We know we’re starting to risk Oxley-fatigue, but we have video.

There was a warrant issued for Dennie Oxley’s arrest yesterday after he failed to surrender at 1pm as he agreed, sparking another press cycle.  In today’s Indy Star update, his lawyer had this to say:

Oxley, who lives in English, Ind., turned himself in at the City-County Building about 8 a.m. at the Failure to Appear office, despite an earlier arrangement with prosecutors to surrender Wednesday at the Arrestee Processing Center.

Rick Kammen, Oxley’s attorney, told Marion Superior Court Pro-Tem Judge Steve Allen during a hearing this morning that he took responsibility for miscommunication Wednesday.

Kammen changed the plan after learning that media outlets were waiting for Oxley outside the APC, he said, and “my goal was to avoid unnecessary publicity.” — Indianapolis Star

His objective was to avoid publicity and his best strategy to that end was to make his client a fugitive?  Right.  This worked out much better.

We know this is sort of Smoking Gun type stuff, but here is the mugshot of Oxley. Scott over at HoosierPundit has a copy of the police report and probably cause affidavit. You can check it out here.

Click for full size

Sen. Evan Bayh’s campaign of self-promotion is making stops all over Indiana this week to announce his support for property tax relief.  It would have been nice if he would have picked up the phone and called House Democrats and the Indiana Democratic Party six months ago when they were busy killing Republican plans to make property tax caps permanent.

Welcome to another 99% issue for Bayh, his favorite kind since someone else already thought of it and tested the politics to make sure it was safe.  The plan Bayh supports would remove caps on property tax deduction for non-itemizers.  Here’s a quote from his press release:

“With property taxes on the rise and the dream of homeownership threatened in many Hoosier communities, middle-class families should not be penalized simply because they do not itemize their tax returns,” said Senator Bayh.”

Thanks to Republican leadership in Indiana, property taxes are not on the rise, they’re going the other direction… unless you live in Evansville where Mayor Weinzapfel secretly raised homeowner’s property taxes.  We doubt Bayh will call on his buddy Weinzapfel to return that money to taxpayers, especially since he doesn’t need it, so we will… again.

The few details released by Bayh’s office appear to make the tax cut irrelevant.  Here’s an example of the highest bracket that can be accessed for the tax deduction:

A non-itemizing family with $75,000 of taxable income and a $3,000 property tax bill would receive a $750 tax cut this year—$500 more than under current law;

Under Mitch Daniels’ property tax cap plan, a home with a $3,000 property tax bill would cost $300,000, or 1% of its assessed value.  Figure that a 30 year mortgage at today’s rate of 5.38% has a monthly mortgage payment $1,680.85.  Add in your portion of the $3,000 property tax bill and the monthly payment is $1930.85.

After taxes a family making $75,000 a year would need to buy a house that costs nearly 50% of their monthly income.  We doubt you’ll find many Hoosiers who would benefit from this plan.  But we’re sure it’s really popular on the East Coast.

While we were hoping for a high-speed chase or a standoff at the Oxley’s Patoka Compound down in Crawford County, justice has won out none the less. About an hour or so ago, Dennie Oxley finally turned himself into police after realizing the media wasn’t going anywhere. We’re sure the prosecutor’s threat to bring him in wearing handcuffs didn’t hurt, either. From RTV6 (who has been all over this story):

Former State Rep. Dennie Oxley II turned himself in to authorities at the City-County Building Thursday morning, hours after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

6News was at the Arrestee Processing Center through the night, where Oxley was supposed to surrender on charges of public intoxication and impersonating a public official, 6News’ Jennifer Carmack reported.

Oxley repeatedly said “no comment” when asked to talk about the charges against him. Indianapolis police said Oxley told officers last Friday that he was immune from arrest because he is a lawmaker and the Legislature is in session.

“The thing that bothered law enforcement most about this was not the public intoxication, per se, but the fact that he left a 21-year-old lying in the street,” said Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi.

A taxi driver drove Oxley and a 21-year-old Indiana Statehouse intern to a downtown gas station, where the intern was face-down in the parking lot for 10 to 15 minutes, apparently passed out from drinking heavily.

“Mr. Oxley is the one who betrayed her trust,” Brizzi said. “She was with him. She was obviously in distress. Many things could have happened to her in the time that she was face-down in that parking lot.”

WTHR is reporting on their 5:30 broadcast that after a warrant was issued for his arrest, Special Adviser to Pat Bauer Dennie Oxley promised law enforcement he would turn himself in at 1 PM. As of right now, he is a no-show, officially making him a fugitive. More news as it comes (along with links when stories are posted online), and we’ll start live-blogging if this turns into a white Ford Bronco situation (our money is on Scott Pelath to play the part of Al Cowlings).

Drunk and holding a woman’s high heel shoes - that’s how police say they found former Democratic lieutenant governor candidate Dennie Oxley last Friday morning. They also say Oxley misrepresented himself as a state lawmaker to avoid arrest.

A judge issued a warrant for Dennie Oxley earlier Wednesday. The warrant is for one count of impersonating a public servant and public intoxication. He promised to surrender at 1:00 pm, but as of 5:00 pm, he hadn’t turned up at the arrestee processing center yet.

Members of the media report seeing Oxley and his father at the Statehouse earlier Wednesday just before the warrant was issued for his arrest. — WTHR

11:10 PM Update: Oxley still has not turned himself in, reportedly because he doesn’t want to face the media that is camping out at the processing center. Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi’s office has said Oxley could have done this the easy way and walked through the front door himself. If he waits much longer, he’ll be walking in with cops and in handcuffs.

Hat tip to Bloody 8th for the heads up on Jonathon Weinzapfel’s press conference today.

You may recall that J-Dub got slammed at a city council meeting a few months ago. Just days after it was revealed that he secretly hiked property taxes, the rest of the county came out to rip his annexation plans that would have increased local property taxes up to 40 percent.

With his political future on the line, he started backpedaling faster than a cornerback defending an Indy car. When it was revealed he only needed some $700,000 of the $5 million tax hike, he vowed to rescind the increase…but not until 2010.

But that still left the annexation. Well, that’s what today’s press conference was all about.

The Governor Daniels’ media availability today was interesting and entertaining. The guv reflected on the special session and put Indiana’s circumstances into context with states that are facing dire circumstances and facing deep cuts to education and other public services. Check it out: