Tag: politics

“How would you know when you’re done talking about it?” Bloomington council president asks mayor about board appointments for new nonprofit

Sue Sgambelluri (March 29, 2023)
Jim Sims (March 29, 2023)
Steve Volan (March 29, 2023)
John Hamilton (March 29, 2023)

On Wednesday, an update from Bloomington mayor John Hamilton to the city council—about a nonprofit that his administration has formed—highlighted the current tension between the city’s executive and legislative branches.

The new nonprofit is called City of Bloomington Capital Improvement, Inc. (CBCI).

One source of a current conflict between the mayor and the city council is the way the appointments are made to the five CBCI board seats. Hamilton formed CBCI with bylaws that say four board seats are to be appointed by the mayor and one seat is to be appointed by the city council.

Several councilmembers think the split should be more evenly balanced. Still, the council forged ahead a couple of weeks ago by making its one appointment—retired housing and neighborhood development (HAND) department head, Doris Sims.

The four mayoral appointee are: Sarah Bauerle Danzman, Valerie Peña, Mick Renneisen, and John West.

On Wednesday, during Hamilton’s update, the disagreement between the mayor and the council, over the proper split for the appointments, generated some sharp exchanges.

Throughout the back-and-forth, Hamilton met council questions with affable assurances that he was willing to continue to talk with them about the allocation of the appointments.

Hamilton’s tactic eventually prompted city council president Sue Sgambelluri to say: “I’ll take another run at this…How would you know when you’re done talking about it, and able to make a decision?” Continue reading ““How would you know when you’re done talking about it?” Bloomington council president asks mayor about board appointments for new nonprofit” →

No gambits played by Bloomington city council: Doris Sims to be appointed to new city nonprofit board

Bloomington city councilmember Dave Rollo.
Bloomington city councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith
Bloomington city councilmember Susan Sandberg.
Bloomington city councilmember Steve Volan.
Bloomington city councilmember Jim Sims.

Doris Sims is the Bloomington city council’s appointee to the five-member board of City of Bloomington Capital Improvement, Inc. (CBCI)—the new nonprofit recently formed by mayor John Hamilton’s administration.

Sims is former director of Bloomington’s housing and neighborhood development (HAND) department. She retired from that role in early 2021. She’s married to city councilmember Jim Sims.

Support for Doris Sims as the council’s appointee to CBCI was enthusiastic and uniform across the dais at the city council’s Wednesday’s meeting.

But some councilmembers, including Jim Sims, took the occasion to criticize the four-to-one split in appointments that was established in the bylaws for the CBCI board—four for the mayor and one for the city council.

On Wednesday, there was some discussion by councilmembers about the idea of not making an appointment to the board, as a way to express the council’s displeasure at the uneven split, and to leverage a change to the bylaws.

But Jim Sims weighed in against making a political chess game out of the appointment. He put it like this: “[Doris] wants to do this service.” He added, “So anything that we might discuss or lead to, that could cause her to be a pawn in this deal will not happen this evening—at least from my standpoint.”

The vote by the council expressing support for council president Sue Sgambelluri to go ahead and appoint Doris Sims was 6–0–2. Dave Rollo and Susan Sandberg abstained. Kate Rosenbarger was absent. Continue reading “No gambits played by Bloomington city council: Doris Sims to be appointed to new city nonprofit board” →

Monroe County commissioner Githens declares bid for District 62 house seat

Penny Githens.
Gathering at Monroe Democratic Party headquarters on Madison Street in downtown Bloomington on October 31, 2021.
Map of new and old districts.
Penny Githens.

Monroe County commissioner Penny Githens has announced a run for the District 62 seat in the Indiana legislature’s house of representatives.

Elections for the 100 state house seats take place in 2022.

The formal announcement came on Sunday afternoon, at a gathering of around 40 people at the Monroe County Democratic Party’s headquarters on Madison Street in downtown Bloomington.

Campaign themes that Githens highlighted on Sunday included the need to increase wages, recruit young people to the teaching profession, provide adequate childcare, and expand treatment for mental health issues and substance use disorders.

Githens told The B Square she will not be resigning from the Monroe County board of commissioners, in order to make the run for the District 62 seat.

Sunday’s announcement by Githens was attended by several former and current elected local officials. Continue reading “Monroe County commissioner Githens declares bid for District 62 house seat” →

Pitch for Bloomington city council standing committees seen by executive branch as a fastball

“Is council a co-equal branch of government or isn’t it?” That’s a rhetorical question posed by Steve Volan, this year’s president of Bloomington’s city council, about the relationship between the council and the city’s administration.

Volan asked the question during a contentious work session held last Friday afternoon in city hall’s Hooker Conference Room. All nine councilmembers attended at least part of the session, along with a dozen and half staff members, among them several department heads and deputy mayor Mick Renneisen.

The friction that emerged between Volan and staff members, and with some of Volan’s city council colleagues, stemmed from a pending resolution, introduced by Volan at the city council’s first meeting of the year, on Jan. 8.

Volan proposes to use existing city code to establish seven four-member standing committees. Already established is a land use committee, to which zoning legislation has been referred for the last two years. Continue reading “Pitch for Bloomington city council standing committees seen by executive branch as a fastball” →

Local Greens take next step towards establishing new incarnation of political party

In the early 2000s, Bloomington’s local newspaper, the Herald-Times, was sprinkled with mentions of the Monroe County Green Party—about 50 references from 2000 to 2006. Only a couple mentions are recorded after that—and those are historical references.

In that era, local Green Party candidates included 8th District congressional seat write-in candidate Marc Haggerty in 2000, Jeff Melton as a candidate for the same congressional seat in 2002, and county council candidate Julie Roberts, also in 2002.

That’s based on records from the Monroe County Public Library’s portal to the online NewsBank archives of the Herald-Times.

At the library’s bricks-and-mortar building on Kirkwood Avenue, local Greens followed their first organizational meeting in late October with a second one on Tuesday. Leader of the current effort to achieve recognition as a local party organization, Randy Paul, says he wants the local Green Party to have an influence longer into the future.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the roughly 10 people present elected five interim officers, including Paul as one of the two co-chairs. The other co-chair is Nile Arena.

Rounding out the officer positions are Brandon Drake (vice chair), Amanda Sheridan (communications chair) and Gregory George (treasurer). Continue reading “Local Greens take next step towards establishing new incarnation of political party” →

Inside baseball: Guenther swings away with farmers market “winning issue” accusation in District 2 city council race

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From left: District 2 candidates Andrew Guenther and Sue Sgambelluri; moderators Meredith Karbowsky and Taylor Combs; District 3 candidates Marty Spechler, Ron Smith, and Nick Kappas. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

It was a rest day for the baseball World Series between the Astros and the Nationals. But about 20 people attended a city council candidate forum Monday evening, hosted by The Civil Society at Indiana University. Moderators were students Meredith Karbowsky and Taylor Combs.

Only the council hopefuls in District 2 and District 3 were in the lineup—five candidates in all—because the races in the other four Bloomington districts are uncontested.

Held in the basement of Woodburn Hall on the IU campus, the event was unmarked by any real friction through about the first hour.  Candidates did not offer radically different views on public safety, housing, or climate change, even if their talking points differed.  It resembled a mostly friendly game of political pitch and catch, not hardball electioneering.

But a question about the situation that emerged this summer at Bloomington’s farmers market, which was pitched by moderators straight down the middle for each candidate, was blasted by Republican Andrew Guenther right at Democrat Sue Sgambelluri. The two are competing for the District 2 council seat.

On Monday night, Guenther accused Sgambelluri of “political cowardice,” based in part on what some of his supporters told him her campaign treasurer has said. Sgambelluri reached for Guenther’s line drive with a “results-oriented” glove.

On Nov. 5  it’s voters who will make the call, safe or out, in an election that still has a few innings to go. Here’s how the play unfolded. Continue reading “Inside baseball: Guenther swings away with farmers market “winning issue” accusation in District 2 city council race” →

Monroe County Green Party leaders: “We’re not asking you to join the party, we’re asking you to help organize it.”

On Wednesday night at the Monroe County Public Library (MCPL), around a dozen and a half people attended the first public meeting of the county’s local Green Party caucus.

Among the reasons that organizer Randy Paul and others gave for wanting to establish the Green Party in Bloomington and the rest of  Monroe County is a desire to provide some competition to the Democratic Party. Democrats hold all 11 city offices in Bloomington. Continue reading “Monroe County Green Party leaders: “We’re not asking you to join the party, we’re asking you to help organize it.”” →

Contested Bloomington elections set for fall: None citywide, two of six council districts

Voters in city council Districts 2 and 3 are the only Bloomington residents who will have a choice at the November polls this year.

Labeled R Map 2019 Bloomington City ElectionsDistrictRepsxxxx
Shown are the two districts where Bloomington city elections will be held on Nov. 5 this year, with the names of candidates who will appear on the ballot. (Dave Askins/Beacon)

In Monroe County’s election headquarters, at the intersection of 7th and Madison streets, the deadline for write-in candidates expired Wednesday at noon. By then, no write-in candidates had registered for Bloomington’s fall elections.

It was the final deadline for adding official candidates to the mix. The deadline for independent candidates to submit petitions had already passed on Monday.

Barring any withdrawals, that sets up contested races in two of the six council districts and none for the five citywide positions—mayor, clerk and councilmember at large. No election is held for races that aren’t contested.

That means voters in most of Bloomington, all except for the northern third of the city, won’t have a chance to go to the polls on Nov. 5. Continue reading “Contested Bloomington elections set for fall: None citywide, two of six council districts” →

Could the blue bubble of Bloomington have a reddish tinge in City Council District 2?

When maps of election results in recent Indiana statewide races are color-shaded—with reds or blues where Republicans or Democrats won more votes—the Hoosier state is a sea of red with some blue islands.

R Map Election INDIANA BRAUNOVERDONNLLEYxxxx

The few patches of blue for Indiana are consistent with a robust national pattern: Rural counties are stronger for Republicans; counties with higher urban populations, especially those with universities, are stronger for Democrats.

By way of example, in the 2018 Braun-versus-Donnelly U.S. Senate race, the Republican candidate (Mike Braun) carried most of the counties in the state. Monroe County, which is home to Bloomington’s Indiana University campus, went decisively Donnelly’s way, so it’s a dark shade of blue. Continue reading “Could the blue bubble of Bloomington have a reddish tinge in City Council District 2?” →

May 7 Bloomington Primary Election: A Nonpartisan Resource

Twenty-three candidates for 11 city offices are on the ballot for Bloomington voters in the May 7, 2019 primary election – all but one of them Democrats. And this year, all but two of the Democratic Party primary races are competitive.

Bloomington Primary Candidates 2019
Candidates in the May 7 Bloomington primary.

To help voters research their choices for Bloomington mayor, clerk and council, we’ve compiled a nonpartisan resource guide that profiles each candidate in the May 7 primary.

Here’s a link to the guide: Bloomington City Primary Elections 2019

In addition to biographical background, the profiles include links to each candidate’s online campaign information (website, social media, email) as well as links to campaign finance documents filed with the Monroe County clerk’s office.

Each profile also provides links to relevant news articles from a variety of sources, a listing that will be updated throughout the election cycle.

To register to vote, check your registration status or find your polling location, go to the Indiana Voter Portal. The deadline to register to vote in the May 7 primary is Monday, April 8.

Early voting starts on Tuesday, April 9.