Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
It appears Mayor Tom Henry seeks a higher office, at least onstage.
Henry was slated to make his theatrical debut as mayor Saturday night, playing the king in First Presbyterian Theatre’s showing of “The Underpants.”
The play, written by noted comedic actor Steve Martin, is a farcical satire adapted from a German play about a couple whose conservative life is changed when the wife’s bloomers fall in public. According to the theatre, it is rated PG for bawdy humor.
As King, Henry plays a small but critical role to the action. While we don’t want to give away too much, it’s safe to say his few lines help some of the characters realize their dreams.
Henry said participating in the production has been a lot of fun, although he’s tried not to let the role of king go to his head.
The mayor’s final performance as king will be 2 p.m. June 14. The theater is at 300 W. Wayne St. Other performance dates for the play are Friday, Saturday, and June 19 and 20 at 8 p.m.
On the nights Henry isn’t performing, others will play the role of king. City Councilman John Shoaff, D-at large, returns to the stage for the first time since high school as king on the 19th. The Journal Gazette’s own Steve Penhollow makes an appearance as king June 13. Political Notebook, sadly, was not invited to lord over the cast.
Tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and those younger than 23.
Sen. Marlin Stutzman, R-Howe, has taken a leave of absence from the family farming and trucking business and mailed in federal forms to pursue a 2010 run for U.S. Senate.
“After discussions and meetings we’ve had over the past six months now I feel very confident and comfortable with the idea of putting a campaign together and traveling the state and listening to Hoosiers,” he said. “I think I can serve them better.”
He wants to take on Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh but first would have to get through a primary that could have competition. No one else has filed, but several from the GOP are considering, including former state Rep. Dan Dumezich of northwest Indiana.
Stutzman, 32, said he will be campaign full time with his wife and two sons after the General Assembly finishes the special session.
“We have a good strong message and will focus on the economy and representing core conservative Hoosier values.”
Stutzman previously served in the Indiana House for six years, moving to the Senate this year. His term is up in 2012.
You can catch yet another national media piece featuring Gov. Mitch Daniels tonight on C-SPAN’s “Q&A” with Brian Lamb, airing at 8 and 11.
Daniels answers questions on possible presidential plans in 2012 and what it means to be a Hoosier.
In one preview clip, Daniels stands behind his plans never to seek another elected office – famously used in his final gubernatorial campaign commercial and repeated often since then.
“I suppose I said it because I wanted people to know that we’re not on the make for anything else, that we really sincerely wanted a change to improve our state,” Daniels said in the interview.
Later he said he wouldn’t subject him or his family to the “savagery of presidential politics. If that’s cowardly, then it is.
“(It’s) really just not for me,” he tells Lamb. “There’s a lot about the way that people campaign for president right now that I find a little superficial.”
The Obama administration might be new to office, but it showed last week that it knows a thing or two about playing the media.
With General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC in bankruptcy and manufacturing generally under siege, President Obama dispatched Cabinet secretaries to the Rust Belt last week to tout new technologies they claimed would revive the moribund sector.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu came to Fort Wayne on Tuesday to talk up federal grants to develop electric cars and geothermal energy.
But instead of taking questions on these technologies or other administration proposals, Chu dragged reporters, photographers and videographers through an extended tour of the WaterFurnace Renewable Energy Inc. plant that included confidential conversations with workers and executives.
Chu then went to Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne to discuss a summer he spent at IU-Bloomington and extol the virtues of energy-saving technology. The secretary eventually opened himself to questions from the media but answered only four, offering mostly vague responses.
But the secretary got what he came for: His visit played prominently on the evening newscasts and in the local newspapers the next day.
Maybe that’s why he has a doctorate in physics and we don’t.
The longtime face of the Indiana Libertarian Party is moving to Texas to take a new job.
Andy Horning is no stranger to an election ballot, having run for state representative, county recorder, mayor of Indianapolis, governor and Congress.
“I am a Libertarian because of Andy Horning,” Executive Director Chris Spangle said. “Andy is the first person in my life that explained that citizens are in charge of the government, and that I may need to pull its leash a little harder. He challenged the way I thought about governing.”
Attorney General Greg Zoeller on Friday announced the hiring of Tony Mitson, a Carroll High School graduate, as his assistant and scheduler.
Mitson, who will accompany Zoeller on state business, previously worked with the Government Affairs and Legislative Services group with Krieg Devault in Indianapolis.
Mitson is the brother of Ozzie Mitson, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry’s business and legislative liaison.
Marty Schladen of The Journal Gazette contributed to this column.
