Candidates pitch platforms as primary season approaches

SOUTH BEND — About 125 voters got a crash course Tuesday night on local candidates running in contested primaries for sheriff, state representative and Congress. Fourteen candidates introduced themselves, pitched their platforms and answered questions from the audience during the two-hour event that Citizens for Common Sense sponsored at St. Paul’s Memorial United Methodist Church. Those candidates have less than six weeks to win hearts and minds before voters choose the parties’ nominees May 4. The crowd Tuesday at St. Paul’s is indicative of the public’s interest in this election season, said Kelly Havens, who helped found Citizens with five other people in 1992. “Overall interest is definitely up,” Havens said. “We are seeing a whole different group of people – Joe Citizen – saying, ‘Whoa, I need to get involved,’” she said. “People are asking good questions and getting good answers.” Government spending and programs were the targets for much of the candidates’ criticism Tuesday. Citizens for Common Sense is a nonprofit group that advocates for limited government. Martin Dolan, Jack Jordan and Jackie Walorski – three Republicans running for the state’s 2nd District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives – fired shots at federal health care legislation approved this week. Jordan, a Bremen resident and former Eli Lilly & Co. executive, described the health care overhaul as “malpractice.” Dolan, a LaPorte resident and business owner, said, “Legislators have lost sight of the fact this is our money, and they need to spend it responsibly.” Jordan urged voters to choose candidates with “real world” experience instead of purely political resumes. “The politicians that got us into these problems,” he said, “do we really believe they’re the ones to get us out?” Walorski, who represents District 21 in the Indiana House of Representatives, said state government in Indiana has shown it’s possible to shrink the size of government. “We’re one of the strongest economies in the nation because we’ve done it,” she said. Citizens for Common sense invited only the Republicans running for the 2nd District congressional seat, and the District 8 and District 21 seats in the Indiana House. Democrats in those races are running unopposed in the primaries for their party’s nomination, Havens said. Staff writer Kevin Allen: kallen@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6244