Indiana's US Congressional Candidates

[dburkhead]

Senate is easy to discuss because they are Statewide but I thought I'd start this as a place to discuss who's running for US House of Representatives in Indiana.

To start with: Carlos May, running against Andre Carson in Indiana's 7th district.
Carlos May for Congress
On facebook at: Carlos May | Facebook

On issues he calls out two issues on his web page: Jobs/Economy and Health Care. His jobs/economy position is long on "glittering generalities" and short on specifics. As far as Health Care he appears to buy into the Republican Congressional plan which, IMO, goes too far still in terms of government control but is a major improvement over what the Dems are determined to cram down our throat.

On his Facebook page someone purporting to be him does post there regularly and does reply to comments. I've left my comment:

Mr. May, I've looked at your web site and you talk about Jobs, the Economy, and Health Care. I would like to hear what you have to say about the following: Oil and foreign dependence on Energy, Gun Control and the 2nd Amendment, the environment including global warming, National Defense, and Immigration. Also what Constitutional touchstones will you use to decide whether to vote for or against any particular bill.

We'll see how things go.

So what other candidates are running and where?

 

[Rob377]

Issues :: Todd Young for Congress

9th District.

 

[CarmelHP]

Todd Young has been light on the issues, and the only reason he seems to wants to be a Congressman is to polish his resume. I would take Todd if I had no other choice, but I still think he's doofus. He's done most of his fundraising in Broad Ripple and Bloomington and downtown law firms. I'm met him and found him to be vague and evasive when you ask any questions about the 2nd Amendment or why he's running, blank stares.

I don't like that Sodrel took so long to announce but I'll take him over Young any day. Any money he has, he can show where it came from, he was actually out working and making payrolls and paying taxes and living with regulations imposed on him.

Mike Sodrel for Congress


An article that illustrates why Todd Young is a doofus.

 

[AFA1CY]

It doesn't matter who runs in the 7th, the Republicans have been neutered and are impotent!

(BTDT Worked the '06 7th campaign. If you want details you can PM me)

 

[IrishSon of Liberty]

Phil Troyer is running against Mark Souder in the 3rd District primary.

PRIMARY!!!

Souder has been a spending fool while wearing the RINO badge. Likewise, he's a career politician that was elected in 1994 with a campaign pledge of self-imposed 12 year term. I'll let you do the math.

 

[dburkhead]

Reply from Carlos May

I'm a bit late getting back to this. Carlos May is running for the US House of Representatives for Indiana's 7th District (against Andre Carson). He's got a Facebook page and I asked him several questions about his position that weren't on his web page. Here's the answers he gave:

I want to thank you for your questions, below are the answers. I want to preface my answers by saying one thing…I am a realist and I know I cannot please 100% of the people 100% of the time but I can and will always give a direct honest answer, and those answers will be based on my core beliefs of Limited Government, Low Taxes, Strong National Security and Individual Liberties.

Energy & Foreign Dependence on oil: We need to start looking at alternative forms of energy now and phase those in over the years while at the same time exploring the oil options we have here in the US. The reality is that we are using a finite resource (oil) and as such it WILL, at some point, disappear. At the same time that this resource becomes more and more scarce the price and need for the resource will increase. We as a country CANNOT be solely or even mostly dependent on foreign oil…that hurts our national security interests. Thus we need to limit our dependence on foreign oil and at the same time increase our alternative options. The prudent thing to do (e.g. Common Sense) would be to explore new forms of energy while Oil is still abundant and relatively cost effective…that is to say, if we wait until all the oil is gone until we start looking for other options it will be too late. If we found some new panacea of alternative energy before the oil started to become scarce imagine the great position the U.S. would be in at that time…we would have a new technology that the world would want and NEED and we would have it at the right time. ... See More

Gun Control & 2nd Amendment: “…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” The language is very plain and I agree with it 100%. The U.S. Congress should make no law to limit the legal ownership of guns. I believe in and support the 2nd Amendment.

Environment & Global Warming: I am NOT a scientist, but I do have common sense…and it tells me this; There are over 650,000,000 (million) cars in the world and each of those cars spews out CO2, a KNOWN greenhouse gas…in addition to those cars there are millions of factories, businesses, etc that also emit CO2. Thus we humans are, at some level, affecting the environment of this planet. Now, I do not know the extent, degree and speed to which we are affecting the planet, but it is happening. We should be mindful of this for Future generations…I don’t think we will kill the planet in the next 5 years, or even during our lifetime, but I want to make sure that my grandchildren can experience the majesty of Earth. Do we stop doing “everything” we are doing now…NO, but we can at least start to look at the future and we can start to plan for alternative forms of fuel that are less damaging. We have done this in the past when we knowingly used something that was lethal to this planet…CFC’s immediately coming to mind.

National Defense: Our national defense must be strong and robust. We are a target for countries (North Korea, Iran are 2 examples) that hate us and would like nothing more than for the US to disappear. At the same time we are a target for NGO’s (Taliban, Al-Qaeda are 2 examples) that hate us and would like nothing more than for the US to disappear. These countries and NGO’s would attack us immediately if they felt we could not protect our own country. If we cannot protect our county and we do not have a strong national security system then everything else that we as Americans believe in is irrelevant because the US would not exist to protect those beliefs. Research, Development and Spending in National Security is important to me and we must remain the most militarily powerful country on this planet.

Immigration: This is another issue that we must look at realistically instead of just ideologically. There are people on the extremes of ideology that say one of two things…Limit immigration and deport all illegals OR Open immigration and amnesty for all illegals. Neither of these is realistic; it is unrealistic because we do not have the time, money, and logistics to round up and deport every illegal immigrant (plus we don’t even know where they all are) and amnesty is not realistic because we don’t want to legalize immigrants who are criminals. To me this is a two prong approach; first, what do we do with the illegal immigrants already here and second how do we limit the amount of illegal immigrants entering the country. For the ones already here we need to start with the criminals…we do not need (and I do not want) criminals from other countries here in the United States….the good thing is that we know where they are, they are in our jails. Get rid of those first, then move on to the non-criminal element of illegal immigrants. To limit illegal immigration we need to revamp our immigration process. When we have a process that is difficult and onerous on individuals it makes it harder for them to want to do the process legally and so they turn to the illegal method of entry.

Constitutional Touchstones: I believe in the Constitution of the United States and as such I want to follow what it says. “Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the People”. The 10th Amendment would be one of my main touchstones. I believe in LIMITED government and so I would fight against any unconstitutional expansion of its power.

I'm not happy with some of his answers, particularly his energy and the environment (too much ).

Just asked a follow up:

Follow up on the position questions I asked earlier. What are your positions on "drill here, drill now" and nuclear power?

Let me be upfront. I am a fervent supporter of both. Most "alternative energy" simply cannot provide the energy needed to power a modern, high-technology society, particularly if the rest of the ...world is ever going to rise out of crushing poverty forever. Basing energy needs on most "green" power is to condemn most of the world to crushing poverty forever. Oil, however, can provide immediate needs. Nuclear can cover the medium term. And Ocean Thermal and Solar Power Satellites can take care of the long term.

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

dburkhead -

I make my living in the energy markets (writing software for them). Drill now makes sense, but if we're talk oil, then it's really limited compared to the amount we use. No reason not to do it, just it's important to note that we need more to cover our needs. Nukes - absolutely! One of the cheapest sources of electricity. No doubt about it. There are places to build permanent storage as well. We've done it already.
Another one that's clean and plentiful for the near term is Nat Gas. We are the freaking Saudi Arabia of Nat Gas (especially with the new drilling methods) - and yet the DipWeasels in Washignton refuse to use it! Why? Consider that the wind and solar crowd pay heavily into Democrat re-election coffers... Talk about selling the country to hell to line your own pockets!

We can run large truck fleets EASILY with Nat Gas TODAY. I drove buses in Sacramento to work my way through college. 20 years ago. They were NG powered and used the same diesel engines - just alt fuel...

We have the solution - at least in the mid term - and we're being too stupid to use it.

 

[trnsplntfrmohio]

n/m he's running for senate

 

[SD45]

You have to love Carlos May's response in regards to Global Warming..... I wonder if common sense has caused him to ask why the glacial ice has been receding for the past 10k years, or why there is over 5,000 feet of ocean sediment (called limestone) that is beneath us here in Indiana. In the past 400 million years there has been over 300 proven periods of ice to tropic back to ice cycles. Of course all those emissions back 30 million years ago accounted for all that....ugh.

Not that I do not think man made emissions do not have some effect. The total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is .038%. Of this of this .038% only 7% of this is a result of human activities. So...needless to say....000266% of the atmosphere is effected by humans.

I wish common sense would prevail....

 

[John Galt]

Any interest in State Representatives?

 

[CarmelHP]

n/m he's running for senate

I heard that Marlin is announcing his withdrawal today.

UPDATE: Pre-mature: speculation was that he called press conference to withdraw, but something else may be going on. Will update ASAP.

2nd Update: Speculation was wrong, his PC was to dig at Coats. Apologies and kudos to Marlin

For Immediate Release
February 10, 2010

Marlin Stutzman Demands Answers from Dan Coats on his Current Job as a Lobbyist

Marlin Stutzman challenges Coats, "We want to see everything Dan Coats and his firms were involved with from a lobbying perspective. Hoosiers cannot afford a senator who has questionable ties to corporations, banks and anti-American governments."

Howe, IN - State Senator Marlin Stutzman took a hard line today as he inquired about the judgment of former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats and his past and current lobbying activity in Washington, D.C. Coats, a former U.S. Senator who now lives in the D.C. Metro area and keeps a home in North Carolina, surprised many when he announced he may run for the US Senate in Indiana, where he has not lived in nearly 10 years.

"Dan, the 'good folks' in Indiana have some questions. How involved were you and your firm in securing billions of dollars in taxpayer money for the bailouts? What is your firm's relationship with Harvest Natural Resources? Harvest is an oil company that partners with Dictator Hugo Chavez. Finally, and probably most concerning is your firm's questionable ties to the terrorist breeding ground in Yemen. Although, I personally would like answers to these questions, Mr. Coats, I can tell you that I am not alone. There are countless people throughout the state that want to know the details on your career as a DC Lobbyist. We want to see everything Dan Coats and his firms were involved with from a lobbying perspective. Hoosiers cannot afford a senator who has questionable ties to corporations, banks and anti-American governments."

The Hill - Coats lobbied for India Firm and country of Yemen: Web Version PDF Version

Politico - Coats lobbied for Chavez-connected oil company: Web Version PDF Version

Washington Examiner - Coats lobbied for Bank of America: Web Version PDF Version

Washington Examiner - Coats lobbied for 'Fat Cats': Web Version PDF Version

 

[kimberfan]

Candidates still shaking out in the 4th District.

Of the two announced, no word on where Rokita stands.

Hershman is strong on 2nd Amendment issues, and is cosponsoring all the gun bills in the Indiana Senate.

 

[Manan]

Who knows about Ellsworth. I had thought he was a moderate, but his voting seems to be more liberal?