The results of the Indianapolis city election provide an interesting comparison to Fort Wayne:
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard's re-election victory benefited from thousands of crossover votes. But in giving him a vote of confidence, those Democrats, along with some independent voters, handed him what may become the greatest challenge of his second term: split government.
The mayor who has counted on a friendly Republican-led City-County Council -- key to the city's utilities sale, controversial spending decisions and Ballard's parking meter privatization deal -- now will face a decisive majority of Democratic faces on the 29-member body.
For the next four years, Indianapolis will be a Democratic-leaning city with a second-term Republican mayor and a Democratic-majority City Council. Fort Wayne will be a Republican-leaning city with a second-term Democratic mayor and a Republican-majority council. The conventional wisdom on such outcomes is that the voters are wise and create a split government on purpose. See this morning's Journal Gazette editorial, for example:
City voters once again looked past party labels and demonstrated their independence Tuesday, retaining the Democratic mayor and city clerk as well as Republican control of the City Council.
In re-electing Mayor Tom Henry, voters signaled they largely approve of the way he has handled city finances. But voters also indicated they want the City Council to continue to scrutinize spending, giving Republicans an additional seat to increase GOP control of the council to 6-3.
I don't think most voters are that calculating when they decide on their choices. They vote a lot based on name recognition, for one thing, and mere incumbency is a powerful influence (only one lost in this election). And in choosing their district council representative, I suspect most residents are thinking more about their own streets and streetlights than the macropolitical landscape.
Still, a certain governmental restraint is the result of such split government, if not the intent of the voters, and I think overall the citizens are the better for it. When one party has complete control (as the GOP does in state government these days) politicians act just like any other people with no checks on their behavior. They can get a little reckless, and things get ug;y
