INDIANAPOLIS – A few years ago, Fort Wayne Rep. Win Moses got caught by surprise and nearly lost his House District 81 seat.
Ever since, he has been recommitted to the district serving much of Fort Wayne, and this year he wants constituents to give him a 10th term in the Indiana House.
“I think my experience gives our community an edge,” Moses said.
But his key opponent, Republican Mike Obergfell, thinks he’s the best candidate for the job.
“I think I’m more in touch with the people in the community,” he said.
Libertarian Elizabeth Sepponen also is running for the seat. The winner gets a two-year term in the Indiana House paying an annual salary of $22,600 plus a per diem.
Moses, 67, has been a high-profile name in politics for decades. He has spent 18 years in the House and also was mayor of Fort Wayne for eight years and on City Council for eight years.
“And before that, I was a boy,” he joked.
The father and grandfather has a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in business administration, which he has used in his business of building and running mobile home parks and apartment complexes.
In recent years, Moses has become the House Democrats’ utility expert, chairing a key committee.
“Essentially with the Senate and Gov. Mitch Daniels being pro-utility, all I’m able to get done is to stop the worst,” he said. “I haven’t been able to improve the position of ratepayers, which is my goal.”
He misses serving on the House Ways and Means Committee, which helps craft state fiscal policy, and he knows this year’s budget-writing session will be a monumental task.
One option, he said, is to seek stimulus money left on the table.
But Moses said there can’t be a tax increase of any kind.
The former city executive said a key to a balanced budget is working with Daniels, who has the best perspective on state spending.
“It doesn’t mean we will agree every time, but we have to work with him for our citizens,” Moses said. “We can’t attack every single cut he suggests.”
Obergfell, 46, is also a Fort Wayne lifer. He worked in the restaurant business for 12 years before getting an education degree from IPFW. He has now taught school for about 15 years and is a social studies and government teacher at Bishop Dwenger High School.
The conservative Christian also has been married for 25 years and has seven kids.
Because of his background, Obergfell is concerned with education issues, especially providing alternatives to public schools. This includes more charter schools and expanding a tax credit for private schools.
The latter would cost the state money at a time when it is strapped, but he contends it would save money in the long term.
“Schools are struggling, and poor kids who are trapped should have an opportunity to get out,” he said.
He is also open to changing or repealing Indiana’s collective bargaining law for teachers but said he doesn’t agree with using student test scores as a majority of a teacher’s evaluation.
Obergfell said he understands the budget challenges the state faces and suggested one specific cut – getting rid of state and federal money that goes to Planned Parenthood.
“I want government to exercise some type of discretion, the same as Hoosiers do when they have to,” he said. “We can’t just go to the well. The well is dry.”
Sepponen, a single mom with information technology training, decided to run to make things better for her son.
“I want to be able to say, ‘At least I tried,’ ” she said. “The two-party system isn’t working anymore. People are fed up. The country was founded by a bunch of rebellious people, and we need to get back to the original ideals.”
Sepponen espoused smaller, limited government but also said the health care industry needs to be further regulated. Another key issue of concern for her is the gerrymandering of political boundaries in the redistricting process.
