Loading ...
A mere two days after Democratoc gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger unveiled his first extensive public policy positions, his campaign has made two controversial moves that signal a change in tone for his primary race with Jill Long Thompson. Schellinger attacked Thompson over a series of bounced checks while she was a member of Congress in 1992. The Schellinger campaign cited a Chicago Sun-Times newspaper article that revealed Thompson had bounced 17 checks for more than $1,700. The campaign alleged that Thompson had originally said she had only two overdrafts with the now defunct House Bank after 329 Members reported overdrafts. The Thompson campaign said she was cleared of any official misconduct by the U.S. Justice Department. "Just three years later she was unanimously confirmed for Under Secretary of Agriculture by a Republican controlled U.S. Senate," said Thompson media consultant Chris Sautter. The attack came after Thompson had pressed Schellinger to respond to her ethics proposal. "Why would a candidate who promised not to attack his opponent over-react like this to a straight-forward ethics proposal unless he was trying to hide something?" asked Sautter. Thompson is shown here at a 1992 Fort Wayne news conference in which she attempted to make a full disclosure by displaying all relevant personal banking statements from the period in question. Thompson defeated Republican Chuck Pierson in the election that fall by a 62-38 percent margin. At the Howey Politics Indiana Forum last Oct. 23, Schellinger and Thompson vowed not to attack each other. "I think the way to keep a primary from being divisive is to keep our focus on — and I am keeping my focus on — the current governor, whose bad policies and failed leadership are hurting our state," Long Thompson said. Schellinger said, "I got into the race because I know Indiana can and should be doing better. I know we deserve better leadership in our state, and I feel as though I can provide that leadership." The Schellinger attack on Thompson over the overdraft story was followed by the announcement that he had hired Jennifer Wagner to become the campaign communications director. She replaces Robert Kellar, whose departure from the campaign earlier this week had been leaked to the Indianapolis Star. “Jennifer’s extensive interaction with Indiana media and her statewide political contacts made her a perfect fit for this position,” Schellinger said. Wagner had been the Indiana Democratic Party’s communication director, but she is better known for her controversial blog Taking Down Words in which she often sparred with the media. It led Howey Politics Indiana to call Wagner the "nastiest woman in Indiana politics" in December 2006. Wagner announced her own campaign hiring on the blog on Thursday before it was announced to campaign personnel. "We’ve had a good run these past three years, but you can’t be the Nastiest Woman In Indiana Politics forever without some long-term effect on your soul. It was time for a change, and I’ll admit that motherhood has made it substantially more difficult to be mean," Wagner said. "When a four-month-old cracks a legitimate, non-gassy smile and starts cooing at you, it’s hard not to smile back." Wagner said the TDW will feature other bloggers. Schellinger is shown here at the HPI Forum. (Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette Photo)
Tags: Jill Long Thompson, Jim Schellnger
Related posts
This entry was written by and posted on March 28, 2008 at 11:50 am and filed under HPI Weekly. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
Post a comment(Latest is displayed first) or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.