Conflicts of Interest - Republican Style

Cory Schouten of the Indianapolis Business Journal this week reports in more detail about the no-bid real estate deal the city entered into with Venture Real Estate Services and John Bales.

The deal is troubling on so many levels. I think one though that might get lost in the shuffle is the role mayoral advisor Bob Grand played in brokering the deal. Although Schouten simply refers to Grand as John Bales' attorney, Advance Indiana confirmed that Grand is not only Bales' attorney, he negotiated the contract with the city. It should be noted though that the copy of the contract Schouten obtained from the city and linked to in his story conveniently did not include the signature page which may have had Grand's signature as Bales' attorney.

One issue local Republicans effectively used in the 2007 municipal election was that of Democrats' conflicts of interest that were ignored by Mayor Peterson and the Democrat majority on the council. Yet just months later, far worse conflicts of interest are emanating from the 25th floor. Obviously Mayor Ballard's political advisors are not serving his interests well if they did not alert him to the highly negative political ramnifications of the Venture Real Estate deal. Of course when the chief person advising the mayor politically is profitting from the deal, an obvious question arises whether the Mayor is getting honest political advice that truly is in his best interests.