Just posted on Indiana Forefront...
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The powerful Metropolitan & Economic Development committee of the City-County Council has postponed a decision on the billboard industry-written Prop 250. If enacted, Prop 250 would allow digital billboards now, and any future technology that fits in the same frame would also be allowed – without timely public or Council review.
IndyStar reporter, Brian Eason, reports that billboard lobbyists were extremely generous with campaign contributions last year – with more than $12,000 being donated.
He also reports that a lobbyist firm held a fundraiser for committee Chair, Leroy Robinson. Robinson, by the way, was beneficiary of nearly a third of all billboard lobby donations last year.
Another committee member, Zach Adamson got $1100.
Eason notes that Council leadership in combination, pulled down more than $5000 from billboard lobby sources.
Those who chose to talk with Eason about the contributions didn’t seem to grasp that by accepting the money, the Councillors, at a minimum, solidified an appearance of a conflict of interest.
Suspicious minds are already correlating the donations with the fast track that Prop 250 was on and the postponement of a vote after hours of testimony against Prop 250, rather than a vote to kill it. I have been privately assured that, had it not been delayed, the vote would have been “NO”; that the delay means little.
The public trust is a valuable commodity and important, especially in an election year.
The Councillors who took billboard lobby money can and should return it. That would help clear up the appearance of a conflict of interest that they helped establish by accepting the money in the first place.
Leroy Robinson is a bought and paid for puppet for lobbyists, Greg Hahn, Carl Drummer, etc. His actions show he does not care about good policy or voters.
ReplyDeleteI hear he is pushing for the ill-conceived justice center for his buds Drummer and Lacy Johnson.
What a sell out...literally!