Fort Wayne – One plans to work for no pay. Another believes his candidacy is being targeted to keep him quiet. And another said his first task would be to bring a White Castle to town.

All are candidates for mayor of Fort Wayne, and while they hold varied ideas and plans for the office, they all have one thing in common: Little chance at winning.

Much of the attention this spring has centered on Republicans Eric Doden, Liz Brown and Paula Hughes’ efforts to unseat Mayor Tom Henry. But they are far from the only candidates running for the city’s top office.

Fred Osheskie and Terrance Walker are also running in the Republican primary, and four Democrats – Tom Cook, Charles Eberhard, Frederick Steinke and David Roach – are challenging the mayor.

State law allows any city resident to run as a major party candidate for mayor by simply signing a piece of paper and being a registered voter. While some states require candidates to gather signatures to run for office, it is a virtual free-for-all in local Hoosier Republican and Democratic primaries.

Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at IPFW, said having such a low barrier to run for office has benefits and drawbacks.

The rules allow some people to run simply to get attention and have fun with the system, but it also allows people who might not be established with a political party to participate in a meaningful campaign. Voters must decide the motives and qualifications of each candidate.

“Indiana law leaves it up to the voter an awful lot,” Downs said.

Democrats

Despite the Allen County Democratic Party officially supporting Henry’s re-election campaign, four others signed up to challenge him in the primary.

Charles Eberhard, a retired Lincoln Foodservice worker, freely admits it would take divine intervention for him to defeat the incumbent mayor.

“I know the only way I would ever win is if God deems it so,” he said.

In fact, he said he had no plans of ever running for office again after being trounced by Graham Richard in the 2003 primary. But after his friend could not get a meeting with Henry to discuss a business proposal, he decided to run and use a mayoral campaign to spread the word. It doesn’t hurt that a campaign allows him to take some shots at the mayor along the way.

While he calls himself a liberal, he said he is not beholden to any political party. To demonstrate this, he said he wants to hire City Council President Mitch Harper, R-4th, as his deputy mayor. He said he would also ask Doden to be his jobs czar and believes he could find a place for Hughes and Brown.

Out-of-town consultants would be eliminated, Eberhard said. He would only need to hire a consultant – Herb Summers, a former Allen County recorder candidate – for $25,000 to help the city operate more efficiently.

Eberhard is a frequent attendee at council meetings and is unafraid to speak his mind to the council or to the public. In one letter to the editor, the former union man blasts Republicans for their attempts to eliminate collective bargaining.

“The Nazis put an end to collective bargaining, strikes and unionization,” he wrote. “It seems the present day Republican Party has done an excellent job of trying to repeat history.”

Upon winning election, Eberhard said his first act – before taking office – would be to drive to Columbus, Ohio, and speak to the executives at White Castle about bringing a restaurant to Fort Wayne. He said while he enjoys the local Powers, he knows several people would like another “slider” option.

Fred Steinke makes no secret of, nor offers apologies for, who he is and what he believes. At the beginning of an interview, the openly gay man said he is HIV and AIDS positive and was discharged from the Army after another soldier disclosed Steinke’s sexuality to a superior.

He then states he must survive on monthly Social Security disability payments and has been restricted to campaigning in West Central because he can walk there.

Steinke sends regular, if not daily, emails and letters about problems facing the city. In one, he complained about the city’s enforcement of its recycling program after witnessing people stealing the discarded aluminum cans from his cart.

“I have followed them, and they take them to certain BARS to get BEER, and ALCOHOL, and then the BARS just throw them into there DUMPSTERS to go to the LANDFILLS, so just what is The City of Ft. Wayne going to do about it???” he wrote.

Steinke ran for mayor in 2007, winning 4 percent of the vote in the race against Henry. That didn’t deter him from running again because “I would like Fort Wayne to be a city like it was before,” he said. This includes better roads, sewers, rivers and downtown shopping.

If elected, Steinke said he would forgo the mayor’s $123,600 salary by giving half of it to the AIDS Task Force, a quarter to local food banks and return a quarter to the city’s budget.

He said he is displeased with his treatment by the local Democratic Party, noting the Republicans have not picked favorites in any of their primaries.

Tom Cook also challenged Henry four years ago for the party’s nomination. He received 13.5 percent of the vote.

A self-employed handyman, Cook acknowledges he has no budget and might not win the race, but he said something must be done to stop the out-of-control city spending.

He said he doesn’t come from money like the other candidates and isn’t able to buy his clothes from places such as Walmart or J.C. Penney – he wore a faded Members Only jacket during his interview.

“I’m a common man. I work hard for my money,” Cook said.

Campaigning is fun, he said, because it allows him to get out and talk to people, some who say they’ve never met a politician.

His ideas for office are far ranging. Vacant homes should be sold for a dollar so they can be filled and returned to the tax rolls. The 311 call center should be eliminated so residents can simply call city departments directly. City police officers should have to meet weight requirements and follow rules on civility.

The city and country should also begin focusing their concerns on Americans, saying he would put an end to the immigration of Burmese refugees to the city. He said residents shouldn’t be forced to pay for food stamps for people with no jobs and no grasp of the English language. He also said he would work to deport Mexicans living in the city illegally.

“If you ain’t got a green card, go back where you came from,” he said.

Perennial candidate David Roach, running as D.C. (Mr. Roachclip) Roach, is also in the Democratic primary.

Republicans

Unlike the Democrats, the Allen County Republican Party has not favored any candidates over others. All five were invited to speak at the party’s official mayoral debate last week.

That doesn’t mean Fred Osheskie is pleased with the treatment he’s received. The former electronics engineer touts the fact he has more relevant experience to become the city’s next mayor than any of his Republican opponents.

Osheskie was mayor of Waynesfield, Ohio, from 1990 to 1994 – experience he said other candidates lack. Waynesfield had a 1990 population of 831, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, or less than one-third of 1 percent of the population of Fort Wayne.

Running Fort Wayne would actually be easier, Osheskie contends, because of its large staff. In Waynesfield, he said he was forced to do most of the work himself on a $2,000 annual salary. He said he was successful in winning key grants for the village that helped rehabilitate some of its homes.

He returned to Fort Wayne to spend more time with his family, he said.

Osheskie is running because he is concerned about the political infighting he sees – such as between the city and county – and believes his leadership style would help solve those problems. He said he would eliminate the deputy mayor position, calling it wasteful spending.

The fact that he hasn’t been able to raise money for his campaign – he provided the sole donation to his campaign – isn’t a problem because it shows voters he won’t be tied to big money if elected, he said.

“Who are they going to help?” he asked of Doden, Brown and Hughes. “Are they going to help the fat cats that gave them the money to run their campaigns?”

He said several of his campaign signs have been stolen and questioned whether he was being targeted.

“Am I that much of a danger,” he said, while adding he is hoping to raise enough money to run television commercials.

Osheskie is the only Republican candidate to raise crime as an issue, saying it is difficult to attract businesses to some parts of the city when residents are afraid to even answer their doors.

He said the city has enough police officers, they simply need “to do the job they were paid to do.”

The never-bashful Osheskie said he has excelled in every position he’s held, that God has prepared him for this race and that he has “well above average intelligence.”

Terrance Walker is running as a Republican, yet his platform seems more Communist than conservative. This is his second run for mayor; he garnered 5 percent in the 1995 primary against Paul Helmke.

The retired golf course housekeeper said he is sick of the city wasting and losing money. Because he is a supporter of profit, he said the city needs to simply stop operating as a non-profit organization.

To do this, the city should begin buying businesses and running them. This would allow the city to not only collect the profit from those operations, but also it would help secure jobs for residents. He even offered a solution if one of those deals faired poorly.

“If they don’t work out, we sell them back for a profit,” he said.

Walker suggested the city use some of the money from the lease and sale of the city’s electric utility to buy a Tim Horton’s franchise – and possibly Cici’s Pizza – to open in Fort Wayne.

Asked about his chances for victory, Walker said “50-50” but noted that even if he’s not successful, he hoped some of his ideas would be taken by the winner. He said he isn’t able to raise money like some of the other candidates, but he did place a banner on the front of his home.

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