earlier today, republicans called for councilor paul bateman to resign his seat from the council ethics committee. bateman is affiliated with the russell foundation, which is being investigated for missing or misspent funds. bateman has denied any wrongdoing, but republicans claimed he was unfit to serve on the committee, and he diplomatically agreed and stepped down.

a few hours later, this happened:

Two members of a bipartisan City-County Council ethics committee today recommended City-County Councilman Monroe Gray be censured for failure to disclose his company's subcontracting work for a major city contractor.

Last year, the Marion County Ethics Board decided that the former council president violated ethics rules by answering "no" to a question on an economic interest statement asking whether he received compensation from any business entity doing business with the city.

As penalty, the board recommended he file an amended ethics form.

The council committee's report today suggests stronger action be taken.

do you think it's a coincidence that both these events happened on the same day? or did perhaps tom john deliberately force bateman off the committee in order to shift the partisan balance in preparation for today's 2-1 vote against monroe gray?

p.s. cue right-wing whining about how all democrats are corrupt scumbags in 3,2,1.

update: the updated version of the star censure story now mentions the fact that no democrats were present to vote:

Democrat Paul Bateman said Thursday that he would give up his seat on an ethics committee after news he is being investigated for his ties to a bankrupt charity. Democrat William Oliver did not show up.

that kind of hurts the bipartisanship of the panel, if there are no dems present. this seemingly important detail is buried in the final paragraph of the article.

2nd update: when i wrote "cue whining about how all democrats are corrupt scumbags", i wasn't expecting that whining to come from matt tully. but i suppose it's not so surprising, considering all his recent love letters to republicans, that he would start writing more hate mail to democrats. wake me up the next time tully writes something about a republican that's half as critical as this column, because that's when i'll know i'm dreaming. ¶

maybe it's actually intended to be a "pie barter-san" council, as in, they'll use pies for trade. ¶

Bateman didn't have to step down, he chose to do so because he knows he's probably going to be in some shit.

Bill Oliver not showing up for his job is no huge surprise, either. ¶