For Grant County only, the information for Candidates and Polling locations can be found on the page [here].

The entire list of Candidates for the State of Indiana is found [here].

Possibly Related Posts:

• The Indiana 5th District forum tonight
• Action item: Call your Senators Friday and ask to vote yes on Cut, Cap, and Balance.
• Senator Delph Blasts the Federal Government for Promoting Amnesty in Indiana
• Action(Fun and educational): Atlas Shrugged 1 showing in Marion, Muncie
• 2012 Presidential Candidates Quiz: Find Your Match

Refresh for latest tweets

A forum was held at Ivy Tech, Marion this evening. It was hosted/live streamed by WBAT 1400 AM and apparently the content will be available later online. Check http://wbat.com/ for that link. The local talking head (if Huntington can be considered local…) for WBAT was Gary Snyder, and the links should also be available at his website as well, here:

http://www.garylsnyder.com/my_weblog/2012/04/final-details-for-5th-cd-candidate-forum-in-marion-on-april-25th.html

Some fair warning though. Gary Snyder’s website seems to be biased towards certain candidates, and hence away from others. You have been warned.

The Chronicle Tribune was also there.

But here at GCTP, we remain faithful toward our beliefs and goals stated at the formation of GCTP and after. Those include, God, Country, Constitution, smaller government, lower spending, lower taxation, defense, etc. In other words, true Conservative values.

So then, how did our collective thoughts on this forum go? Well, the forum included six contenders. They were: Jason Anderson, Susan Brooks, Jack Lugar, Dr. John McGoff, Bill Salin, and Wayne Seybold.

Not in attendance was David McIntosh, who had another event at the same time slot and could not attend both obviously.

We found it troubling that the forum should have been a neutral platform for discussion. But it started out with Gary Snyder making various comments about David McIntosh’s absence that were hardly neutral. And along with that some veiled references to Richard Mourdock -candidate for Senate based on comments apparently made by the Richard Lugar campaign about Mourdock “dying his hair”. We at GCTP find these comments distasteful and frivolous. We expect a neutral ground for a forum, without the side comments. But as I said, you were warned.

As for the questions and candidates, each was asked questions as indicated on the links for WBAT and Gary Snyder show. But for us, it wasn’t so much the questions that were asked, and answered as….those that were not. I mentioned above the values of GCTP. They also are largely the values of our district, IN-05, one of the most conservative in the country. One question all the candidates was asked was: “If you were NOT running, who would you vote for. There were various answers, some humorous. But one stood out that related to my point. Bill Salin looked around and said, “Dan Burton”. That makes a lot of sense, because if we look at Dan Burton’s record, he rated very high in Conservative values and voted that way. Some have problems with him staying so long, and we do not disagree. And perhaps some of the votes could have been slightly different. But his record is among the best.

The reason why Dan Burton’s record stands out probably relates to this: The U. S. Constitution. When I attended his Town Hall meetings, he would have pocket Constitutions there to hand out as well as other supporting literature.

But in this forum, unless we somehow missed it, not a single candidate mentioned that Constitution. Even though this job of U. S. Representative involves knowing it and cleaving closely to it. Well, if you are a Conservative and value the law, the Founders, the Declaration of Independence, etc. And, unless we also missed this, not a single one expressed a phrase like “Conservative values” or “Conservatism”. The person elected will be sent off to Washington to protect, defend, etc. that Constitution.

That is in stark contrast with outgoing Dan Burton, and also with two other candidates. They are David McIntosh and Chard Reid. Chard is running as a Libertarian candidate, and David McIntosh is running in the Republican primary as mentioned above. Chard Reid gave an excellent presentation at our GCTP meeting March 26, and David McIntosh gave an excellent presentation at his Meet and Greet on Feburary 20.

Notably, at the Meet and Greet, David McIntosh not only spent time talking about the Constitution, but pulled a pocket Constitution from his vest pocket and displayed it. Clearly he is well versed on the things that matter. There are those that are making claims, including at the forum, that he has a residency and/or voting problem. But that is politics. Residency? He is a private citizen. There is time for him to move primary residence here if he wins, apparently renting now. As for voting claims, those are yet to be proven. It is politics, and all sorts of things are claimed. Like “dying hair”.

And Chard Reid? After his presentation we were left no doubt as to his belief in the Constitution either.

Now back to the forum. If we ask this question, which of the six at the forum could stand up to, directly in front of Nancy Pelosi or a number of others hostile to the Constitution, and defend it? We felt left wanting to name one of the six. And could not.

Chard Reid? David McIntosh? Both know their material quite well, and it is based on that Constitution. McIntosh is even a veteran of the Contract with America and Reagan times.

We wished that the platform might have been completely neutral. But even more, we wish that the moderator had asked the questions pertaining to Conservative values and the Constitution. But that was not to be.

One such question that begged to be asked: “How does Obamacare or ANY healthcare fall under jurisdiction of the Federal Government?” “By what authority?”

Of course, the 9^th and 10^th amendment state that those powers not explicitly granted to the Federal Government, fall to the States and/or the People.
But sadly, nothing like that was asked.

Possibly related posts:

• Voter Info, 2012 Primary-Indiana-Grant County
• Action item: Call your Senators Friday and ask to vote yes on Cut, Cap, and Balance.
• Action(Fun and educational): Atlas Shrugged 1 showing in Marion, Muncie
• Senator Delph Blasts the Federal Government for Promoting Amnesty in Indiana
• Lugar Stances