October 16, 2025 • 35 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh, this is gonna come as a shocked all of
you and listener land. But Joe Hawks said has stabbed
the people of Indianapolis in the back. It's the Kennel
and Casey Show. I'm Rob Casey's out today. Oh boy,
we got the perfect person with us today to talk
about this because he knows energy, thirty years in need.
He had us at the Great Gym Merritt and.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And I know hog set too.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Weren't you guys like frat brothers.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We were brothers.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yep, that's right. That's crazy to run together. We had
the we won the All campus cross country meet. He
and I this is indian Yeah, yeah, I say he
won it. We used to run together.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Now, think about how your lives. I mean they were
entwined through politics, but you became a decent, respected, esteemed
member of society.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
And then and then there's some people might argue about that.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
You ain't hog set no matter what. Okay, So the
big news that came out yesterday and by the way,
Jesse Brown, remember the Indianapolis City County Council is going
to be with us at nine to thirty talk about this.
And he is on a rampage and he should be,
because this is disgusting. So it came out last night
that Joe Hogg Set the City of Indianapolis, which is
(01:15):
Joe hog set, let's call it what it is. The
City of Indianapolis has struck a deal with AEES, which
is the major utility provider for electric provider for the
City of Indianapolis, that they will not object to AES
raising rates, but just not by as much as they
(01:36):
were going to raise the rate before. And this comes
at a time Jim, in which the governor has clearly
stated that whoever he's going to point to this i
U r C. Which we'll get to that later with you,
because you're on that board that's going to make some
of those recommendations, his major driver is going to be
no rate increases. He's got this new consumer advocate who's
totally on the public side of no rate increases and
(01:58):
in fact is not only objecting to a s IS
proposed rate increase, but it said the rate should be lower.
All the momentum is on the side of not having
rate increases for consumers, and then the Hawks and administration
goes in and cuts this deal. This is simply disgusting
beyond beliefle and it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It is unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
And Robert, thank you very much, good morning, and uh
good moaning all uh this uh we everybody has to
understand that energy is at the center point of everything
that we do. And uh and and energy and the rates,
the power and a S is in central Indiana. And
(02:40):
I really find this hard to believe that they're they're
cutting off the conversation when when uh, when the governor
appointed Abby Gray as a consumer counselor uh and she
made the the the bold U pronouncement that she is
against the ae S increases this this U this rate case.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
And then the governor showed this emoji on on social
media of clapping and he supported that.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So we're on each.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Side of Market Street of Indianapolis. We've got two competing
uh situations here to two competing viewpoints. And and I'm
just not the devils in the details, but shame on
the Hugs administration for not letting this play out with
the I R C, with the consumer counselor and and
(03:37):
uh and it's just uh, you just kind of wonder
what's around the corner here.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, So let's and By the way, Duel has a
pretty nice breakdown of all this over at Indie politics
dot org if you want to kind of read the
ABC's of this. But basically so kind of just reset
as it proposed another big rate increase. They just had
one at whatever it was eighteen months ago or something
like that, they wanted another one. It's in front of
the i u r C, the India Utility Regulatory Commission,
(04:04):
and now the i u r C can still reject this.
They can still say no, City of Indianapolis. And by
the way, there were other major players, utility users, mega
companies that have signed on to this lowered rate increase agreement.
But the i u r C still has the final say.
They have the ability to say no, you guys have
(04:25):
raised enough, We're done here.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, And the i r C does have the I
think they should play this out. They will play this out.
We'll talk about this a little later. But the i
r C is almost like a judicial they're the judge.
They make the decision. That consumer counselor has their part.
And I'm not sure you kind of wonder, Joe mayor,
(04:49):
Joe what are you afraid of? You know, what are
you afraid of. You've got a governor who campaign on this,
by the way, and one one election and he's at
the rape payers in in his you know his Yeah, yeah,
I don't understand, uh. And one would think that there's
(05:09):
something that the hogs that administration knows that we don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But a S which is a is a cash cow
for uh. You know, it's the old I p L.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
About to be bought by black Rock too.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, and that that gives me a pause as well.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
You you if a s UH International, because this is
enormous global company, uh, and they only have a couple
of utilities, one in Ohio that's small, and then a
couple down in the in California and the LA area.
And this is a cash cow for a S International.
(05:46):
And I've always had a problem because I had a
district that that's as served and if the wind blew
in parts of the Geist area in Lawrence Township, they'd
have brownouts and they had a lot of service problems.
And I'm just very concerned. You know, the federal government
comes involved here too.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
This is a massive deal because it's a total betrayal
of the people of Central Indiana, of the city of
Indianapolis now just numbers wise according to Abdul, and this
is what we're talking about, such a small drop in
the bucket. People are still according to ab Duel, the
average system wide rate increase would still go up almost
five percent. We're not talking about a small number. And
(06:28):
the total amount of revenue that as is conceding here
is one hundred and eleven million dollars and they're still
going to be generating almost two billion dollars of new revenue.
So I mean, you got relatively nothing. Now. The City
of Indianapol is going to get a bunch of freebies
out of this, so it's going to help them, like
(06:48):
the city itself, the entity. So Jesse Brown'll be with
us at nine to thirty from the city County Council
to talk about this. He is very upset, so we'll
do that. In the meantime, there's another scandal involving the
Hawks set administration. It's a day that ends and why
And I'm sure you saw Jim earlier this week. The
big XP wasa that Indie Star and Mirror Indie had
(07:09):
yeah very well, yeah, very well written. Peter Blancher was
involved in it. Tony Cook was involved in putting this together,
not the scandal, but the reporting on the scandal about
another thing involving Thomas Carl Cook, the right hand man
for years of the mayor, who then went on to
work for a major law firm in the city of Indianapolis,
and how Cook was involved in a romantic relationship with
(07:30):
a woman in city government who was helping decide where
city incentives went. And a lot of the city incentives,
at least according to their reporting, eighty million dollars in
city incentives were delegated to people that were clients of
Thomas Carl Cook. So you had this woman making choices
on where money went, incentives went, and she helped steer
(07:55):
eighty million dollars of incentives according to this reporting, to
clients of a guy she was involved in a relationship.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
With, and you know very much.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So and when people read this, uh they've got they've
got it's chock full facts and and what and what
they've discovered there it happened, and uh, it just it
demeans the political process, The demeans government, and it just
adds on to the fact that people don't trust government.
The credibility of government is is is is lower today
(08:27):
than it was yesterday. And they did a very good
job of writing this article. And UH and and the
Indianapolis Star has kind of shied away from uh being
critical of the Hogs and administration do anymore. But you
know that Joe people would disagree with that. Yeah, okay,
so real quicker. I want to get to this. So
(08:48):
friends of Art Fox Route nine, Russ McQuaid was the reporter.
He caught up with hog Set and we had a keV.
They did, you know, a long piece of Art Foxertenine
news report or around this. But here's a little montage
of Joe hog Set essentially telling Russ McQuaid Fox fifty
nine to kiss his butt cheeks and that there's nothing
(09:10):
to see here with another scandal with Thomas Carl Cook.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Russ, I'm not going to speculate on personnel related matters.
There is absolutely no indication that anything inappropriate was done.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Legal Erside is the city. You can have him at
the table, but we're not going to do business with him.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
Well, I you know that's a matter of speculation, Russ.
And I'm not going to I'm not gonna fall him in.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
He is such a liar. It does not appearcord to
the Mere Indie Indie Star article that the facts are
in dispute on any of this that this guy, I mean,
the text messages, et cetera show there was something going
on between these two and this money went to these
people who Cook was representing for hogs at acting like
there's nothing to see her. That's disgusting.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, and you know, good on Russ McQuay, one of
our best in the media and longtime media a member
and very good at what he does. And too, I'm
surprised he could get Joe on the on the line
here because they keep him in a you know, on
a tube and you know they talking to the mayor
is very difficult. And uh, good on him and and
(10:16):
uh kind of what a mishmash spaghetti bull and and
he really said nothing, which said a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
All right, let's take a break. Jim merritten for Casey.
When we come back, we'll get you up to date
on the latest with the shutdown. Trump had some incredible
audio about Chuck Schumer. Uh Hakeem. Jeffries Will appeared to
be rapping at some at one point. We'll play all
that for you next, Killing Casey Show ninety three w
IBC and these weeks and he beat his vomit on
(10:45):
his seat. Lady, Yeah, yeah, good one. keV Jeffries was
rapping yesterday. We'll get to that in a second. It's
a Kettley Casey show. M Rob Casey's out, Jim Merritt
for Casey. So the shutdown? What are we were? Day sixteen?
Ethan told me this the other day. It's easy to remember.
(11:06):
October first was the shutdown. So today is the sixteenth, right,
So we're day sixteen of the of the shutdown.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You kind of wonder if we need a big government anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Well, you know, there's a famous episode of the Office
where all the bosses are fired or quit or something,
and Jim, you know, one of the main characters, just
looks at the camera and goes, it's been several weeks
and everything's running fine. Just hire people that take pride
in their work and just let them do their job.
Everything will be fine.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
That Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I mean, look, we love this place because we never
see her, hear from anyone, just like keep making us money.
Thanks anyway. So, Hakeem Jeffers, he's the Democrat leader in
the House. He had some big press a conference or
whatever you would call it. There are a bunch of
Democrats standing behind him. I think it was on the
Capitol steps, and at one point it appears he started
(11:58):
rapping during his during his comments.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Take a listen, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have
shut down the government fifteen days ago and they haven't
done a damn thing since to try and reopen house.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Democrats are here reporting for duty.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
We are ready, we are willing, and we are able
to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the
needs of the American people, reopen the government and decisively
address the Republican healthcare crisis.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Is he talking to Chuck Schuber there?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Talking to himself?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I don't think he cares. Joe hawkson with the.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
We also need a common sense partner on the other
side of the aisle House Republicans shut the government down,
then they ran out of town, and for the last
three weeks they're nowhere to be found. What can I say?
(13:08):
You deserve better?
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yes, I can almost see him talking with his hands
like he does.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah. At the end, he said the best part, and
that's true for all of us. We deserve better, We
deserve better than every single one of you. People.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Look, I just like, there's he doesn't have credibility.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Well, there's nothing for him to discuss that.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
There's nothing for him to do.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
The House has passed a budget. Yes, they have given
it to the Senate, and there's nothing to negotiate with
you on sir. You're you're look because I think it
is the budget they passed. It's already been passed. You
are irrelevant in this equation.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Irrelevant. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
He has no relevancy to the issue than you know,
a bad rap. I mean, there's nothing to it. It's
fun to make fun of him, but he has nothing
to do with this. He all talked to Chuck Schumer
about opening up the government right there.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Jim speaking of Chuck Schumer not going to be outdone.
Donald Trump had some commentary about Chuck Schumer. This is
one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard. Take a listen.
And as far as the shutdowns concerned, this is a
Democrat Schumer shutdown, and he's trying to do it to
get relevance back into the party because he's a loser.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I've known him all his life. He's always been sort
of a loser, but in intelligent one.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
But I think he's losing my points. Yeah, he's always
been a loser, an intelligent one, but a loser. But
I think he's losing I Cuban, he's all the time
are but seriousness? Right, this is this is like the
world looks has to be looking at this and just
laughing at our country where look at all the money
(14:50):
we spend, the debt, trillion dollar annual deficits, you know,
and yet these people it's just it's never enough for them.
It's never enough for them. Jim.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yes, And you know, we were talking about mayors being
in charge of really public safety and just the just
the rock bottom, you know, the essentials. And that's what
we want from our government, be it federal or local
or state, is we want to be safe, we want
to be educated, we want a way of life that
we can be proud of. And being closed for sixteen
(15:23):
days really, I mean there's still people walking on Monument
Circle and people are happy, and it's just we haven't
really noticed out here in the in Midwest, in the
Midwest that the federal government's closed.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
We're still safe, all right, Let's take a break.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
When we come back, our old pal. Jesse Brown, Socialist,
member of the Indianapolis City County Council. Hey, you say
what you want about the guy's political leanings, but he
speaks out for the people. Heck of a lot more
than most of those guys.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I speak straight, no question about it, and he.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Is going to bring the smoke on Joe Hogg sat
signing off for the hogs that administrator the City of Indianapolis,
because they're pointing fingers at everybody. Now, somebody in city
government signed off on this deal that will allow the
AES rates to continue to rise, and Jesse Brown, not happy,
joins us. Next Kennelly Casey Show, ninety three WIBC. So
(16:23):
the city went behind the back of the taxpayer for
some kind of deal with AES. What's it meaning for you?
Our next guest says, nothing good and he's upset. It's
Kennel Casey Show. I'm Rob Casey's out today. Jim Merritz
in for Casey, joined in studio by Jesse Brown, member
of the Indianapolis City County Council. Jesse Brown. Hello, Hey, Rob,
great to be here. Thanks for having me on. All right,
(16:45):
so you were the kind of the first person to
speak up last night on this We started the program
talking about it in which the city of Indianapolis teamed
up with some other big name companies and has apparently
cut a deal with AES where they said we will
accept a certain level of rate increase and not fight
(17:05):
you in front of the iu RC and everybody. Sort of.
It was like one of those press press deals where
you go, ooh, this is going to be bad for
the consumer. You're speaking out against this, why, Well, so
first let's look at the status quo. How were your
electric bills before this happened, right, I think anybody could
tell you way too high.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
AES just had a big rate increase, right, that's right,
not less than eighteen months ago, they had a huge
rate increase.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Now they're asking for another one. We look and see
the news and we see.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
That Blackrock is talking about buying AES's parent company. Usually
private equity owning your utility company is not a great
thing for consumers, to put it mildly. So that's the context, right.
Other context is the Office of Utility Consumer counselor the OUCC.
That's the regulatory commissions basically watchdog group that's appointed by
the government to make sure consumers rights are being thought
(17:56):
of and considered. OUCC held five field hearing in Indianapolis,
and no, sorry, I asked them to hold five. They
held four. Still appreciate that. That's still pretty good, Still
pretty good. Six seven hundred people testified opposed to this
rate increase. I came out, a bunch of other city
councilors came out, some politicians came out. You know a
lot of people just talked about how this was going
(18:18):
to impact people. I literally sat at the field hearing
and the woman behind me was a retiree who came
to the hearing that day because she had nothing better
to do because her electricity got cut off on.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Her fixed in Coacheez.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
And to their credit that as people freaked out about
that and helped her, you know, got a shine of
spotlight on that exactly right. Yeah, So that's the context.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
So the obviously utility Consumer Counselor came out with their
report based on all that feedback and said, ayes should
not get a rate increase at all. In fact, we
should lower their rates, yeah, lower their rate of profit. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And you've got so then you've got like sort of momentum.
Now even though Bron's a big phony on this because
he just signed that bill. It's going to raise everybody's rates.
String session, but he said, oh, I got these new
I U r C people do a point, and I'm
going to tell this, you know, no rate increases. So
you got all the momentum against rate increases, and then
the Hogs administration just kind of stabs everybody in the
back and cuts this deal. Little raise rates if it's approved.
(19:09):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
So I'm on the board of Citizens Action Coalition, which
is a nonpartisan consumer watchdog group fights for lower bills.
OUCC and CAAC both just refused to sit down to
a settlement agreement because we didn't think there's any settlement
that could be possible that lets aes raise your electric bill.
Hog Seat's administration went behind our backs and fought for
this deal to let them raise residential rates by six
(19:32):
and a half percent again. And worst of all, after
I started calling them out on social media and talking
about what a raw deal this was for consumers at
nine to forty pm last night, they got a press
release out to try to get ahead of this story, right,
And do you notice the press release the words Joe
Hog set are nowhere on there, which is usually a
sign that you know, really fearless leader, not afraid to
(19:53):
pass the ball.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Right, absolutely, Okay. Jesse Brown from the Indianapoli City Cutty
Council is our guest. Why did he do this? I
mean we all know is his administration. Of course, I
don't know what they say in press release. Why did
he do this? Because it seems like there was real
momentum to avoid anything happening and maybe even get these
bills reduced for people.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Real momentum and bipartisan momentum. Right, So you see, like
you said, I agree, Mike Bron is a phoney Mike Fawn.
So Mike Bron, you know, at least understood how upset
people are about their electric bills, and so he was
making a lot of gestures in the public as though
he was going to fight this rate increase. And I
think we should have called him on that and let
him prove to everybody whether or not he's going to
(20:34):
instead hogs that treats it like it's business as usual
and does what you know most cities would have done
a few years ago, which is just trying to cut
a deal minimize the harm. But if you look at
the press release, you can see exactly what he was thinking.
This is the same type of manipulative gas lighting that
Joe Hoggs that is famous for. He thinks the constituents
are stupid, and so he talks a lot. Every single
(20:55):
time he passes a budget. He brags about the bounce budget,
even though that's required under law. You got to do that, right,
you have to do that, But he brags about it anyway.
And then he also is misleading. So he'll move money around.
He'll raise fees but say, well, that wasn't a raise
in taxes. Okay, technically true, but at the end of
the day, more money comes out of your pocket. That's
what's happening here. So he did cut a deal so
that the city pays less for street light maintenance and
(21:18):
street light upgrades. So the city is going to save
millions of dollars. So the press release says the city, right,
the entity, the City of Indianapolis Capital see Capitol I
saves millions of dollars, which are taxpayer dollars. But how
do they save that money? Literally, they're asking you to
pay for it yourself in your electric bill.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Jesse Bred from the Indianapos City County Council is our guests.
We're talking about this deal that was struck by the
hog set city of Indianapolis to agree to a rate increase.
Don't you guys as counselors, can't you go? Can he
just do that and speak on your behalf? Well, hilariously,
didn't you? It is very rare.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
You know, I'm a socialist, right, We've got eighteen Dems,
we've got six Republicans on the council, and twenty five
of us unanimously last week just passed a resolution saying
we call an aees to withdraw their rate case entirely
and get nothing. And so, as far as I know,
no city councillor was even communicated with hawks Sead just
(22:13):
did this unilaterally without talking to any of us.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
But can't you guys do something? I mean, can he
do this and just say, well, I speak for the city. No,
you speak for the city.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Right, That's how a real city would work, right, when
we're not just a kid's table that is set off
to the side and ignored for them to just do
what they want. But you know, when you see counselors
still pass these horrible budgets year after year. You know
we're enabling we are enabling this kind of behavior. But
what we could do, and this is something that again
has bipartisan support. You heard everybody from Jared Evans to
(22:43):
Josh Band and me talking about this last Monday, is
the city could come together and use revenue bonds and
buy AES Indiana and run as a municipal co op
the way the ramc's run. So this wouldn't be trust me,
I would never agree to Joe Hogg set runs our
electric company. I've seen how badly he runs everything else.
But the citizens, the rate payers, could collectively manage this
(23:05):
and stop paying a CEO twenty five million dollars a
year and run it effectively.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Jess Around for the Indianapolis City County Council is our guest.
When are your colleagues going to have enough of this guy?
I mean, it's just obviously, and I'll get to the
Thomas Carl Cook thing in just a second. Share, but
it's just one thing after another, and other than you,
and I guess Carlino finally decided she had had enough,
changing her mind several times. None of your other colleagues
(23:29):
seem to ever be done with this guy. That's right.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And you know I put it in an email to
constituency yesterday, Hogg said's legacy is trash. There's no doubt
about it that fifteen years from now, when we look
back at the history of Indianapolis, we're going to see,
you know, an alcoholic mayor who was abusive to his
staff and who let a bunch of corrupt development deals
go by. That's how people will remember him, period. I
don't care what anybody says now. The only question is
(23:53):
are counselor is going to be remembered as part of
that posse or are they going to be independent politicians
who still have a career after all that this is
said and done. I don't understand what they're waiting for.
You know, you don't have to be a Jesse Brown.
You don't have to come out, you know, guns blazing
and calling out the corruption as you see it. You
can at least put some distance between yourself and the administration.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So why not look at how happy you are? But
you're still upright, you're taking Dershman. You haven't been found
floating in the monon, I mean not yet, Like you're
you're still here and you're pretty popular amongst your constituents. Like,
what are they afraid of?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
I think it's about the money, right, So you look
at Joe Hogsa and how much money he has in
the bank and how tight he is with the deep
pockets that really fund politics in this city. I have
the distinct advantage. I didn't take any of their money
to get elected, so I had nothing to lose. They
have a lot to lose. They know that their constituents
don't know them very well. None of us do. Even
my election, twelve percent of the population turned out for
(24:46):
that primary, So you know, I can't claim that I've
got this amazing democratic mandate. I'm just doing my job
the best I see fit to do it, and constituents
are going to decide whether they want to re elect me,
and I'm cool with that. I think you are by
far the most honest member of the city County Council.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Say that all the time. I like you the best,
even though I may I don't even know what. I
disagree with you the most, because I think you're the
most in I think you're the most engaged with the people.
I think you speak for the people the most. Now
you got some weird views about the cars, but I like,
I think you sort of have a blueprint on whether
you're a Democrat or Republican, how to do it the
(25:19):
right way, whether you're at the person's politics or not,
which is you go right to the people, right, I mean,
at the end of the day, in whether you want
to call it a democracy, a democratic republic, or a republic,
no matter what, consent comes from the governed right, and
so that's where the power comes from. You can't skip
that step of actually talking with people and seeing how
they feel before I let you go. Two things. One,
is this done now with the rate increase because the
(25:40):
IRC can still reject this.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Correct, they could still reject it. And actually, I'm glad
you brought that up. This morning, I'm going to be
sending a letter to the IURC asking them to take
an unprecedented step that I don't think they've ever taken before,
which is to hold field hearings. So they already held
four field hearings about the rate case. Yeah, I want
them to hold a field hearing or two about this
propose settle just because again, if the City of Indianapolis
(26:02):
is claiming to speak for us, let's hear what actual
ratepayers from the City of Indianapolis think about this. I
think that we need a little bit more public testimony
just to keep this in the spotlight and make sure
that U s understands Joe Hoggson does not speak for us.
You go run for mayor not this time around. I
don't think, but I saw you post about this. You know,
if somebody comes opart with it, somebody comes up with
a couple million bucks to help me out, then then
(26:23):
maybe I'll think about it.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Jimmy from mayor you for governor? Right, Yeah, there you go, brother,
uh Jesse Brown remember of the Indianapoli city kind of council?
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, it's Kennel case Sho ninety
three wibc.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I see what you're doing here. I see what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
What's an R.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Deane Taylor. It's great. It's Kennel and Casey show. I'm Rob.
Casey's out today. Jim Merritt's in for Casey. So Jim
you're and I you guy, you graduated a few years
ago from IU.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah. I like to think about that way.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And now, okay, so technically I have I tell people
because I don't want to never want to be accused
of fibbing. I have an IU diploma on my wall
because I think go to I you Bloomington and went DIU.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
P y.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
The diploma says Indiana University of Can I say I'm
an I You grad?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I would think you could say that, right, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Misleading the audience. So I am an IU grad. Yes,
And we both are taking an interest in this story
because there's all sorts of drama now involving the IU
Student newspaper, or at least what was left of it,
the Indiana Daily Students.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yes, or on April one, it's the Indiana Daily Stupid.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
That's not what they have, a like an April fool's addition. Yes, okay,
So once upon a time this not to like say
you were alive back in the Stone Age or whatever,
but that was once upon a time. The IU Daily
Student was a pretty big deal on the IU campus.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It has because of the journalism school. It has always resonated,
It's always had a reach about it, and I read
it religiously when I was there.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
True story. You want to want my IU journalism school story?
Would you like this?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Of course? I'm sure our listeners would too.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
So I was in the student newspaper in high school
and I had an opinion column shocking right, and it
was very well read because I just ripped on various
parts of the high school and things.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And it was all the way back then.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
It was very popular and so the school, since they
couldn't kick me out of the out of the newspaper,
I didn't do anything like technically wrong. I just wrote
pieces they didn't like. They said, send him to journalism camp.
They'll teach him how to be a good writer. And
so they paid for me to go to the summer
IU journalism camp and the newspaper of what instructor supervisor
(28:59):
or whatever they call. He goes. Now, whatever they tell
you, you just follow them and you'll come back here and
you'll be a much better writer this fall for your
senior year. So I go and they make you take
your pieces and you turn them in, and you know,
they they read them and they go, well, these are wonderful.
And I said really, I said, yeah, you're a great writer.
And I said well they they said no, no, no, they
(29:21):
don't like that. You're ripping on the school and you're
being critical of the school. You're writing is phenomenal. And
here's you know, they do a little report card on you,
and they I go back, and he goes, well, what'd
you learn? I said, they said I was great. Now
he said, well, don't listen to anything they told you.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Well, you know, when when Walter Cronkite was, it was
a very trustworthy entity in person and media person, way
back when, and when when Johnson LBJ president, Johnson lost
Walter Cronkite and and and he lost the war. And
(29:55):
when Mark Cuban tweets that he's not happy and he's
given so much money and so much support, uh and
and really just everything to Indiana University, and he tweets,
he's not happy, and you've lost Mark Cuban.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
There's a problem.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
There's a vacuum, don't We don't have an explanation that
I can see from Indiana University itself. And right now
there's a vacuum of an explanation of why this actually happened.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
All right, So here's what's going on. And I derailed
myself there by talking about my esteemed high school students.
Paper journalism, you talk about yourself, Okay, So here's what's
going on. So what this was recently, because of cost
et cetera, they limited the IU Daily Student, which used
to be what it was like a weekly publication.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Absolutely, I mean it was well read, you know, in.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
The newspaper boxes, et cetera. But due to cost, they
have essentially limited them to a couple times a year
them putting out actual print editions. Everything else is online.
You log onto a website ed that's where a lot
of journalism is going. But you know, it was a
big deal when it happened at IU, and part of
that that the university basically said, hey, when we do
(31:03):
these print editions, we don't want hard news. We want
them to be special things, homecoming, various events around campus.
That's our directive to you about these print additions that
are going to show up. We're paying to print them,
et cetera. This is what we want. Well, the guy
who is what the journalism teacher, the main guy over there,
(31:26):
he didn't like that. So they were going to put
news in the print editions. And Jim Rodenbush is the
guy's name, the director of student media, and he said,
we don't want to do that. We're going to and
they're like, no, you can't do that. We're giving you
a directive. We're paying for this with tax payer money.
We are in charge of this university. We're telling you
what you're going to do. So they fired the guy,
(31:47):
and now everybody's up in arms, claiming their First Amendment
rights have been violated. And I say to that, that's ridiculous.
You don't have a right to print the IU Daily Student.
It's part of this university. The trustees, the people in charge,
the resident They make the choices, whether you like them
or not. That's the rules. You pay by. Somebody else
is paying for this, they get to say what it is.
I don't think this is a First Amendment thing.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Well, I think it's one of those things where people
on those situations where people didn't really realize what the
backlash was gonna be.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
And and there is so much conversation.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
About the First Amendment these days, and there should have
been a meeting of the minds and somehow an agreement
that it's all about what you say offline. And obviously
obviously there was not a Kumbaya moment. And when you
fire somebody and and they have a megaphone and they's
(32:41):
still the media, and right now, sure, but they're a
media paid for by somebody else, Like our bosses, I said.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
They you know, they mostly leave us alone. They don't
ever tell us you have to say this, but we
have rules and procedures here. I don't just get to
go nah, I'm not doing that. They're the bosses. They
say what we do.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I have a first men right to walk on that
sidewalk down in front of us on forty nine um
a circle and say what I want. But when I'm here,
I follow their rules. They being urban one because they're
the owners. Like, this isn't a First Amendment thing, it's
you're essentially working for this university. You do what they say.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yeah, but it goes back to the devils in the details,
and nobody wants to get into the details. Everybody's fifty
thousand feet And when you think about First Amendment and
people talk about it, and you have Mark Cuban among
many others tweeting about it, it is just it rules
the day because people aren't paying attention to the detail
(33:36):
and they don't think about that as deeply as what
you just said.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
You're right, but people aren't. People don't dig into these things.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Wait, wait, can you go back to the last thing.
He just said, well, no, how, I'm only going to
say that once today. You're right, all right, So Jim
Merritt is in for Casey today. By the way, have
you ever been hit up to give money? Tie? You do?
They hit you up time to give them money?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Of course, And I'm a dutiful or of Don't.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
You feel like you gave them enough when you were
going there? That's the way I always looked at it
was like.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Well, it was only thirty three dollars an hour?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Oh it was? Is that all it was?
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, you take fifteen hours of which I didn't, but
you take twelve twelve to fifteen hours times thirty three.
And that was what the tuition was back in nineteen
seventy seven. Yeah, it was really really at.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
That time, it was extensive. But if you look back
on it, it was a really good They would.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Given it away.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah they were, they were, and I enjoyed every minute
of it.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
All right, let's take a break. When we come back.
You are on this i u r C, the Indiana
Utility Regulatory Commission Board, and you have a big job
in front of you, which is to make recommendations to
the governor on who's going to oversee be the new
people overseeing this board, and so.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
We're just going to try to describe this and not
have people snore.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Well, no, it's very important. It's extremely par because its
gona affet everybody'slity bills going forward, the decisions you guys make,
and so I want you to walk us through this
process of what you're looking for. Can you guys have
to line up with the Governor's vision. Let's help everybody
understand how these utility bills are going to be decided
going forward. It's Kenela Casey show Meriton for Casey ninety
three WIBC
Oh, this is gonna come as a shocked all of
you and listener land. But Joe Hawks said has stabbed
the people of Indianapolis in the back. It's the Kennel
and Casey Show. I'm Rob Casey's out today. Oh boy,
we got the perfect person with us today to talk
about this because he knows energy, thirty years in need.
He had us at the Great Gym Merritt and.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
And I know hog set too.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Weren't you guys like frat brothers.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
We were brothers.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Yep, that's right. That's crazy to run together. We had
the we won the All campus cross country meet. He
and I this is indian Yeah, yeah, I say he
won it. We used to run together.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Now, think about how your lives. I mean they were
entwined through politics, but you became a decent, respected, esteemed
member of society.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
And then and then there's some people might argue about that.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
You ain't hog set no matter what. Okay, So the
big news that came out yesterday and by the way,
Jesse Brown, remember the Indianapolis City County Council is going
to be with us at nine to thirty talk about this.
And he is on a rampage and he should be,
because this is disgusting. So it came out last night
that Joe Hogg Set the City of Indianapolis, which is
(01:15):
Joe hog set, let's call it what it is. The
City of Indianapolis has struck a deal with AEES, which
is the major utility provider for electric provider for the
City of Indianapolis, that they will not object to AES
raising rates, but just not by as much as they
(01:36):
were going to raise the rate before. And this comes
at a time Jim, in which the governor has clearly
stated that whoever he's going to point to this i
U r C. Which we'll get to that later with you,
because you're on that board that's going to make some
of those recommendations, his major driver is going to be
no rate increases. He's got this new consumer advocate who's
totally on the public side of no rate increases and
(01:58):
in fact is not only objecting to a s IS
proposed rate increase, but it said the rate should be lower.
All the momentum is on the side of not having
rate increases for consumers, and then the Hawks and administration
goes in and cuts this deal. This is simply disgusting
beyond beliefle and it's unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
It is unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
And Robert, thank you very much, good morning, and uh
good moaning all uh this uh we everybody has to
understand that energy is at the center point of everything
that we do. And uh and and energy and the rates,
the power and a S is in central Indiana. And
(02:40):
I really find this hard to believe that they're they're
cutting off the conversation when when uh, when the governor
appointed Abby Gray as a consumer counselor uh and she
made the the the bold U pronouncement that she is
against the ae S increases this this U this rate case.
Speaker 5 (03:04):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
And then the governor showed this emoji on on social
media of clapping and he supported that.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
So we're on each.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Side of Market Street of Indianapolis. We've got two competing
uh situations here to two competing viewpoints. And and I'm
just not the devils in the details, but shame on
the Hugs administration for not letting this play out with
the I R C, with the consumer counselor and and
(03:37):
uh and it's just uh, you just kind of wonder
what's around the corner here.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
Okay, So let's and By the way, Duel has a
pretty nice breakdown of all this over at Indie politics
dot org if you want to kind of read the
ABC's of this. But basically so kind of just reset
as it proposed another big rate increase. They just had
one at whatever it was eighteen months ago or something
like that, they wanted another one. It's in front of
the i u r C, the India Utility Regulatory Commission,
(04:04):
and now the i u r C can still reject this.
They can still say no, City of Indianapolis. And by
the way, there were other major players, utility users, mega
companies that have signed on to this lowered rate increase agreement.
But the i u r C still has the final say.
They have the ability to say no, you guys have
(04:25):
raised enough, We're done here.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, And the i r C does have the I
think they should play this out. They will play this out.
We'll talk about this a little later. But the i
r C is almost like a judicial they're the judge.
They make the decision. That consumer counselor has their part.
And I'm not sure you kind of wonder, Joe mayor,
(04:49):
Joe what are you afraid of? You know, what are
you afraid of. You've got a governor who campaign on this,
by the way, and one one election and he's at
the rape payers in in his you know his Yeah, yeah,
I don't understand, uh. And one would think that there's
(05:09):
something that the hogs that administration knows that we don't know.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
But a S which is a is a cash cow
for uh. You know, it's the old I p L.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
About to be bought by black Rock too.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
Well.
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, and that that gives me a pause as well.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
You you if a s UH International, because this is
enormous global company, uh, and they only have a couple
of utilities, one in Ohio that's small, and then a
couple down in the in California and the LA area.
And this is a cash cow for a S International.
(05:46):
And I've always had a problem because I had a
district that that's as served and if the wind blew
in parts of the Geist area in Lawrence Township, they'd
have brownouts and they had a lot of service problems.
And I'm just very concerned. You know, the federal government
comes involved here too.
Speaker 1 (06:06):
This is a massive deal because it's a total betrayal
of the people of Central Indiana, of the city of
Indianapolis now just numbers wise according to Abdul, and this
is what we're talking about, such a small drop in
the bucket. People are still according to ab Duel, the
average system wide rate increase would still go up almost
five percent. We're not talking about a small number. And
(06:28):
the total amount of revenue that as is conceding here
is one hundred and eleven million dollars and they're still
going to be generating almost two billion dollars of new revenue.
So I mean, you got relatively nothing. Now. The City
of Indianapol is going to get a bunch of freebies
out of this, so it's going to help them, like
(06:48):
the city itself, the entity. So Jesse Brown'll be with
us at nine to thirty from the city County Council
to talk about this. He is very upset, so we'll
do that. In the meantime, there's another scandal involving the
Hawks set administration. It's a day that ends and why
And I'm sure you saw Jim earlier this week. The
big XP wasa that Indie Star and Mirror Indie had
(07:09):
yeah very well, yeah, very well written. Peter Blancher was
involved in it. Tony Cook was involved in putting this together,
not the scandal, but the reporting on the scandal about
another thing involving Thomas Carl Cook, the right hand man
for years of the mayor, who then went on to
work for a major law firm in the city of Indianapolis,
and how Cook was involved in a romantic relationship with
(07:30):
a woman in city government who was helping decide where
city incentives went. And a lot of the city incentives,
at least according to their reporting, eighty million dollars in
city incentives were delegated to people that were clients of
Thomas Carl Cook. So you had this woman making choices
on where money went, incentives went, and she helped steer
(07:55):
eighty million dollars of incentives according to this reporting, to
clients of a guy she was involved in a relationship.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
With, and you know very much.
Speaker 3 (08:04):
So and when people read this, uh they've got they've
got it's chock full facts and and what and what
they've discovered there it happened, and uh, it just it
demeans the political process, The demeans government, and it just
adds on to the fact that people don't trust government.
The credibility of government is is is is lower today
(08:27):
than it was yesterday. And they did a very good
job of writing this article. And UH and and the
Indianapolis Star has kind of shied away from uh being
critical of the Hogs and administration do anymore. But you
know that Joe people would disagree with that. Yeah, okay,
so real quicker. I want to get to this. So
(08:48):
friends of Art Fox Route nine, Russ McQuaid was the reporter.
He caught up with hog Set and we had a keV.
They did, you know, a long piece of Art Foxertenine
news report or around this. But here's a little montage
of Joe hog Set essentially telling Russ McQuaid Fox fifty
nine to kiss his butt cheeks and that there's nothing
(09:10):
to see here with another scandal with Thomas Carl Cook.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
Russ, I'm not going to speculate on personnel related matters.
There is absolutely no indication that anything inappropriate was done.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Legal Erside is the city. You can have him at
the table, but we're not going to do business with him.
Speaker 5 (09:29):
Well, I you know that's a matter of speculation, Russ.
And I'm not going to I'm not gonna fall him in.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
He is such a liar. It does not appearcord to
the Mere Indie Indie Star article that the facts are
in dispute on any of this that this guy, I mean,
the text messages, et cetera show there was something going
on between these two and this money went to these
people who Cook was representing for hogs at acting like
there's nothing to see her. That's disgusting.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, and you know, good on Russ McQuay, one of
our best in the media and longtime media a member
and very good at what he does. And too, I'm
surprised he could get Joe on the on the line
here because they keep him in a you know, on
a tube and you know they talking to the mayor
is very difficult. And uh, good on him and and
(10:16):
uh kind of what a mishmash spaghetti bull and and
he really said nothing, which said a lot.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
All right, let's take a break. Jim merritten for Casey.
When we come back, we'll get you up to date
on the latest with the shutdown. Trump had some incredible
audio about Chuck Schumer. Uh Hakeem. Jeffries Will appeared to
be rapping at some at one point. We'll play all
that for you next, Killing Casey Show ninety three w
IBC and these weeks and he beat his vomit on
(10:45):
his seat. Lady, Yeah, yeah, good one. keV Jeffries was
rapping yesterday. We'll get to that in a second. It's
a Kettley Casey show. M Rob Casey's out, Jim Merritt
for Casey. So the shutdown? What are we were? Day sixteen?
Ethan told me this the other day. It's easy to remember.
(11:06):
October first was the shutdown. So today is the sixteenth, right,
So we're day sixteen of the of the shutdown.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
You kind of wonder if we need a big government anymore.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Well, you know, there's a famous episode of the Office
where all the bosses are fired or quit or something,
and Jim, you know, one of the main characters, just
looks at the camera and goes, it's been several weeks
and everything's running fine. Just hire people that take pride
in their work and just let them do their job.
Everything will be fine.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
That Yeah.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I mean, look, we love this place because we never
see her, hear from anyone, just like keep making us money.
Thanks anyway. So, Hakeem Jeffers, he's the Democrat leader in
the House. He had some big press a conference or
whatever you would call it. There are a bunch of
Democrats standing behind him. I think it was on the
Capitol steps, and at one point it appears he started
(11:58):
rapping during his during his comments.
Speaker 6 (12:01):
Take a listen, Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have
shut down the government fifteen days ago and they haven't
done a damn thing since to try and reopen house.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Democrats are here reporting for duty.
Speaker 6 (12:21):
We are ready, we are willing, and we are able
to negotiate a bipartisan spending agreement that actually meets the
needs of the American people, reopen the government and decisively
address the Republican healthcare crisis.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Is he talking to Chuck Schuber there?
Speaker 1 (12:40):
Talking to himself?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
I don't think he cares. Joe hawkson with the.
Speaker 6 (12:46):
We also need a common sense partner on the other
side of the aisle House Republicans shut the government down,
then they ran out of town, and for the last
three weeks they're nowhere to be found. What can I say?
(13:08):
You deserve better?
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yes, I can almost see him talking with his hands
like he does.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Yeah. At the end, he said the best part, and
that's true for all of us. We deserve better, We
deserve better than every single one of you. People.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
Look, I just like, there's he doesn't have credibility.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Well, there's nothing for him to discuss that.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
There's nothing for him to do.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
The House has passed a budget. Yes, they have given
it to the Senate, and there's nothing to negotiate with
you on sir. You're you're look because I think it
is the budget they passed. It's already been passed. You
are irrelevant in this equation.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Irrelevant. That's exactly right.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
He has no relevancy to the issue than you know,
a bad rap. I mean, there's nothing to it. It's
fun to make fun of him, but he has nothing
to do with this. He all talked to Chuck Schumer
about opening up the government right there.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Jim speaking of Chuck Schumer not going to be outdone.
Donald Trump had some commentary about Chuck Schumer. This is
one of the greatest quotes I've ever heard. Take a listen.
And as far as the shutdowns concerned, this is a
Democrat Schumer shutdown, and he's trying to do it to
get relevance back into the party because he's a loser.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
I've known him all his life. He's always been sort
of a loser, but in intelligent one.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
But I think he's losing my points. Yeah, he's always
been a loser, an intelligent one, but a loser. But
I think he's losing I Cuban, he's all the time
are but seriousness? Right, this is this is like the
world looks has to be looking at this and just
laughing at our country where look at all the money
(14:50):
we spend, the debt, trillion dollar annual deficits, you know,
and yet these people it's just it's never enough for them.
It's never enough for them. Jim.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
Yes, And you know, we were talking about mayors being
in charge of really public safety and just the just
the rock bottom, you know, the essentials. And that's what
we want from our government, be it federal or local
or state, is we want to be safe, we want
to be educated, we want a way of life that
we can be proud of. And being closed for sixteen
(15:23):
days really, I mean there's still people walking on Monument
Circle and people are happy, and it's just we haven't
really noticed out here in the in Midwest, in the
Midwest that the federal government's closed.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
We're still safe, all right, Let's take a break.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
When we come back, our old pal. Jesse Brown, Socialist,
member of the Indianapolis City County Council. Hey, you say
what you want about the guy's political leanings, but he
speaks out for the people. Heck of a lot more
than most of those guys.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I speak straight, no question about it, and he.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
Is going to bring the smoke on Joe Hogg sat
signing off for the hogs that administrator the City of Indianapolis,
because they're pointing fingers at everybody. Now, somebody in city
government signed off on this deal that will allow the
AES rates to continue to rise, and Jesse Brown, not happy,
joins us. Next Kennelly Casey Show, ninety three WIBC. So
(16:23):
the city went behind the back of the taxpayer for
some kind of deal with AES. What's it meaning for you?
Our next guest says, nothing good and he's upset. It's
Kennel Casey Show. I'm Rob Casey's out today. Jim Merritz
in for Casey, joined in studio by Jesse Brown, member
of the Indianapolis City County Council. Jesse Brown. Hello, Hey, Rob,
great to be here. Thanks for having me on. All right,
(16:45):
so you were the kind of the first person to
speak up last night on this We started the program
talking about it in which the city of Indianapolis teamed
up with some other big name companies and has apparently
cut a deal with AES where they said we will
accept a certain level of rate increase and not fight
(17:05):
you in front of the iu RC and everybody. Sort of.
It was like one of those press press deals where
you go, ooh, this is going to be bad for
the consumer. You're speaking out against this, why, Well, so
first let's look at the status quo. How were your
electric bills before this happened, right, I think anybody could
tell you way too high.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:24):
AES just had a big rate increase, right, that's right,
not less than eighteen months ago, they had a huge
rate increase.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Now they're asking for another one. We look and see
the news and we see.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
That Blackrock is talking about buying AES's parent company. Usually
private equity owning your utility company is not a great
thing for consumers, to put it mildly. So that's the context, right.
Other context is the Office of Utility Consumer counselor the OUCC.
That's the regulatory commissions basically watchdog group that's appointed by
the government to make sure consumers rights are being thought
(17:56):
of and considered. OUCC held five field hearing in Indianapolis,
and no, sorry, I asked them to hold five. They
held four. Still appreciate that. That's still pretty good, Still
pretty good. Six seven hundred people testified opposed to this
rate increase. I came out, a bunch of other city
councilors came out, some politicians came out. You know a
lot of people just talked about how this was going
(18:18):
to impact people. I literally sat at the field hearing
and the woman behind me was a retiree who came
to the hearing that day because she had nothing better
to do because her electricity got cut off on.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Her fixed in Coacheez.
Speaker 4 (18:29):
And to their credit that as people freaked out about
that and helped her, you know, got a shine of
spotlight on that exactly right. Yeah, So that's the context.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
Right.
Speaker 4 (18:37):
So the obviously utility Consumer Counselor came out with their
report based on all that feedback and said, ayes should
not get a rate increase at all. In fact, we
should lower their rates, yeah, lower their rate of profit. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
And you've got so then you've got like sort of momentum.
Now even though Bron's a big phony on this because
he just signed that bill. It's going to raise everybody's rates.
String session, but he said, oh, I got these new
I U r C people do a point, and I'm
going to tell this, you know, no rate increases. So
you got all the momentum against rate increases, and then
the Hogs administration just kind of stabs everybody in the
back and cuts this deal. Little raise rates if it's approved.
(19:09):
That's exactly right.
Speaker 4 (19:10):
So I'm on the board of Citizens Action Coalition, which
is a nonpartisan consumer watchdog group fights for lower bills.
OUCC and CAAC both just refused to sit down to
a settlement agreement because we didn't think there's any settlement
that could be possible that lets aes raise your electric bill.
Hog Seat's administration went behind our backs and fought for
this deal to let them raise residential rates by six
(19:32):
and a half percent again. And worst of all, after
I started calling them out on social media and talking
about what a raw deal this was for consumers at
nine to forty pm last night, they got a press
release out to try to get ahead of this story, right,
And do you notice the press release the words Joe
Hog set are nowhere on there, which is usually a
sign that you know, really fearless leader, not afraid to
(19:53):
pass the ball.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Right, absolutely, Okay. Jesse Brown from the Indianapoli City Cutty
Council is our guest. Why did he do this? I
mean we all know is his administration. Of course, I
don't know what they say in press release. Why did
he do this? Because it seems like there was real
momentum to avoid anything happening and maybe even get these
bills reduced for people.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
Real momentum and bipartisan momentum. Right, So you see, like
you said, I agree, Mike Bron is a phoney Mike Fawn.
So Mike Bron, you know, at least understood how upset
people are about their electric bills, and so he was
making a lot of gestures in the public as though
he was going to fight this rate increase. And I
think we should have called him on that and let
him prove to everybody whether or not he's going to
(20:34):
instead hogs that treats it like it's business as usual
and does what you know most cities would have done
a few years ago, which is just trying to cut
a deal minimize the harm. But if you look at
the press release, you can see exactly what he was thinking.
This is the same type of manipulative gas lighting that
Joe Hoggs that is famous for. He thinks the constituents
are stupid, and so he talks a lot. Every single
(20:55):
time he passes a budget. He brags about the bounce budget,
even though that's required under law. You got to do that, right,
you have to do that, But he brags about it anyway.
And then he also is misleading. So he'll move money around.
He'll raise fees but say, well, that wasn't a raise
in taxes. Okay, technically true, but at the end of
the day, more money comes out of your pocket. That's
what's happening here. So he did cut a deal so
that the city pays less for street light maintenance and
(21:18):
street light upgrades. So the city is going to save
millions of dollars. So the press release says the city, right,
the entity, the City of Indianapolis Capital see Capitol I
saves millions of dollars, which are taxpayer dollars. But how
do they save that money? Literally, they're asking you to
pay for it yourself in your electric bill.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Jesse Bred from the Indianapos City County Council is our guests.
We're talking about this deal that was struck by the
hog set city of Indianapolis to agree to a rate increase.
Don't you guys as counselors, can't you go? Can he
just do that and speak on your behalf? Well, hilariously,
didn't you? It is very rare.
Speaker 4 (21:53):
You know, I'm a socialist, right, We've got eighteen Dems,
we've got six Republicans on the council, and twenty five
of us unanimously last week just passed a resolution saying
we call an aees to withdraw their rate case entirely
and get nothing. And so, as far as I know,
no city councillor was even communicated with hawks Sead just
(22:13):
did this unilaterally without talking to any of us.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
But can't you guys do something? I mean, can he
do this and just say, well, I speak for the city. No,
you speak for the city.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Right, That's how a real city would work, right, when
we're not just a kid's table that is set off
to the side and ignored for them to just do
what they want. But you know, when you see counselors
still pass these horrible budgets year after year. You know
we're enabling we are enabling this kind of behavior. But
what we could do, and this is something that again
has bipartisan support. You heard everybody from Jared Evans to
(22:43):
Josh Band and me talking about this last Monday, is
the city could come together and use revenue bonds and
buy AES Indiana and run as a municipal co op
the way the ramc's run. So this wouldn't be trust me,
I would never agree to Joe Hogg set runs our
electric company. I've seen how badly he runs everything else.
But the citizens, the rate payers, could collectively manage this
(23:05):
and stop paying a CEO twenty five million dollars a
year and run it effectively.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
Jess Around for the Indianapolis City County Council is our guest.
When are your colleagues going to have enough of this guy?
I mean, it's just obviously, and I'll get to the
Thomas Carl Cook thing in just a second. Share, but
it's just one thing after another, and other than you,
and I guess Carlino finally decided she had had enough,
changing her mind several times. None of your other colleagues
(23:29):
seem to ever be done with this guy. That's right.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
And you know I put it in an email to
constituency yesterday, Hogg said's legacy is trash. There's no doubt
about it that fifteen years from now, when we look
back at the history of Indianapolis, we're going to see,
you know, an alcoholic mayor who was abusive to his
staff and who let a bunch of corrupt development deals
go by. That's how people will remember him, period. I
don't care what anybody says now. The only question is
(23:53):
are counselor is going to be remembered as part of
that posse or are they going to be independent politicians
who still have a career after all that this is
said and done. I don't understand what they're waiting for.
You know, you don't have to be a Jesse Brown.
You don't have to come out, you know, guns blazing
and calling out the corruption as you see it. You
can at least put some distance between yourself and the administration.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
So why not look at how happy you are? But
you're still upright, you're taking Dershman. You haven't been found
floating in the monon, I mean not yet, Like you're
you're still here and you're pretty popular amongst your constituents. Like,
what are they afraid of?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
I think it's about the money, right, So you look
at Joe Hogsa and how much money he has in
the bank and how tight he is with the deep
pockets that really fund politics in this city. I have
the distinct advantage. I didn't take any of their money
to get elected, so I had nothing to lose. They
have a lot to lose. They know that their constituents
don't know them very well. None of us do. Even
my election, twelve percent of the population turned out for
(24:46):
that primary, So you know, I can't claim that I've
got this amazing democratic mandate. I'm just doing my job
the best I see fit to do it, and constituents
are going to decide whether they want to re elect me,
and I'm cool with that. I think you are by
far the most honest member of the city County Council.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Say that all the time. I like you the best,
even though I may I don't even know what. I
disagree with you the most, because I think you're the
most in I think you're the most engaged with the people.
I think you speak for the people the most. Now
you got some weird views about the cars, but I like,
I think you sort of have a blueprint on whether
you're a Democrat or Republican, how to do it the
(25:19):
right way, whether you're at the person's politics or not,
which is you go right to the people, right, I mean,
at the end of the day, in whether you want
to call it a democracy, a democratic republic, or a republic,
no matter what, consent comes from the governed right, and
so that's where the power comes from. You can't skip
that step of actually talking with people and seeing how
they feel before I let you go. Two things. One,
is this done now with the rate increase because the
(25:40):
IRC can still reject this.
Speaker 4 (25:42):
Correct, they could still reject it. And actually, I'm glad
you brought that up. This morning, I'm going to be
sending a letter to the IURC asking them to take
an unprecedented step that I don't think they've ever taken before,
which is to hold field hearings. So they already held
four field hearings about the rate case. Yeah, I want
them to hold a field hearing or two about this
propose settle just because again, if the City of Indianapolis
(26:02):
is claiming to speak for us, let's hear what actual
ratepayers from the City of Indianapolis think about this. I
think that we need a little bit more public testimony
just to keep this in the spotlight and make sure
that U s understands Joe Hoggson does not speak for us.
You go run for mayor not this time around. I
don't think, but I saw you post about this. You know,
if somebody comes opart with it, somebody comes up with
a couple million bucks to help me out, then then
(26:23):
maybe I'll think about it.
Speaker 1 (26:25):
Jimmy from mayor you for governor? Right, Yeah, there you go, brother,
uh Jesse Brown remember of the Indianapoli city kind of council?
Thank you, thank you. Yeah, it's Kennel case Sho ninety
three wibc.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Oh.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I see what you're doing here. I see what you're doing.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
What's an R.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Deane Taylor. It's great. It's Kennel and Casey show. I'm Rob.
Casey's out today. Jim Merritt's in for Casey. So Jim
you're and I you guy, you graduated a few years
ago from IU.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah. I like to think about that way.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
And now, okay, so technically I have I tell people
because I don't want to never want to be accused
of fibbing. I have an IU diploma on my wall
because I think go to I you Bloomington and went DIU.
Speaker 4 (27:19):
P y.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
The diploma says Indiana University of Can I say I'm
an I You grad?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I would think you could say that, right, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (27:25):
Misleading the audience. So I am an IU grad. Yes,
And we both are taking an interest in this story
because there's all sorts of drama now involving the IU
Student newspaper, or at least what was left of it,
the Indiana Daily Students.
Speaker 3 (27:43):
Yes, or on April one, it's the Indiana Daily Stupid.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
That's not what they have, a like an April fool's addition. Yes, okay,
So once upon a time this not to like say
you were alive back in the Stone Age or whatever,
but that was once upon a time. The IU Daily
Student was a pretty big deal on the IU campus.
Speaker 3 (28:03):
It has because of the journalism school. It has always resonated,
It's always had a reach about it, and I read
it religiously when I was there.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
True story. You want to want my IU journalism school story?
Would you like this?
Speaker 2 (28:19):
Of course? I'm sure our listeners would too.
Speaker 1 (28:21):
So I was in the student newspaper in high school
and I had an opinion column shocking right, and it
was very well read because I just ripped on various
parts of the high school and things.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
And it was all the way back then.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
It was very popular and so the school, since they
couldn't kick me out of the out of the newspaper,
I didn't do anything like technically wrong. I just wrote
pieces they didn't like. They said, send him to journalism camp.
They'll teach him how to be a good writer. And
so they paid for me to go to the summer
IU journalism camp and the newspaper of what instructor supervisor
(28:59):
or whatever they call. He goes. Now, whatever they tell
you, you just follow them and you'll come back here and
you'll be a much better writer this fall for your
senior year. So I go and they make you take
your pieces and you turn them in, and you know,
they they read them and they go, well, these are wonderful.
And I said really, I said, yeah, you're a great writer.
And I said well they they said no, no, no, they
(29:21):
don't like that. You're ripping on the school and you're
being critical of the school. You're writing is phenomenal. And
here's you know, they do a little report card on you,
and they I go back, and he goes, well, what'd
you learn? I said, they said I was great. Now
he said, well, don't listen to anything they told you.
Speaker 3 (29:33):
Well, you know, when when Walter Cronkite was, it was
a very trustworthy entity in person and media person, way
back when, and when when Johnson LBJ president, Johnson lost
Walter Cronkite and and and he lost the war. And
(29:55):
when Mark Cuban tweets that he's not happy and he's
given so much money and so much support, uh and
and really just everything to Indiana University, and he tweets,
he's not happy, and you've lost Mark Cuban.
Speaker 2 (30:12):
There's a problem.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
There's a vacuum, don't We don't have an explanation that
I can see from Indiana University itself. And right now
there's a vacuum of an explanation of why this actually happened.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
All right, So here's what's going on. And I derailed
myself there by talking about my esteemed high school students.
Paper journalism, you talk about yourself, Okay, So here's what's
going on. So what this was recently, because of cost
et cetera, they limited the IU Daily Student, which used
to be what it was like a weekly publication.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Absolutely, I mean it was well read, you know, in.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
The newspaper boxes, et cetera. But due to cost, they
have essentially limited them to a couple times a year
them putting out actual print editions. Everything else is online.
You log onto a website ed that's where a lot
of journalism is going. But you know, it was a
big deal when it happened at IU, and part of
that that the university basically said, hey, when we do
(31:03):
these print editions, we don't want hard news. We want
them to be special things, homecoming, various events around campus.
That's our directive to you about these print additions that
are going to show up. We're paying to print them,
et cetera. This is what we want. Well, the guy
who is what the journalism teacher, the main guy over there,
(31:26):
he didn't like that. So they were going to put
news in the print editions. And Jim Rodenbush is the
guy's name, the director of student media, and he said,
we don't want to do that. We're going to and
they're like, no, you can't do that. We're giving you
a directive. We're paying for this with tax payer money.
We are in charge of this university. We're telling you
what you're going to do. So they fired the guy,
(31:47):
and now everybody's up in arms, claiming their First Amendment
rights have been violated. And I say to that, that's ridiculous.
You don't have a right to print the IU Daily Student.
It's part of this university. The trustees, the people in charge,
the resident They make the choices, whether you like them
or not. That's the rules. You pay by. Somebody else
is paying for this, they get to say what it is.
I don't think this is a First Amendment thing.
Speaker 3 (32:08):
Well, I think it's one of those things where people
on those situations where people didn't really realize what the
backlash was gonna be.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
And and there is so much conversation.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
About the First Amendment these days, and there should have
been a meeting of the minds and somehow an agreement
that it's all about what you say offline. And obviously
obviously there was not a Kumbaya moment. And when you
fire somebody and and they have a megaphone and they's
(32:41):
still the media, and right now, sure, but they're a
media paid for by somebody else, Like our bosses, I said.
Speaker 1 (32:47):
They you know, they mostly leave us alone. They don't
ever tell us you have to say this, but we
have rules and procedures here. I don't just get to
go nah, I'm not doing that. They're the bosses. They
say what we do.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
I have a first men right to walk on that
sidewalk down in front of us on forty nine um
a circle and say what I want. But when I'm here,
I follow their rules. They being urban one because they're
the owners. Like, this isn't a First Amendment thing, it's
you're essentially working for this university. You do what they say.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Yeah, but it goes back to the devils in the details,
and nobody wants to get into the details. Everybody's fifty
thousand feet And when you think about First Amendment and
people talk about it, and you have Mark Cuban among
many others tweeting about it, it is just it rules
the day because people aren't paying attention to the detail
(33:36):
and they don't think about that as deeply as what
you just said.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
You're right, but people aren't. People don't dig into these things.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
Wait, wait, can you go back to the last thing.
He just said, well, no, how, I'm only going to
say that once today. You're right, all right, So Jim
Merritt is in for Casey today. By the way, have
you ever been hit up to give money? Tie? You do?
They hit you up time to give them money?
Speaker 2 (34:01):
Of course, And I'm a dutiful or of Don't.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
You feel like you gave them enough when you were
going there? That's the way I always looked at it
was like.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Well, it was only thirty three dollars an hour?
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Oh it was? Is that all it was?
Speaker 3 (34:14):
Yeah, you take fifteen hours of which I didn't, but
you take twelve twelve to fifteen hours times thirty three.
And that was what the tuition was back in nineteen
seventy seven. Yeah, it was really really at.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
That time, it was extensive. But if you look back
on it, it was a really good They would.
Speaker 1 (34:33):
Given it away.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Yeah they were, they were, and I enjoyed every minute
of it.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
All right, let's take a break. When we come back.
You are on this i u r C, the Indiana
Utility Regulatory Commission Board, and you have a big job
in front of you, which is to make recommendations to
the governor on who's going to oversee be the new
people overseeing this board, and so.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
We're just going to try to describe this and not
have people snore.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
Well, no, it's very important. It's extremely par because its
gona affet everybody'slity bills going forward, the decisions you guys make,
and so I want you to walk us through this
process of what you're looking for. Can you guys have
to line up with the Governor's vision. Let's help everybody
understand how these utility bills are going to be decided
going forward. It's Kenela Casey show Meriton for Casey ninety
three WIBC
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