Why Republican Bloggers Do Not Support Republican Mayor Greg Ballard

Jon Easter, Author of
Indy Democrat Blog

Over at the Indy Democrat blog, Jon Easter pens an interesting piece this morning discussing the dearth of public support for Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard on right-leaning blogs.  Indeed that is the case.   It's hard to find any Republican blogger who backs Ballard.  It appears Washington Street Politics was started to fill that void, but even that blog has faded into sporadic support for Ballard.  While speculation initially was that former City spokesman Robert Vane was behind the blog, Vane vehemently denies it and, having witnessed the writing style for months, I now concur that he isn't behind the blog.

The only right-leaning blogger who regularly supports Mayor Ballard is WXNT's radio host, Abdul Hakim-Shabazz.  Rumor has long been that Abdul is directly, or indirectly, on the campaign payroll.  I don't know if that is true, but it does seem curious that Abdul supports Ballard 100% even though he's pursuing policies as bad or worse than his predecessor Bart Peterson who Abdul had no problem criticizing.

What happened?

Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana and I were big supporters of Mayor Ballard when he was elected.   Over time, we gave up on Ballard as he betrayed his 2007 supporters and the conservative values we thought the retired Marine held.   There is nothing Ballard has done that remotely suggests he is a Republican, much less a conservative. 

I have always said the people who work for a candidate fall into two categories: 

• True Believers - those people who are motivated to work for the candidate because they believe strongly in the issues and believe the candidate support those issues.
• Opportunists - those people who are motivated to work for the candidate because they believe that they might receive some financial reward (such as a government contract or a job) for their work for the candidate.

Ballard's 2007 supporters included some Opportunists, but they were almost exclusively True Believers.  Today, the True Believers, disillusioned by a Mayor who for 3 1/2 years has betrayed them and their conservative values, have left the building.   It is only the Opportunists, people who cashed in during Ballard's first term or who hope to cash in during a second, left who support the Mayor.  You talk to the True Believers who worked for Mayor Ballard in 2007 and you'll find they absolutely despise Mayor Ballard.  There is nothing worse than when someone who you thought had your back plunges the knife of betrayal into it.  That has what Mayor Ballard has done again and again and again.

Most bloggers are drawn to the new media because of their strong belief in the issues, i.e. they fall into the True Believer category.  It's only natural that those who believe in conservative values enough to spend hours blogging, express dislike toward a Republican who has consistently betrayed those conservative values. 

Whenever I see a Republican blogging in support of Ballard, it is almost always an Opportunist who is benefiting or standing to benefit from the Ballard administration.  That is exactly why the author of the Washington Street Politics, the blog started to support Ballard, is anonymous.  If people found out the name, they'd know the motivation of the author of the blog is not conservative Republican issues, but opportunism.

Ironically, come November 9, 2011, it will be Republican bloggers blamed for sinking Ballard's re-election.  Instead fingers should be pointed to the Opportunists and Profiteers who put politically-naive Ballard on a course which made his reelection impossible.

Why Have Republican Political Bloggers Abandoned Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard?

If you survey the Indianapolis political blogosphere you'll find that Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has very little support, even from bloggers who are Republican.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard
Seeks Re-election

Indiana Barrister run by Republican Abdul Hakim-Shabazz has always been supportive of the Mayor.  It's been long rumored that Abdul is cashing in on the current administration, which would explain why he always appears to be an echo for anything the administration comes up with.  I don't know if Abdul is paid by the Ballard folks, but he certainly seems to have lost any pretense of independence when it comes to anything relating to the Ballard administration.

Up until Washington Street Politics was created there didn't appear to be any other Republican blogger in town who regularly supported the policies of Republican Mayor Ballard.  WSP appears to have been created exactly for the purpose of giving the Mayor more support in the blogosphere.  It happened to coincide perfectly with Robert Vane leaving the Mayor's office and starting his own communications firm. I'm not convinced that Vane is behind it.  He certainly denies it and the writing doesn't always "sound" like Vane.  Since the blog's author insists on being anonymous, it could well be that the blog was created by the Ballard campaign or the Marion County Republican Central Committee.

It speaks volumes about how much Ballard has alienated conservative Republicans that an anonymous Republican blog had to be created to defend him.

If you look at blogs run by Republicans - my own, Advance Indiana, Indy Student - there is rarely a positive word uttered for Ballard's policies.  Hoosier Advance rarely mentions Ballard and when the blog does it is often not in a favorable light.   Republican blog "Frugal Hoosier" used to support Ballard before eventually abandoning him.  Now the successor to that blog, Aiming Higher PAC, sticks to state issues.  Another pro-state Republican blog, Capitol and Washington, rarely talks about Ballard.  Criticism of Mayor Ballard has even crept into a few out of town Republican blogs, such as Hoosierpundit.

Why don't Republican bloggers support the Mayor?  I think the Republicans who blog do so because the issues matter to them. Most of them believe in a conservative philosophy.  The problem with the Ballard administration is that conservative political philosophy seem not at all important.   The policies of the Ballard administration from the outset has seemed totally driven by the rewards of being in power, e.g. lucrative city contracts for political contributors, tax breaks and subsidies for well-connected companies (i.e. corporate welfare), administration officials positioning themselves for cushy private sector jobs, etc. Whenever being fiscally conservative and looking out for the interests of taxpayers interfered with profiteering off of being in power, the Ballard administration always chose profiteering. 

Republican bloggers keep apprised of the issues and that's why they criticize the Mayor who appears to be the ultimate RINO.  If Republican bloggers who know the issues have turned on the Mayor, how long before conservative Republican voters in Marion County, once informed of such things as the giveaways of our tax dollars to political insiders and 100 plus tax and fee increases, do so as well?