As I sit here with martini in hand and cigar in mouth I am wondering what was going through the heads of my Democratic City-County Council friends during last night’s meeting.

Reportedly they met with County Chairman Ed Treacy prior to the Council meeting.  According to my sources, Treacy encouraged them to do what they could to slow down the budget process until November in an effort to embarrass Mayor Greg Ballard and the Republicans.

The line of attack apparently was to question a proposal that would have transferred $47 million in city funds to make up for shortfalls in a number of fund balances.  The proposal went through the Administration and Finance Committee.  Democrats questioned the move saying it went against transparency in government and circumvented the Council committee process.

I would buy that argument had Democrats not done the same thing back in 2005.  Democrats moved around $38 million to shore up multiple shortfalls and used the Administration and Finance Committee to do the exact same thing.  Both Councilors Joanne Sanders and Jackie Nytes, critics of  Monday night’s proposal, both voted for the funds transfer.

Am I the only person in this town who remembers this stuff?  I understand the Council is a political, as well as a governmental, body and politics is part of the job.  But I don’t see how my Democratic friends can take Ed Treacy’s advice in this arena and hope to accomplish anything.  All it does is feed into the dissent I keep hearing about with Treacy’s leadership of the party and the possible coup that might be coming.

Oh well, at least it will be fun to watch.

I ran into Marion County Democratic County Chairman Ed Treacy this week.  I would like to say it was a pleasant, cordial yet somewhat lively meeting. I would like to say that.

I had invited Ed on my radio program to debate GOP County Chairman Tom John on the Mayor’s budget. I never got a reponse back from the County party so when I saw Ed I told him it would have been nice for him to come on and we’d like to have him on sometime.  We probably wouldn’t have agreed on much but it would have been fun and fair. 

Ed told me he would never come on my radio program. He said he doesn’t do “entertainment shows.” And he also called the program a “POS.”  That’s a polite way of writing “piece of s****.”  

Now I was a bit taken back by Ed’s statements.  But I have to give him credit for at least being honest to my face.  I won’t hold his statements against the members of his party.  I think most of them are decent people who I just have a different philosophical perspective on how government should run.  And while we may disagree, it is a rare moment when we interact that we are disagreeable.    So they have nothing to worry about.  Ed, on the other hand, is a different story. 

Maybe Ed is starting to get up there in years and forgot one of the key jobs of a County Chairman; promote his party’s agenda.  Former Chairman Mike O’Connor would have never let an opportunity like this slip by.    Now I don’t blame Ed for not wanting to face me and engage  in a discussion.  I’d be hesitant if if I were going head-to-head with someone who was my intellectual superior.  I’d also be worried about throwing verbal grenades at someone who would just pick them up, pull the pin and throw them back.    And I’d probably sweat like a Girl Scout at R. Kelly’s house if I had to argue on the merits and couldn’t just talk out of my rear.  But oh well. 

Ed, if you ever change your mind, I’ll be more than happy to sit and talk.  The door is always open, but until then it just may feel like open season from time to time.  I miss Mike already.