When You Stand With Someone, You Stand With Their Positions

by Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, Esq.

Full disclosure: I attended Andrea Hunley’s mayoral launch party at Tinker House on May 8. And before I even got through the door, a few of the hardcore partisans in attendance pulled me aside and gently encouraged me to, you know, say nice things.

So I did.

Because they were true. It was a great event. A lot of energy. A lot of enthusiasm. A youthful, diverse, fired-up crowd of about 1,500 people who clearly believe in their candidate. I’ve got a rule — unless the candidate is a total jerk, I give them their day in the sun. Hunley got hers, and she earned it. Good launch. Solid pitch. Riverfront parks, women’s sports capital, schools as a first choice instead of a fallback. Eleven years as a teacher and principal, a stint in the state Senate, a clear policy framework on budget, schools and growth.

Fine. That’s a campaign. The launch lap is over.

And now I’m back to being… well, me.

Among the elected officials standing prominently with Hunley that night was City-County Councilor Jesse Brown. Brown was one of several Democratic councilors at the launch, along with Andy Nielsen and Crista Wells. And Brown hasn’t just been showing up to one event. He’s been one of Hunley’s most visible public allies — at her events, in her corner, part of the coalition she’s building. That’s fine. Coalitions are how you win primaries. But coalitions also come with positions attached. And Brown — to his credit — never makes you guess where he stands.

Two days after the launch party, Brown sent out his weekly newsletter explaining why he was one of only two councilors who refused to sign Proposal 141 — the resolution condemning political violence the Council passed after someone fired 13 rounds into Councilor Ron Gibson’s front door over the Metrobloks data center. Gibson’s 8-year-old son was in the house.

Brown called the resolution “actively dangerous and harmful.” He called it “a gift to Trump.” He wrote that “literally every member of the Democratic caucus on the City-County Council gave the President this gift” by voting for it.

That caucus includes Ron Gibson. The guy whose front door now looks like Swiss cheese.

So here’s the awkward little question for Sen. Hunley, who launched her campaign in Martindale-Brightwood — the very neighborhood where Gibson’s home was shot up:

Where do you land on this?

Do you agree with your most visible council ally that a one-page resolution saying “don’t shoot at elected officials” is “a gift to Trump”?

Do you agree that Ron Gibson — and 22 other Democrats — handed Donald Trump a gift when they signed it?

Or do you disagree? And if you disagree, are you willing to say so publicly?

Because Brown’s position here isn’t a footnote in some 30-page policy paper. It’s the headline of his most recent newsletter, posted while Hunley’s launch confetti was still on the floor. When you put someone on your stage, you inherit a piece of their argument — at least until you tell voters which parts you reject.

Look — I get the politics. Brown brings energy. He brings the progressive activist base. He brings the people who show up, knock doors and tweet through every council meeting. For a candidate trying to consolidate the left lane against Vop Osili and David Bride, that’s a real asset. I’d take the help too. And good luck holding that coalition together — a coalition built partly on identity politics tends to get wobbly the minute you start sorting through actual policy positions, because identity gets you in the room but it doesn’t tell you how to vote once you’re there.

But endorsements and alliances are two-way streets. You don’t get the energy without the baggage. And Brown’s baggage right now is a public, on-the-record position that condemning political violence — in the specific context of a colleague being shot at with his kid in the next room — is somehow Trump’s fault.

This isn’t a gotcha. It’s just math. Hunley wants to lead a city of nearly 900,000 people. Part of that job is condemning, clearly and without footnotes, the act of firing 13 bullets into a colleague’s house over a zoning vote. It’s not a heavy lift. Most elected officials clear that bar before breakfast.

So Senator, here’s a freebie: pick a microphone. Any microphone. WIBC, WFYI, Twitter, Facebook Live, a press release scrawled in crayon — doesn’t matter. Tell Indianapolis whether you agree with Jesse Brown that Proposal 141 was “a gift to Trump.”

Silence is also an answer.

It’s just not a very good one.

Next time: about that Martindale-Brightwood data center…

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is the editor and publisher of Indy Politics. He is also an attorney licensed in Indiana and Illinois.