According to the primary election results, Fred Glynn — who was running against 6-termer aging carpetbagging crook and lying sack of shit former Ohio Democrat Jim Brainard for the GOP mayoral nomination in Carmel, Indiana — had 44.2% of the vote vs. the incumbent’s 55.8%.
The Gannett Star calls this the closest Carmel mayoral primary “in decades”. For once, they and I agree on something. That’s fantastic, and in a just world would give Brainard a well-deserved conniption.
But here’s the problem: Only 14,659 votes were cast in a heavily-Republican city that boasts nearly a hundred thousand residents. Fred’s margin was only 1,729 votes. That means only 865 votes would have had to flip to Fred to get the win. The Bureau of the Census estimated (in 2018) that 68% of Hoosiers statewide are registered to vote, so that suggests that somewhere in the neighborhood of 65,000ish registered voters reside in Clay Township.
So where were the other 50,000 of you?
One can only imagine what might have happened if, say, those 865 votes had flipped to Fred. Or if another couple thousand GOP voters had gotten off their dead asses on Tuesday and bothered to vote for Fred. Did all you people out there in West Clay and Home Place who were so angry about annexation actually visit a polling place on Tuesday?
The good news is that Fred remains a Hamilton County council member. Let’s hope that he uses that position to investigate Carmel’s finances more closely. Perhaps even insists that a full audit take place. Where is the money coming from and where is it going — and most importantly, what is the actual plan for paying it back once it comes due?
I have two closing thoughts. Well, three.
One is that the primary election system in this state has destroyed democracy by killing the party convention for the two major parties. By state statute those parties MUST choose their candidates via the primary election system. I’m sure this was intended to end the old smoke-filled room nomination process and the cronyism that it engendered, but I’m unconvinced that primaries are actually the best way to solve that problem. Plus, and I’ve said this before, historically we had better candidates under the old system. There are reasons for that that I don’t intend to go into at this time, but mostly it has to do with being vetted by the party rather than simply having to fill out an application and get x number of signatures to obtain ballot access.
Two is that I think Brainard is absolutely petrified about having to leave office in any way other than flat on his back, or “tits up” as the Brits put it. He knows there will be audits and investigations and that there’s an excellent likelihood that he’ll end up doing time for felonies and misdemeanors connected to the rapid expansion of Carmel over the past quarter century. At the very least his reputation will be significantly besmirched. It is simply impossible that he has not committed crimes, and I find it amazing that nobody has ever ratted him out. Apparently he’s really good at bribing people to keep their mouths shut and toe his line. Brainard has always reminded me of the Wizard of Oz — “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain,” and head for the hills when it becomes obvious that you’re a fraud. (The latter, sadly, is probably not in the cards.)
Finally: Fred Glynn, you are a great County Councilman, a great husband, and a great dad. Win or lose, you’re my hero and I expect you to keep plugging away for the benefit of your county, your lady, and your daughter. Keep fighting the good fight, my friend, and God bless.