For the first time since 1983, there is an open seat in the 5th Congressional District due to Dan Burton’s retirement. As this is quite a competitive race, I’d like to discuss the three candidates.
Susan Brooks won a very crowded Republican primary by a small margin. Brooks is an attorney and was appointed by George W Bush as US Attorney. She was a Deputy Mayor in the Goldsmith administration and currently works as legal counsel for Ivy Tech. She supports Republican campaign positions including the Ryan plan. Brooks expresses strong opposition to Obamacare and disappointment in the Supreme Court opinion upholding it. She has received visits and support from party leaders such as Eric Cantor and Chris Christie.
The Libertarian candidate, High School Teacher Chard Reid, was endorsed by the Indianapolis Star in the 2010 election, where he received 8.1% of the vote. He is critical of the Paul Ryan plan because it doesn’t balance the budget until 2040. He proposes balancing the budget in two years by slashing spending by 36%. He also claims to be the only real Pro-Life candidate.
Democrat Scott Reske, a retired Marine Colonel, is currently a state representative. In 2004, Reske was called back to serve in the Iraq war. He is a small business owner and a partner in an engineering firm. Reske also has experience as a volunteer fireman and deputy sheriff. As a legislator, he was the chairman of an Economic Development Committee and received bipartisan awards from his peers. Reske emphasizes the need to protect Social Security and Medicare. He proposes closing loopholes for companies that ship jobs overseas and creating tax breaks for companies that hire new workers. He has criticized his Republican opponent for failing to support equal pay for women.
The choices are essentially an attorney with anti-Obamacare Republican views, a Libertarian/Teacher who emphasizes the need to quickly balance the budget, or a more moderate Democratic candidate with extensive military and small business experience. I’m for Reske, how about you?