Shades of Gray

Outgoing CCC President Monroe Gray is out of touch and out of his mind. Following the stinging defeat of the Democrat majority, mostly attributed to Gray's ongoing ethical inquiries, Sweet Pea has announced he wants to be Minority Leader in the next Council. The CCC's VP, Joanne Sanders, the only Democrat to win an at-large seat, wants the same position.

The Marion County Democrats are a fractured machine at best. When Rozelle Boyd, a Councillor from pre-Unigov, is defeated soundly, there is no hope for them it sounds like other than being in the minority for a while. Yes, politics is cyclical, but when the machine that produced so many elected officials (Congresswoman Carson, Senator Bayh, Mayor Peterson, Councillor Gray) is now responsible for the downfalls of many of them as well (pushing through a 65% county income tax increase in an election year, going negative in an airtight mayoral race against an underfunded candidate with a better message), the people operating the machine need to step back and evaluate the situation.

The Marion County GOP worked the big-tent angle to perfection, and with the presidential, congressional, and gubernatorial races, not to mention state legislators up for election next year, will the Dems look at the errors made this election, and correct them for the next time? The Democratic Party used to stand for equal opportunity and social justice, but do those principles only apply to those that have the juice??