Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Mayor Ballard's $400 Super Bowl Ring

I was just taking a gander at the statement of economic interest Mayor Greg Ballard filed earlier this month for the 2012 calendar year. He discloses receiving just two specific gifts: a watch with a Marine logo given to him by Steve and Kathy Brown on August 9, 2012 worth an undisclosed value; and a Super Bowl ring given to him by the Indianapolis Colts on October 18, 2012 with a listed of value of only $400.00. According to Wikipedia, the NFL purchases the gold and diamond rings for the winning team each year for about $5,000 a piece.  Assuming it's a genuine Super Bowl ring, its resale value would be considerably higher than the original purchase price. I'm assuming Jimmy "The Pill Popper" Irsay gave Ballard a genuine Super Bowl ring.

In addition to the free tickets he gets to all the home games of the Pacers and the Colts, Ballard disclosed receiving two Pacers tickets from IPL valued at $1,824.00. Ballard also accepts free country club memberships conservatively worth tens of thousands of dollars. He and his wife have taken at least eight overseas junkets paid by Develop Indy with money raised from pay-to-play contractors who have won public contracts or received tax and cash economic development incentives from the city worth tens of millions of dollars. I would value the cost of those trips for him and Winnie well in excess of $50,000. In other words, the kickbacks Greg Ballard gets from the pay-to-play pals and the billionaire sports team owners he helps with our tax dollars are far in excess of what Reginald Walton or John Hawkins allegedly received in the kickback scheme they were running in the city's Land Bank office. Just keeping it all in perspective. Perhaps Walton and Hawkins were only emulating the man in charge on the 25th floor.


UPDATE: Here's Pawn Star's Rick Harrison showing off his favorite Super Bowl ring. Any source

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