Tony Samuel Joins!

**Hammer** (0:00)
You're listening to The Hammer and Nigel Show. That's right. My name is Nigel Jason Hammer, right over there with a very special in-studio guest.

**Nigel** (0:07)
Tony Samuel. He was part of Donald Trump's 2016 team here in Indy. And kind of our political insider, if you will, on The Hammer and Nigel Show.
And as we say every week, if we're going to have to sit here and talk about Indiana government for a segment, we're going to need some libations to lighten this thing up here.

**Tony Samuel** (0:29)
Before we do, shouldn't we give Joe Huckstead a few more minutes to walk through the door and do the shot with us?

**Nigel** (0:36)
Open invite.

**Tony Samuel** (0:37)
I think he said that because he vetoed the...

**Nigel** (0:40)
Yes, vetoed the wheel tax.

**Hammer** (0:43)
Hammer was very gracious in his complimentary, in his compliments towards the mayor.

**Nigel** (0:48)
I believe it was Wesley Snipes' character in the movie White Men Can't Jump, Sidney, that says, Sometimes the sun shines on a dog's bleep.
And that's what we got here today. Joe Hogsett had a rare win. So let's raise up a toast to your gentlemen. Cheers.

**Hammer** (1:05)
Cheers. Cheers, guys.
Hello. Love it. Love it.

**Tony Samuel** (1:15)
That's smooth. Thank you, guys.

**Nigel** (1:16)
Now, that being said, Joe Hogsett should probably be under an investigation for a number of things.
And now we've got this story about the Marion County Prosecutor's Office where they don't have a warrant. They're, you know, getting favors from the Department of Revenue, going after a business owner. They had no business going after. Is this something where you feel like the governor or the attorney general, Todd Rakita, need to step in and take a look at, Tony?

**Tony Samuel** (1:47)
Probably need to take a look at for sure. It does sound like some wrongdoing from the prosecutor's office. I don't know that the folks or the gentleman you were naming that's named in the court document did any wrongdoing intentionally. Sounds to me, and obviously I just know a little like we all do, that he was kind of maybe forced into it or at least felt the pressure. If you have a prosecutor saying there's an investigation and you think that's what you're supposed to do, maybe he just made an honest mistake.

**Nigel** (2:22)
I don't think anybody from the Department of Revenue did a malicious criminal act. I think they might just have been a moron. But the prosecutor's office, they basically had an employee going on Yelp, finding random broad-ripple businesses to try to shake down.

**Hammer** (2:39)
And it was a scathing, just a visceral thing from the judge, his ruling.
And there was a quote, just dismissed without prejudice, by the way, dismissed with prejudice, they can't bring it back. Which will not come back because it's obviously there was nothing going on here.

**Tony Samuel** (3:00)
And good for judge, Clark Rodgers, a great guy and a great judge. So yeah, I think back to the point here, it looks like something shady was done from the prosecutor's office. And again, like you guys have reported and mentioned, and as we all know, that's when there were some shootings and some bad stuff going on in Broderham. By the way, Nigel, I used to frequently frequent those bars myself in my younger days, but not involved in anything shady.
And so I was, but I certainly was. Well, I won't say about it, but you know, it's a serious issue and it looks like there's something going on that needs to be investigated by someone, whether it's maybe the US Attorney's Office, maybe it's the DOJ that needs to get involved here.

**Nigel** (3:47)
It's got to be definitely above the Marion County Prosecutor's Head because it's the prosecutor's office. So I'm curious to see if we hear from Todd Rakita or even if Governor Braun. Lieutenant Governor Beckwith want to take the lead on making this kind of a big deal.
One more thing here on Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Joe Hogsett, yes, he did the right thing by vetoing this wheel tax, but, and there's always a but to it, the City County Council only needs three more votes to override that veto. They had 14 in the original passage of this. They got to get to 17
There were a couple of Democrats that flipped for various reasons. Frank Mascari was one of them, because I believe Beech Grove has to pay their own version of a wheel tax. It's not as high as Marion County, but he didn't want to double dip. So it wouldn't surprise me if that's one vote. So that gets you to 15 Now you just need two more. This thing isn't over.