Published: April 21, 2008 08:05 pm            

CURRAN: Meeting Clark’s candidates

Editor’s note: The opinions of the columnists on these pages are those of the writers and not the management or staff of The Evening News or The Tribune.

Short on column ideas and with time on my hands, I took my two daughters a few miles up Ind. 62 recently to hear candidates for Clark County offices pitch themselves to the crowd assembled at the 4-H Fairgrounds for the Farm Bureau-sponsored event.

I had attended the same meet-the-candidates event several years ago when my hero Debbie Harbeson was running for office and remember a much bigger crowd and a fine meal served. There was no meal and not nearly the crowd, and I have to wonder if the two facts are related. In any case, the candidates and their supporters appeared to outnumber interested voters by about 8-to-1, and among the smattering of voters, few asked questions of the candidates.

More questioning may have helped determine real differences among the candidates. It was mostly an incredibly cordial event with the candidates complimenting each other and, more concerning, rarely disagreeing with each other. A tip for candidates trying to foster goodwill from voters, particular young future voters: don't get up to the microphone, say you really don't have much to say on an issue because everyone else already did such a great job covering it then proceed to spend several minutes repeating what the other guys said.

The Clark County Commissioner candidates all appeared opposed to mandatory recycling, doubt we need or can afford a county manager, think drainage is a big issue and want teeth to zoning laws. Most worrisome about this bunch is their seeming unanimous misunderstanding of smart growth. In response to a question about environmental concerns, candidates sympathized about dense development and promised to work for subdivisions with bigger lots. Such zoning laws lead to environmentally devastating sprawl. Read a book, guys.

Also prominent and contrary to green practices was the pile of junk mail, I mean campaign materials, covering the mostly-empty chairs. The best item in the pile and the only one that could be considered green was provided by school board candidate Becka Christensen. My daughters and I were impressed with her use of flower seed packs with campaign stickers on the back. The flyswatters, emery boards, chip clips and notepads may come in handy, but provide little information about the candidates. The cards and papers provide more information but nothing so profound as to justify tree killing.

There were some exceptions to the homogeneous opinions, most sharply in the races for coroner and Greater Clark School Board. In the coroner race, challenger Adam Koch proposed several changes for the offices, though it seemed to be the change for its own sake variety, of which we should be leery and grab our wallets. Koch argued Cootses had held the office too long, and that Clark County wasn't doing and didn't have all the cool stuff other counties did.

He pointed to no specific instances in which current practices were inadequate and no actual shortcomings in the way the coroner's job is now being handled other than the reliance on private industry and absence of redundant investigations which don't sound like shortcomings at all to a taxpayer. Most informative was Koch's repeated need to refer to opponent and incumbent Edwin Coots for information about the job while he was speaking.

The most passionate candidates were those for school board. District 5's Stacy Wiese, Christina Gilkey and Bill Halter shared the stage to offer their ideas. Halter surely took more than his allotted time as he schooled the audience on the ridiculousness of increasingly unattainable standards, loss of vocational education, unfunded mandates from the state and federal governments and the shortcomings of some on the current board. He also dangled gossip of board members getting their friends contracts, but, alas, with no names.

Wiese distinguished herself as one of the few candidates willing to actually suggest her opponents had drawbacks. Nurse Wiese suggested that like a disease, the entire dysfunctional school board needed to be cut out which would include incumbent Halter. As the issue of school employees' health insurance arose, Wiese was quick to point out her opposition to keeping Edward Culpepper Cooper, Gilkey's uncle, as the corporation's agent of record which provoked a visible reaction from Gilkey.

If legal, the candidates for West Clark School Board would get my sympathy vote. They spoke last to an overwhelmingly Greater Clark audience. However, as they mentioned their 85 percent graduation rate, perhaps all the Greater Clark folks, particularly those running, should have listened carefully. The few local Republicans, members of a minor party in Clark County, also deserve props for making the effort. Though as it is primary season, and there were no Republican opponents present, it could be argued they pointlessly made a long evening longer.

Clark County Council At-Large candidate Charlie Milburn struck me as the most humble of the bunch, though that only says so much as he was in the company of so many who seemed to be relying on the accomplishments of family members and their own long histories of making livings from our tax dollars. Milburn explained that he had not sought office sooner because he had spent his life working at jobs. He said this in the most serious, humble and even apologetic way, but it was enough to make me laugh aloud for the first time all evening and vow to shake the man's hand before we left.

Jeffersonville resident Kelley Curran has a suggestion for candidates who use promotional gifts: Next time attach some chips to those clips or put your stickers on a Snickers. Write her at kelinawriterhat@aol.com

        

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