Indiana 4th District Primary

[woodchuck4950]

Does anyone know who is running for the seat being vacated by Steve Buyer? Want to start doing my homework in advance of the May primary So far I know of only one candidate, Eric Wathen from Brownsburg, as I just received a flyer from him in the mail. Any info on the other candidates would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[photoshooter]

Does anyone know who is running for the seat being vacated by Steve Buyer? Want to start doing my homework in advance of the May primary So far I know of only one candidate, Eric Wathen from Brownsburg, as I just received a flyer from him in the mail. Any info on the other candidates would be appreciated. Thanks!

The Biggies:

Todd Rokita: My take - nice guy. Charismatic (a plus if it's backed up with Policy and philosophy) - on the surface he seems to understand the Tea Party movement. I need to spend some more time with him before I can totally decide.

Brandt Hershman: Heir apparent to Steve Buyer. In my book - that makes me VERY skeptical of him. Buyer was one of the "party republicans" that mostly protected our liberties - but went along with the Party on things like Cash for Clunkers. Hershman has the keys to the Buyer machine, so he's the one to beat. Downside: Hershman is the first to tell you that he's not "Mr. Excitement" in the Charisma dept. Again - charisma isn't important - until you get someone who has the right positions on issues and can drive the media message.

Mike Young: Currently serving as a state senator??? Pros: he has a voting record, and appears to understand Tea Party values (Read the bills, fiscal conservative, Constitutional based smaller govt) - but - he has less charisma than Hershman.

There are about 10 others, but those are the ones that I consider most likely to win. At this stage, I'm leaning Rokita, but I want another sit down Q&A with him before I commit.

 

[woodchuck4950]

Thanks for the links. Checked out Rokita's site ... lots of fluff, little real meat. Most of the other candidates seem to be quite up front where they stand on the issues. Met Hershman and his wife at the Hendricks County Friends of the NRA banquet last month. To be honest, he seemed a bit smarmy to me and he and his wife were obviously not in their normal element. I am skeptical of Young based upon on the fact he has been in the state legislature (house/senate) since 1986 ... screams "career" politician to me.

Looks like this is going to require a LOT more research.

 

[photoshooter]

Conventional wisdom - for what it's worth these days - has it as a Rokita v Hershman race.

I know folks who know Rokita (he's a friend of their son since college) and they vouch for his character. I won't vote based on that, but I'll add it to the pile.

I would REALLY like to see info on the others in the race - but I don't have enough time.

For what it's worth - I've toyed with the idea of running for that seat - but I have someone else to get elected. And, with 14 others in the race, we should be able to find someone in there that's good.

I hope...

 

[Coach]

another candidate

www.coachactonforcongress.com

Jon Acton is a good friend of mine. He taught next door to me for ten years at Avon High School. I will vouch for the fact he will represent the 4th district and what the people living here will want. His views and beliefs can be found on the website linked above.

 

[kimberfan]

I see things a little differently. What has charisma or cash for clunkers got to do with the second amendment.


Todd Rokita - No 2nd Amendment involvement. Spent $2 million on taxpayer funded tv ads promoting himself. So bad that ethics bill just signed by Daniels specifically banned tv ads because of Todd. All hat, no cattle.

Brandt Hershman - 10 year state senator with NRA A rating. FNRA supporter. NRA Life Member. Coauthored parking lot and database bill. Decent guy, but as you say not a typical political backslapper.

Mike Young - State Senator. Also A rated by NRA. Believe he coauthored parking lot bill as well. Conservative record, articulate, but doesn't actually live in the 4th district.

Acton - New guy. Don't know about 2nd Amendment involvement.

 

[Coach]

Acton is a city boy that has only shot a gun one time in his life, and he sucked so bad I recommended he give it up. However, he is a strong advocate of the constitution and agrees that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Second Amendment is not an area that has ever been a part of his life, but he is not anti-gun at all. I know where he goes for advice on gun issues and I feel confident that he will be very supportive of our gun rights.

 

[CarmelHP]

Rokita is the ultimate insider that will say or do anything to get into office and stay in office including using taxpayer money to run hundreds of ads of himself while he's running for election. It always seems that the SecofState needs a lot more PSA airtime around elections. He's a younger version of Dan Coats. His campaign manager the first time around was Tom John, the kleptocratic Marion Co Republican Party chair was tries to make sure only other members of the kleptocrat wing get nominated. His SoS transition organizer was Robert T. Grand, who currently leads Greg Ballard around by the nose and bills legal fees out the wazoo for his law firm, Barnes and Thornburg. Rokita is not a solution, he's the problem and he's not your friend.

 

[Boilerup]

Hershman

I am a lifelong resident of the 4th district and I am supporting Brandt Hershman. He has been my state senator for the last 5 years and have done a great job of representing my beliefs in Indy. He is a life member of the NRA, has an A rating from the NRA, authored and co-authored many of the pro-gun rights bills in this year's legislative session including the guns in locked vehicles bill.
learn more about brandt at Hershman for Congress

 

[photoshooter]

What makes Hersman NOT a political insider?

This year, I'm all about finding folks with little to no political experience - who have a strong originalist understanding of our Constitution.

 

[kimberfan]

What makes Hersman NOT a political insider?

This year, I'm all about finding folks with little to no political experience - who have a strong originalist understanding of our Constitution.

I guess by your definition Ronald Reagan was a political insider and shouldn't have been elected since he'd been a governor.

Defeating the Obama administration is not a task for a novice. Hershman has a proven voting record on 2nd Amendment issues. A new person can promise you anything, but delivering is another thing.

 

[PeaShooter]

Got this in the email today from Indy Defenders of Liberty West.​

​

​

GET INFORMED !!!​

​

REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FORUM​

​

US HOUSE DISTRICT 4 ​

(Steve Buyer will vacate this seat) ​

​

Hendricks County Fairgrounds​

1900 E Main St, Danville, IN​

April 10, 1-4pm​

​

1-2 Meet & Greet Candidates
2-3:30 Hear the Candidates speak
3:30 Meet & Greet Candidates

​

Sponsored by Local Teaparty:​

Indy Defenders of Liberty West​

www.indydefenderswest.net​

 

[photoshooter]

I guess by your definition Ronald Reagan was a political insider and shouldn't have been elected since he'd been a governor.

Defeating the Obama administration is not a task for a novice. Hershman has a proven voting record on 2nd Amendment issues. A new person can promise you anything, but delivering is another thing.

Not a task for a Novice? So we want to send more of the same idiots that got us into this mess, to go clean it up? No thanks.

As for Reagan: Different times... different rules.

We've seen the Republican party swing to a Lite-Progressive party (Compassionate Conservative anyone?) - we don't need any more of that crap. Even Ronaldus Magnus spent more than he took in with his tax cuts - blowing the fiscal conservative label. Right ideas, right words, wrong practices.

Since the time of Reagan, the "party" has done more to screw the Constitution in hopes of gaining more political power than I had imagined they could. GWB moved the party to a Wilsononian model more than he moved the party back toward Reagan or even Coolidge.

Also I'm seeing a strong effort from the "Party" to coop the Tea Party movement. But, the GOP is listening to the media too much. Tea Party is composed of more than just displaced republican voters. Libertarians, and democrats who want Midwestern values without the progressive crap make up a sizable chunk of the Tea Partiers. I'm tired of the GOP telling me that I have to vote for their trained professional politicians - because only they have the knowledge and power to defeat the political enemy.

Do I want to send another policy wonk to represent me? Nope! there will be plenty of those in DC no matter what we do. We need some folks who don't know what isn't Kosher - so they can get in get stuff done. We need folks who aren't tied to any Party - and who would rather be at home running their businesses or teaching their classes - than to be career politicians. Those are the folks I want to represent me.

I want the ones that feel they have to go to clean up the mess - but want to get home as quickly as possible and let someone else take the next stage. I've had enough of the political ladder climbers that you can't get out of office short of medical reasons.

What exactly have the republicans already in congress done to defeat Obama? Take a look at the touted Health Care take-over plan pushed by Boehner. On page 5 or so, after all of the intros and table of contents, it begins with "... The States shall...."

Take a quick read of the Constitution again. There are few areas where the Federal Government has the power to mandate that the states do much of anything not attached to National Security.

But our State Legislators have sat on their party hands for the last four or five generations and let the federal government boss them around. That is not how our Constitutional republic was founded. The states gave to the Federal Government only the powers to do what they couldn't do on their own - protect the borders, coin money etc (see enumerated powers).

Passing on massive entitlement programs wasn't in our founders dreams. But, yet, there all of our state governors and legislators sat while mandate after mandate was handed down from on high by both parties.

The idea that the Republican party would be pushing a bill that centers around ideas that "the states shall" is the wrong answer from the party of "limited government and Constitutional protection." DeMint's plan - which has been stalled since 2007 in the Senate is slightly better. It, at least, indicates what the various problems are, and then references which Constitutional power they will use to take the actions they propose.

But, even with DeMint's plan, I believe that they're stretching the Interstate Commerce clause beyond where it was intended by all founding fathers - except Hamilton - to stop.

So, in a nutshell, I don't want another "Party" guy or gal. I'm disappointed in the Rokita party ties - I had hoped he was a maverick. But there are tons of other candidates to investigate in that race.

 

[photoshooter]

An outsider looking in...

Well, it seems that Todd Rokita is still causing some waves in the GOP.

And this makes me wonder... is he really the ultimate GOP insider that some say he is.

Disclaimer: I've met him once, and know someone that knows him as a personal friend. Other than concern over who I should vote for - I don't pretend to care about him in any other way.

This story just published in the Indy Star: GOP senators miffed lawmakers got e-mails from Rokita campaign | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

A rift between Senate Republicans and Secretary of State Todd Rokita grew deeper Tuesday as they sparred over a proposal for a new campaign finance reform.... [snip]

E-mails from Rokita's campaign, including one soliciting donations, recently ended up in the government e-mail accounts of some legislators. It prompted Sen. Patricia Miller, R-Indianapolis, to say she'll seek legislation to bar candidates, campaign committees and political parties from sending political materials to government e-mail addresses.Rokita's campaign spokesman, Cam Savage, said Rokita did not send any e-mail to government accounts. Instead, he said, the campaign believed someone was redirecting the e-mail to other addresses, including those of legislators.

Savage called it "a set-up" and an attempt to "smear" Rokita.
"We've confirmed with our e-mail service that there's some chicanery here. The old guard is still hopping mad at Todd Rokita for proposing legislation to take the politics out of the legislative redistricting process. It's disappointing, but not unexpected, for the entrenched powers to lash out at the reformer working to return government to the people," Savage said.

Miller said this incident is not the first time a political campaign has sent materials to government e-mail accounts. Her proposed legislation is not about Rokita, she said, but is "a public policy issue."Rokita had angered some lawmakers in both parties last year when he proposed redistricting changes that included maps showing how House and Senate districts could have been drawn.

He also drew their ire when he tried to have his office exempted from one of the ethics reforms that were included in a bill Miller sponsored earlier this year. That provision barred state officeholders other than the governor from using their names and faces in TV ads that are paid for with publicly appropriated dollars.

Rokita has appeared in ad campaigns touting programs of the secretary of state's office and sought an amendment in another bill to allow him to keep doing so, despite the ethics reforms. The Senate unanimously voted against that change.

So, I'm trying to get my head around this:

Rokita is the ultimate insider - but is catching flak for trying to push through a redistricting plan by other insiders?

His campaign somehow got email into government email boxes. Which is a no-no.

Rokita's camp says this is being blown up by other insiders because they don't like his push to redistrict.

Also, legislation was just approved that bars elected officials - except for one - from appearing in ads about their elected offices (why is that one exempt?)

Can any of you wise ones familiar with the ins and outs of the GOP machine help me make sense out of this?

 

[CarmelHP]

Yes, Rokita is famous (infamous) for "creative" ways of using taxpayer money to bend the system to his election/re-election campaigns such as his SoS PSAs that flood the airwaves around election time. Hitting up legislators using state resources is just more of the same. You may take this as some kind of virtue but most do not. The criticism of the "attempt to redistrict" is that Rokita has absolutely zero authority in that area and was grandstanding. His wacko suggestion to make it a felony to "consider political factors" in making redistricting decisions irked the legislature as it was obvious that the grandstanding was at their expense. How exactly, Todd, do you outlaw thoughts and make "considerations" a criminal offense? The guy's idiocy is only outweighed by his ambition.

 

[HICKMAN]

Acton is a city boy that has only shot a gun one time in his life, and he sucked so bad I recommended he give it up. However, he is a strong advocate of the constitution and agrees that the Second Amendment is an individual right. Second Amendment is not an area that has ever been a part of his life, but he is not anti-gun at all. I know where he goes for advice on gun issues and I feel confident that he will be very supportive of our gun rights.

Heard him on Abdul this morning and liked what he had to say.

 

[photoshooter]

Yes, Rokita is famous (infamous) for "creative" ways of using taxpayer money to bend the system to his election/re-election campaigns such as his SoS PSAs that flood the airwaves around election time. Hitting up legislators using state resources is just more of the same. You may take this as some kind of virtue but most do not. The criticism of the "attempt to redistrict" is that Rokita has absolutely zero authority in that area and was grandstanding. His wacko suggestion to make it a felony to "consider political factors" in making redistricting decisions irked the legislature as it was obvious that the grandstanding was at their expense. How exactly, Todd, do you outlaw thoughts and make "considerations" a criminal offense? The guy's idiocy is only outweighed by his ambition.

That's why I asked the questions. I figured our legal brethren would have the insights us dumb journalists wouldn't have any clue about.

 

[photoshooter]

Anyone know this guy: http://www.hassforcongress.com/

I've found him on facebook, and he seems to be shooting straight with conservative values, but I haven't met him in person.

 

[woodchuck4950]

Attended the Tea Party forum in Danville this past Saturday for the 4th District Congressional candidates. At first blush, all these guys seem to be singing from the same hymnal … good conservative family men who support a return to a more constitutional, smaller, less-intrusive federal gov’t, reduced spending/taxes, support traditional family values, secure borders, etc. Genuinely appreciative of all and their willingness to “enter the arena”. For the most part, the forum avoided any “gotcha” questions. All the candidates seem to “get it” in terms of what the Tea party movement is about. FWIW, here are my initial impressions (mind you I did not speak to all directly)
John “Coach” Acton, teacher/former high school football coach: very genuine, down-to-earth … seems like a nice guy you wouldn’t mind having a beer with … seemed in a little over his head … believe the DC machine would eat him alive. Would support him for electin to the local school board, but not Congress.
Daniel Dunham, pastor from the Southside: seemed to epitomize the “angry Christian white male” … probably a very nice man, but again, he’s in way over his head.
James Hass, trucking firm owner from Lafayette: once again very genuine, down-to-earth … seems like a nice guy you wouldn’t mind having a beer with … pragmatic/genuine … would consider hime if he had a better organization behind him.
Charles Henderson, Mayor of Greenwood: what a blowhard … really likes to hear himself talk; as a long-term politician, he represents exactly what I am not looking for. Dem’s will easily turn his off the cuff statements into attack ads painting him as a bigot/racist/homophobe
Brandt Hershman, current state senator/ former Buyer staffer: very articulate/polished during the forum - said all the right things; bit uneasy that he comes across as a “career politician” in training given his record … haven’t yet determined if this is an asset or liability. Staunch support of 2A rights. Have him on my short list.
Todd Rokita, current Indiana Sec. of State: great resume’ - very articulate/polished during the forum - said all the right things; didn’t like him one bit … seemed phonier than a $3 bill. If he’s the nominee, I’ll vote for the Libertarian.
Mark Seitz, businessman from Greenwood: like most of the others, great family man – pleasant, articulate guy; on the right side of the issues. Like many of the other no-name candidates - stands little chance
P. J. Steffen, engineer with Rolls-Royce from Avon: sharp guy - very bright/reasoned/forthright/genuine … would be a viable choice with a better organization in place … as it is, he is a complete unknown has a snowball’s chance in hell. Would encourage him to run for local office and get some additional experience under his belt before taking on the big boys/gals
Mike Young, current state senator, Indy westside: in a word – passionate … strikes me as a “true beleiver Conservative” … easily the most outspoken candidate on the panel, but I kinda dig that; on my short list, but fear his passion may be a turn-off for some
Eric Wathen, current county commissioner/civil engineer from Brownsburg: very bright/reasoned/forthright … spent the longest time talking with him … will keep him on my short list for the time being
A this point, am keeping Hershman, Young and Wathen on my short list. Will track the polling closer to primary day. If it comes down to a race between one of these 3 and Rokita … will pick the candidate with the best chance of defeating Rokita.