Thomas Langhorne of the Evansville Courier Press reports that Tom McKenna has entered the Indiana Secretary of State race. The position will be vacated as current Secretary Todd Rokita’s term expires. McKenna, former executive director of the Indiana Department of Commerce, will be seeking the Democratic nomination against Vop Osili, partner and founder of a prominent Indianapolis architectural firm. On the Republican side, so far Fishers Town Councilman Charlie White is the candidate. I don’t know if the Libertarians have fielded a candidate yet.

An added bit of trivia is that, should the election result in a 50/50 split in the House of Representatives, the Secretary of State race is the tie-breaker and determines which party controls the chamber. (That could get messy, I suppose, in the off chance the Libertarians catch fire in 2010).

Disgruntled citizens might suggest that *lots* of lawmakers are guilty of impersonating public servants; but, former representative Dennie Oxley plead guilty to the formal, legal crime of impersonating a public servant.

Specifically, he claimed to be a member of the General Assembly while the legislature was in session in order to prevent his arrest when he and a 21 year old female legal intern were found drunk at a gas station last July. In fact, he had resigned his seat in 2008 to run for Lieutenant Governor with Jill Long Thompson’s campaign. He was sentenced to three months probation in Crawford County.

Hoosierati has a brief review of a book with an interesting notion: “that the history of the world can be told using six signature beverages (beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola).” The book is entitled A History of the World in Six Glasses.

Per Hoosierati:

Beer contributed to an increase in farming and decrease in hunting.
Wine divided classes and cultures, particularly in Greece and Rome.
Spirits influenced slavery, the American Revolution, and contributed to the British Navy’s strength.
Tea improved and sustained life, and it was the “lubricant” for the industrial revolution.
Coffee (and coffeehouses) served as fuel for the enlightenment.
Coca-Cola, love it or hate it, is symbolic of America’s rise in dominance.

Maureen Groppe has an article in the Indianapolis Star indicating that the selective deficit disorder in Washington is bipartisan. (h/t BrianK for the SDD turn of phrase. Update, per BrianK, turn of phrase came from David Sirota.) When asked if they would support a tax to pay for the additional cost of war in Afghanistan, Senator Bayh, Senator Lugar, and Representative Pence all indicated they would not.

This indicates their concern about the deficit is selective. They raise the specter of debt only when the issue is something they would prefer not to pay for. Because these politicians oppose health care reform, frequently on the basis of cost, the question they should be made to answer is how the additional cost of war in Afghanistan benefits Americans more than would reform of our health care system. They have indicated through their selective deficit concerns, that paying for war in Afghanistan is a higher priority to them. They should have to identify how, specifically, this makes the lives of Americans better than would spending the same money on health care (or some other policy for which they cite lack of money).

In my mind, these politicians are in a different boat than those whose concerns about the deficit are across the board. The latter group can pretty much just say, about whatever the policy, “we don’t have the money; we’re not going to do it.” In any case, I don’t think you can call yourself a “fiscal conservative” or a “deficit hawk” just because the money you borrow is spent on wars abroad rather than on domestic projects.

In a move that can’t help but make you start thinking of possible conspiracies, the Feds filed a motion to dismiss the asset forfeiture lawsuit against Timothy Durham.

The federal government on Monday morning filed papers to dismiss a high-profile civil lawsuit that sought to seize Tim Durham’s assets, including his 30,000-square-foot Geist mansion and his 2008 Bugatti sports car.

Tim Morrison, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said his office had filed the case Nov. 24 to ensure Durham’s assets would not disappear. “Having [received] appropriate assurance they are not being dissipated, that litigation stopped,” said Morrison, who declined to say who provided that assurance.

It obviously *looks* bad – lawsuit against well-connected defendant suddenly dropped – but, this was just a forfeiture case, and there is no telling what might be coming along in terms of a criminal case. I simply don’t know enough about forfeiture actions in this context to evaluate this development.

It seems to me that criminal activity is less disturbing when you understand it. Timothy Durham’s alleged Ponzi scheme isn’t laudable, but the motives are easy enough to identify. Shootings and assaults that are the product of domestic violence are serious, but they don’t make me as doubtful about the general well-being of my community as random assaults and shootings.

The Associated Press has an article about child molestations in Veedersburg that simply peg my “what the hell?” meter. Samantha Light, a twenty-four year old woman with an apparently good reputation was allegedly molesting very young children – like 3 year olds – along with her boyfriend, Steven Quick and video taping it. People were using Ms. Light as a babysitter and she was betraying their trust in horrific fashion. And, it happened in Fountain County where everybody seems to know just about everything about everyone.

It’s the kind of crime that I can’t begin to wrap my head around, and that is one of the things that makes it so troubling. If you understand a crime, you feel like the means of avoiding it are more within your control. Even the illusion of control helps you place the actual risks of becoming a victim of the crime in some sort of proper context. Without control, the perceived risk looms much larger than the actual risk — think of the difference between being harmed in a car crash versus being harmed in a terrorist attack. The car crash is a far greater risk. It’s not even close. And yet, fear of terrorism is much greater than fear of car accidents. I think it’s because the car is a known risk and one that is, to a great extent, under your control.

The local blogosphere seems to have scooped the main stream media on a filing by the federal government to seize property of alleged Ponzi financier and political mover and shaker Timothy Durham. I read about the filing first at Advance Indiana and Ogden on Politics. Jon Easter at Indy Democrat apparently had the scoop as well via an e-mail from one of his readers. The federal complaint is here.

Carl Brizzi is looking really bad on this thing. He’s the Marion County Prosecutor. He has a close association with Durham. Durham gave him a ton of money to get elected and served as Brizzi’s finance chairman. If the allegations are true, this Ponzi scheme was going on under Brizzi’s nose. The federal complaint alleges that the company was taking money under the pretense of investing in low risk, high yield consumer debt; never actually investing the money; and taking money from new investors to make payments to older investors. And, of course, it appears that Durham was using the company as a piggy bank.

Getting less attention so far is James Cochran, co-director of Fair Financial, who is also part of the allegations. His political contributions have been minor, so far as I can tell – about $1,000 to the Greater Indianapolis Republican Finance Committee.

In any case, the other candidates who took money from Durham will probably get a pass, more or less, unless further facts emerge. Brizzi is in bad shape because he: a) took a ton of money from Durham; b) he has close ties with Durham; and c) he is in charge of prosecuting criminal behavior.

Incidentally, some good stuff over in the Advance Indiana archives I happened upon while Googling around about this article.

#October 2006 entry “Prosecutor’s Office for Sale?”

Brizzi’s single largest contributor by far is local businessman Timothy Durham, who has contributed almost $160,000 to Brizzi’s campaign. Durham is chairman of Obsidian Enterprises, Inc., a private holding company that invests in small and medium-sized companies primarily in the manufacturing and transportation sectors. He’s also a former partner at Ice Miller. He tells Schnitlzer he’s known Brizzi for a long time and pledged to support him before Kennedy entered the race.

#September 2007 comment on an entry about a party Durham threw.

Tim Durham scares the daylights out of me. He’s creepy. Married into the SerVaas family and gets rich. My what a success little Timmy became and then came the divorce. There went his dream of being the “richest man in the world”. Not only would I not let Durham close to my teenage daughter but I wouldn’t so much as trust him to run a lemonade stand. Durham’s a ticking bomb.

Thanksgiving was created, I think it must be said, as a religious holiday. Yet, not being a religious sort, I still find Thanksgiving to be one of the best holidays. The direction of my thanks is, perhaps, more ambiguous, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am thankful for the fact of creation, for having been born in a bountiful place and time, for a good family and for a great deal more. Regardless of whether your thanks is going to a deity, to a particular individual, or to no specific person at all; I think one of the primary benefits of giving thanks is that you stop taking things for granted. It is also an act of humility, a recognition that you are not solely responsible for all that you have. You owe a great deal of what you have and who you are to forces outside of your control. Appreciation and humility are valuable characteristics in a person, and a day devoted to their cultivation is a good one.

And, of course, there is the tremendous amount of good food, time off work, time spent with family and friends, and, with some luck, football. (Even if it is the Lions and the Cowboys.) My plan, as always, is to wallow in dark meat and mashed potatoes. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Moody v. Wellman, LLP (pdf) is a Not for Publication opinion issued by the Indiana Court of Appeals. (“Not for Publication” means it’s not to be cited as precedent — I’m not violating any state secrets by giving out the link). It’s a simple landlord tenant dispute with a tenant who wasn’t represented by counsel. It doesn’t break any new legal ground, but I thought I’d flag it as a nice little snapshot of a case in the life of a small claims court.

It illustrates the ability of a person to tie up a case without having a lawyer or a defense to speak of. He just filed paper after paper alleging one thing or another: he’s looking for a lawyer; the court should appoint him a lawyer; the judge is biased; he needs another continuance, etc. When, a year after the case was filed, it finally got time for him to explain why he didn’t owe the money, he had nothing to say. Cases like this shed a bit of light on why small claims courts can be a little abrupt with litigants and why small claims practitioners can become a little jaded to the people they sue. That doesn’t make it right, of course. I still try to separate the people merely stalling for time from the people with legitimate disputes. I’m sure I don’t always succeed, but it’s worth trying.

Actually, it started last night, but in any case the FBI investigation and arrest of Tim Durham has the Indianapolis blogosphere lighting up (and, contrary to Mr. Shella’s assertion, it’s a bi-partisan pile on – with Advance Indiana and Ogden on Politics featuring prominently.) The IBJ’s Greg Andrews seems to have been taking a prominent role (if not the leading role – I haven’t followed it that closely yet) in reporting on this story. Durham, an Indianapolis businessman, seems to have been playing fast and loose with an Ohio based finance company he owns.

Indianapolis businessman Tim Durham has treated Ohio-based Fair Finance Co. almost like a personal bank since buying it seven years ago, and now Durham, partners and related firms owe it more than $168 million, records show.

Fair, a consumer-loan company, listed no insider loans under prior ownership. The extensive borrowing—which represents 70 percent of Fair’s assets—worries some investment-industry observers at a time parts of Durham’s financial empire are strained.

That would be just another installment of the financial Masters of the Universe financiers being revealed as humbugs behind the curtain except that Durham appears to be an exceptional douchebag in terms of his showiness and he has ties to Indiana’s political establishment, especially – it seems – the Indianapolis Republicans. Durham had been married to the daughter of former City-County Council President and business tycoon Buert Servaas. He has also contributed generously to Marion County Prosecutor, Carl Brizzi ($150,000). But Brizzi isn’t the only one, Durham has contributed to. His money has flowed widely, mainly, but not exclusively (looking at you Rep. Hill ($4,600) to the Indiana Republicans.

Knowing as little as I do about this matter, I still have to admit having my views colored by an immediate schadenfreude. Not because of the guy’s politics, but because of the guy’s lifestyle. I’ll never be rich and flashy. I’m not sure I’d even be comfortable if that lifestyle was available to me. But, at a glance, it does look cool. Instead, I went with a slow and steady career and a committed family life. As with most things that are worthwhile in this life, the path is slow, subtle and, at times, hard (that last applies mostly to work – I haven’t yet seen what is especially hard about family life: pick a good spouse, don’t be a complete jackass, and raise your children as best you can. The rest seems to more or less take care of itself. Perhaps my kids’ teen years will be a rude awakening.)

But, in any case, it’s gratifying when things that look too good to be true turn out to be too good to be true and to see a guy cheating to get ahead brought low. This is all a little preliminary, I guess. Maybe all the negative reporting about this guy is premature and wrong. But there is a lot of smoke all of a sudden, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find that there was fire. All of the local politicians should probably review their connections to the guy, review the contributions they received from him and his organizations, and be prepared to explain themselves.