While city officials’ effort to engage the public in naming the new city and county office building has spurred controversy, snickering and humor, none of that happened when county officials renamed the City-County Building.
With public safety agencies slated to replace most county offices in the City-County Building, the county commissioners simply announced their choice. The all-Republican commissioners will name it for fellow Republican and longtime County Commissioner Ed Rousseau, who died in 2009. Their choice was no surprise. He previously was a member of the County Council and, before that, City Council.
Hughes’ campaign
Republican mayoral candidate Paula Hughes criticized the city website that accepted ideas for naming the new building. Publicity surrounding votes to name the building after former Mayor Harry Baals made “Fort Wayne a worldwide laughingstock,” she said.
Last week, Hughes criticized Mayor Tom Henry’s salary of $124,655, saying the mayor should make no more than the governor, who earns $95,000. Perhaps, but Hughes didn’t complain last fall when, as a County Council member, she OK’d salaries for county officials that included one of her top supporters, Sheriff Ken Fries. He makes $133,250.
Her recent news releases described Hughes as the “leading Republican candidate for Mayor.” So far, no polling results have surfaced backing the claim.
Pape’s surprise
Generally, when an incumbent waits until eight days before the filing deadline to say he won’t run, it can be a scramble to find credible candidates.
That wasn’t the case after Tim Pape last week said he wouldn’t seek a third term on the City Council. Within a day, three candidates emerged, two of whom have won elections before: Geoff Paddock, a former Fort Wayne Community Schools board member, and former County Councilwoman Maye Johnson. The third candidate, Richard Cline, is a solid Democrat who has sought office before but doesn’t have the name recognition of Paddock or Johnson.
Daniels’ speech
Gov. Mitch Daniels’ speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference was remarkable for its rather nonpartisan tone.
The governor focused on the issue he believes must be the No. 1 priority: Addressing deficit spending and reducing the national debt.
His conservative audience no doubt liked what they heard about Daniels’ views on energy: “Drill, and frack, and lease, and license, unleash in every way the jobs potential in the enormous energy resources we have been denying ourselves.”
But they may not have liked Daniels’ suggestion that defense spending – like Social Security and Medicare entitlements – must be reined in if there is any chance to balance the budget.
“(N)ot even the first and most important mission of government, our national defense, can get a free pass,” he said. “We are currently borrowing the entire defense budget from foreign investors. Within a few years, we will be spending more on interest payments than on national security.”
