Newest Ballard Betrayal: Mayor Sells Out 2007 Campaign Supporter Gary Conner

Gary Welsh at Advance Indiana reports about how Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has once again betrayed someone who worked for him in 2007 in favor of a Republican who didn't support his candidacy:

In an e-mail message announcing his candidacy for the Marion County Republican Party Chairman's position being vacated by Tom John, Gary Conner mentioned his work on behalf of Greg Ballard's uphill battle in 2007. "When Greg Ballard won election in 2007, he thanked his family, his campaign staff and then he thanked me, Gary Conner," he wrote. Greg Ballard said, "Without Gary, this doesn't happen." That was then and this is now. As Ballard has done to so many of the people who worked their butts off to elect him when Tom John, the Marion County Republican Party and other state and local Republican leaders did everything humanly possible to disparage his candidacy against Mayor Bart Peterson, Ballard kicked Gary Conner to the curb. Although Ballard had hinted to people his desire to find someone else to run the county party after his upset win over Peterson, he ultimately backed John for re-election. John had humiliated himself a short time earlier by filing to run in the wrong precinct for precinct committeeperson and wound up losing to someone else. John had to appoint himself to a vacant PC spot.

Conner learned today through a phone call from Ballard's campaign manager that Mayor Ballard would be endorsing Conner's opponent for county chairman, Kyle Walker, at tomorrow night's caucus election. Ballard couldn't even pick up the phone and tell his friend he wouldn't be backing him for county chairman. When Ballard ran for mayor in 2007, Walker worked as the executive director at the county party headquarters. Anyone who worked in Ballard's campaign will tell you Walker's boss and the county party staff provided little assistance to Ballard's campaign and discouraged would-be contributors from donating to his campaign. Once the election was over, Ballard betrayed the people who put him in office and turned to the very people who had worked against his campaign to assemble his new administration....

Gary Welsh also added a note that, once again, appointed PCs who don't agree to vote the way leadership wants - for Kyle Walker - are being threatened with removal. Just more of the same. That's why we need to eliminate the pool of appointed, non-working PCs that county chairmen use to rig these elections.

To see the rest of Gary's article, click here.