Noise & Notes

Indiana Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg unveiled his first campaign television ad Tuesday that highlights his small town roots.

The 30-second spot features the former state House speaker criticizing political advertisements and instead talks about his longtime friends from his hometown of Sandborn, Indiana.

Gregg tells the story of a friend who caught cancer and moved in with others, adding he wants to keep Indiana "a place where people look out for each other.

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In an interview with the Lexington-based Lane Report, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said the city needs to diversify its tax base to help combat budget shortfalls.

About 80 percent of Metro Government's revenue comes from occupational and property taxes, which have stalled due to the economy. The mayor had to fill a $20 million deficit in his last fiscal plan while the tax base has grown at a slower rate and a structural imbalance gets wider.

Lately Fischer has been pushing a local option sales tax, adding cities need more options to raise revenue. In the one-on-one interview, he cited a recommendation from Governor Steve Beshear's Blue Ribbon Tax Commission is that cities share in the state’s sales taxes as well.

From The Lane Report:

EL: Would you raise the sales tax, ask for a share of the current state sales tax, or would you have a local-option sales tax on top of the current sales tax?

GF: Whether it’s a private business or the business of government, a more diversified revenue stream has better odds of staying level or growing. Kentucky cities do not have a sales tax component to their revenue stream. The second possibility is the local-option sales tax: where the citizens of a city can vote on a specific project, for a specific time period, paid for in a specific way. Most all of our competitive cities have that option as well; Kentucky cities do not. So when you see capital investments being made by other cities in their arts district, recreation center or forensic crime lab, frequently they are funded by a local-option sales tax.

Louisville Metro Councilwoman Barbara Shanklin, D-2, is asking the city Ethics Commission to dismiss a complaint filed against her by a state watchdog group.

The embattled city lawmaker is also making the argument that The Courier-Journal is behind the complaint.

Last month, Common Cause of Kentucky Chairman Richard Beliles cites a series of articles that reported on Shanklin's discretionary spending. It alleges Shanklin violated the Metro Government code of ethics by using her office to benefit herself and her relatives.

The Tea Party appears stronger than ever with Republican primary victories for Senate in Missouri, Texas and Indiana most recently.

It is a movement that has been successful in defeating establishment incumbents, pulling GOP leaders further to the right and gaining a seat at the table. This week it was announced that Tea Party favorite Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has a keynote speech at the Republican National Convention.

But Tea Party groups and activists have been criticized for their views and blamed for the current gridlock in Congress.

I spoke with Louisville Tea Party President Sarah Durand about compromise, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and what it’s like leading such a forceful—and controversial—group.

In a historic vote, the Louisville Metro Council rejected Mayor Greg Fischer’s veto of the landmarks ordinance by an 18-to-7 vote.

The legislation was aimed at changing several provisions of the way the city designates historic sites and structures. Among the amendments was a change to allow a majority of council members to halt a decision made by the Landmarks Commission for further review.

The mayoral veto was the second in Fischer's administration, and was the first to be rejected by the council since city and county governments merged.

For months, council members held public forums and debated the measure until it passed last week. But Fischer vetoed the bill at the urging of preservationists, who argued the amendments favor developers and endanger the city's heritage. In a letter to city lawmakers, the mayor said council members were overstepping their bounds and politicizing the process.

Councilman Kelly Downard, R-16, voted for the ordinance and stood against the veto. He says the mayor admitted there were problems in the landmarks process and the council needed to step in due to a lack of oversight.

"We’re being told that the fabric of our heritage will be permanently diminished by providing oversight by this council. However, a review of the facts makes this seem a bit of a contradiction," he says. "Even the mayor in his veto message admits the Bauer site might have been a mistake. Oversight was needed, but it wasn’t there."

In the Indiana Senate race, Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly has released a poll showing a statistical tie with Republican State Treasurer Richard Mourdock in the fall election.

The internal survey of 601 likely voters shows Donnelly leading by 1 percentage point with 44 percent over Mourdock at 40 percent and Libertarian Andrew Horning with 4 percent. Indiana is leaning Republican in the presidential race and will likely go to Mitt Romney in the presidential race, but the Senate contest is gaining national attention for its competitiveness.

Donnelly says the race will be competitive and close until November, but that his polling shows voters are exhausted with partisan bickering in Congress.

"You know it is about as close to a tie ballgame as you can get. And what that’s about is the people of Indiana just want solutions. They don’t want people fighting or being extremely partisan. We want more jobs and more opportunity, and people to work together," he says. "And that’s why I think we’ve been successful to this point because we’re talking about issues."

Comparing Papa John's pizza to "the ass of a raccoon that drowned in your birdbath" political satirist Stephen Colbert mocked founder and CEO John Schnatter for his opposition to the Affordable Care Act.

Schnatter, who is a well-known Republican fundraiser, said President Obama's health care overhaul will increase the cost of pizza and hurt business. Since then, he has been criticized for being a cheapskate and mistreating employees, with threats of a boycott by Democratic activists.

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A political action committee founded by former Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Governor Howard Dean is backing Shelli Yoder in Indiana’s Ninth Congressional District race.

Democracy for America unveiled six key races for Congress on Wednesday that the organization will focus on in the 2012 election. The PAC is aimed at building a dozen "progressive powerhouse" in the House and this is the first crop attempting to give Democratic challengers a booster in their general election bids.

Yoder is challenging Republican incumbent Todd Young, but has struggled to keep face with the GOP freshman's fundraising totals.

She says it is an honor to receive Dean’s support and she hopes it will give her campaign a boost.

"We are continuing to work hard and we’re doing everything we can to win back this seat. I think that the 9th District, folks weren’t really paying attention to the race. But in the last few weeks we’ve certainly have work as hard as we can making sure that voters feel like they will have a voice and an opportunity to gain back that voice come November 6," he says.

In the Indiana Senate race, polling has shown Republican Richard Mourdock is having trouble gaining traction with moderate voters in his battle with Democratic Congressman Joe Donnelly and a fundraising letter may indicate why.

It was Mourdock's ties to the Tea Party that helped him upset longtime Sen. Dick Lugar in the GOP primary, but days after his victory a message to voters continued to attack Lugar as a traitor to the conservative movement.

From Howey Politics Indiana:

"Conservatives scored a tremendous victory in Indiana just a few weeks ago," the Mourdock letter read. "Against all odds and with the establishment working day and night to defeat me, we retired a 36-year entrenched incumbent senator, who routinely betrayed conservative voters to push through some of the most radical aspects of President Obama's agenda."

In an interview with Pure Politics, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway says he "might" run for governor in 2015.

Political rumors are swirling and the speculation is that Conway will be a top contender to succeed Gov. Steve Beshear in three years, but the attorney general remains coy—at least on the record—for now.

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