Carolene Mays is a candidate for the 7th Congressional District. 

I’m running for Congress because I have a great understanding of the needs facing our community. I have been in the trenches, serving and fighting for our community to have access to quality healthcare and education; keep taxes equitable, protect our seniors and troops and create high-paying and sustainable jobs. Legislatively, I have displayed my ability to work across the aisle to deliver results to my constituency and Indianapolis. My combined community service, business leadership and legislative record far exceed that of my opponents. I will continue to faithfully serve you, in Washington as your Congresswoman.”

David Orentclicher is a candidate for the 7th Congressional District. 

David Orentlicher: A Principled Leader

David Orentlicher is a principled leader whose fight to change Washington begins with his Ethic’s Pledge not to accept PAC or special interest money.  For the last six years, he has fought for Indiana’s families in the Indiana House of Representatives – playing a major role in policies affecting job creation, access to health care, the protection of children and property tax relief.  A doctor and a teacher, David teaches courses in medical ethics and constitutional law at Indiana University School of Law.  You can learn more about David’s fight to change Washington at OrentlicherforCongress.com.  

Normally I don’t use such coarse asterisks on my web blog but allow me some leeway.  The complaints about the U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding Voter ID have already started.  You know by now Voter ID was upheld 6-3 by the Supreme Court.

I just think it’s hilarious that the same people who are still complaining about Voter ID (and still can’t produce one person in seven elections who was denied the right to vote because of Voter ID)  said nothing when several polling places didn’t open last year about this time and 3500 identifiable voters were disenfranchised.

Maybe they should follow that same course of action now, go somewhere and sit down and shut up.

The U.S. Supreme Court this morning, by a vote of 6-3, upheld Indiana’s Voter ID law. The law had been challenged as unconstitutional because critics said it put an undue burden on voters. The law requires to show a government-issued picture ID when they go to the polls. The Court turned away the undue burden argument, saying the state had a strong interest in fighting voter fraud and it also noted Indiana had highly inflated voter rolls which could contribute to fraud.

The Court also said voter ID was a reasonable effort to ensure the integrity of the voting process. The decision comes just eight days before the state primary. Tom Fisher, the state Solicitor General who argued the case before the Court, says the clear 6-3 majority of the Court shows the reasonableness of the state’s law.

The Court also noted that Plaintiffs failed to produce a single individual who had been disenfranchised by voter ID.

I have yet to see what the problem was with Voter ID.  You need it to cash a check, rent a car and in some cases get into a bar.  So I don’t see what the big deal is.  And to make matters worse, Voter ID has been on the books for two years if you haven’t gotten an ID by now, maybe you shouldn’t be going to the polls.   By the way, the Indiana primary is May 6.

In an effort to help inform the voters in this year’s primary make the best decisions, I’m making this blog space available to the candidates.   It’s real simple.  In 100 words or less just tell the public why you want the office you’re running for and what makes you qualified for it.  I  won’t edit your piece.  What you write is what gets posted.  Just limit it to 100 words.  You words will be posted on all three of my blogs (Indiana Barrister, Capitol Watchblog and the WXNT blog).  Your words will be posted in the order I get them.  I don’t play favorites.  I just post.  Consider it a way to get your message out unfiltered.  I hope you take advantage of it.

Here’s my appearance from Fox News last night.  I had fun and the last line is priceless.

WHO KNOWS? 

I was having a discussion with three of the smartest political pundits in Indiana recently and asked them who was going to win the Presidential, Gubernatorial and 7th Congressional District primaries.  All three said they weren’t sure and that anything could happen.  I’ve always maintained that truly intelligent people will always tell you what they don’t know.  One thing we all did agree on is that it’s the new voters who will make the difference.  According to the Secretary of State’s office there are more than 200,000 new voters and about 50,000 of them have already voted.  The question is where do the new voters go after voting for President?   Do they stick around long enough to vote for the other candidates or do they bolt?  If they do decide to stay I think they may have the biggest impact on the 7th Congressional District and favor Dr. Woody Myers since he’s had the biggest media presence of the major candidates.

“MILLER” LITE GOV?

With all the attention on the two major parties I have to take a second to talk about the Libertarians.  They are having their nominating convention this weekend and there’s word they may nominate Brad Klopfenstein, executive director of the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association and occasional fill-in host on my morning radio show, as their candidate for Lt. Governor.

IS THE HONEYMOON ALMOST OVER?

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and City-County Council Republicans may be getting ready for the first real fight of their new relationship.  My sources tell me that a lot of Republicans aren’t crazy about the Mayor’s plan to expand the search for a new fire chief outside of IFD.  Stay tuned.

A WALKING WORK OF ART

Special thanks to the folks at the Indianapolis Museum of Art for having me participate in Saturday’s Procession Art Parade.  I was “The Lone Blogger.” I marched in the parade down Virgina Avenue to Fountain Square.   It was a lot of fun and the crowd was great.  I also found out a lot more people read this thing than I originally thought. Once I get the photos, I’ll post them.   Thanks again, IMA.

I normally take Saturday’s off from blogging, but not today.  I’m in a parade today as part of a function of the Indianapolis Museum of Art.  What’s so funny about it is that I am on a float dedicated to the state’s bloggers.  I have no idea why they picked me, but I’ll take the attention any day.  I will try to represent my fellow bloggers well.

I have to take a few minutes to engage in some really bad shameless self-promotion. Because Indiana is so crucial to picking the Democratic nominee for the Presidency some of us local politico types have been approached by the national press to offer up our perspective.

I’ll be on KABC radio in Los Angeles later this morning.

I’m doing an interview with Fox News Saturday Sunday afternoon at 4:15 Eastern time.

And here’s the icing on the cake, Al Jazeera English wants me to co-host their election night coverage. There’s nothing like going global.

Of course I’ll also be helping out over at RTV 6 and WXNT.

This is another reason why I love politics.

Both Jim Schellinger and Jill Long Thompson are accusing each other of running negative ads.  I’ve posted them both here so you can make the judgment for yourself.  I honestly don’t think either one is much of a big deal.

I’ll be interested in your thoughts.