Loading ...WAS IT REVENGE OR A REMINDER
The dust is settling over yesterday’s State GOP Convention where current Attorney General Chief of Staff Greg Zoeller beat Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas. Zoeller beat Costas by more than 300 votes. There is a lot of speculation as to what happened. I mentioned some of those reasons in my last post; Zoeller ran a good campaign, Costas was slow to get out of the gate, angry Ron Paul supporters, etc.
However, one theory that was floated by two politicos I ran into yesterday was the vote might have also been a backlash against the Governor, not necessarily for any heavy-handed campaign tactics, but government consolidation. Daniels has been pushing consolidation as part of property tax reform and many of the delegates in the room were guess what…I’ll wait…that’s right, local government officials.
Remember, local government and it’s one unit for every 2,700 Hoosiers would be reduced in size and hopefully scope under the Kernan-Shepard report. So why would a local official want to vote themselves out of a job or support the person who is trying to put them out of a job, for that matter? Now that may not the sole reason that Costas lost, I actually attribute more of it to the fact that he never laid out a vision for the Office or why he as qualified to hold the office as evidenced by the two videos the candidates presented to the delegates. Costas talked about evangelical issues while Zoeller talked about his record. But you can’t ignore the fact that some of the people whom Daniels was asking for help, were some of the same people who think he’s trying to put them out of a job.
Revenge or a not so friendly reminder? You decide.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:18 am
Unless and until we vote these people out of office, and hopefully in favor of change agents who are not looking for lifetime employment at the expense of taxpayers, nothing of substance is going to change. We do not need career politicians. This is the root of most of our political problems.
June 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
Nice spin, but the heavy-handed tactics + ron paul + brizzi + carter put z in.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:25 am
I think you’re dead on, Abdul.
Here in Dubois County (pop. ~41,000), consolidation is a dirty word. This county is being forced to let go of a group of hyper-local, part-time assessors and replace them with two or three county-level full-timers — at cost (remember, benefits are the real expense, at 1/3 the cost of the employee’s salary)!
I doubt Kernan-Shepard envisioned consolidation costing more money.
Perhaps small government would have been more welcomed if its first step hadn’t been tied to property tax reform…
Down here this is playing as a Marion County solution to a Marion County problem, neither of which had anything to do with the southwest.
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:39 am
It took a culmination of collective outrage to get the diluted tax reform we got: increased property and Marion co taxes, taxpayers booted out of meetings, rallys, protests, and general activism. Even with this and the Ballard election- look what didn’t happen: Kernan-Shepard consolidation (too busy), illegal hiring/immigration reform (arm-twisting/lobbyists in hallways, Rep. Bauer & Sen. Young), big county township gov’t reduction(Sen. Lawson), lobbyist reform (Sen. Reigsecker),etc. With elected officials more beholden to money than voters, lawmakers not letting lobbyist reform even get out of committee, and the voters again voting like cattle for the likes of Burton and Carson, all together now: Moooooo!
June 3rd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Gary Welsh is over there patting himself on the back for the win. Just like with Ballard - he wants credit. You better give him credit or he’ll throw a hissy fit and threaten to sue you or something!
haha…
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:20 pm
A significant part of Indiana is made up of small town and rural folks. If you don’t have rural roots or simply spend too much time in large urban areas, like Marion County, you will not understand what happened yesterdsy.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
All the above and then more, Abdul.
As a delegate yesterday, I listen and discussed the current movement in the GOP with those who knew what was going on, those left in the dark and those who just did not care. But most will say there is a movement afoot. You would think that it was a lone group of “Ron Paul” fans or even an “ulta-conservative” splinter group. But it’s not, there is no direct “one-cause” problem to yesterdays events. Some people voted for the candidate, some voted to send Mitch a message, some did not care, some voted for the conservative, some voted for experience, there was no majority answer. You can not find one reason.
Except the following :
The GOP is losing direction.
We don’t know if we should overturn “Roe/Wade”, ban gay marriage, leave people alone, give back tax money, bow down to special interest groups, take this special interst money, or give back “funny” money. There is no True Leader or direction anymore.
We used to rely on Reagan, but he’s gone, he was a force the we could follow, without question or pause. We knew he stood for something and could take that to the bank.
We do not have a leader anymore. Several Republicans have tried, but can not bring together a party in an evolving world.
We have to find leadership and we have to find common ground. Our leaders can not be arrogant anymore and must listen to the people.
Until “WE” the GOP as a whole unit fix our differnces, we will continue down a path of self-distruction.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Z is not a change agent as Greg observed. He is first a career politician, and second a career bureaucrat when he’s not elected to anything (or serving someone who is) like a whole bunch of other people in government. These people hate real change because it takes time away from consolidating their power and influence, which is where their true interests lie. We keep complaining about the ineffectiveness and wastefulness of government, yet we continue to recycle the same warm bodies who brought us that in the first place. Many of Ballard’s picks were perfect examples of this (look at the new boss, the same as the old boss). People need to accept that a lack of “experience” in most of these jobs, from the top down, is in fact a good thing and should not be a bar to employability. In the worst case scenario, everyone of these people could get run over by a bus tomorrow and government would continue to provide the same crappy, unresponsive, rude and overpriced service it always has. At least the faces would be new. We might even get lucky and have some ideas that are actually different and maybe even good see the light of day.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Terry Michael, I mean this with respect but why not rely on your own moral compass of what is right and wrong as you seek guidance? Does the republican party have a Mission or Purpose Statement? It should, if it doesn’t. That way everyone knows what direction they are pointed.
June 3rd, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Exactly!!!!! Melyssa you are absolutly RIGHT!!! This is the change, I am talking about. We take responsibilty for out own lives. We are smart enough to do so. You are my new favorite person. We have had enough with Government intrusion. I make up my own mind. The government makes sure that my rights are not stopped.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Terry and Melyssa it sounds like an epiphany. Why should something that makes so much sense and be so simple be so hard? I’ve always considered myself an independent free thinker. I didn’t look at things through party eyes (whatever party) but with common sense and morality and, dag-naddit, what is right! I don’t see why so many people are blinded by whatever it is that gets in their way, it’s not that hard, but I guess a lot of people can’t think for themselves or are too lazy or greedy or a million other reasons and that is what’s wrong with our system.
June 3rd, 2008 at 5:15 pm
How about responsbility and the moral compass pointing us towards not borrowing to spend more money than we really have? I’m not even quibbling about WHAT to spend it on anymore (we wrangle about that e..n..d..l..e..s..s..l..y). I’m just talking about not spending what we don’t have! Would you like to do that now, while we still have some choices, or later when we don’t?
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
it sounds like an epiphany? It is, it’s time for a rebirth of the old and make decisions not based on “old” republican” ways. Stop strong arming people into your position but allow smart debate. Stand up for what you believe, but don’t impose those beliefs. Make sense with your decisions, not continue with old standards because we always have done it that way.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
This may sound silly to all of you, but I have a personal Mission that I published in 2002. I wrote a Manifesto a few months later that explains how I enact my Mission. Whenever I get truly stuck, I simply need to repeat those words in my head and I always know what to do.
The Libertarians have a purpose statement too and I think that is why the Libertarians do such a good job of staying true to their fundamental purpose.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
And another thing, anyone who thinks the Republican party can be saved is, in my opinion, delusional. It is not going to happen.
.
It will take a third party to bring the old Republican ideals into motion. It could be either the Constitution Party or the Libertarians, but the Republicans lost their way completely when they did not hold Bush accountable for his many wrongs to the American people.
.
June 4th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
It’s my opinion that the Republican party was derailed in the 70’s, and that it was cemented in it’s derailment when nobody in the party lifted a finger after VP Bush tried to “Hinckley” his way into the Oval Office.
June 4th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I picked up a copy of Rex Early’s book, It’s A Mighty Thin Pancake, at the convention last Monday and wrote a partial book review. Early, a GOP political insider for decades, tells exactly why the Republican party has eroded. You can read one of the four reasons here:
http://diana-vice.blogspot.com/2008/06/common-sense-from-rex-early-regarding.html
June 4th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
If our political parties can’t put down the dirt clods and adapt to a changing world, they’re as useless as SUVs with gas at $4 a gallon. Unless America gets real about economics, China, India, Dubai and others will just smirk at the memory of a democratic republic that withered with it’s necessary underpinnings of personal responsibility and participatory citizenship. Our grandiose freedoms, benefits, and foreign policy also need that slender reed of money that’s actually worth something. It appears the SUVs have a better shot.
June 6th, 2008 at 8:55 am
[...] neutral in the AG race” here, “it’s all the fault of township officials” here, or interesting revisionism here) post-mortems put forward on the outcome of the GOP state [...]