Monday, July 09, 2007

Government Bureaucrat Gets Nod To Fill Kuzman's Seat

A supervisor in the child support division of the Lake Co. Clerk's office, who is also a township board member, won the support of Democratic committeepersons to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Bob Kuzman (D). "Without contest or lengthy deliberation, Democratic Party leaders chose Rochelle "Shelli" VanDenburgh on Sunday to replace former state Rep. Bob Kuzman," writes the Northwest Indiana Times' Dan Hinkel. Kuzman gave up his seat to become a lobbyist with the law firm of Ice Miller. Once upon a time, the idea of tapping a government employee to take a legislative seat was frowned upon. Today, it seems to be the rule. We are increasingly becoming governed by a ruling elite of government/political professionals instead of citizen politicians who serve out of a sense of civic duty.

Also, 10th District committeepersons turned down a last-minute request by Rep. Duane Cheney (D) to rescind his resignation. Instead, they chose the man Cheney didn't want to succeed him, Jack Clem. Clem is described as "a longtime Portage and Porter County politician."

4 comments:

Gary R. Welsh said...

I almost missed the Cheney debacle.

Anonymous said...

Gary, sad to say, that's nothin compared to the goings-on in Hamilton County... also known as, home of all things Republican!

To wit:
“As the representative of the Noblesville/Fishers area, Representative (Kathy) Richardson (R) has served the citizens of Hamilton County since 1992. She is currently the Election Administrator for Hamilton County and uses that expertise to the fullest extent as she sits on the Elections and Apportionment Committee.”
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/leaders/index.html

“Representative Kathy Richardson has had the opportunity to serve her community in numerous ways. As a member of the House of Representatives, she proudly represents the people of District 29, which includes Hamilton and Hancock Counties. A life long resident of Noblesville and graduate of Noblesville High School, Representative Richardson is extremely involved with her community."

"Her political career started in 1976 as the Deputy Clerk of the Hamilton County Clerk's Office. By 1982 she was elected Clerk of Hamilton County and in 1992 she was elected to the House of Representatives. That year she became and still is the Election Administrator for Hamilton County.
Representative Richardson's committees include Elections and Apportionment, the Statutory Committee on Interstate and International Cooperation, the Statutory Committee on Ehtics and the Legislative Council…”
http://www.in.gov/legislative/house_republicans/homepages/r29/meet.html

Anonymous said...

The Marion-Hamilton COunty government service disease.

Ask her if she wants a seat on the City-County Council. Evidently the chief ceriteria for that is a government paycheck.

Anonymous said...

Ask her if...

Ha, what a joke... we've asked Rep. Richardson numerous questions since moving to HER district ~8 yrs ago; to date, we've received not one reply from our representative... canned or otherwise.