"No county shall subscribe for stock in any incorporated company, unless the same be paid for at the time of such subscription; nor shall any county loan its credit to any incorporated company, nor borrow money for the purpose of taking stock in any such company; nor shall the General Assembly ever, on behalf of the State, assume the debts of any county, city, town, or township; nor of any corporation whatever."
-- excerpt read from The Indiana Constitution
There's a new blog in town published by 23 year old student, Matthew Stone, that I would like you to bookmark and add to your blog rolls. His grandfather, Gordon Gilmore once sat on the city council. The kid blew me away last night when he stood before the city council committee and read the rule of law to them directly from the Indiana Constitution, which he studied upon reading Andy Horning's blog.
The entire room listened to him. I could hear them absorbing it as if it never occurred to them that what they are pushing with the CIB bailout is in direct violation of the Indiana Constitution.
Now, they voted to violate the law 20 minutes later anyway, but I'm perceptive and something sunk in just a little bit with the city's suits and the councilors in attendance. I realized that no one Matthew addressed ever bothered to read The Indiana Constitution that is their job to uphold.
I hope Matthew will continue to show up to public hearings and read the Indiana Constitution, for they are stealing the Rule of Law away from our children and it is immoral, let alone unprincipled.
We owe something to these kids. We owe them The Rule of Law and we have a moral obligation not to leave them with this mess that was started back when I was younger than Matthew.
I would like you to read his take on last night's council meeting over at the new blog, Indy Student and leave a comment or two to encourage him to keep blogging. He's got talent and moxy that is uncommon.
INDY STUDENT: City County votes against citizens, Constitution; for millionaires and taxes
--Melyssa for HFFT
4 comments:
Kudos to Mathew! With his help, we should propose an "Adopt a legislator literacy project," where earning the title "representative" requires them to READ; that to which they swear an oath and that which they sign.
Thanks, Mellysa. I've got a few ideas in my head on council related stuff, but I've also been kicking around this abandoned buildings assignment too.
I guess I'll manage my time a bit better.
Do you know of any way of looking up campaign contributions, lobbying gifts, etc... for council members? The star's database has them for state leg, but not council.
Also, any idea where I can find Ballard's old campaign commericals, particularly his anti-tax pledge?
Matthew's grandfather was a credit to Pike Township. He was a true representative of the people, caring what residents want and tending to their needs. By the way his last name was "Gilmer" not "Gilmore."
Good to see Matthew walking in his grandfather's shoes.
IS, Council campaign reports are on-line under the Clerk's Electioni Board web page. They're hard to find.
They also have to file financial disclosure statement that would list lobbying gifts, I believe over $100. They are notoriously inaccurate, i.e. many things are not reported. No one ever seems to get punished for not reporting something. The closest they came was Monroe Gray in 2007, and it wasn't much of a punishment he received...just a reprimand as I recall.
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