Teacher running for Senate questions Farm Bureau's fairness, attends forum anyway
'I did not find any of this amusing and told him so'
WINCHESTER — Of the three forums in East Central Indiana for state legislative candidates, the one sponsored by Randolph County Farm Bureau on Sept. 29 appeared to be the least informative.
It had by far the fewest questions and therefore covered the smallest amount of ground.
The moderator jokingly apologized for only coming up with three questions for four candidates. One time-consuming query baffled the candidates, who struggled to answer before one of them said it was time “to stop beating a dead horse” and move on.
But at least both parties were represented.
Scott Alexander and Rep. J.D. Prescott, Union City, were among four Republicans who skipped a Sept. 15 forum for legislative candidates in Muncie co-sponsored by Ball State University’s Bowen Center for Public Affairs. All four Democratic nominees attended.
The GOP foursome also didn’t attend a forum in Muncie on Oct. 25 sponsored by Experienced Educators of East Central Indiana. Again, the four Democratic candidates attended.
But Alexander and Prescott did attend the Farm Bureau forum after having been endorsed by the organization.
Alexander, the president of Delaware County Council and the GOP nominee for state Senate District 26, had called the Experienced Educators forum a “campaign stunt” for his Democratic opponent, Melanie Wright, a Daleville school teacher and former state representative.
"We were kind of surprised she showed up because she didn't get their endorsement,” Alexander said of Wright’s appearance at the Farm Bureau forum.
The first to speak at that event, Alexander started out by thanking Farm Bureau for endorsing him.
It was the night’s last question that stumped the candidates.
“J.D. … this should be right up your alley, maybe,” the moderator said. “What is your position on individual property rights in regard to carbon sequestration, and how did you arrive at this position?”
Prescott, who is facing a challenge from Democrat John Bartlett, answered partly, “I’m not sure exactly where you’re driving at with what you want to accomplish with this question.” But he went on to try to answer it, saying he would work with property owners and the Farm Bureau on carbon sequestration legislation.
Bartlett’s partial response was: “I’m not sure exactly where you’re going with that … I don’t claim to know everything. This is one I don’t know much about, but I’d be willing to listen and talk to you.”
Wright, turning to the moderator, answered, “Can I get some more clarification on that, please?”
The moderator responded that “carbon sequestration is how it is injected into the ground, and so if someone wants to inject it into the ground … how does that affect property rights, and are farmers available to participate in this on their own ground, or is it limited to — there’s different things and I think everybody is trying to figure out their own, the path to go. That is why I’m asking your opinion, what do you think is the best way?”
Alexander: “If J.D. doesn’t know where the question is going, and I’m not sure you guys know where the question is going (gesturing toward the moderator). I’m not going to beat a dead horse here.”
(Gov. Eric Holcomb this year signed into a law a bill creating a regulatory framework for companies to store carbon dioxide (CO2) — a greenhouse gas captured in emissions from energy production facilities — in underground geologic formations. According to Indiana Farm Bureau, the bill protects landowner subsurface property rights. The Cardinal Ethanol plant in Randolph County is an example of an industrial facility that produces CO2. The plant sells some of the CO2 gas it produces. The ethanol is manufactured from corn).
The candidates also were asked about personal property taxes and high-speed internet for rural areas.
Alexander used a fraction of the time he was allowed for an opening statement, while Wright used all of hers and focused on education.
“Education is her go-to because that's where she's getting her support,” Alexander told me in an interview later. “Education is an important issue, but there's more going on down at the Statehouse than just education. It's important, and more than 50% of the state budget goes to education, but it's not the only thing that goes on down there."
The state GOP spent around $90,000 as of Oct. 14 on mass mailings portraying Wright as a reckless-spending, job-killing and high-taxation puppet of President Joe Biden. Since then, the state Republican committee contributed another $31,345 to the Alexander campaign for ads.
One of Wright’s supporters complained to me about an attack ad popping up on her screen when she looked up a recipe on The Novice Chef Blog. The ad pictured Alexander as an inflation fighter above a photo of Wright captioned, “Keep Wright Out of Office to Keep Biden Out of Indiana.”
“I can’t even make pumpkin bread w/o these negative ads popping up!” Wright’s supporter emailed me. “Someone is spending massive amts of money on him! All I wanted to do was make pumpkin bread. I did not want to see his mug!!!”
At the Farm Bureau forum, Wright said in her opening statement that she first ran for the Indiana General Assembly more than a decade ago after the state tied student test scores to teacher evaluations and limited collective bargaining that stifled teachers’ earning potential.
She called herself a conservative except when it comes to education, an area that is being “so micromanaged” by the GOP-dominated Statehouse that “we can hardly breathe.”
In his closing statement, Bartlett — an IT professional who lives on his family’s farm in Blackford County and has roots in the district going back to the 1830s — blamed the decay of the district’s communities on 12 years of Republican supermajority in state government.
In his closing, Prescott said he stood for Christian, conservative values and limited government. He also gave out his telephone number and called himself “very accessible.”
Referring to Prescott, Bartlett later told me, “He gave out his phone number during the Farm Bureau debate but doesn't answer his phone.”
Prescott didn’t respond when I contacted the number.
Bartlett said he and Wright convinced organizers of the Ball State-sponsored forum in Muncie to change its date because it conflicted with the Farm Bureau event, but Republicans still didn’t show up.
Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana filed a lawsuit against Prescott for blocking his constituent, Brandon Kloer, from commenting on Prescott’s official Facebook page.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Kloer, alleged that Prescott’s blocking of Facebook users “that he believes to be unfavorable or critical of his positions, while simultaneously allowing comments that are favorable to or supportive of him to be viewed by the public, represents viewpoint-based discrimination, in violation of the First Amendment to the Unites States Constitution.”
The ACLU provided me a settlement agreement in which Prescott denied the allegations but decided to delete the Facebook page.
“Mr. Prescott's issue with the ACLU lawsuit is just another example of the previous point I made,” Bartlett told me. “He does not care to be the representative of the people who elect him.”
Bartlett added: “Melanie Wright and I went into the debate knowing that our opponents had already been endorsed, and we had not even been contacted for an interview.”
Meanwhile, Wright had this to say, via email, about Farm Bureau:
“Upon hearing of Scott's endorsement, I was quite shocked and reached out to Farm Bureau contacts. Katrina Hall, head lobbyist, did not respond to my text, but sent an email two days later stating that I was not endorsed.
“This was odd, since I have been endorsed by Farm Bureau in previous elections, served as the ranking minority member of the Agriculture Committee as a state representative from 2014-2020, attended several local and national agriculture meetings, participated in farm tours, supported agriculture fundraisers, attended house parties sponsored by farmers and celebrated milestones at farms within the district. I am also a member and carry home and auto insurance with Farm Bureau.
“Drew Cleveland, a Farm Bureau contact for Delaware and Randolph Counties, said that I did not show up for a meeting after I expressed my disappointment in not being endorsed. I responded that I had no idea what he was referring to.
“After the phone call, I checked my spam email for any missed communication, but found nothing. In the past, most organizations would stay out of a race for an open seat with no incumbent.
“I asked if the Republican leadership had pressured them (this has happened prior) to endorse. He laughed and said that was not the case. As a Democrat who is out here fighting for working families and public schools, I did not find any of this amusing and told him so.”
Cleveland declined comment, but he helped me obtain a statement from Indiana Farm that read:
“There are many components that go into the endorsement decision that began with input from our members in Senate District 26. In some cases, no candidate was endorsed. As Indiana’s largest farm organization with nearly 65,000 members, the farmers who are part of our multi-tiered process are looking to endorse candidates who will support policies to advance agriculture and support farm businesses.”
Another one of Farm Bureau’s endorsements was Republican Dale Basham, a retired Muncie educator trying to unseat state Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie.
“Usually they interview both the candidates but I didn’t get an invitation for an interview this year,” Errington told me. “I don’t know if that means they interviewed him or endorsed him without an interview.”
Less than courageous and less than truthful. Vote for the people who do more than drive around town with campaign shirts on and attend fun parties.