Anderson Mayor Interview - Part III - January 2009

Fantastic job Kpaul, keep up the great work..

you covered some good ground, the Mayor did a nice job with the answers..

I would like to pose a follow-up question regarding the scholarships for next interview. 

 Once the scholarships are in place will it include ONLY public school kids?  Yes or No.  No other discussion.   

I'd like to see some statistics to back up that Ockomon's brought in more jobs than Smith.  What's the criteria?  Net gain vs. loss?  New jobs that Smith's hands were on directly vs. new jobs that Ockomon's hands were on directly?  New jobs that were created because of existing businesses that are already here and expanding? 

How exactly does he come by his numbers?  I'm not aware of anything brand new coming except the Dunkin Donuts and the call center that didn't pay its employees. 

Now I remember you from the Hey Martha forum.

No. I've never been on Hey Martha.  You and I spoke way back when I first joined this site.  You thought I was too hard on Ockomon.

Actually, I'm not hard on him.  I don't "get" him and always want clarification.  He's vague in my opinion. 

I think he speaks english quite well.

That's why we ask questions - to get clarification.

That's why we ask questions - to get clarification.

It would seem then that you would want more than a yes or no answer.

Jens,

Smith had very little if anything to do with job creation, Nestle's aka project echo was landed via CED and quite frankly with all the perks and expenses Smith threw in on the backs of the 80% of Anderson that's not in a TIF area, we should have passed. I think the bottom line was somewhere around 100k + per job, a price we couldn't afford especially after he accepted all the GM properties (a million or so loss in tax revenue). He's tried to take credit for Hoosier Park and J Mark brokered that deal and Mayor Ockomon sealed the deal to bring the casino here. If you look at all the job creation Smith has attempted to take credit that are posted on http://www.leadclimberllc.com/success/  and believe it to be true, I think you fall into the catagory of either nothing Kris does will ever please you or you may be part of the prior administration.

Maybe you should give Mayor Ockomon and discuss your concerns and or objections.

The following opinion was provided by a Republican.

Salmon Fan -

I'm out of the loop where Smith v Ockomon are concerned.  They're both politicians and both will say and do whatever to become elected and stay in office. I can tell you no more about Smith than I can about Ockomon as far as jobs are concerned.  I do not know any numbers or which jobs they are taking credit for bringing.  That was the point of my question.

The mayor made the statement, so obviously, he's got some information available to make such a claim.  I hope he shares further. 

Thanks for the web site.  I was not aware of it either.

You obviously are more involved in the politics than I am.  Other than Dunkin Donuts and the Call Center, I'm not aware of anything this mayor's done that's created jobs.  Even then, I have no idea how one takes credit for anyone coming to Anderson. (Or blame when a privately owned organization leaves or closes).

Where "yes" and "no" request is concerned, that has to do with scholarships.  The mayor anchored one of his planks to scholarships.  I've asked him numerous times if this includes all children within the city limits or just the public school children.  I've yet to get an answer.

A simple yes or no would make things clear.