Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 7 November 2003 — Page 8

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THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2003

EDITORIAL The people said yes to Democrats By SHANNON WILLIAMS Recorder Editor

Aftor months of campaigning, the votes have been east and the decisions have been made. Several Indianapolis Democrats proved victorious in

Tuesday's election.

Incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson beat out Greg Jordan with b.'J percent of the vote. This win, as pleasing as it is, was predicted by most. Through the end, Jordan fought a continuous fight, but neither his issues nor his lack of campaign funds were enough to oust Peterson. Another thing that really hurt Jordan was his lack of visibility in the Black community. Peterson, who has a strong African-American following has always been accessible and supportive of our community. It was Peterson's

skill, tenacity and community involvement that most Blacks had on their minds when they voted.

Over the last four years,

Peterson has done a phenomenal job of securing the city’s streets, improving schools and making • strides towards reducing the overcrowding in Marion County jails. I'm confident that Peterson will w'ork equally as hard for Indianapolis during

these next four years. Now that Peterson has

won the election, economic development will be a chief priority for him. One of the main initiatives he plans to continue

with is the expansion of Bio Crossroads, formerly the Central Indiana Life Sciences Initiative. Peterson will also increase business in Indianapolis by consulting with a new group of advisors who will aid in obtaining more long-term

employment.

Abandoned houses is something that many inner-city residents face in their neighborhoods, Peterson’s savvy skills will resolve this issue as well during his second term. All four Democratic at-large candidates won in Tuesday’s election. Ron Gibson, Rozelle Boyd. JoAnne Sanders and Lonnell Conley did an excellent job reaching out to the community and this upcoming term will be no different. At Recorder press time, the exact numbers were not in for all the council districts, but if Democrats do take control of the council, Peterson's job will be much easier. Both Peterson and the council will have to immediately start working together to develop an agenda for the next four years. One item that I’m sure will be up for discussion is transportation. In the past, the Republican majority opposed regional transportation, but the ifthe Democratic City-County Council members take control, I’m sure they will be more supportive of this endeavor. Ifthe Democrats take control of the council, it will also mark the first time this has happened in Indiana history. African American nevveomers w ho won Tuesday included Sherron Franklin, Patrice Abduallah, Vernon Brown and William “Duke” Oliver. It seems that Democrats have established a strong presence in Indianapolis and I’m eager to see the interesting way things will change for our city. Overall, the voter turnout was pretty sad, but Democrats certainly came out. Indianapolis Democrats knew what they wanted and showed up at the polls. I like to think that the vast coverage The Recorder provided as well as other media outlets really encouraged people to go out and vote.

“Indianapolis Democrats knew what

they

wanted and showed up

at the polls.”

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JUSTTELLIN'IT

What’s behind the sudden change in Indiana’s minority business agency?

Local advertising agencies have complained that local politicians don’t use them for their political ads. Maybe it’s because of the lousy political ads local agencies produce like that country-corny “A Team” radio jingle. Used by the Republican mayoral and at large council candidates, the music combined the theme from the old TV western “Rawhide” and the Royal Pin bowling alleyjingle. Inexplicably, the jingle aired on the city’s Black stations, but the country-western theme hurt the GOP candidates, not helped them. (Yes, Greg Jordan finally did advertise to our Black com-

munity).

Note to ALL political campaigns. Runningcountry-westem jingles on Black stations is a negative. Just as running rap or hiphop jingles on WIBC or WFMS is

a negative.

* * * * *

In the final days of the campaign, Greg Jordan repeated the fiction that Indianapolis “lost 20,000jobs” in the past year. State Republicans repeated the canard in a press release that inaccurately portrayed jobless data from the nine-country Indianapolis metropolitan area as jobless data for the city/county only. To demonstrate that I’m correct and Republicans are wrong, here’s another “JustTellin’ It”cash challenge! If the state or local Republican Party can picve, using official government statistics, that Indianapolis/Marion County lost “20,000+ jobs” in the past year, I’ll donate $250 cash, in the party’s name, to the United Negro College Fund. If they can’t, the GOP has to give the $250 to UNCF, in my

name.

The Republicans use of faulty demographic employment data from official government sources is wrong. Can the GOP meet this column’s statistical challenge? See ‘ya next week. Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of The Indianapolis Recorder. You can con tact him at (317)221-0915 or e-mail him at [email protected].

Rank injustice for some U.S. veterans

By JESSE L. JACKSON SR. try, desperate mothers and fathers NNPA have been buying their sons and

daughters the modern vests - even Former as the Pentagon dawdles.

P O W The Pentagon had a multi-year S h o s h a n a plan to replace the outmoded vests ppwBB Johnson has gradually and apparently didn’t ■nBp finally re- think that war and occupation turned home, should disrupt their schedule, still suffering Money is short, given what from injuries Halliburton is taking off the top. l she received ForJohnson and thousands of in the mili- other Iraqi troops, the real indigtary. But now her post-war nity comes when they return. It wounds are exceeding her war started when the administration wounds. fought to cut Veteran’s AdminisFirst, she had to fight simply tration health care benefits in its to get an assessment of her in- last budget. Given the millionaire juries so that she could get tax cuts, spending on things like medical care and disability pay- veteran’s health care were on the ments. Then, she learned that chopping block, she would receive only a 30 Then Bush Veteran’s Adminpercent disability rating, while istration political appointee, famed former POW Jessica LauraJ. Miller, issued a memo to Lynch, whose injuries are VA administrators, telling them milder, received an 80 percent to stop informing veterans oftheir disability. right to health care. Given the Johnson isn’t an exception, very conservative Office of ManAmerica’s soldiers and veter- agement and Budget guidelines ahs seem to be at the bottom of for 2004, Miller wrote that adthe barrel when it comes to Iraq, ministrators should ensure that Vice President Dick Cheney’s there be "no marketing activities former company, Halliburton, to enroll more veterans within is earning hundreds of millions your networks.” The administracharging U. S. taxpayers 85 per- tion wants to promise vets health cent more than Iraqi com pa- care, it just doesn’t want them to nies to import oil into Iraq, the know about it. nation with the world’s second- Now we learn that literally hunlargest reserves of’oil. This tidy dreds of sick and wounded Iraqi * profit is on top of what veterans have been warehoused Halliburton will earn for the in crude barracks without proper multi-milliondollarnobidcon- medical care at Fort Stewart in tract it was awarded to rebuild Georgia. The barracks have conI raq’s oil fields. crete floors, and outdoor latrines. But even as taxpayer money Vetscrippled by their warwounds is sluicing to Halliburton, the have to tei*ter on crutches to get to U.S. military refused to spend the outdoor latrines, while they the money needed to supply wait weeks to see a doctor who soldiers on the front lines in can assess the extent of their Iraq with the modern body ar- wounds and the care that they mor that could save their lives, need. "Some of these soldiers are Assigned to an occupation for certainly not happy,” admitted which they are neither trained Col. John Kidd, the garrison comnnrfquippcd.thousandsofsol- mander.” No kidding, diers were sent out with Viyt- But this is an equal opportunity nam-eravests. Aerosstheeoun- administration. Its callous disre-

gard for the lower ranks is not limited to soldiers and veterans. Coniider homeland security. It’s bad enough that the president, in a shameless pander to the Florida Cuban American vote, has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to monitor goods and travelers going in and out of Cuba, rather

than our own ports.

What is worse is that despite a red alert about the threat posed by terrorists, U.S. chemical companies have managed to block any sensible regulation of their security plans - or lack of them. According to the General Accounting Office, "123 chemical facilities located throughout the nation put at risk more than a million people in the surrounding area if an attack releases toxic gas.” Another 700 plants "could each potentially threaten at least 100,000 people.” CIA Director George Tenet has warned that these plants are high targets for al-Qaida. But when KPA and the Congress sought to create standards for defense of the chemical plants, the chemical lobby weighed in and rolled the administration, arguing that self-regu-

lation would suffice.

When Sen. Jon Corzine introduced a bill to give EPA the authority to oversee chemical plant security, Republicans blocked it. That same summer, members of the American Chemistry Council (ACC) "gave more than $1 million in political contributions, most of it to Republicans. Eight senators who were critical of the Corzine bill have received more than $850,000 from the ACC and its member companies,” according to a Common Cause report dated

Jan. 27, 2003.

To this date, the government has taken no steps to ensure that even rudimentary planning has been done. President Bush likes to say that Sept. 11 changed everything. But it didn’t change this administration’s callous disregard for the lower ranks - for the soldiers, the workers, and the citizens who give their lives to build and defend this country. It didn’t change the special interest politics that choose the benefit of the few over the common good of the

many.

Jesse L. Jackson Sr. is founder and president of the Chicagobased Rainbow/Push Coalition.

By AMOS BROWN III

AfricanAmerican legislators, mitt o r it y businesspeople and this columnist are puzzled as to why Gov. Joe Kernan sud-

denly decided to change the personnel and procedures governing the certification of minority and women owned busi-

nesses in Indiana.

Tw r o weeks ago, with no warning, Indiana Commissioner of Administration Chuck Martindale removed Elena Looper, deputy commissioner for Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise Development. Looper, who is Black, had led Indiana’s minority business efforts during the entire O’Bannon years, but was canned because the governor felt a change had to be made.

But why?

Gov. Kernan told key Afri-can-American legislators that Looper was replaced because there was a significant backlog of minority businesses awaiting certification. Black lawmakers knewabout the backlog problem. Looper’s repeated requests for additional manpower and assistance were ignored by legislators and the late governor’s staff because of the state’s bud-

get woes.

Currently, businesses requesting certification must provide detailed documentation proving the .business is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by a racial minority, a Hispanic or a w'oman. The certification process includes an on site visit by a staffer of the state’s minority business enterprise development office. Nearly 700 certification applications await approval. Martindale says Looperand her staff created the backlog. Others familiar with her operation say the backlog isn’t Looper’s fault. Certified businesses must be re-certified every three years.

Halt the backlogged applications are certified businesses being re-

certified.

The Kernan administration’s plan for dealing with this problem is by partnering with small business development centers around the state. Minority businesses would apply for certification at these centers where initial screenings, on site visits and verifications would be done. But Martindale says the final decisions would “be done in India-

napolis.”

A number of Black businesspeople I spoke with believe that the certification process is time consuming and cumbersome. But this problem isn’t confined to Indiana, so why is the Kernan administration pushing this change seven weeks after as-

suming office?

Ronalda Minnis, an African American and a trusted Kernan aide for many years, replaces Looper. Minnis, who was human resources director of the Indiana Department of Commerce, will be the point person in the effort to speed up the certification pro-

cess.

But, the new certification process won’t be ready until early •2004 at the earliest, prolonging even more certifications of those nearly 700 businesses. Last week the Washington Post reported that Maryland’s new Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a Black Republican, is heading a commission to reform Maryland’s minority business contracting program. Why didn’t Martindale and Kernan go to Indiana’s existing Governor’s Commission on Minority and Women’s Business Enterprise and ask them to help create a new, faster certification scheme? Instead, members of the commission, Black lawmakers and minority businesspeople weren’t consulted about the changes and the new certification plan. In fact, several key commission members are livid that Looper was sacked and that Martindale and the governor created the new plan without their input. The result now is that a new untested plan will be implemented and a dedicated public servant was forced to walk the

plank. Elena Looper established a reputation for fair and unbiased dealings in ajob where catching flak is a daily responsibility. Martindale says he “appreciated Elena’s service to the state” and offered “her the opportunity of another position in state government, if she so desires.” But Looper’s friends tell me thatdidn’thappen.That Keman’s people haven’t provided Looper the same employment and transition assistance other O’Bannon staffers received during this un-

scheduled transition.

Gov. Kernan and his key staffers must explain why Looper was really ousted? Why make changes in minority business

certification? Why the rush?

What I'm hearing

in the streets

It’s Nielsen TV ratings sweeps month, so where is investigative television reporter Sandra

Chapman?

During sweeps, WISH-TV/ Channel 8 broadcast some great investigative reporting from Sandra Chapman. Her efforts exposing corruption, sin and scandal in Indiana earned Chapman numerous honors and awards for journalistic excellence. In so doing, Chapman became one of the most honored African-American journalist currently working in

Indianapolis.

Ed Feigenbaum’s Indiana Daily Insight newsletter first reported Chapman’s departure from WISH-TV. In a statement to this column, WISH-TV News Director Tom Cochrun described Chapman as “a conscientious journalist, who cares deeply about her craft and her colleagues.” Cochrun “wished” Chapman would stay and “work with me and (Assistant News Director) Kevin Finch.” Cochrun said that Chapman’s attorney countered the station’s original contract offer. Channel 8 accepted the counteroffer, but said Cochrun; Chapman “chose not to stay.” Chapman has been spotted at WTHR/Channel 13 leading to speculation that she’ll end up

there.