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Republican State Sen. John Waterman of Shelburn is exploring whether to enter the Indiana gubernatorial race as an independent candidate. "There’s a lot of disgruntled people," said Waterman in an exclusive Howey Politics Indiana interview Friday morning. Waterman, who was elected to the Senate in 1994 after two terms as Sullivan County Sheriff, added, "I know in this area, people are living paycheck to paycheck. There’s no communication with the governor’s office. He’s got this open door policy that doesn’t work. Nobody will call you back. There’s a lack of interest in education. The schools are in bad shape and nobody wants to talk about it. Economic development in Southwestern Indiana is zilch." Waterman said that "right now, things are exploratory." But he added that he’s been in contact with a number of taxpayer groups around the state and said he is even weighing a choice for lieutenant governor. Waterman also said that a number of people in local government have expressed interest in a possible campaign. Many of them are upset by the elimination of most township assessors and coming Kernan-Shepard reforms. Waterman added that the recent increase in the sales tax is cutting into business that came into Indiana from Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. "People would come in to Terre Haute, Vincennes and Kentland to buy beer and liquor. When we raised the sales tax, we’re going to be losing a lot of revenue. Legislators on the east side of the state are seeing the same thing." Waterman also complained about the caps on local government, but not state government. "The state keeps spending," Waterman said. "What’s good for the locals is good for the state." A Republican county chairman from Southwestern Indiana told HPI Thursday night that after attending Lincoln Day dinners throughout the 8th CD, he fears that Daniels will lose some counties 2 to 1 and even 3 to 1 in the fall to Democrat Jill Long Thompson. The chairman, who spoke off the record, said that there have been attempts to "talk Waterman out of it." Waterman would need to get 33,000 valid signatures by June 30 to qualify for the ballot. Eric Holcomb, Gov. Daniels’ campaign manager, reacted by saying, "You have to scratch your head and wonder about this one. It’s a free country and anyone can run." Holcomb took on Waterman’s claim that economic development in Southwestern Indiana has been "zilch." He noted that the Daniels-Skillman administration saved 5,000 jobs at Crane, there are two $2 billion power plants coming and that the I-69 extension is about to become a reality. "We’re extremely excited about Southwestern Indiana’s role in the comeback. There’s a lot going on," Holcomb said.
Tags: Mitch Daniels, Sen. John Waterman
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This entry was written by and posted on May 16, 2008 at 8:03 am and filed under HPI Weekly. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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