EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -
A university professor is behind an effort to cut off funding to the Human Relations Commission in Evansville and Vanderburgh County.
Dr. Glenn Kissel with the Engineering Department at USI, claims the commission has been misusing taxpayer money, and even helping to pass ordinances that he calls illegal.
Dr. Kissel sent a letter to 14 News On Wednesday. It's a list of complaints he's sending to city and county officials about a commission that he calls a stain on our community.
"They have a very extreme agenda," Kissel said.
Kissel claims his tax dollars have been wasted by the Human Relations Commission.
"Almost all of their funding and advocacy decisions are geared toward one race and one race alone," Kissel said.
Kissel claims the HRC is targeting African Americans by helping to fund the Boom Squad and an event sponsored by the Black Women's Task Force.
"Supposedly this is a group that's supposed to be against discrimination, but it's practicing racial discrimination itself," Kissel said.
"We're not an advocate for one race over another, " said Dr. Robert Dion.
Dion, the Chairman of the HRC says the decision to help fund those events was made by a public vote during a public meeting.
"The money that's been criticized, the spending that's been criticized has all been done with private donations and proceeds from our annual dinner," Dion said.
Kissel is also wanting the city council to resend the sexual orientation/gender identity ordinance because he claims, it's illegal.
"If it were illegal to do, it would have been illegal for the other half dozens cities in the State of Indiana or the dozen or more sates across this country that have done it, " Dion said.
The HRC investigates over 100 new cases every year. A service, Mayor Lloyd Winnecke calls, beneficial.
"These are claims that are filed by people in Evansville and Vanderburgh County. Someone has to address those. If we were to completely defund this body, those people would have no recourse to file their claims," Winnecke said.
Mayor Winnecke says he's asked the HRC to develop specific guidelines in writing about how it will decide which organizations to donate money to.
Back in 2009, Kissel was behind a move opposing USI offering same-sex partner benefits to its employees.
The letter Kissel wrote to city and council officials reads:
"Dear Councilmen McGinn, Mosby, Brinkerhoff-Riley, Robinson, Friend, Lindsey, O'Daniel, Adams and Weaver,
Gary, Indiana and Richmond, Indiana have defunded their Human Relations/Rights Commissions, and it is time for Evansville (and Vanderburgh County) to likewise defund its Human Relations Commission. The Human Relations Commission (HRC) has been a stain on our community with its incompetence, misuse of tax dollars, introduction of illegal actions, extremism, elitism and divisiveness.
Incompetence: The HRC has pushed for passage of an age discrimination ordinance (in effect in Evansville only) which makes Senior Citizen discounts illegal for apartment complexes, and potentially other situations. The HRC now realizes the mistake, but should have thought through this issue before presenting it to the City Council and County Commission.
Misuse of tax dollars:
-Cronyism: The HRC in April handed $500 to one of its fellow Human Relations Commissioners for his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Psi, of which he is a board member. Similarly, in November, the HRC handed $500 to the YWCA at the behest of one of its own commissioners. Astonishingly, this $500 was used to fund an event where participants simply held hands around a building! (The "Stand Against Racism.")
Immoral/Unethical Favoritism: Just last month the HRC gave $200 to homosexual activists for their homosexual party ("Pride Picnic") at Burdette Park. These were the same activists who pushed the sexual orientation/gender identity ordinance.
-Other examples of such misuse can be cited. Clearly the HRC has no mechanism in place to evaluate community monetary requests on an equitable basis. Indeed, what business does the HRC have handing out tax dollars to private groups?
Illegality: The HRC worked sneakily to push a sexual orientation ordinance which criminalizes Christians and violates freedom of association. Neither the City Council nor County Commission have legal authority to pass such an ordinance. Further, in the past two years, the HRC illegally dragged a faith-based institution, St. Mary's Medical Center, to court, only to be blocked by the Vanderburgh Superior Court judge.
Extremism: The HRC shamelessly pushed a gender identity ordinance which mandates that men dressed as women be allowed to use women's restrooms, and other women's changing rooms.
Elitism: The HRC never once went out into the community to face parents, school teachers, churches, pastors, businesses to defend their pro-homosexual agenda and ordinance.
Divisiveness: The HRC has invited racially divisive speakers, like Cornel West, to address its annual banquet. Its advocacy of programs and funding decisions is virtually oriented toward one race, as evidenced by:
-$3800 for a trip in 2008 to the Social Status of African-American Males Annual Conference
-$1500, $1500, $750 for Family Day in the Park (2009, 2010, 2011), put on by WEOA and Black Women's Task Force.
-sponsorship of Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program to screen black males for hypertension and diabetes (2011, 2012)
-HRC was the legal applicant for $75,400 of federal funds from Indiana Criminal Justice Institute for the Boom Squad, whose application targets African American juvenile delinquency, which is less than 30% of juvenile delinquency in Evansville.
For these and other reasons, the Human Relations Commission should be immediately defunded. My tax dollars should no longer be wasted on its activities."
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