought there was no reason to care.)

Peterson believed in this cause when he was Mayor, and he believes in it now. He pushed several times for consolidation at the Statehouse, and he managed to make significant changes at the local level that saved taxpayers millions and made government more accountable.

I’m no fan of Ballard, who has been wholly unimpressive in what will soon be his first year as the city’s leader, but he should get props aplenty for continuing Peterson’s efforts. Heck, it might even be the start of a long-overdue vision for the next three years, an issue he could partner with Mitch Daniels on at the Statehouse.

I’m sure there will be folks who ask, “Whose idea was this? Who approached whom to get these two guys behind the same lectern?”

The answer is a rarity in politics: You’ve got two people from opposite sides of the aisle who truly, honestly and passionately believe in and are willing to fight for one issue.

That — and the ballot referendum they’re coming together to promote — is something we should all vote “yes” on.

The following excerpts are taken from the Indianapolis Star. Perhaps if Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard had read them before promising to cut $70 million in “fluff” from the city budget, he wouldn’t have made that promise in the first place. The budget he inherited has been slashed to the max. Now what?

After being criticized for exaggerating a series of proposed spending cuts, Mayor Bart Peterson has responded with a series of new cuts in virtually every city department.

The mayor’s office announced $9.1 million in cost-saving measures Friday. That figure is significant because it surpasses the $8.7 million in accounting changes that Peterson touted as part of a budget-tightening package last week.

- August 2, 2003

Mayor Bart Peterson will propose sweeping changes to city and county government today in a plan that would expand his powers, create a new police force, merge fire departments and abolish most township offices.

The plan, which includes the most comprehensive changes suggested for Indianapolis and Marion County government since the creation of Uni-Gov 34 years ago, is needed to avoid “massive tax increases” and layoffs, Peterson said.

Besides increasing efficiency and making the mayor more accountable, the city estimates the proposal could save local taxpayers $35 million annually — more than 4 percent of all city and county spending.

- August 2, 2004

Unveiling a sweeping plan to trim government spending by $28 million, Mayor Bart Peterson announced Wednesday a series of budget cuts that range from reducing the police force to closing city pools early this summer.

For most residents, the changes will be subtle, but the long-term effect could eat deep into the core of the state’s largest city and erode a quality of life that has thrived for decades.

“Some of the shine and some of the polish is going to go off our city,” Peterson said. “It’s going to be a little duller, and it’s going to be a little less nice. If that goes on for four or five years, people start to notice.”

- June 30, 2005

“We’re trying to avoid draconian cuts,” city Controller Bob Clifford said. “But the echo effect of this is tremendous.”

Mayor Bart Peterson already ordered $13 million in cuts that will carry through to next year.

Additional cuts will be made with the latest shortfall announcement.

During Peterson’s eight years in office, the city and county budget has gone from $724 million to $1.04 billion, an increase of 44 percent.

- Aug. 1, 2007

But Peterson has put most of that increase into crime-fighting efforts. Public safety and criminal justice spending increased 88 percent in the city and county over that period. Other spending under his authority, other than debt service, largely has declined or stayed flat.

- Oct. 21, 2007

“There’s fat in there to be cut,” Ballard said. “(Peterson) has a record of putting a lot of taxes on people, and that’s not the way I’d like to do business.”

- Nov. 3, 2007

Ballard on Monday declined to reveal any more details about how his budget will make up for lost property tax revenues or fulfill his campaign promise to cut $70 million in “fluff” in three years, aside from spending cuts of nearly $8 million so far this year.

“We’re not looking at stopping what’s already been promised, but we are looking at doing things differently and finding new revenue streams,” Ballard said.

- July 29, 2008

Property tax reform is now the law of land. Governor Mitch Daniels this week signed a bill cutting property taxes on average by 30-percent. But one remaining question is who should get the most credit?When deciding who gets the most credit for property tax reform there is no short list of candidates. Governor Daniels wrote the original plan that cut and capped your taxes. Republican State Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville guided it through the legislature. Democrat House Speaker Pat Bauer made sure it passed through his chamber. But the one person who should get the most credit for this sweeping reform is former Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson.When the tax bills hit last year and the voters took to the streets, a lot of lawmakers were a little concerned, but figured it would all blow over. It blew over alright. It blew a two-term incumbent with $3 million in the bank out of office. And that was the wake-up call.Both Republicans and Democrats in the Statehouse all agree that had Bart Peterson not lost, there’s no way we would have the sweeping tax reform the Governor signed. When they saw Peterson lose to a guy nobody knew at the time, everybody found religion that day.

I know the headline may be a bit much, but I think it is relevant. A lot of us have been trying to figure out why in a Democrat-leaning County a Republican beat a two-term incumbent. Since Tuesday I’ve discovered that a number of Black pastors told their flocks to stay home on Election Day. This would explain why in many areas of town where Democrats were counting on heavier voter turnout, it never materialized. Even the polls showed a significant number of Black voters still undecided about whom to vote for. So instead of voting for Greg Ballard, they stayed home. I am not surprised at this.

Conventional wisdom dictates that for any Democrat to win elected office , they need 90 percent of the Black vote. Anything less and the odds favor the Republican. In the case at hand, the relationship between the Black clergy and Bart Peterson was strained at best. Particularly last summer when the pastors went to the Mayor asking for help in raising money for crime prevention programs and were told in so many words to “get lost.” The relationship improved somewhat over time, but apparently it was not enough in the long run. Now a lot of Democrats will have plenty of time to think about this and ask for forgiveness.

There are a few items from around town today that are worth mentioning…

What Property Tax Relief?

State Senator Luke Kenley tells me he hopes to have a list of recommendations to reform Indiana’s property tax system by the middle of November. One recommendation that won’t be on that list is the elimination of property taxes. Kenley says he doesn’t think it’s feasible to eliminate property taxes because all it will do is increase other taxes (sales, income). Kenley says he would like to cut local property taxes by 50 percent. Part of that would involve the state picking up some of the taxing authority, but also shifting the burden to other local taxes. Kenley says it’s best to keep the taxes at the local level because that is where the most accountability is. He also says he wants a more uniform system of tax assessment which translates into one assessor per county. He also wants to look at a local government circuit breaker that would cap tax increases and limit the rate of growth of local government.

First the Client, Now the Lawyer

City-County Council Republican leader Phil Borst says his party is not playing politics by filing an ethics complaint with the Indiana Supreme Court against Council attorney Aaron Haith. Borst along with several other Republicans filed the complaint saying Haith blocked and ethics investigation of Council President Monroe Gray as Council attorney, but Haith is also Gray’s private attorney who has represented him in some of the matters, which are the subject of the investigation. Borst says he did not want to file the complaint, but the integrity of the Council must be protected. He said he was going to file a compliant back in March, but decided against it. But since then, Borst says, there have been six to eight incidents where Haith has had a conflict of interest and willfully and purposely disobeyed city rules. If the Supreme Court’s disciplinary commission agrees to hear the matter and Haith is found to have acted unethically, he could be suspended or disbarred from practicing law. The Supreme Court disciplined Haith back in 2001 for unprofessional conduct concerning previous convictions for driving while intoxicated.

The Great (sort of) Debate, Part III

I watched the third Mayoral debate Sunday between incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson and challenger Greg Ballard. Neither candidate gave a real convincing performance nor said anything groundbreaking. It must have been the fact that it was Sunday morning and they were out partying on Saturday night. At least I hope so, because that would be an excuse I could live with.