Ryan Mears is the Marion County Prosecutor.
Earlier today, the man serving as Interim Prosecutor won the right to serve in that capacity through at least 2022 in a narrow vote over Timothy Moriarty, an advisor for Mayor Joe Hogsett. Politically and morally, I think Mears won this election on the first full day he was on the job as Interim Prosecutor.
The day after former Prosecutor Terry Curry announced he was exiting, Mears immediately made news by announcing that Marion County would no longer be prosecuting marijuana cases for amounts under one ounce. This made sense in a number of ways, but it also signaled that Mears didn't care about the GOP's or the FOP's reaction...that he was going to make his own call and stand on his own principles about these cases. Politically, I'm sure it caught Moriarty and probably everyone fairly flatfooted, and suddenly, he had to react to something his opponent in the race was proposing.
The last few weeks have not been, on the surface, a good show for the Marion County Democratic Party. Major names backed Moriarty. Joe Hogsett and André Carson were chief among them, and Mears had his own backers too...namely his former boss Terry Curry and Senator JD Ford.Mears had his own backers too...namely his former boss Terry Curry and Senator JD Ford. There was also this perception that the deck was being stacked in favor of one candidate. Local pundits like Abdul-Hakim Shabazz have written about it on his Indy Politics site. I've seen the sentiment, though, from grassroots Democrats, too. In the end, Mears' message carried the day.
I think the General Assembly needs to take a look at these countywide offices and perhaps make a change to allow all the voters to participate in a special election. It could be done in May or November along with regular elections to keep costs down. The only complicating factor would be that one year where there aren't elections, but that could be rectified too.
Regardless, I think Marion County got itself a good Prosecutor today. I wish him the best of luck. I also wish my friend Tim Moriarty the best. I think the day will come for him to serve our city and county in an elected capacity, too.
