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Dan Coats doesn’t specifically mention Fort Wayne in the “retiring to North Carolina” speech he gave in 2008, but he refers to his former home indirectly.
And it’s not exactly a compliment.
Democrats are showing a recorded excerpt of Coats’ speech to the North Carolina caucus at the Republican National Convention in an ad designed to make him look out of touch with Indiana. Just before talking about retiring to North Carolina, as the ad shows, Coats said he is “from northern Indiana, where spring never seems to arrive and summer leaves very early.”
Coats begins the speech by praising the selection of Sarah Palin for vice president. “What a superb choice,” he said. McCain-Palin “is the best possible combination and ticket we could have.”
The most pressing task of the nascent Coats campaign: obtaining the signatures of 500 registered voters from each of the nine congressional districts. The petitions are due at noon a week from today. Allen County GOP Chairman Steve Shine will announce plans for the local petition effort Thursday, and Republican headquarters at Main and Harrison streets will be open noon to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday for registered voters who want to sign the petition.
Make no mistake: If the petitions are gathered, Coats is in the race.
Meanwhile, another former GOP congressman, John Hostettler, told the Evansville Courier & Press he is continuing his own bid for the Republican nomination to oppose Bayh and won’t drop out because of Coats.
Was Mitch Harper professional, rude or just a smart aleck in throwing barbs at the mayor? Did Mayor Tom Henry overreact? Did members of the City Council and County Council represent constituents well?
City and county voters should take advantage of a rare opportunity to see several of their officials in action debating – sometimes civilly, sometimes less so – a controversial issue. Friday’s meeting of the City-County Building Task Force (see editorial at right) will be shown again on the City TV channel this week. The meeting will be televised at 10 a.m. today and 11:30 p.m. Wednesday on Comcast Channel 58 and Verizon Channel 28.
Speaking of Harper, the city councilman wants to strictly limit how much money city contractors can donate to candidates for city office: no more than $100 to any one candidate and $300 total to all candidates.
The campaign finance report Harper filed in January indicates he may not need corporate contributions for his own campaign. The report shows that Harper has lent his campaign more than $25,000 – $23,500 in 2007 and an additional $1,750 on July 24.
County Councilman Darren Vogt is apparently pursuing his idea for county government to give money to transplanted workers who buy homes in Allen County. He’s given his plan a name, “Own It In Allen,” and has a news conference today to discuss it.
