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Local politics
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A high school student at IPFW’s recent Civics Day wondered what U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman thought about gerrymandering – the practice of drawing state and federal legislative districts to favor one political party over others.Thursday
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Candidates
3rd District Congress Democrats
Kevin R. Boyd
Age: 57
Profession: Pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne
Political experience: Ran for Congress in 2006; was party’s 2011 nominee for City Council 1st District
Stephen G. Hope
Age: 63
Profession: Retired carpenter
Political experience: Has run for Congress previously
Justin Kuhnle
Age: 31
Profession: Park Center caseworker
Political experience: None
John Forest Roberson
Age: 62
Profession: Retired truck driver, former police officer
Political experience: Won an at-large nomination for City Council in 1992
Tommy A. Schrader
Age: 49
Political experience: Has run for Congress; won an at-large nomination for City Council in 2011 but was later disqualified
David
Sowards
Age: 48
Profession: Novelist, freelance writer
Political experience: Has been a campaign volunteer
Kevin R. Boyd
Age: 57
Profession: Pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church, Fort Wayne
Political experience: Ran for Congress in 2006; was party’s 2011 nominee for City Council 1st District
Stephen G. Hope
Age: 63
Profession: Retired carpenter
Political experience: Has run for Congress previously
Justin Kuhnle
Age: 31
Profession: Park Center caseworker
Political experience: None
John Forest Roberson
Age: 62
Profession: Retired truck driver, former police officer
Political experience: Won an at-large nomination for City Council in 1992
Tommy A. Schrader
Age: 49
Political experience: Has run for Congress; won an at-large nomination for City Council in 2011 but was later disqualified
David
Sowards
Age: 48
Profession: Novelist, freelance writer
Political experience: Has been a campaign volunteer
Published: April 22, 2012 3:00 a.m.
Election 2012
6 Democrats seek party’s nod for Congress
Kuhnle
Boyd
Schrader
Sowards
The Democratic congressional campaigns in the 3rd District seem too leisurely to be called a race.
Only two of the six candidates – Kevin Boyd and Justin Kuhnle – have filed reports with the Federal Election Commission, a requirement for anyone planning to raise more than $5,000 in a calendar year. And Kuhnle acknowledges he’s not trying to raise money.
David Sowards has been appearing at a series of open houses – in his own home. He also dressed in a rabbit costume and held a “Sowards For Congress” sign along a city street on Easter.
Stephen Hope, John Forest Roberson and Tommy Schrader have been less visible.
“They don’t invite me to stuff,” Hope said about Democratic Party officials. “They picked Mr. Boyd, and I can’t blame them, because he out-talked me.”
Boyd talks for a living: He is the pastor of Fort Wayne’s Trinity Presbyterian Church. The 3rd Congressional District Democratic Committee endorsed him in March. He also has been endorsed by the mayors of Fort Wayne, Angola, Decatur and Portland.
Through March 31, Boyd had raised roughly $9,000 in campaign contributions, with $3,500 of it coming from state and district Democratic organizations, according to his FEC report.
First-term Rep. Marlin Stutzman is unopposed in the Republican primary election. Stutzman, a farmer and ex-state legislator from Howe in LaGrange County, has raised nearly $511,000 in campaign contributions and has $201,000 in cash on hand, according to his FEC report.
The northeast Indiana congressional district has not elected a Democrat since Jill Long won her second full term in 1992.
The 3rd District includes Allen, Adams, DeKalb, Huntington, Jay, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitely counties and parts of Blackford and Kosciusko counties. Congress pays each member $174,000 a year (with the House speaker and the majority and minority leaders in each chamber earning more). A term is for two years.
Only two of the six candidates – Kevin Boyd and Justin Kuhnle – have filed reports with the Federal Election Commission, a requirement for anyone planning to raise more than $5,000 in a calendar year. And Kuhnle acknowledges he’s not trying to raise money.
David Sowards has been appearing at a series of open houses – in his own home. He also dressed in a rabbit costume and held a “Sowards For Congress” sign along a city street on Easter.
Stephen Hope, John Forest Roberson and Tommy Schrader have been less visible.
“They don’t invite me to stuff,” Hope said about Democratic Party officials. “They picked Mr. Boyd, and I can’t blame them, because he out-talked me.”
Boyd talks for a living: He is the pastor of Fort Wayne’s Trinity Presbyterian Church. The 3rd Congressional District Democratic Committee endorsed him in March. He also has been endorsed by the mayors of Fort Wayne, Angola, Decatur and Portland.
Through March 31, Boyd had raised roughly $9,000 in campaign contributions, with $3,500 of it coming from state and district Democratic organizations, according to his FEC report.
First-term Rep. Marlin Stutzman is unopposed in the Republican primary election. Stutzman, a farmer and ex-state legislator from Howe in LaGrange County, has raised nearly $511,000 in campaign contributions and has $201,000 in cash on hand, according to his FEC report.
The northeast Indiana congressional district has not elected a Democrat since Jill Long won her second full term in 1992.
The 3rd District includes Allen, Adams, DeKalb, Huntington, Jay, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wells and Whitely counties and parts of Blackford and Kosciusko counties. Congress pays each member $174,000 a year (with the House speaker and the majority and minority leaders in each chamber earning more). A term is for two years.
Name recognition
This is Boyd’s second try for the 3rd District seat. He finished a distant second to Thomas Hayhurst in the 2006 primary, receiving 13.2 percent of the vote. Schrader was third in the four-candidate field with 10.5 percent of the vote.Boyd, 57, was the Democratic nominee for the 1st District seat on City Council in the 2007 election.
“We have been lining up volunteers and have lots of people making phone calls,” Boyd said. “I’ve been doing the things you do in a campaign. We’ve been walking neighborhoods: Knocking on doors, talking to people, handing out materials.
“It’s just a matter of getting more name recognition for the primary,” he said.
Boyd proposes raising the minimum wage to about $10 an hour – from $7.25 – and promotes improved battery technology as an energy alternative to imported fossil fuels.
“It would benefit the 3rd District,” he said. “That technology requires advanced manufacturing. We have the people and the areas to do that kind of work.”
Boyd also wants to dismantle the federal No Child Left Behind, a school standards program he said overemphasizes student testing – adding that the more recent Race to the Top is little better.
Hope, 63, a retired carpenter from Leo-Cedarville, ran for Congress in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. He works part time delivering luggage left at Fort Wayne International Airport. He said he suffers from cancer and has not been campaigning.
In a written statement, Hope said he favors a flat income tax of 25 percent, with up to $25,000 on interest income exempted; the merging of Medicare and Medicaid, with supplemental insurance available for catastrophic care; and increased development of geothermal and solar energy.
Fort Wayne resident Kuhnle, 31, is a caseworker at Park Center. He helps children with social and problem-solving skills, conflict resolution and their ability to function in school settings.
Kuhnle supports a single-payer national health insurance plan, equal pay for equal work, giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship if they have lived in the U.S. for at least half their lives and relaxing federal requirements for schools.
“Let local school districts tailor the districts to meet the needs of the districts,” he said. “The only ones who know how it works are teachers and administrators.”
Roberson, 62, is a retired truck driver and a Vietnam War veteran. The Fort Wayne Police Department fired him in 1999 after an 18-year career plagued by disciplinary problems. He was a City Council at-large candidate in 1992.
“I’m for the middle class and the poor,” he said. “I’m for the big business and the small business.”
Roberson also said Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security should be protected “because we have to take care of our elderly.”
Schrader could not be reached for comment; the telephone number he provided to the Indiana secretary of state’s office is not in service. He won a City Council at-large nomination in the 2011 Democratic primary but was disqualified for the general election after acknowledging he was registered to vote in Green Bay, Wis.
Schrader told The Journal Gazette in January that he opposes abortion rights and is “more of a conservative.”
Sowards, 48, is a novelist and freelance writer who lives in Fort Wayne. He said his rabbit costume was a publicity stunt.
He supports urban renewal and President Obama’s stimulus plan. He has said on his website that the government should “tax the hell out of those” people worth $4 million or more as a means of reducing the federal debt, rebuilding infrastructure, improving schools and shoring up health care and Social Security.
“I’m the only candidate with a degree in political science. I know politics,” Sowards said.
“Of all the candidates, I have the most relevant education and experience for the job,” he said.
Sowards has worked for the Fort Wayne Parks and Recreation Department and Historic Fort Wayne and has been a volunteer for the campaigns of Democratic candidates.
He and others in the field said they are doing more campaigning than it might appear.
Sowards said he has gone door to door to meet voters and is sending email to people. Roberson said he has distributed campaign materials and attended meetings of groups representing the interests of women, blacks and Jews. Kuhnle said he has spoken at restaurants in Fort Wayne and Warsaw, is connecting with voters through the social media sites Facebook and Twitter and plans to visit every county in the district.
bfrancisco@jg.net
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