Tuesday, April 27, 2010

PYY Endorsement: Todd Rokita For Congress

Like my previous post of endorsement, this is not a paid endorsement. I have never been paid anything, for working for any candidate. So it is imperative to know and understand that I am not about to start now.

I cannot speak enough about how Mrs. Sunsett and I enjoyed the "meet and greet" portion of the Indy Tea Party's forum on Saturday, where we got to talk with several candidates who are running in some important races in my area. We said we wanted to get involved in something worthwhile, and we thought helping to get this country turned back around was well worth the time.

One race I have concerned myself with, is choosing a successor to the retiring Representative Steve Buyer (IN-4). Like the Indiana Senate race, it's not been an easy call to make.

One of the applicants for the job is Mike Young. He's been around a awhile in one side of the Indiana State Assembly, or another. He started out in the House side, but now serves in the Senate. We chatted for a few moments and he genuinely seemed like a nice guy wanting to take on the next level of challenges.

Another candidate we were pleased to meet was a young man by the name of Eric Wathen. He currently serves at the county level as a County Commissioner. Much to his credit... he didn't seem much like a typical politician. I got the sense that he was an earnest guy but not quite ready for the national scene yet. But beyond that, he does have much potential for future races and should not be counted out of a higher level of service.... someday.

I didn't get to meet State Sen. Brandt Hershman and to be quite honest about it, I am a little glad that I didn't. He felt the need to go negative against the front runner, Secretary of State Todd Rokita.

And it hasn't set well with me.


I say front runner because Mr. Rokita is the man with the most name recognition in the race, and that may very well be a sore spot with Mr. Hershman. Whatever the case, I thought it was uncalled for.... especially when he offered nothing to back it up.

You see, Mr. Hershman is the endorsed successor of the current Congressman. Maybe, there was a sense of entitlement on Brandt's part and this was his way of lashing out.

Even at that, this author does not make choices based on the biggest name or who is next in line. Never have, never will. If that were the case, I'd support Dan Coats for Senator.

Let me say that the biggest reason I am endorsing Rokita is, he was very instrumental in getting a Voter ID Law in Indiana, to include winning not one but two Supreme Court challenges to its constitutionality.

This isn't the only reason.

I do believe I am comfortable in saying that this is the kind of person I want representing me, for the next two years in Washington. This is the guy I will be voting for next week. And if you live in the 4th District, I hope you will give him a good close look too.


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think Hershman did back it up. The link on your blog post also has video of Rokita's exact comments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXic2jcHtVk&feature=related

The Indianapolis Star reported it as well.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104180369

And Rokita had very little to do with the Voter ID act, other than taking credit for it.

It wasn't his idea, he didn't author the bill. And technically speaking, the Attorney General defended it. Not Todd.

Oh yeah, and then there's this

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20100228/EDIT07/302289972

I'd think twice. Any of the other 12 candidates in better than Rokita.

Anonymous said...

Sunsett, it looks like someone who really doesn't believe what they are saying commented anonymously. It amazes me how someone can comment and not leave a name.

HAM

LA Sunset said...

Anonymous,

Thanks for taking the time to comment and providing the link. Let's look at your response by the numbers:

//I think Hershman did back it up. The link on your blog post also has video of Rokita's exact comments.//

I had not heard Mr. Rokita state that he is for repealing Medicare Part D, which as you may know is not a good program because it created a major unfunded liability long before Obamacare. Much of my attention has been focused on the Senate race.

I take back my criticism of Hershman's ad as being unfounded only to issue a different criticism.

I actually am in favor of getting rid of the enormously expensive program.

By airing the ad, it would seem that Hershman is making a stand against repealing Medicare D. If this is the case, this is the kind of irresponsible spending that many in the GOP have fallen prey to in the past decade, and has greatly contributed to the present woes we are facing.

In short... I classify this kind of program as falling under the heading, Democrat or Liberal Lite. So in my book, that's an added plus for Todd.

//And Rokita had very little to do with the Voter ID act, other than taking credit for it.

It wasn't his idea, he didn't author the bill. And technically speaking, the Attorney General defended it. Not Todd.
//

I understand well how state government works, I worked for them. I know he didn't pass it or defend it, and I never said that he did.

My exact words were:

"...he was very instrumental in getting a Voter ID Law in Indiana, to include winning not one but two Supreme Court challenges to its constitutionality."

It takes a team when you are dealing with something this critically important. Trying to twist my words into something like Rokita alone was responsible for this law, is not what I deem to be responsible politics, and the kind of negative approach that has so may people turned off on politics.

Mr. Rokita is the chief election officer of the state. So to make any implication that he had NOTHING to do with any of it, is equally as irresponsible as someone trying to imply that he was the ONLY one (which was never my intention).

//Oh yeah, and then there's this//

So? What about this?

http://www.indystar.com/article/20100406/NEWS05/4060362

It seems that politics is full of chicanery on all sides. So to imply that Rokita is the only one that is pushing the edge on something is not the wisest thing to do.

Again, thanks for commenting. If he wins next week, I hope that you can support Rokita in the fall despite your unwillingness to do so in the primary. We need to stop the Democrats from wrecking this country any further.

And you can rest assured that PYY will be watching the actions of Mr. Rokita whould he successfully win this seat. He will be up for re-election again in 2012 and if he fails to represent us as he has promised, I will be the first to go in another direction in the next primary.

LA Sunset said...

//Sunsett, it looks like someone who really doesn't believe what they are saying commented anonymously. It amazes me how someone can comment and not leave a name.//

Well, to be fair about it, we have psuedonyms that we use on the blogs. Mine is LA, yours is HAM, and the Colonel uses Mustang. This person just wants to use Anonymous, and I can't really find a lot of fault with it.... unless the blog is deluged with them and you can't determine which anonymous, is which.

I guess it would be easy to make up a name like we did, but I am more concerned about the content of the response than who says it. Thanks for commenting though, keep the faith and let's continue to reassert our positions on the important issues of the day, so we can return most of these flakes back into the private sector.

Conservative said...

Let's not forget that Mike Pence, Steve Buyer (The congressman who is retiring and leaving the 4th CD seat open), Dan Burton, and even national conservative leader Jim DeMint all voted against Medicare Part D in 2003. So would Brandt run this negative ad against all of those guys in a primary?

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2003/roll332.xml

LA Sunset said...

Excellent point, Conservative. I think this a sign of desperation on Hershman's part. I think he is disappointed that being the heir apparent wasn't enough to make him more competitive.

What he needs to realize is that creating this kind of ill-will against the nominee, only stands to hurt his party in the long run.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Rokita is not in my district (I have Mike Pence and will be supporting him.) but I will be rooting for Mr. Rokita and praying he get's the spot on the ticket in November.

You are of course correct about monikers. But I saw on one blog where the commenter used AnonyMouse. I cracked up!!!
It is easier to keep track of who's who when you use a moniker, especially when one comments at different times, on different posts.

HAM