Although we were in Illinois most of the week playing “Lincoln Lawyer,” we still kept tabs on the political news that went on here in Indiana. Here are some observations and other items regarding the big items of the week.
Although he might have been legally right, the consensus is that he was politically wrong when Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill filed a challenge to the consent decree regarding early voting sites in Marion County. Hill’s office argued the agreement reached between the Marion County Election Board and various public interest groups to open up at least five early voting sites was in violation of state law because the sites must be voted on each election and one election Board cannot legally bind a future Board. Everyone we spoke with yesterday told us while legally, the AG was likely on solid footing, this matter should have been handled behind closed doors and communicating with Secretary of State and local Republican officials.
Micah Clark of the American Family Association of Indiana tells Indiana Public Radio that Governor Eric Holcomb’s support of hate crime legislation doesn’t matter and that the Governor is not as popular as the media says he is. We went and checked the most recent public polling on Holcomb, Morning Consult (as of July 25) has him with a 52 percent approval rating, 23 percent disapproved and 25 percent had no opinion. And in a recent informal survey of Indy Politics readers, 70 percent of those who responded gave Holcomb a grade of “B” or better on his job as Governor.
Indiana Democratic State Representative John Bartlett told WTLC-AM’s Community Connections Thursday that he plans to introduce legislation next session that would eliminate “slating” in Marion County. “Slating” is the process where the political parties vote which candidates to endorse prior to the May primary. Bartlett told host Terry Dee that slating is a form of “voter suppression” because it can deprive voters of quality candidates who cannot make it through the slate. He also said that it should be the voters who pick the candidates for the Fall ballot and not the political parties.
Republican State Representative Jim Lucas tells WTHR-TV that he did try marijuana while on a visit to Colorado to study its legalization for medical use. Lucas has been a proponent of medicinal marijuana. He did not bring back any samples with him.
Great minds apparently think alike. Both Indy Politics and Importantville have been following up on polling information regarding Republican State Senator Mike Delph and Democratic challenger J.D. Ford. We both came across numbers showing Ford with a nearly 10-point lead over Delph. Importantville reported Ford with a lead of 53-44. Indy Politics was told Ford had a lead of 45-35, but he did better among voters who knew both candidates.
