Opportunity Knocks, Will the Democrats Answer?

The Indiana Republican Party is going to you know where in a handmaid's tale...er...handbasket, and the Indiana Democratic Party stands ready to scoop up the opportunity and dunk it in the basketball ring.

So...um, about that.

Opportunity has not just knocked. It's kicked the door in. As a Democrat, part-time blogger and political observer/hack, I have to wonder if anyone's home.

Yeah, the GOP has nominated self-proclaimed Christian Nationalist Micah Beckwith as its Lieutenant Governor candidate. He pairs with Mike Braun about as well as a tie on Mike's campaign buttondown. Braun is the sensible one on the ticket, which is scary since he once questioned the Supreme Court's ruling on Loving vs. Virginia. The landmark case that prohibited discrimination against interracial couples wanting to marry.

Braun, a U.S. Senator whose main accomplishment in office so far is to get on TV as much as possible, is running on a ticket with the vulnerabilities of a computer still running Windows 95. There's Jim Banks, the crazy U.S. Representative and Trump syncopant who seems to think the WNBA officiating is cause for a Congressional inquiry. There's Todd Rokita who is, well, Todd Rokita. We all know him by this point. That brings us back to Beckwith who is about as qualified to run a state as I am to run a Weightwatchers aka WW franchise. 

This should all be easy, right? Just point out who these people are and tout your superior candidates. 

On the Dem side, there's Jennifer McCormick, the former Republican State Schools Superintendent who lost her position due to the elimination of direct elections for that position. There's Valerie McCray, a clinical psychologist, who wants to be your next U.S. Senator. She's the first Black woman to sit on a statewide ticket in Indiana. 

Then, at the convention, voters will have to choose between attorney Destiny Wells, a combat veteran, and attorney Beth White, the former Marion County Clerk and Deputy Mayor of Indianapolis, to get the candidate for Attorney General to face Rokita.

That also leads us to the Democratic Lieutenant Governor candidate to run with McCormick. Uh...well...you see, what happened was...we'll get back to you about that. Bob Kern is running at the convention, and he may actually be the nominee since no one else seems to want to step up and run. Kern, a perennial candidate, has an interesting past that he never hides from but would be no doubt fodder for the GOP's attacks should he get the nomination. 

So, here we are. A golden opportunity to do something in the state of Indiana as Democrats and...uh...the party doesn't have its ducks in a row. It's not surprising. Since the Dems last held state office, and even before that, it's been a struggle. Evan Bayh got pummeled by Todd Young. Joe Donnelly got retired by Braun. Pete Buttigieg left the state for Michigan leaving his former chief of staff, Mike Schmuhl, in charge. There are good people in place, but my fellow Dems just don't have anything together right now.

With the dumpster fire that's happening on the right in the Republican Party at this time, Democrats MUST muster some defense. McCormick is a very good candidate. I just fear that the infrastructure that used to be strong in this state on the Democratic side has been lost to time. Our Democratic Party that used to punch above its weight seems to lost that fighting edge. 

It's time to get it back. We cannot see another election where Todd Rokita, Mike Braun, Jim Banks and now, Micah Beckwith, go unchallenged. Get your house in order, Dems! In the end, the calculus still favors the GOP, but they have to at least know we were here and we're not going to take this lying down.

Muni Elections Sure to Get Nasty This Season

We're just a little over a month away from the Municipal Election Primaries, and voters are just now waking up and taking a look at the races for Indianapolis Mayor and City-County Council. It could get quite interesting.

On the Democratic side, you have incumbent Joe Hogsett. He's got a gaggle of opponents which includes longshots like community activist Larry Vaughn and perennial candidate Bob Kern among others. Also opposing him is State Representative Robin Shackleford. Shackleford, a veteran lawmaker, is making the rounds touting her legislative experience as her inside route to success on the 25th floor of the City-County Building. Hogsett is out talking about his efforts to rein in crime and the city's crumbling infrastructure which, let's face it, had been largely neglected for years under previous administrations, R and D.

Over on the GOP's side of the aisle there are also a handful of candidates, but it appears that the two leading candidates have different backgrounds. One one hand, you have the sometimes controversial and never-quiet attorney and radio talk show host Abdul-Hakim Shabazz pitted up against the quiet but extraordinarily wealthy businessman and former City-County Councillor Jefferson Shreve. Shreve has already spent a chunk of change on cable and over-the-air TV ads which specifically go after Mayor Hogsett's record. Shreve has experience on the Council, but he was largely an anonymous backbencher in the GOP caucus. 

This General Election season will be a huge referendum on Democratic Party rule of Indianapolis. The Dems have a huge majority on the City-County Council and sit in the Mayor's Office, so it's easy to pit every ill that the city has experienced, rightly or wrongly, on the Dems. Hogsett is trying to turn back the "third term jinx" which has befallen incumbents like Steve Goldsmith and Bart Peterson. Greg Ballard flirted with running for a third term, but he ultimately declined. The only successful post-Unigov third termer was Bill Hudnut.

After redistricting and the way population has changed in Marion County, the Dems are probably going to lose a few seats on the City-County Council. It was just nearly impossible to draw 20 safe Democratic seats. 

I expect this race for Mayor to get nasty and VERY expensive over the next few months. It's something we haven't seen in years.

Rokita Embarrasses Indiana Yet Again

Indiana AG Todd Rokita
Photo: State of Indiana

Todd Rokita never should have been Attorney General of Indiana. 

But, here we are, Todd Rokita is Indiana's problem because every time he gets the national spotlight, he proves to be a colossal embarrassment to our state and to the Republican Party.

Today's Todd Rokita embarrassment story is that he's investigating the doctor who performed the abortion on a 10-year-old girl who was raped in Ohio and who then became pregnant. The procedure could not be performed in Ohio due to the law there, so she was brought to Indiana where, following the law, the doctor performed the procedure.

Rokita claimed his office was waiting for the documents to prove that the doctor acted under the law.  Fox 59 got the documents by an FOIA request.

Yep, that's our Todd. As my late but very Hoosier Grandma would say, "He's dumber than a box of rocks."

As social media circles cuss Indiana for being an embarrassment for electing Rokita, it's important to remember that even Republicans don't really like Todd Rokita. The only reason he is Attorney General is because his predecessor ran afoul of party bosses after multiple women levied accusations of inappropriate sexual behavior against him, and he wouldn't do the decent thing and resign. 

So, Todd Rokita was available when Republicans needed a replacement for Hill. Available because after giving up his safe seat in Indiana's 4th Congressional District, he pursued the GOP Senate nomination. He finished behind Mr. Blue Shirt, Mike Braun. 

Rokita eeked by the politically wounded Hill and the rest of the competition at the 2020 Republican convention to win the AG nomination despite having by far the most name recognition of any other candidates. I mean, it came down to a guy whose law license had been suspended for 30 days while he was AG or Todd Rokita. Rokita barely won. He raced to victory in November on the coattails of a strong GOP performance statewide.

Eric Holcomb has little use for Rokita who fought him tooth and nail on public health efforts during COVID-19. Rokita already has racked up quite a losing record in court on frivolous cases that have little chance of anything but bolstering his own credentials as an arch-conservative Trump loyalist.

Ultimately, Todd Rokita doesn't care about Indiana. He cares only about Todd Rokita, and it's dangerous to run the Attorney General's office like a crusader for all the arch-conservative causes. It's also expensive for taxpayers. The doctor in this abortion case has, through her lawyer, threatened legal action against Rokita for harming her reputation. I hope she wins. Doubt it will send a message to Rokita, but she deserves to be compensated for this mess when all she was doing was helping a girl who needed her.

More embarrassment from this embarrassment of a public official. I'd ask Todd Rokita to do everyone a favor and just resign and go away, but Rokita doesn't know when to quit. He'll never be Governor or Senator, as James Briggs so eloquently wrote in the Star, and he's either too dumb or too power drunk not to see it. He's still in a position to do a lot of harm to Hoosiers and our state's reputation.

The Return of the Mitch?

 

Mitch Daniels
Photo: Purdue University

Purdue President Mitch Daniels has been in the news a lot lately. 

First came the somewhat surprising news that he would be retiring from his post as President of Purdue University. Then, nearly immediately, the speculation began about what the former Indiana Governor and Federal Budget Director under George W. Bush might do in his retirement.

Hint: the speculation is that he's not moving to the Villages in Florida.

Politico's Adam Wren, one of Indiana's finest political reporters, has reported that friends of Daniels say he is "fascinated" by the idea of returning to the Governor's Mansion that he never lived in when he was Governor of Indiana from 2005-2013. Daniels defeated incumbent Governor Joe Kernan in 2004, and he easily won reelection over former U.S. Representative Jill Long Thompson in 2008. The term-limited Daniels left office and quickly was named the President of Purdue University in 2013. Since then, he's been the head Boilermaker.

Wren also floated the possibility on Twitter that some Republicans are trying to convince Daniels to challenge Joe Hogsett for Mayor of Indianapolis in 2023. Hogsett, a former U.S. Attorney, is also a possible Gubernatorial candidate in 2024. Many forget that Hogsett was once Indiana's Secretary of State back in 1989. He won election to his own term by beating Bill Hudnut in 1990. He also lost statewide races in 1994 for U.S. Senate and in 2004 for Attorney General. Hogsett definitely has been around the block a time or two of Indiana's 92 counties and is also a former Indiana Democratic Party Chair.

Whatever Daniels decides to do, it should be an interesting time as the statewide GOP becomes more and more another agent of Donald J. Trump's hostile takeover of the party. Trump loyalist Diego Morales bounced Secretary of State Holli Sullivan at the Republican Convention on Saturday. He'll be their statewide ticket leader in November. The GOP also passed a very far right platform on Saturday signaling the continued movement away from a guy like Daniels and his former Chief of Staff and curent Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. There's not a guarantee that Daniels, who by most accounts would be far more to the center than to where his party now sits politically, would win a primary against a Trumper like Jim Banks or Mike Braun or Todd Rokita.

Personally, I think Mitch is enjoying the attention having been out of the political spotlight for a while. It must be nice to still be wanted by some in the party. The next few months will reveal much about Daniels' future plans as well as those who might run against him. 

Personal Prerogative: Where Have I Been?

 Today was the first day in a LONG time that a state party convention happened in person and I did not attend. 

I can honestly say that I didn't miss it all that much. While I enjoyed the day and meeting all the candidates, my personal priorities have changed, and the current nature of politics has taken a lot of fun out of it.

In case you might be bumping into my blog for the first time, I founded the Indy Democrat Blog a long time ago in 2008. I wrote daily for a long time, including weekends. That was back when my fervor for party politics was at its peak. Slowly, I began to see how "the sausage is made", and I became much more of a Stadler and Waldorf kind of character. I enjoyed that role too.

I know I made a lot of friends through the blog, and I probably also made some enemies. As my love for politics cooled, my love for blogging went with it. Eventually, I pulled the plug and even deleted the original Indy Democrat Blog from the internet.

From time to time, I get an itch to blog, and I will occasionally scratch it. I find myself getting lost in the minutae and details and often delete what I write before I post. I've taken my snarkiness and politics more to Twitter these days. 

As I see all my friends posting pictures today and talking about their experiences at the Jefferson-Jackson Day Hoosier Hospitality Dinner and the Indiana Democratic Party Convention, it brings back those memories of myself being so jazzed up that I'd post and live blog the event on social media. 

I'll check back in here from time-to-time, and I may have something to say every once in a while. I'm not deleting this blog. It's going to stay up, so I won't ever close that blogging door. I think of myself as someone who's still walking through the political wilderness trying to find out what it all meant. I may figure it out someday.

When I do, you, my blogging audience, will be first to know.

In the meantime, congratulations to the Indiana Democratic Party on a great convention, a strong slate of statewide candidates and, by all accounts, a very good "Big Dem Weekend" in Indianapolis. Let's go win in November.