How We Got Here

      There has been a lot going on this last week and there is a lot of speculation and a lot of things out there that are simply not true.  There are a lot things and conversations that are true, though.  Let's look at the chronological order of what led us to this point.

     In 2023, Brook McCain was the police chief and Anita Werling was the mayor.  She was appointed by the city council in August before replacing the outgoing mayor, Shane Evans.  The council comprised Spencer Kingery, Sandy Flora, Cody Nelson, Mike Isley, and Gayle Conner before she resigned only to run for mayor at the next election.  The vote was 4-1 to pick Werling of the other candidate, Dale Seward, with Conner being the only vote for Seward.

     Werling finished out the year and ultimately Evans' term.  In July of 2023, Werling met with Chief McCain in his office.  This was after McCain went to her at one point and asked if there was anything he needed to do or if she wanted him to do anything with the upcoming election.  She was not running and he had not been through a contested election before.  She told him no, that everything was fine and it would work out for him.  Later, during the unannounced meeting in McCain's office, she told McCain that she was going to go a different direction.  He asked her what he needed to do for that change.  She replied that to help he should clean out his desk, box up his belongings, and vacate.  She fired McCain at that point.

     But why?  Did McCain do something wrong?  No, he did not.  From what my sources tell me it was more nefarious than anything like that.  Again, this is from sources, but I bet he's right.  My sources tell me that after the deadline for anyone to file to run against Yates in the fall election, he knew he had the mayor's seat sewed up.  He then decided that he wanted to give a little political payback to Nate Lamar for all the 'work' Lamar had done to help him get elected.  What was that payback?  The chief of police job.  But Yates was worried about the backlash due to Lamar's bad history as a policeman at Lafayette City Police.  Contrary to popular belief, Lamar was NOT fired.  He quit on the 11th. hour before disciplinary action.  I'm not sure Yates knew of his past, but I would guess he did.  Werling probably decided that since she was not running for election, she could take the political heat of hiring Lamar and did it.  So yes, Lamar was not hired by Yates and he got to inherit him.  (On a side note, the Comet called her about Lamar's past and she was contacted by LEORatings.com)  She hired him.

     Yates told members of the public that he would not have picked Lamar to be chief.  However, when Yates took office he made no effort to remove him.  When mayors take office they have and can have appointments at the beginning of their term.  Yates had full power and opportunity to put in the chief of police of his desires on January 1st, 2024, but took no action.  Don't ever believe anyone, especially the one no nothing and the mayor here in town that said Yates didn't have the authority to fire the chief of police.  The chief works at the pleasure of the mayor.  After all, if the mayor has no authority to fire the chief, how did Werling get away with firing McCain.    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bad Leadership: One Bad Decision Leads to More Bad Decisions.

            We are all familiar with the Nate Lamar situation over the last month.  To recap, Nate Lamar was brought in as Chief of Police by Anita Werling at Kamron Yates' request to lead his department. Lamar was allowed to work three or four days in his position prior to resigning.  The mayor did nothing.  Lamar should have been fired five minutes after this became public.  After all, he lied in court. The chief works at the pleasure of the mayor.  That person can be hired and fired by the sitting mayor, in other words.  Don't let anyone tell you any different.  If a mayor tells you that they cannot fire or hire a chief of police they are either massively incompetent and don't know their job or they are a flat out liar.  Either one shows a lack of integrity.        After Yates appointed Lamar to continue as the chief of police some openings occurred in the department with officers leaving f...
Read more

What Does Your Mayor and Clerk Make and How Does it Compare

 Here is a rundown of how much some area Mayors/Town Managers and Clerks make per year. Keep in mind that this Blog is just informational purposes only.  I'm not advocating or criticizing or trying to make a point.  Relax.   The figures listed are from 2023 and my source is Indiana Gateway.                               Population:           Mayor/Town Manager:                     Clerk: Crawfordsville:       16,577                 $ 93,839.98                                                 $ 67,492.88 Delphi:            ...
Read more

Brady-Giglio, What You Need to Know.

      With recent events happening in our city and around the area a new term to most of us has been Brady-Giglio.  What is it and why is it important?        Both terms stem from court cases.  Brady v. Maryland  and Giglio v. United States.         In the Brady case the Supreme Court ruled that any information or evidence that the prosecuting attorney knows when he is dealing with a case MUST be turned over to the defense attorney(s).  It zeroed in, but does not limit that information to, exculpating the accused or possibly reducing a penalty.  (Remember the movie, My Cousin Vinny?)       Giglio, on the other had, deals with the credibility of a witness, namely a law enforcement officer.  The list includes law enforcement officers who have credibility problems.  They might include misuse of force, criminal convictions, dishonesty, or mishandling of evidence, etc.  Off...
Read more