Know Your Mayors- Greg Ballard of Indianapolis (Entry 17 of 21)

Since the Indianapolis Colts are facing the New Orleans Saints for the Super Bowl game in Miami, Fla, on Sunday, we thought we'd profiled Indianapolis, Ind., mayor Greg Ballard. Since I posted an entry last week professing that I am rooting for the Saints, it only seems objective that I profile Mayor Ballard.

Ballard is the second Republican (we know of) who we have profiled. A few entries ago in this series, we profiled Charlotte, NC, mayor Pat McCrory, who is also a Republican. He stepped down, and was replaced by Anthony Foxx (D).

The Indy mayor was born in 1954, and he was elected to office on Nov. 6, 2007, in a huge upset victory over previous mayor Bart Peterson (D) by a 51-47 percent margin. According to Wikipedia, Ballard's victory was considered one of the greatest political upset in the Hoosier State's modern history.

Ballard served with the Marines Corps in the Persian Gulf War before returning to Indianapolis to work for the Bayer Corporation. He went on to write the management book: "The Ballard Rules: Small Unit Leadership."

As mayor, Ballard favored a substantial tax increase in April of 2009 to help bail the city's interests out. The move was criticized by political opponents as corporate welfare for the Colts and the city's pro basketball team the Indiana Pacers.

In October of 2009, Ballard contributed to the political defeat of a civic initiative to ban smoking in the workplace.

Ballard, an avid golfer, is the city's 48th mayor. He is also an alumnus of Indiana University. Ballard also founded the Indianapolis Writer's Group.

Recently, he declared the Jan. 31-Feb. 6 to be 'Devour Downtown Indianapolis Week.'

I happen to follow many municipal mayors from both political parties on Twitter, including Ballard and previous entry subject Sam Adams of Portland, Ore. Ballard's Twitter page is twitter.com/mayorballard

Indianapolis is America's 14th largest city.

We take it that Ballard is rooting for the Colts!

SIDENOTE: We made a mistake by identifying our previous entry on Salt Lake City, Utah's mayor as our 17th entry. This entry is in fact the 17th entry. In addition to McCrory, Yvonne Johnson (Greensboro, NC) and our very first entry Kevin Foy (Chapel Hill, NC) are no longer in office. There may also be other changes that we are not aware of.

Here are the other 16 cities we have profiled:

Chapel Hill, NC
Greensboro, NC
Durham, NC
Charlotte, NC
Roanoke, Va.
Richmond, Va.
Washington, DC.
Philadelphia, Pa.
Newark, NJ.
Boston, Mass.
Minneapolis, Minn.
Charleston, SC.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Portland, Ore.
North Pole, Alaska
Denver, Colo.