What do you do when it is one and not two?

One of the important things we have been doing to inform ourselves this year, my wife and I, has been attendance at debates and candidate meet/greets. We have gone as far as Warsaw, Indiana (twice) and other places around the area to meet and hear candidates for federal, state and local races in order to make up our minds. Of course one result of all this attending is the making of acquaintances among the others coming to hear candidates or the candidates themselves.

We have been faithful members of the Lake County Tea Party, led by Mark Leyva and also attendees at several Northwest Indiana Patriots, an organization headed by Faith Jones and Anthony Gunia. We've gotten to know the photo-chronicler (is that a word?) of the Tea Party Patriot movement, award-winning photojournalist Thomas Semesky and many other Patriots and candidates. Spending time with Marlin Stutzman and his family and also some of his staff convinced me that Stutzman deserved my vote. I discovered that he was more than likeable and admirable but is the kind of accomplished young man who could become a genuine statesman.  Therefore he has earned my vote for Senate in the Republican Primary this May 4th.

However, I also believe that Richard Behney is a tremendous guy and very earnest and motivated.  But because of his experience and knowledge John Hostettler would normally be the guy I vote for this spring.   I would be proud to vote for John Hostettler.  I simply believe that Marlin Stutzman is even more of a perfect candidate from my particular point of view.

Now digressing, back to the idea of making friends and doing politics, perhaps the hardest thing of all is to weigh personal relationships against ideals.   We hear that Mike Pence has endorsed Dan Coats and the talk is all about how Coats helped Pence get his start in politics.   But Coats is not the guy he was two decades ago.   Sarah Palin goes to Arizona to help John McCain, even though the Maverick of the Senate has become the compromiser instead.   A special interest gives you fifty thousand dollars to help you win a primary and then asks you to vote for a particular bill you do not like.   Ah, politics.

For me, the hardest thing is to have friends running against each other for the same office.   They may kid around amongst themselves but in the long run they really want your vote as a friend and what happens when you think the other guy is the better candidate?   Do you pretend?  Do you risk hurting feelings?

This year there is a particular race in which I must choose between two candidates that are very good ones and yet in the end I can only vote for one of them.   Here is part of the price I pay for paying attention and getting into the trenches!   I have been coddled and I have been warned and I have been lied to but nothing is harder than choosing between two people you like and admire.  

~

The Saturday St John Candidate breakfast meetup was a success in terms of drawing candidates out, although all the Senate candidates had to be in Indianapolis for a Senate debate there.   We had the Congressional District One candidates there as well as several State and County candidates.   Rich Niemeyer of the local Cedar Lake area and District 7 candidate spoke briefly and fellow blogger Rich Krieg and I got to officially meet for the first time in person.   Long time State Senator Sue Landske made it in, it was great to see her looking well.   It was great to see Mark Leyva's Dad out of the hospital and attending the event.  Joe Hero was the moderator and Lake GOP Chairwoman Kim Krull had a few words for us but mostly it was a chance to mingle with the candidates and see a real, live Republican candidate for Sheriff!

Did you know that no Sheriff or Clerk of the Republican persuasion has been elected in Lake County since the Administration of FDR?!  Is that really true?  I know Bobby Kennedy said Lake County was one of the fifteen most corrupt counties in the country way back in the '60's and apparently those two things go together?
We like to say that Northern Lake County is as crooked as Chicago, just not as subtle at it.   Now we have Chicago politicians running the White House...can we split the county in two? 

Could we just break off Washington from the rest of the country and start over?

But no, it is our duty as citizens to make a difference and we are not called to be violent like the lamestream media like to portray the Tea Party Patriots, but rather to get to the polls and vote.   Nothing says goodbye like final election results, yes?   Counting the days until Porky Pete is retired.   Under his 26 years of "leadership"  the area has gone from being a vital industrial center to a ramshackle collection of crumbling roads and houses and crooked politicians driving new cars while the inner city children are largely ignored and the average family is getting even poorer.

Can Catherine Campbell win a poor district race and find ways to make things better?  Do we need to be part of the RDA?  Can we avoid a county income tax?  Is the state government going to help us or hurt us?  We can all see that businesses need to locate here and survive here and most of the candidates realize that lowering costs for businesses brings jobs and therefore money into the region. 

Myself, my wife and candidate Eric Olson were the only people from Cedar Lake who stayed until the end.  I was sorry to see the place only half full at best.  If we do not inform ourselves and vote in the primary we will get the same old result.   Is that really what you, the voter, want?