Four Candidates Stand Out in 6th Congressional Race

Of the 6 candidates who showed up to the We The People Indiana forum Thursday, 4 stood out as promising candidates worthy of attention. (Allen Smith does not have a campaign photo available to post.)

Just to note, Travis Hankins and Joe Sizemore were not able to attend this event. However, they were at a Lincoln Day Dinner speaking to other voters.

The six who were able to attend were (in order from left to right as they sat at the event) Bill Frazier, John Hatter, Luke Messer, Don Bates Jr., Joe Van Wyke, and Allen Smith. John Hatter and Allen Smith, by the way, are from Columbus.

I will get Bill Frazier and Joe Van Wyke out of the way by talking about their merits and views first.

Bill Frazier used to be a State Senator from Muncie. He seems to be quite complacent when it comes to lobbyists and the national mainstream media that seems to be extremely biased against Republicans (especially conservative Republicans). Although many of his views are correct (we need to cut spending, create jobs, lower taxes) those are talking points that have been on the frontier for a while. People already know this. What they want to know is how, where, why. I think Bill Frazier has the what down just fine, but he does not communicate the how, where or why.

Joe Van Wyke is a Christian. That was the answer to many of the questions asked that night. Personally, I have nothing against Christians. I am one myself, but I have something against someone who will try to get elected on the back of Jesus or God. You will be elected by the merits and the platforms you set forth and communicate. If you think we are going to vote for you because you are a Christian, then you are mistaken. Joe Van Wyke, however, is an ordinary citizen. He is not a politician. He has never run for office ever. He truly wants to get involved with government and make changes for the better. Smaller government, lower taxes, cutting spending. Again, he knows what, he does not communicate how and why.

John Hatter is a former US Army Reservist. He also worked for Senator Dan Coats back in the 80s. He has lived in Columbus for 17 years. Three people had a lot of energy that evening, and they showed it three different ways. John Hatter had a lot of potential energy when he spoke. He thought before he spoke, he gave thought to his words as he spoke, and he spoke from the heart to communicate what he thought. He did not sound like a politician. He sounded like a citizen who has taken it upon himself to inform himself. He also has a very well grounded knowledge of the founding of this nation and the types on issues the founders dealt with in ratifying the Constitution.

John Hatter immediately talked about spending and how reducing the amount of increased spending is not really a spending cut, although that is what Washington considers a spending cut. He says we need to spend less dollars this year than we did last year in order to truly say we have cut spending. He also talked about various appropriations bills that come before the floor of the House. To his conscience, he cannot vote for them since America has no money to appropriate to begin with. We have to borrow our money. He talked about cutting departments according to their constitutionality.

He also believes national defense is the Federal Government's first duty. He also said that the current government is broken. The president can issue executive orders that are as good as legislation and are never challenged by Congress. Congress rushes to push bills through and rest on the judgement of the executive branch for investigation and study, and the Judicial Branch to determine Constitutionality. Basically, he was saying we have a problem with the way bills are made to begin with. They are not made with the constitution in mind, only what is necessary for it to pass regardless of the Constitution.

Luke Messer is a politician. He has been in a government office or in the political environment for most of his career. He has been a Representative in the General Assembly, he has been an Executive Director for the State Republican Party, he served as Subcommittee Counsel on the House Government Reform Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Natural Resources, and Regulatory Affairs for U.S. Congressman David McIntosh, Legal Counsel for U.S. Congressman Jim Duncan and as Press Secretary for U.S. Congressman Ed Bryant.

Though Luke Messer is very experienced in politics, he still did not recognize that the House of Representatives do not review Supreme Court Justice nominations (that is a function of the Senate, by the way). He communicated sentiment on a question about approving Justices who are for or against overturning the Roe vs Wade decision. That is a bit of a worry.

His responses were based on rhetoric used by the current GOP Representative establishment. His speech embodies a character that appears to already be adherent and submissive to the "team."

His platforms he communicated, though, were very well delivered. He talked more about the how and why. To his credit, he has worked with Mitch Daniels and the State House to keep budgets balanced. He talked also about how the federal government needs to shrink. He says it can shrink and still work, just look at Indiana.

He also communicated with a lot of forced energy. This can also be referenced as, "he talks like a politician."

Don Bates Jr. displayed a lot of kinetic energy when he spoke. He talked about making Obama a one term president. He talked about getting government out of the way. Don Bates is a Financial advisor. He said that we mostly have lawyers in Washington right now. They have caused a financial problem. According to him, they do not understand how to solve the problem, but people who have been in the finance world do.

Don Bates, as you may recall, also ran for Senate against 4 other opponents in the last primary in which Dan Coats won. On the issues discussed that evening, Don Bates has not strayed from his principles or his platforms. He still speaks against indebting our country further, and even gives solutions, as he did in the Senate race, as to how we need to solve the problem.

He stated his disapproval of America giving $8 billion to the U.N. when we cannot even pay bills. He proposed that all legislators take a 10% pay cut to show America that they are serious about the money problems in Washington. Don also called for an investigation into all agencies and departments with the premise that they all need to go, and that while they are under investigation, their Constitutional legitimacy is the first test of further existence. Don also said he supports the Fair Tax, though he doubts its ability to pass. He says a more realistic approach to taxation would be to reduce taxes to promote job growth. For instance, the corporate tax rate (which is at 38% currently).

Allen Smith has some good ideas and keeps up with the logic pace that the other 3 mentioned have, but he mis-speaks, I hope, in a few areas.

For instance, Allen said that the 6th District needs someone to give the district a sense of entitlement. An entitlement to what? He never said. Based on his responses to many of the questions, however, I hardly doubt he means entitlement programs and reliance on government. In fact, he talked about smaller government. He also said that he would be a voice for the people. That sounds cliche, but he really means it. From what he said, in opening and closing remarks, he will have his ear pressed to this district so he knows what to do.

Communication and listening to the district is NEVER a bad idea. Certainly we have had some representatives who have not done that (Baron Hill), but I do not believe people are looking for someone who has their finger in the ear looking for political direction. The voters are looking for people of conviction and principle. That also means that they will listen to the people and will act accordingly if they are quite loud, quite clear, and their mandate is known. This is a Republic, after all. Too many people want America to be a Democracy. That would be a travesty. We Democratically elect our officials to participate in a Republican government where they will carry the will of the people and also represent the voice of the people for a district. This also means a Representative will have to make some decisions that are not black and white and require discretion along with conviction.

All in all, the four pretty much agreed on most things. A question was posed as to what makes each of them different. Luke Messer points to his experience as a politician. Don Bates points to his experience as a financial advisor and how he is NOT a politician. John Hatter points to his brief time as a staffer in Dan Coat's office and his military background as well as never running for office. Allen Smith says he has integrity and wants to be the voice of the people.

Four candidates seem as though they will be very strong, going forward. John Hatter, Luke Messer, Don Bates, and Allen Smith. Click on their names to visit their web pages, if they have one, and take a closer look at each of them. This is your election. Pence is no longer going to be in this seat. It is up to the voters to decide what manner of replacement they want.