But if you read the fluff piece in today’s Politico, one would think so.

Last year, Sen. Dick Lugar was the tea party’s top target — a 35-year veteran who lives in Washington, strays from conservative orthodoxy and even criticized the right-wing movement in the wake of the 2010 elections.

But last week, Lugar was the tea party’s dining companion.

For more than two hours at a restaurant in Carmel, Ind., Lugar sat face to face with the head of one of Indiana’s largest tea party chapters, speaking at length about campaign politics, the senator’s voting record and some of his comments that have irked the movement. Lugar listened patiently and said he’d do more outreach, as he ate his eggs Benedict and peppermint ice cream.

“I was surprised,” said 62-year-old Chuck Ford, president of the Tea Party of Hamilton County. “I don’t usually dine with senators and congressmen.”

At least not in public he doesn’t. The fact is, the Hamilton County TEA Party leader supports  Senator Lugar. Ford recently ousted his vice president, who had expressed a dislike for reelecting Lugar. In an interview with AWB, the ousted VP stated, “Lugar gives Ford tingles up his leg.”

Late last year, when Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate, (HFCS) held their convention to declare support for Richard Mourdock, the Hamilton County TEA Party, (HTP) decided to hold a competing event.  Lugar did not attend the event but his spokesman and campaign coordinator David Wilke attended as Lugar’s representative. While Ford has denied to me his group is supported by the Republican party, the Hamilton County Young  Republicans donated $500 to the event. The Young Republicans generally march in lockstep with the state party. (read:support Lugar)

Ford’s group could not attend the HFCS convention due to their 501c3 status, however, they were invited to attend the rally afterwards, which was represented by the majority of Indiana TEA Parties. The time of the rally would not have impeded on their event, but they chose to not stand in solidarity and were no-shows.

By all impressions, this is not a TEA Party group. It’s merely a bunch of hacks parading to be a TEA Party group to make it appear as if Lugar has some TEA Party support. It should be noted that Mr. Ford at one time was a member of the Indiana State Teacher’s Association, (union), and negotiated union contracts on its behalf.

Back to Wilke for a moment. The 1940 Republican presidential nominee was Wendell Willkie, David’s grandfather.

From the blog, Welcome to my TEA Party.

Willkie was cozy with Democrats.  He joined with Eleanor Roosevelt to form Freedom House and was a delegate to two Democratic national conventions.

A Wilsonian Internationalist who promoted world government, Willkie wrote the book “One World.”  He supported Roosevelt’s controversial New Deal.

Late in his career, Willkie joined the New Liberal Party and attempted to push its agenda nationally.  Senator Lugar was a member of a liberal think tank, the Roosevelt Institute’s Campus Network.  And proving that he’s no statesman, he recently resigned under pressure from the Tea Party.<

So, while Ford states, “I don’t usually dine with senators and congressmen,”  according to another HTP member I spoke with, Mr. Ford has regular breakfast meetings with Lugar’s closest adviser, David Wilke.

Imagine that.

By Jim Sack

The party-line concerning the elevators went something like this: we had them inspected, were told they were good for three or so more years, moved on to other things, were surprised when people got stuck between floors after move-in, found money that would not require council approval and here we are. Sorry, should have given you a heads up.

It was the inaugural Fifth Tuesday hearing and it was well worth the price of admission. I doubt, however, that anyone left the chambers last night satisfied with either questions or answers.

To set the scene, most months have four Tuesdays when the Common Council of the City of Fort Wayne does its work. Once quarterly a month has a fifth Tuesday and over time this “extra” Tuesday has been taken off by council. They have done that for no real reason such as a prevalence of sun spots on all fifth Tuesdays or a need to fly home to the meet with constituents, it is just boys’ night off. Council, in fact, operates on a three night rotation where a bill is introduced on the first Tuesday, debated or discussed the second Tuesday and then disposed of the third Tuesday. Given there are 52 weeks there is only one Tuesday that would cause confusion, not four, but things being things the fifth Tuesday has become time away from the rigors of talking. Read the rest of this entry »

His name is Robert Vincent Erb. His business, according to Facebook, is Bad Ass Distribution (link), and he does brake jobs, changes flat tires, etc. He’s an Obama hater, Ron Paul-ite, gun lover and, general pissed off citizen.

He’s also a fan of Star Molecules, on Facebook.

 

He lived in Wabash at one time, and operated a business called the Pine Farm Greenhouse. It appears he may have co-owned it with his father.

Court records. Not much, really.

7 seat belt violations, 3 speeding.
Lost house to foreclosure in 2006.

Divorced in 2006

Not sure what this was all about. Had another in 1990, same basic thing.

WABASH COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT
85D01-0507-CM-518
ST VS ERBFile date: 07/14/2005   Disposition Date: 08/10/2005
Minute Date:7/15/2005
Order Location:Book: 86 Page: 61Court examines probable cause affidavits and determines there is probable
cause. Court orders defendant to appear for initial hearing on
8-10-05 at 9:00 a.m. Service by mail. llMinute Date:8/10/2005
Order Location:Book: 86 Page: 307

State orally moves to dismiss. Granted.

Interesting case study for someone.

Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, and his opponent, Richard Mourdock, will both speak at this year’s Allen County Lincoln Day Dinner, which will be held shortly before the May primary.  That begs the question:

A tweet from Indiana State Senator Mike Delph at 10:15 this morning. “Congressman Burton is announcing his retirement on the Statehouse floor at 10:30am, where it all started.”

Burton represents Indiana’s 5th congressional district. There are several vying for the slot, including former congressman and Kendallville native David McIntosh, attorney Jack Lugar, (Senator Dick Lugar’s son),  Susan Brooks, a former U.S. attorney and Fort Wayne native, and former Marion County Coroner John McGoff, who came close to defeating Burton two years ago.

The 5th District presently includes Huntington County, which joins the 3rd District for the next 10 years beginning with the 2012 elections.

The German term above has historic significance, hit the link at the end of this paragraph if you do not know why.

Fort Wayne / South Bend’s Bishop Kevin Rhoades  — and all of the Bishops of the United States – find themselves in a culture war with the Obama administration in 2012.  Sometimes you run to the front, sometimes the front advances upon you. 

Find here a column in the local newspaper reflecting on the recent march for life in the Fort (see picture below) and the test that has now come to the Catholic Church in the United States. 

The column contains quotes from three US Bishops that would have been considered quite radical just a few months ago.  Read ‘em and muster for battle.

Kulturkampf has come to us, with Kathleen Sebelius and Barack Obama driving the tanks in the general’s ranks.  Definition here:  http://www.archangelinstitute.org/americas-political-class-intensifies-the-kulturkampf/

By Jim Sack

My friend, Andi Udris, has resigned from the Alliance. I will miss him.

Andi Udris

To be clear, the abrupt resignation, which he did not signal to me when we breakfasted last week, looks more like walking the plank at the point of cutlass.

Perhaps the people who gave him the choice between jumping or being pushed had a good reason, perhaps, as was reported, it was a clash of personalities. I doubt anyone will bother to tell me. People in these positions use silencers.

Andi, to his credit, worked hard for this area and had big dreams for economic development. He clearly had begun to set down roots and bubbled of how much he liked Fort Wayne.

Somebody, apparently, didn’t care much for Andi, his ideas or his personality. You can see the members listed here on their website. They include the high and the mighty in Fort Wayne, as well as a couple who are moving on in life. They include people who are hired guns who will vanish in their own time from the local scene leaving very little, indeed, behind. Read the rest of this entry »

Oh, I can hear Kevin Knuth now, hunkered down in his bunker with Mike Bynum.

A former Fort Wayne police officer, who must hold the record for disciplinary actions against him, has filed to run against Stutzman.

John Roberson filed this week as a democrat candidate in the primary election for the 3rd congressional seat. Robertson was canned form the FWPD in 1999 after receiving 28 various disciplinary actions. After that, he drove truck for a while, then retired.

Then we have hotel dweller Tommy Schrader, who never saw a gay porn flick he didn’t like. He’s also running as a democrat. You’ll recall he ran as a democrat last year in the at-large city council race, and won, only to be booted by the election board at the demand of Knuth and the democrats due to residency issues.

Hot damn, we have a race, eh?

The paid union protesters had little effect on the outcome of the Indiana House vote on right-to-work. It passed union 54-44. The bill had passed the Senate last Friday 28-22.

Indiana becomes the 23rd state to ban unions from collecting union dues from non-union workers.  Governor Daniels will likely have the bill in his hands, and signed, prior to the Super Bowl.

So much for the OWS and union protests that were planned for the Super Bowl, eh?

Watch this video, it’s priceless.

By Jim Sack

It was a workmanlike meeting at council last night punctuated by joviality and smiles, many smiles. Hardly an eyebrow lifted through the 100-minute session, not even when representatives of the mayor said they would keep politics out of redistricting.

From pre-game to post-meeting analysis members of council found charming things to say about each other, to compliment the clerk and to toss roses to the audience. It is a reflection of the new members on council – Jehl, Paddock and Crawford – all of whom try to find the sunny side of a question. Last year’s cat-fight-of-a-bar-room brawl has unofficially been put to rest and now will become the stuff of humorous comparisons. Read the rest of this entry »

Suck it up Tom Henry. Oh, and here’s some facts for you. Read the rest of this entry »