Feb. 3, 2010, 11:02 a.m.
By Greg Giroux
Roll Call Staff

Coats, who retired from the Senate in 1999 and was succeeded by Bayh, released a statement to the Indiana-based Howey Political Report that said he has “become increasingly alarmed and frustrated about the direction of our country and the failure by leaders in Washington to listen to those they were elected to represent.”

Coats, now a senior adviser with the firm King & Spalding, drew support for his Senate bid from Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.), who had considered challenging Bayh but recently passed on the race.

“I am very excited about the possibility that former Senator Dan Coats may run for the United States Senate in 2010 and I sincerely hope he does it,” Pence said in a statement. “His integrity and conservative record would make him the ideal candidate for Hoosiers. If he runs, I will support him.”

Meanwhile, in a sign that Democrats are concerned about having another seat put into play this year, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee released a statement that attacked Coats as a “federally registered lobbyist whose client lists include banks, private equity firms, and defense contractors.” It also described him as “a Washington DC insider.”

Coats would become the instant frontrunner in a May 4 Republican primary that already has four candidates, including former Rep. John Hostettler and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman.

Coats has about two weeks to collect the signatures of 4,500 Indiana voters, including at least 500 in each of the state’s nine Congressional districts.

On Tuesday, Congressman Mike Pence announced the appointment of Gregg Puls as his new campaign finance director for Indiana.

“Gregg has a solid reputation for integrity, hard work and professionalism. I am pleased to announce that he has joined our campaign team as our new finance director,” Pence said.

Puls has been active in the Hamilton County Republican Party, where he has managed local campaigns for Hamilton County Circuit Court Judge and Fishers Town Council. He currently serves as president of the Fishers GOP Club.

Puls has also served as Director of Development for Conner Prairie Museum in Fishers and prior to that was the Manager of Annual Giving for Kiwanis International Foundation. He has also worked in development and fundraising for the American Lung Association and Ball State University.

“It is an honor for me to join the Congressman’s campaign team. I look forward to meeting his supporters around Indiana and working to make sure the Pence campaign has the resources it needs to be victorious in the 2010 election,” Puls said.

The Indiana University College Republicans will host a fundraising event at Indiana State GOP Headquarters, 47 S. Meridian, Indianapolis, Weds., Sept. 30 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Guests of honor will include Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman and State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

A light dinner will be served at 5:30, and the formal program will begin at around 6:15.

Several other elected officials are planning to attend, including State Reps. Kathy Richardson, Randy Borror, Brian Bosma, and Mark Messmer, and State Sens. Pat Miller, Jim Merritt, and Brandt Hershman. Also in attendance will be Charlie White, the leading Republican candidate for Indiana Secretary of State, and Todd Young, who is pursuing the Republican nomination for Congress in the 9th district.

There is a suggested minimum donation of $50 per person. For more information, contact Justin Kingsolver (IUCR Treasurer) at (317) 989-3195 or via jkingsol@indiana.edu.

In an editorial, the Anderson (Ind.) Herald Bulletin scrutinizes the tactics of Democrat Scott Reske, as it describes recent public statements as “whining” from a “crybaby.”

The Sept. 14 editorial comes in response to a public statement Reske released on Sept. 5, under the cover of a slow news Labor Day weekend. In the statement, Reske described Republican challenger Kyle Hupfer as a GOP insider, while at the same time calling him an exploitive outsider.

Reske seemed to fulfill a political wish to call someone publicly a “carpetbagger” — in the same bawdy manner as liberals who have referred to tea party protesters as “teabaggers” in recent months.

The Herald Bulletin editorial board wrote:

“(Reske’s) comments border on whining. … As the politico-babble goes on, we fear this takes on the complaints of a ‘crybaby.’”

The editorial board instead suggests that all candidates stick to the issues and their qualifications.

Links

• HB Editorial: Political posturing begins in District 37
• Reske Running Scared?

Fighting for his political life, Democrat Scott Reske has fired off the first rhetorical salvo against Republican Kyle Hupfer in the battle to represent southern Madison County in House District 37 of the Indiana legislature.

Though the election is still 14 months away, Reske finds himself going negative with an attack big on conjecture and short on substance — a preemptive strike against a relative newcomer who is still unpacking his bags.

At the heart of Reske’s latest political gambit is his claim that Hupfer is “carpetbagging,” where an outsider seeks political power by moving into another district. Unfortunately for his critics, Hupfer is in fact a native of Pendleton and Madison County where he spent his formative years. Friends, family and the community welcomed him with open arms and enthusiasm when they learned of his filing to run for the HD 37 seat.

“Pendleton is going to be our home regardless of this legislative race,” Hupfer said. “I have various aunts and uncles throughout Anderson. My grandmother was a teacher here. It’s great for me to be back in Pendleton.”

Reske alleges that the GOP moved Hupfer back to Madison County just to run for the house seat. Reske said, “They’re coming after this seat, there’s no doubt about it.”

If Hupfer were really carpetbagging, then Reske is guilty of entrenching himself in the district to pursue selfish ambitions as a career politician. Since 2001, Reske has held the offce, and many think it’s time for the sycophant to move on. His early campaign strategy of going negative is a sure sign of incumbent’s anxiety.

In a two-pronged attack, Reske is also trying to link Hupfer to a tax issue regarding the Capital Improvement Board (CIB) of Indianapolis. The CIB is the cash-strapped, poorly mismanaged operator of Lucas Oil Stadium and Conseco Fieldhouse. The theory is that Hupfer has connections to influential business leaders who uncharacteristically support higher taxes for counties bordering Marion County. But Hupfer says Reske’s claims don’t hold water.

“This is the first that I’ve ever heard of that theory,” Hupfer said. “I would be completely against any tax of citizens of Madison County to pay for the Lucas Oil Stadium.”

Incidentally, Reske voted in favor of a 2005 bill that authorized new taxes on food and beverages in surrounding counties.

About Kyle Hupfer

Kyle Hupfer is a graduate of Manchester College and the Indiana University School of Law. He was admitted to the Indiana bar in 1998 and practiced law at Ice Miller until joining state government in 2005 as the Director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. In late 2006, he accepted a position as Vice President and General Counsel with Indianapolis-based ProLiance Energy, a natural gas marketer serving 18 states in the midwest and southeast. In 2007, he was appointed by Gov. Mitch Daniels as chairman of the Indiana State Fair Commission.

Links

• Reske Questions Opponent’s Motives
• Labor Day Shocker: House Race Gets Political
• Battle Lines Form: Kyle Hupfer to Challenge Scott Reske

Today, Congressman Mike Pence gave the following speech from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, touching on subjects of the economy, PAYGO, health care reform and fiscal discipline.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ7J–OqXOU

Next, Congressman Mike Pence responded to the Democrat Majority Leader Steny Hoyer after Rep. Hoyer personally attacked Congressman Pence’s record and still failed to answer the fundamental question: “Where are the jobs?”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1NEs9Ss88Q

Sen. Lugar,

Could you please explain to your Republican constituents how your conscience could allow you to:

1. Be one of the first Republican Senators to pledge support for Judge Sonia “Wise Latina” Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, despite her dodgy answers on abortion and gun rights during confirmation hearings? (7/17/2009)
2. Vote to extend federal hate-crimes protections to people attacked because of superficial circumstances of sexual orientation or gender? (7/16/2009)
3. Vote to nominate gun-control advocate and transnationalist Harold Koh, who once said our Constitutional right to bear arms is “needlessly provocative,” to be the State Department’s Legal Advisor? (6/25/2009)
4. Sing the praises of President Obama’s Cairo speech to the Muslim world, also known as the Obama Apology Tour? (6/5/2009)
5. Vote in support of the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), which was the largest part of the U.S. government’s $700 billion bailout of financial firms and car companies? (Late 2008)

FYI: Senator, you are leaning a bit too far to the left lately, and it’s causing some concern among us Republicans.

Links

• 3 Senate Republicans Endorse Sotomayor
• Senate Extends Hate-Crime protections
• GOP Hold on Koh Confirmation Comes to an End
  
• Obama’s (Cairo) Response Has Its Critics, Defenders
• Delaying the Day of Reckoning (TARP)

On Thursday, voters’ rights groups filed a lawsuit against officials from FSSA and the Indiana Election Commission, claiming that public assistance agencies failed to offer low-income voters the opportunity to register to vote. Regrettably, ACORN is at it again.

With dubious distinction, ACORN filed the suit along with the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP and an individual named Paris Alexander, who is an Indiana resident and food stamp recipient. On the same day, another lawsuit was filed in New Mexico by ACORN and its cohorts, alleging similar violations.

Both suits contend that Indiana and New Mexico state officials violated the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as The Motor Voter Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton.

The following are excerpts from a statement released July 9 by a group sympathetic to the goals of ACORN, called Project Vote:

Statement from Project Vote

July 9, 2009

CONTACT: Nicole Kovite, Project Vote, 202.546.4173 ext. 303

INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Citing clear evidence that Indiana public assistance agencies have violated their federally mandated responsibility to offer tens of thousands of clients the opportunity to register to vote each year, a coalition of voting rights groups filed suit today against officials in Indiana for violations of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA).

The suit was filed on behalf of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), the Indiana State Conference of the NAACP, and Paris Alexander, an Indiana resident and Food Stamp Program client who was not provided the opportunity to register to vote. The complaint alleges that Indiana public assistance agencies have been virtually ignoring their federal obligations … .

“Indiana’s noncompliance has not only resulted in thousands of low-income and minority Indiana citizens being denied the opportunity to register to vote, it has also forced ACORN and other groups to expend considerable effort and resources to take up the slack,” said Jeff Ordower, ACORN’s Midwest regional director.

Complaint Filed in U.S. District Court

Below (in PDF format) is the original 34-page complaint and exhibits filed July 9 in the U.S. District Court Southern District of Indiana.

Links

Please see:
Indiana Election Commission
Voting Rights Groups Sue Indiana for Neglecting Low Income Voters
ACORN v. Murphy Complaint Filed July 9, 2009

See also:
Voter Fraud by Illegal Aliens Ignored by Government and Media