Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star is reporting that Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi has filed paperwork to run in the 5th Congressional District, which is currently held by long-time congressman Dan Burton. According to Brizzi, he won't run unless Burton decides to retire. State Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Indianapolis, filed for the race last month. Republicans Brose McVey and former state Rep. Luke Messer have also expressed interest.
I'd definitely take a pass on supporting Carl Brizzi. Here are my reasons why:
1) The poorly-run Marion County Prosecutor's Office. The office does a terrible job of screening cases before filing charges and then won't drop charges when they realize they don't have a case. I have written previously about the mentally disabled client of mine Brizzi's office charged with robbery and left in jail for four months. They had no physical evidence he committed the robbery and we had video of him across town eating lunch during the time of the alleged robbery. ("Alleged" because all signs point to the store manager pocketing the money and fingering a mentally handicapped man who frequented the establishment so she wouldn't be investigated for theft.) Still the Prosecutor's Office left the man in jail. That happens all the time with this Prosecutor's Office. Ask former and present deputy prosecutors privately whether the office is poorly run and you will get an earful.
2) The failure to protect victim's rights. I know he claims to make victims a priority, but what I've seen doesn't match the rhetoric. I personally know of several occasions when the Prosecutor's Office failed to notify victims of critical hearings involving those accused of the crime as required by Indiana law. While I assume that's because other people in his office dropped the ball, the buck still stops on Carl Brizzi's desk.
3) The failure to go after public corruption. Indianapolis is a cesspool of insider dealing and pay for play politics. The Marion County Prosecutor is the one official in the state who has the most power to go after the corruption in the city. Carl Brizzi has done nothing in that regard. In fact, there is virtually no prosecution of any white collar crime.
4) Bad connections. Speaking of insider dealing and pay for play politics, unfortunately Carl Brizzi is well connected to many of those involved.
5) Opposition to gunowner rights. Brizzi has continued the tradition of Marion County prosecutors being hostile to gunowner's rights. That's not a good thing in a Republican Primary.
Those are five reasons to not support Carl Brizzi for Congress off the top of my head. There may well be more.
3 comments:
You certainly got #3 right. I sent a whole packet of evidence to Carl Brizzi relating to the illegal no bid scheme that the AG deemed to be illegal. That scheme cost Marion County taxpayers millions of dollars and possibly placed public school children at risk. Brizzi didn't even acknowledge he received the package. After I learned that he had connections to the Big Indy lawfirms that were hired to lobby for the scheme, I knew it was a dead end. It's definitely pay-to-play in Indianapolis. The Johnson County prosecutor's office did indicate they would look into it and asked for my evidence package. This blog post made me realize that I had forgotten to send it. Thanks for the reminder.
Oh, and the last item on your list related to gun rights...that's enough to disqualify this candidate.
I hope Dan Burton runs again. He's my Congressman, and I think he's been a good one.
Exhibit A: Peasheake operations and associated money laundering, participation of legitimate finance, and RICO activities.
Exhibit B: CIB
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