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Television ads for Republican hopeful Jefferson Shreve began airing last weekend, making him the first candidate for November’s Indianapolis mayoral election to hit the TV airwaves with commercials.
Shreve, a wealthy businessman and former City-County Councilor, is spending more than $220,000 on the TV spot. Later, the Shreve campaign told IBJ the total spend was $600,000.
In the 30-second ad, Shreve speaks directly to viewers, claiming Indianapolis faces “violent crime, crumbling infrastructure, and an epidemic of drug addiction” under Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett.
“There’s no doubt: Indianapolis is crumbling under the failed leadership of Joe Hogsett,” Shreve says.
The ad is airing on at least two local stations, WXIN-TV Channel 59 and WTTV-TV Channel 4. He paid $102,725 and $119,960, respectively, to the two stations, according to Federal Communications Commission documents.
Last week, Shreve also began radio advertising on 93.1 WIBC-FM. He paid $7,920 for that spot, according to FCC documents.
Shreve sold Storage Express, the company he founded, for $590 million last year, giving him a decided advantage in resources for a Republican primary that includes political reporter and commentator Abdul-Hakim Shabazz and the Rev. James W. Jackson of Fervent Prayer Church. Former Indiana Legislature candidate John Couch is also running as a Republican.
The Republican and Democratic primaries are set for May 2.
Shreve filed to run for mayor on Feb. 3—the date of the filing deadline.
Incumbent Hogsett faces fellow Democrats State Rep. Robin Shackleford, community activist Clif Marsiglio, paralegal Bob Kern and activist Larry Vaughn.
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Very effective ad. Keep highlighting the failure of the existing mayor to address crime and homelessness in our CBD. Hogsett has to go and furthermore he needs to be replaced by a businessman who can get our city back to growth and prosperity.
And now you gave him free advertising.
Isn’t it kind of preaching to the choir for a Republican to be running ads on WIBC and Fox?
While that might help win the three southern townships and the Republican primary, it won’t really do anything to improve his name recognition and reach the rest of the voters necessary to win the general election.
+1
Here’s Shreve on infrastructure:
“It would be a false pretense to think that Republicans are going to come in and get a whole lot of money from the other end of (Market Street),” he said. “We’ve got to be efficient, targeted, and do a whole lot of things right with our own resources and our own municipal budget.”
What does that even mean? Efficient and targeted? Did some consultants come up with that nonsense?
Lots of things are the fault of Joe Hogsett. Roads aren’t one of them. Rural Indiana Republicans are, in effect, stealing road money from Indianapolis and Marion County to keep their own taxes low.
https://www.wishtv.com/news/politics/shreve-says-next-indy-mayor-needs-to-attract-outside-investment/
Interesting that you don’t think the Mayor of Indy has any responsibility in regard to the potholes through the City.
You don’t have to fill potholes if you have the money to tear up the roads and build them right.
A road funding formula that pays for two lane country roads the same that it pays for Emerson or Keystone is bunk.
Very interesting. It’s almost like the notion that a few important thoroughfares (S.R. 135 or U.S. 31) have the words “State” and “US” in them because of catchy names, but mid-tier roads like Edgewood Avenue or 21st Street are also the responsibility of the state.
And the State has a massive grudge against Indy, which entirely explains why the equivalent of Edgewood Avenue and 21st Street in Carmel or Greenwood are smooth as stainless steel, get upgraded in proportion to new development that occurs along them, and have sidewalks to boot! Franklin Township, the one portion of Indy growing at even close to the same rate as Johnson or Hamilton County, still has junky two-lane pothole filled country roads, while their equivalents in Carmel/Greenwood get updated because the State. Meanwhile, those mean selfish Ruralrepublicans are conspiring against Indy, the true source of wisdom and leadership and the obvious economic generator for a state that would otherwise be a total backwater.
Lauren, look up the bonded debt in Carmel. The present residents’ grandchildren will be paying off the debt for roundabouts and smooth-as-glass roads there.
Lauren – you are aware that 74% of Indiana’s non-subsidized GDP comes from Marion County right?….. right?
your poor attempt at snark aside, Lauren, yes. As noted in both the GDP numbers and the census numbers, Indiana is powered by big cities and Indianapolis is the biggest.
The state controls what taxes are allowed and controls how they money comes out.
Of the money that comes in, 63% of it goes to state highways and 37% is allocated to local governments. The actual formula itself for that 37% ignores how wide a road is. So a two lane country road gets funded the exact same as a road like Keystone or Emerson that’s 4-6 lanes wide.
Of the taxes that can be imposed by locals, the only solution remaining for Indianapolis is a wheel tax that would raise $25 million a year (believe it’s capped at that maximum amount). That’s a drop in the bucket and the needs are far in excess of that.
The only thing Indianapolis has tried doing is selling off infrastructure. Greg Ballard sold the water utility for $450 million … which helped for five years or so. That’s a miserable solution because you eventually run out of things to sell yet your needs persist.
Carmel is basically gambling that they can attract enough residents and businesses to pay off the bonds by building a place they want to live from scratch. It’s interesting, but IIRC the legislature has banned any other city from doing similar. So that’s not an option either.
I get that potholes have to be filled. Every spring, I have to shovel the pothole mix out of my lawn in an effort to save my lawn along the road from being suffocated… because pothole mix inevitably falls apart and the same potholes are filled every single year.
As the state of Indiana is awash in money and seemingly has no will to spend it, it’s a dereliction of duty for Indianapolis area Republicans to shrug and claim it’s a “complex” issue. It’s not complex at all. It’s welfare for places in Indiana that people are leaving, and they aren’t willing to fight for the their residents on one of the primary functions of having a government at all, infrastructure.
You first.
Chris, the bonded debt in Carmel is based on a reliable prediction that the growth and prosperity that suburb cultivates will ensure that they can consistently pay for it. Carmelites have a considerably lower tax burden than the southern Indy townships that still vote largely Republican. I think some of Carmel’s initiatives are pure vanity, and the high school is opulent, but at least they have the finances to support it.
Frankie, are you aware that most metrics of GDP still include government spending, and that part of responsibility of city management includes financing no more government infrastructure than the municipality can be expected to maintain? I certainly respect and value the desire for Indy to become more densely populated, not just because of walkability and vibrancy downtown but because it promotes more efficient government services–which is especially needed in state capitals where a disproportionate amount of land is public and thus not taxed. But Indy, like many cities, has not been able to ensure the sort of long-term growth that these suburbs have. It has high poverty. And much of that poverty comes from previous decades of middle class flight–a middle class flight prompted in no small part by incompetent city management.
Metro mayors join push to change state’s funding formula for local roads
“For decades, Indianapolis leaders have pleaded with state lawmakers to change the state’s formula for funding local roads to end favoritism toward rural counties with sparse traffic.
Armed with new data that shows suburban counties are also getting the short end of the stick, Indianapolis officials now hope an alliance with other central Indiana leaders will finally persuade legislators to either alter the formula or find other ways to provide more infrastructure dollars to densely populated areas.
In 2021, the state allocated $663 million in road funding to local governments. Marion County received just over $30 million of that, or about 4.5%.“
https://www.ibj.com/articles/metro-mayors-join-push-to-change-states-funding-formula-for-local-roads