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April 10, 2011

Public eye - Sunday, April 10, 2011

By Ken de la Bastide and Scott Smith Tribune columnists The Kokomo Tribune Sun Apr 10, 2011, 12:00 AM EDT

Kokomo — Tea Party continues search for candidate

Indiana’s loosely knit Tea Party organizations are hoping to endorse a candidate for a seat in the U.S. Senate in the 2012 Republican Party primary election later this year.

Greg Fettig with Hoosiers for a Conservative Senate said the group plans to meet the last week of September. The group is looking for a candidate to wrestle the nomination away from incumbent Richard Lugar, who is seeking a seventh term.

Currently the only announced candidate against Lugar is Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

“We’re not actively looking for a candidate,” Fettig said. “We want the best candidate that we can rally around to defeat Richard Lugar.”

Fettig said it’s possible more than one candidate will emerge. He said all the potential candidates, including Lugar, will be invited to the September caucus to meet with the Tea Party leadership.

“The leadership will vote on the candidate that we will collectively support,” he said. “Right now we want to educate the average citizen on Lugar’s voting record.”

Fettig said if there is more than one candidate challenging Lugar in the 2012 primary, it will make it more difficult for their endorsed candidate to win the nomination.

Looking ahead

For the past year, Democrat Bill Thompson has several times voiced his plans not to seek re-election as a Howard County Commissioner. Thompson tells anyone who asks that he will not be a candidate.

Thompson defeated long-term Republican incumbent Brad Bagwell in the 2008 election. He is one of three Democrats holding an elected office in county government, the other two are Les Elision on the county council and Circuit Court Judge Lynn Murray.

Republican Party chairman Craig Dunn said several people are interested in running for the nomination in 2012, but declined to name the potential candidates.

Dunn predicted races for the commissioner nomination and the nomination for the three at-large seats on the Howard County Council in the 2012 primary will garner a lot of interest among potential candidates.

Currently the GOP has all three at-large seats with Stan Ortman, Jeff Stout and Joe Pencek serving on the council.

A tough call

Before President Barack Obama postponed his trip Friday to visit the Allison Transmission plant in Indianapolis, Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight had a tough decision to make.

Goodnight was invited by the White House staff to meet and greet Obama in Indianapolis. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden visited Kokomo in November to tour the Chrysler Transmission Plant facilities.

Goodnight declined the offer because he had made a previous commitment to speak at the O’Bannon Institute for Community Service as the representative of local government.

Not a pursuit vehicle

Howard County Sheriff Steve Rogers provided a lighter moment at the county commissioners meeting on Monday during the discussion to purchase five Chevrolet Tahoes as new patrol vehicle.

Rogers said the Tahoe could be equipped with a trailer hitch to transport needed equipment, adding some of the patrol cars are equipped with a hitch.

He said deputies shouldn’t use the Tahoe as a pursuit vehicle if they were towing a trailer.

One could picture a sheriff department Tahoe pulling a boat trailer while in hot pursuit on U.S. 31 after a speeding suspect. It sounded something like Barney Fife might attempt in Mayberry.

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