Katz versus Klein. Programs, get your programs here!

It all began with an odd phone call a few months back when an East coast polling company asked me a bunch of questions concerning what I thought of several local political races and one of the candidates was Dan Klein.  Dan Klein?  Is he running for anything?  I believe that was in early January?  Late December?  Can't remember for certain.  They asked me about Todd Rokita and a couple of other candidates but Klein stuck out in my mind because I didn't think he was involved in politics anymore.  Habitat for Humanity, right?

No, he was not.  I checked.  I called a couple of people to give them a head's up and forgot about it.
But later on I realized that the Indy Republicans (who in particular?) were testing the waters in District 19.  The polling service was about three blocks too far to the West or so for district 19 questions.  With February came the news that Luke Abbott was withdrawing from the race and Dan Klein was stepping in =Klein in, Abbott out in HD19 while VanDenburgh cries.  Excerpt:  "Lost in the stampede as Evan Bayh runs away from Washington and Democrats in Southwest Indiana play musical chairs to replace him (and then replace Brad Ellsworth, and then replace Trent Van Haaften, and then replace Bob Deig) is the huge developments in House District 19.

Yesterday, extremely popular ex-Crown Point mayor Dan Klein filed to run against freshman Rep. Shelli VanDenburgh after Luke Abbott quietly exited in the last week."  (from Frugal Hoosiers)

Meanwhile, Fran Katz was also running for district 19 on the Republican side and it turns out that Katz and Klein have one of those family feuds developing.   Allan Katz, Fran's hubby, was (apparently) the only CPDC guy who voted against the Plasmatronics deal that was investigated by the FBI back during the days of Klein's one term as mayor of Crown Point.  As of April 1st, that particular issue has not yet gone away.

Some would say that the prestige of being elected to the office of mayor in Crown Point is why the Indianapolis Republicans wanted Klein to run versus Shelli VanDenburgh, the Democratic incumbent.   The article linked above includes a scene featuring Shelli V crying in a hallway.  Tears because she expects an influx of Republican support and monies to push her out the door in November?

The funny thing is that both the pro-Klein and anti-Klein forces both point to his one term as mayor of Crown Point.   So perhaps that record deserves your scrutiny in order to decide whether he is or is not a good candidate for the Indiana House?

It is fair to say that the internet is divided on the issue:  Link and link and link and link and link and...well, you get the idea.   Dan Klein was either a popular mayor or a giant mistake depending upon your point of view/spin/side of the story.

Your friendly neighborhood blogger has had phone conversations with people on both sides of this debate and received emails and etc.   The interesting latest development from my own point of view was a Republican meeting at the beginning of the week where Dan Klein stood up to speak for himself and Fran Katz's husband Allan had come to promote his wife's candidacy.  Since I am a stand-up guy (when I'm not in my comfy chair) I had relayed to Klein's campaign staff a few charges that had been leveled against him by opponents.   So as the meeting ended it was a bit surreal when Dan Klein came up to me, handed me a campaign brochure and said, "I've never been investigated by the FBI."

Interesting.  Well that didn't quite answer all those questions but then again nobody gave me any new evidence one way or the other that hadn't been posted on the internet somewhere already.  Let me say in defense of Dan Klein that he has a couple of campaign staffers who seem like very nice people.   Also, it is very interesting how much Frances Katz knows about the rapid reproduction of oysters for bulk sale.  If this was about Agronomy or being a successful business person Fran Katz would run away with the plaudits as a big wheel in Agronomy circles and a Fortune 500 executive. 

By the way, since you really do not care, I had a top secret clearance while in the military and I did get investigated by the FBI.  I remember my aunt calling my mom asking what kind of trouble I was in after a couple of guys in suits showed up at her door and grilled her about my habits as a young person.  Ah, memories!

What do we therefor conclude?  I do not post unsubstantiated rumors but I do not mind posting entries on an online message board that run hot and cold on the race.   I am quite sure Frances Katz was a tremendous management force at American Maize.  Naturally her husband thinks she is the best person for the job.  And Dan Klein?  I would say that your understanding of his record as the head honcho in Crown Point will tell you whether he would be a good State Representative or not.  If you like him as mayor, you will love him as State Rep and vice versa?   If you didn't like him as mayor you aren't going to be a fan of his second go-round in politics.  That's the way I see it!

I live in district 15 so hey, I can't vote for either of them.  But it is kind of tempting to quote from the NWI message board - 

"I hear if you turn off the lights in your bathroom, look in the mirror and say Plasmatronics three times, Linda Decker will appear and empty your pockets."


C'mon, no matter whether you are a Klein guy or not, THAT is a funny line!!!