The owner of the Little Mexico II restaurant in Lafayette stands with a Kole yard sign after Libertarians dined there Friday 9/22. We spoke with him about our positions on small business, and in opposition to food & beverage taxes and forced smoking bans.
The Kole sign in the window of the restaurant, Sat 9/23.
Big thanks to Randy, and to photographer Dan Church!
Mike Kole, the Libertarian candidate, said one of the number one issues for him is gerrymandering ? the drawing of political districts for the purpose of ensuring certain election outcomes.
"Gerrymandering ensures two things for citizens, both of them bad," Kole said. He said it ensures a low voter turnout because the elections are viewed as a foregone conclusion; the outcome is predicted. Without challenges at the ballot box, voters tend not to listen to their constituents, Kole said. (Should read "elected officials tend not to listen..." -MK)
"This is an obvious problem, but neither Republicans nor Democrats want to change the system because each party currently collects a share of fairly certain wins, fighting over just a handful of contested seats," he said.
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"Anyone interested in the integrity of our representative government should be calling for an end to gerrymandering," Kole said.
Kole believes that districts should be redrawn to be a more geographic orientation, rather than by majority political party.
"Elections are supposed to represent people that are (in a specific region), that is the point of representation," he said.
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Like Kole, Rokita believes gerrymandering should be ended.
"It decreases voter turnout because the public perceives election results to be predetermined," Rokita wrote in his platform.
A representative of the Knox County League of Women Voters introduces, from left, Kreg Battles (D), Troy Woodruff (R), and JA Thomas (L).
Even though I was not a speaker, I was able to say hello to everyone in the crowd of about 100, including reporters from two newspapers and a radio station. Many business cards were distributed.
Mike & JA Thomas, after the forum.
After the event, I drove to JA's home to drop off yard signs. We both agree that the purple Kole sign looks very good alongside the red white and blue Thomas sign. It was very good to see so many of his neighbors with Thomas signs in the front yard!
Have your Kole yard sign yet? Contact Rob Place to get yours! Email: rob(a)robertplace.com
One interesting development to emerge from the interviews is the growing maturity of the Indiana Libertarian Party. With a few exceptions (Kenn Gividen and Dan Drexler come to mind), Libertarian candidates in the past have often provided the comic relief to the otherwise serious business of helping choose our elected leaders.
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This year, however, the Libertarians have come prepared with more realistic ideas for how to address state and national issues. Eric Schansberg, an IU-Southeast economics professor running in the 9th congressional district, and Mike Kole, a candidate for Indiana Secretary of State, have been particularly impressive. Neither has a realistic chance to win his race come November, but they are thoughtfully contributing to the public discourse and helping lay a stronger foundation for future Libertarian candidates.
The fun factor provided by candidates who want to eliminate all drug laws and set up prostitution zones throughout Indianapolis may be gone, but the more sober-minded Libertarians of 2006 are helping their party emerge as a credible alternative.
Making a point on the "Abdul in the Morning" show.
After getting some business work done, I headed north towards South Bend, stopping at Rochester for an interview with Todd Hamm of the Rochester Sentinel. Again, I was talking about VVPAT, gerrymandering, and also the way any SOS candidate's results affect their party status. The article should run either today or tomorrow.
While the candidate forum was at IU South Bend, there was a distinct Notre Dame flavor to the event. This started with an interview with the South Bend Scholastic magazine.
The interviewer, Derek Snyder, asked a lot of questions that related to the Libertarian Party''s place at the policy table, and what students can do to be involved- especially if they are not Indiana residents, and thus inelligible to vote here.
There are many things students at Indiana colleges and universities can do, even if they cannot vote. They can staff the polling places, handing out palm cards and wearinig candidate t-shirts or lapel stickers. They can go door-to-door in support of local candidates. They can write letters to the newspapers on campus or in the nearby cities. They can organize their campus organizations. They can host Libertarian candidates to speak to their organization and to wider campus audiences. In sum, there are many things college students can do! An article will run with their next issue.
The big event was the Secretary of State's candidate forum at IU South Bend. There is a great deal that I could say about it, but I will keep it to highlights for now:
The event included four candidates, even write-in Bill Stant. I really enjoyed this aspect of the event, as these forums and debates too often exclude candidates who are on the ballot. Exclusion rips off the voters.
Four Secretary of State candidates, one room. From left: Joe Pearson (D), Mike Kole (L), Todd Rokita (R), Bill Stant (G).
It was interesting to hear Todd Rokita (R) and Joe Pearson (D) both talk about things that could lead to meaningful reform. Their positions sounded very much like my positions. Rokita surprised me when he picked up the gerrymandering issue. This is one Libertarians have been running on for years, but he took it and ran with it in detail- down to the formation of non-partisan boards to redraw the districts. Pearson backed VVPAT. Rokita has shown that the SOS can be a cheerleader for changes the legislature has to make. For all his fervor at this event, I don't recall him pushing Jerry Torr's bill to end gerrymandering during his tenure. It looks like my positions are being co-opted, and that's a sign of success.
It was surprising that the entire discussion focused on the Elections Division, to the exclusion of the Securities Division and the Business Services. I thought Rokita might go there, expecting that at least two of the other candidates have expressed more thoughts on Elections.
Due to having four candidates each with two minutes to respond to a question, we only got to eight questions. I felt that I left several excellent points up my sleeve, lying in wait. LPIN state chair Mark Rutherford advised me that it merely meant that I was well prepared.
All in all, this was a very good event. I wish there were more such forums and to wide audiences. It wasn't a debate, so claiming victory isn't applicable, but I was very, very satisfied with my performance and believe I made my mark this evening.
Cracking jokes on the set with TV-18's Allysa Rossomme.
Two in a row. In fact it's fascinating to find that most reporters had no idea of the significance of the Secretary of State's race, but they are very interested to learn about it. I'm delighted to tell reporters about it. Interesting to note that clearly no Ds or Rs talk about it.
The final event was a dinner with Tippecanoe County supporters at the Little Mexico II restaurant. Excellent food! Great conversations, from midwives to charter schools, Casey Shoaf's campaign for Sheriff, and my campaign by and by. We passed out bumper stickers and yard signs, and noted commitments to work the polling places on Election Day. Big thanks to Randy Young for arranging the dinner on very short notice!
Tippecanoe County Libertarians surround me at dinner.
With a little time between events before dinner, I am pleased to note that I stopped at the XXX Root Beer stand near the Purdue campus. I love the myriad Purdue related photos crammed on the walls at the Triple-X. Excellent root beer in a frosted mug while reading an AJ Quinnell thriller is rather an excellent way to enjoy a rare spare half-hour. Eat your heart out, Michael Jarrell!
Consider how a ban, or even entertaining a possible ban, actually plays out. It negates the property owner's ability to set policy on his property while allowing everyone else who does not own it to have first say. This is un-American and wrong.
Moreover, it's bad business. A uniform ban removes the edge those progressive business owners had when they voluntarily went smoke free. Also, smoking patrons will now have an incentive to take their business from the many restaurants and bars along Indiana 37 in Fishers up north to Noblesville, where there is no such ban.
Taking in discussions at the end of the meeting.
We discussed coordinating efforts between the Enders Campaign for House District 80 and the Kole Campaign, to direct volunteers to staff the polling places at each precinct in Robert's district, and to do joint advertising. We've already co-produced door hangers with Robert's image one side and mine on the other, and he's been getting them out, door-to-door, at the rate of 125/week.
Mike, with Felix Aguilar, and LPIN State Chair Mark Rutherford, at the Ice Cream Social.
Rex & Susan's front yard, on SR 38. Looks great with Libertarian signs!
