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PARTIES PROMISE VOTERS WILL VOTE: A flood of new voter registrations prompted by the Obama-Clinton presidential contest will be processed in time for the May 6 primary, Margie Landers, Democratic member of the Delaware County Voter Registration Board, pledged Wednesday (Muncie Star Press). Landers, who is also the county’s Democratic Party chairman, addressed about 50 mostly Democratic activists during a contentious Delaware County Election Board meeting. "We’re going to get the job done and I promise you that," Landers said.
REPORTER, CD CANDIDATE ATTACKED: A Republican voter registration deputy faces battery charges after he tackled a newspaper reporter and hit the Democratic 6th District congressional candidate after a contentious Delaware County Election Board meeting Wednesday afternoon (Muncie Star Press). The meeting had just ended when Will Statom, GOP .jpg)
registration deputy and secretary of the local Republican Party, attacked Star Press reporter Nick Werner while Werner was interviewing Ball State University student Johanna Perez about hundreds of last-minute voter registrations for Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign. “He did not seem very happy that we were stating our opinions,” Perez said afterward about Statom. Werner said Statom seemed critical of his reporting, sarcastically saying to make sure he screwed up the story again. Statom had just walked past Werner when Statom turned around and pushed Werner against the wall, grabbed him and they fell to the ground, according to witnesses. Barry A. Welsh, Democratic 6th district congressional candidate, who attended the meeting, stepped in, and Statom turned around and hit Welsh in the eye. “When Nick went to the floor, I tried to break it up,” Welsh said. County sheriff’s deputies then stepped in and broke up the fight outside the commissioner’s courtroom. More deputies arrived when 911 dispatch informed police of an emergency in the county building involving a scuffle outside of the commissioners office. Statom refused to comment when he walked out of the county building. He was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies.
PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS SWITCH GEARS: The two Democratic presidential campaigns in Indiana are changing gears this week now that voter registration is over and early voting has begun (Post-Tribune). Until Monday, presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton focused on getting people registered to vote in the May 6 primary. Local offices focused heavily on canvassing neighborhoods with voter registration forms. Those efforts are now changing to a "get out the early vote" effort, with volunteers staffing phone banks to remind people that they can vote early, a form of absentee voting, at their county election office. "We’re going to be moving into a phase where we’re going to be working on persuading voters and put our top volunteers into the campaign to get out the vote," Kevin Griffis, spokesman for Obama’s Indiana campaign, said.
MAYORS ENDORSE OBAMA: South Bend Mayor Stephen Luecke endorsed U.S. Sen. Barack Obama for president at South Bend Washington High School Wednesday night. "I endorse Barack Obama because he cxnnects our minds and our hearts," Luecke said (Howey Politics Indiana). Also endorsing Obama was Michigan City Mayor Chuck Oberlie and Goshen Mayor Alan Kauffman. Luecke is shown here with former Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard, who is also backing Obama in his May 6 Indiana primary race against U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton. Obama will appear at rallies in Gary and Lafayette on Thursday, Columbus and Terre Haute on Friday, and Muncie on Saturday. Sen. Clinton announced she will appear in Indianapolis, Valparaiso and Mishawaka on Saturday, the first day of this primary sequence that both candidates will be on Hoosier soil simultaneously.
GEN. CLARK STUMPS FOR CLINTON: Retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark will be in Southern Indiana today and tomorrow to campaign for U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in her race for the Democratic nomination for president (Louisville Courier-Journal). Clark, a former supreme allied commander of NATO who ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004, will attend the Clark County Democratic Party Revival tonight in Sellersburg.
CLINTON VISIT COST MISHAWAKA $1,800: The mayor says he isn’t demanding that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign reimburse the city for overtime costs related to a visit there — but the city should accept the money if it’s offered. Republican Mayor Jeff Rea said in a letter to the mostly Democratic city council that he estimates Clinton’s campaign stop at Mishawaka High School last month cost the city $1,865 in overtime. Rea said former U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola voluntarily paid the city for the overtime cost when President Bush appeared at a Chocola fundraiser in 2006.
CANDIDATE WANTS TAX BREAK RECOUPED: Union Tank Car Co.’s plan to shutter its East Chicago plant just a few years after receiving city tax abatements became a campaign issue Wednesday in the race to replace state Sen. Sam Smith, D-East Chicago (Times of Northwest Indiana). Michael Scott Sr., one of seven Democrats competing in the May 6 primary for Senate District 2, pledged to introduce "clawback" legislation to force defecting companies to repay local tax breaks. Scott, a Gary school board member, took aim at Union Tank Car, which has said it will lay off more than 400 employees when it closes its East Chicago plant next month. "After years of benefiting from substantial tax breaks granted by the city of East Chicago, Union Tank’s plan to displace 445 workers is in clear contravention to the commitments it made to receive tax abatements," Scott said in a news release.
SCHELLINGER PROMISES COLLECTIVE BARGAINING: Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Schellinger said if elected, one of his first actions would be to restore collective bargaining rights to state employees (Terre Haute Tribune-Star). On the first day, “I will sign an executive order reinstating collective bargaining” on behalf of state workers, he said Wednesday during a visit to Terre Haute. He also would work on legislation to make those rights permanent “so that it’s not at the whim of every governor,” said Schellinger, who conducted a news conference at Laborers Local 204. When Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels took office in January 2005, he rescinded collective bargaining powers for state employees and canceled settlement agreements for about 25,000 state workers, saying the arrangements hindered his ability to quickly reshape state government. While in Terre Haute on Wednesday, Schellinger received two key legislative endorsements and outlined his economic development and health care policy initiatives, part of “Pick Up Indiana.” He’ll announce his education proposals later this week and he’ll have proposals related to government reform. He was endorsed by state Sen. Tim Skinner and state Rep. Clyde Kersey. Those attending the announcement included Vigo County elected officials, union leaders and laid-off union workers.
BALLARD MAY ROLL BACK INCOME TAX: Mayor Greg Ballard said his goal is to repeal a 65 percent income tax increase the county enacted last year, but he hinged that promise on state legislation to reduce layers of government (Indianapolis Star). Giving his first State of the City speech on his 100th day in office Wednesday, Ballard said a local efficiency panel and statewide government consolidation that would eliminate townships should produce "enough savings for a complete repeal" of the increase. "By improving on the fundamentals — reducing crime, balancing our budget and making government more transparent — we will continue to make Indianapolis stronger," he said. Ballard said public safety and education still are his top priorities, but he also pledged to increase the international profile of Indianapolis and reduce long-term public debt. Changes in the engineering of the city’s $3.5 billion environmental plan to stop dumping raw sewage into local waterways will save 15 percent to 20 percent and reduce scheduled rate increases for years, he said.
SANDERS SAYS BUDGET CRISIS STILL COMING: Joanne Sanders, the City-County Council minority leader, said the promise sounds good but doesn’t represent the reality of the city’s budget crisis. A tax overhaul passed by the legislature will force the city to cut $40 million by 2010, and any repeal of the income tax would add to that deficit (Indianapolis Star). She said Ballard’s goal depends on implementing the statewide Kernan-Shepard consolidation plan, which could take years to put in place. "I really didn’t hear anything new this evening," Sanders said. "His first 100 days have been uninspiring, so I don’t see how he could say he’s setting a strong agenda." Marilyn Pfisterer, a Republican council member who chairs a key financial committee, acknowledged that repealing the income tax increase would be difficult. "I think it eventually could be done," she said.
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