May, 2008

Brook Tarr will be representing the Republican Party in House District 62. He defeated three candidates to earn the right to face Democrat Sandra Blanton. From the day after the election:

Republican Brook Tarr captured 62 percent of the party’s votes cast in Tuesday night’s primary to earn the nomination to face incumbent Democrat Sandra Blanton for the State Representative District 62 seat in the fall.

The Orange County Highway engineer credits his large victory over the other three candidates — Jamie J. Harris (22 percent), Donald O. Patton (18 percent) and Judith “Judy” Coleman (17 percent) — to capturing his home county.

“Being from Orange County — working there and being active in the community — really helped,” Tarr said. “I now live in Orleans and I grew up in French Lick.”

In Orange County, Tarr captured 1,357 votes. The next closest candidate was Coleman with 279 votes and Harris and Patton each grabbed 249.

Other related articles: Brook Tarr nominated in District 62

The Chicago Tribune describes State Rep Suzanne Crouch’s stance on care for pregnant women below the poverty level.  Early care and treatment increases the likelihood of a baby’s health.

Crouch and another Evansville Republican, Sen. Vaneta Becker, did not learn of the memo until meeting last week with advocates to discuss problems pregnant women were having getting Medicaid eligibility and access to prenatal care.

That prompted Crouch and Becker to meet this week with Jeff Wells, the state's Medicaid director, to learn why his office wasn't pursuing presumptive eligibility or at least taking other steps to improve access to Medicaid-covered prenatal care.

She said the group of 30 or so that includes State Representative Suzanne Crouch is looking at expanding the existing Indiana sex and violent offender registry.

"In talking to Child Protective Services at the state, one of the things they've shared with me is most of their complaints have to do with neglect and it just seems to make sense then that those serious crimes against youth that have to do with neglect ought to be included in the registry," Crouch said.

Some members of law enforcement, however, have expressed concern that the registry is already under funded and doesn't necessarily prevent crimes.

"I want to be perfectly clear, a registry is not going to solve every problem," Crouch said. "It's just one little thing we can do to make the public more aware."

Jobs. Jobs. Jobs. Creating new jobs for Hoosier workers is the biggest concern in Indiana right now. Gov. Daniels and other Republican leaders have made creating jobs their top priority. However, some critics may say that Indiana’s economy is struggling because we can’t bring in and keep jobs in Indiana. But the recent announcement of companies bringing in new jobs for Hoosiers argues a different point.

Evansville Courier and Press notifies that State Rep Bruce Borders will sing for in wedding taking place at Holiday World this Friday.

Officiating will be Bruce Borders, a state legislator from Jasonville, Ind., who’s been an Elvis impersonator for many years.

Borders will sing “(I Can't Help) Falling in Love” during the ceremony, which will take place at the top of The Voyage roller coaster’s 160-foot-high lift hill.

The TriStateHomepage.com reports the decrease in property taxes in Vanderburgh County. 

Republican State Representative Suzanne Crouch celebrated with one property owner today, who will pay almost half of what she did last year.

Barbara Hansen was pleasantly surprised to find that her property tax bill is down from 1,044 dollars to 581, a 44 percent cut. "That's a very good thing because with the price of gasoline going up , food, utility bills, it's nice to get a little break on our taxes to put a little few extra bucks in our pocket." The property tax relief package the general assembly passed this year will result in an average tax cut of 38 percent in Vanderburgh County. Statewide the figure is 30 percent. "The taxpayers spoke. The legislature listened and now the taxpayers are getting the benefit of that."

Republican State Rep candidate Mark Messmer blogs about his door to door blitz from Saturday.  They hit a couple thousand doors.

I have always enjoyed going door-to-door and visiting with people around the district. Well, this Saturday my wife Kim got the chance to go along with me for the day. Now she knows why I like it so much! It is amazing how nice the people are that we have met, and how glad they are to have someone ask them what they think. It's also surprising how many say that no one has ever been to see them! How do you do this job and not ask people what they think? 

Read more here. 

The Democrats are at it again; pointing their fingers and blaming others when they see a problem. Except for this time, there is no problem, but leave it up to them to come up with one.

The bridge, which runs north and south over the Eel River, was renamed with the help of Indiana State Representatives Richard McClain and James Buck, who co-authored House Concurrent Resolution 0035 urging the Indiana Department of Transportation to rename part of State Road 17 in honor of Trooper Barrett. The resolution was sponsored by State Senator Tom Weatherwax.

The Herald Bulletin covered Kelly Gaskill’s victory over Greg Valentine in the primary.  She will face Democrat Scott Reske for the seat.  Check out Kelly’s website at www.kellygaskill.com.