A Look At Carson And Elrod In Their Own Words

The Star's Robert King sat down with each of the two candidates for the 7th District special election to fill the vacancy created by the death of the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson. Here's what we learn about the two candidates with my comments.

Neighborhoods

Carson: Carson grew up on Park Street, in a Near-Northside neighborhood just south of Fall Creek. He describes it as living in "Dodge City" for all of the gunfire around him. Gang wars and drug dealers were a part of the landscape. He took part in a neighborhood crime watch that reported drug activity. Walking home one day he met a friend who told of being molested by a man nearby. "We lived in the 'hood," Carson says. The experiences contributed to his decision to enter law enforcement. Today, the area is part of the restored Fall Creek Place neighborhood, where he lives with his wife and child.

Elrod: Elrod grew up on his family's bucolic 14-acre homestead on the Southeastside of the county, east of Southport. He and his three brothers swam and fished in a pond on the property, which also had a volleyball court and a basketball hoop. There was a creek he would prowl with his mother and collect snakes. He dreamed of becoming a paleontologist. The trees around the house were thick enough to make Arlington Avenue and the nearby homes all but invisible. His mother describes it as "heavenly." Elrod now lives Downtown.

Comment: Carson was clearly trying to use this as an opportunity to prove his bona fides as being raised in the "hood." Elrod's boyhood is idyllic, what else can you say.

Family Life

Carson: Carson's mother and father never married. For much of his life, his father was absent. He describes his mother as loving, but troubled with personal problems he declines to discuss. Those troubles contributed to them being forced to live temporarily in a homeless shelter when he was a preschooler. From there he was raised by his grandmother Julia Carson, who became like a mother (photo at left). Aside from love, Andre says she taught him responsibility, requiring him at age 14 to start paying her $50 in monthly rent. He earned the money by working part-time in car washes and moving stuff for a construction company.

Elrod: Elrod's parents have been married 43 years. His father, Bob Elrod, is a lawyer. His mother, Bev Elrod, stayed home with her four sons. Jon, who has a twin brother, Jerry, and his other brothers attended the same elementary school their father had. His grandparents lived next door and helped with child care.

Comment: "The most important things I can pass on to my daughter are the values that my family taught me," is the line Carson uses in his campaign commercials. What values he's talking about is quite unclear. It's obvious he had two absent parents by his own description who never bothered with marriage or raising their children. The part of this story I find unbelievable is that his grandmother started charging him rent of $50 a month when she took him in at age 14. By today's standard that would be about $125 a month. Either she was cold-hearted and greedy or Carson is exaggerating on this point. Grandma certainly doesn't come off looking good on this one. By comparison, Elrod grew up in a traditional family, with two loving, married parents raising their four sons. And he had a stay at home mom with the grandparents living next door. It doesn't get any better.

Sports

Carson: As a kid, he played football and basketball.

Elrod: He played Little League baseball and soccer. But in high school he moved on to wrestling and the pole vault. In college at Xavier University, he joined a rugby club (photo at right) and bulked up to endure its bruising nature. But he had to drop the sport after dislocating his shoulder a third time.

Comment: As someone who wasn't/isn't good at sports, I'll leave the comments to the readers.

Favorite books

Carson: "The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told To Alex Haley." Carson was struck by the complexities of the black activist who was first committed to the black separatist teachings of the Nation of Islam but, just before his death, embraced a more unifying message. "I was fascinated by his journey," Carson said. He found the book while trying to understand the Black Muslim influences he saw in the neighborhood. Carson said the more tolerant message of Malcolm X's later years, following his turn to more traditional Islam, appealed to him.

Elrod: "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt." Elrod can trace the life and career of the nation's 26th president from memory. He favorite parts include the fights against corruption and pioneering efforts in conservation. As a boy, Roosevelt became a wrestler to gain physical strength. So, too, did Elrod. Both were elected to their Statehouse seats in their 20s. Elrod's entrance into politics was inspired partly by TR's quote: "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena. . ."

Comment: To someone like me, all the talk about Malcolm X, Nation of Islam, etc. just confirms that Carson sees everything in terms of race and that does not project a message of unity as Carson claims he represents. I'm sick of that mentality as are many people. Given Elrod's commitment to being an agent for change, it comes as no surprise that Teddy Roosevelt is one of his political heroes.

Artistic pursuits

Carson: Carson was a rap artist with the stage name Juggernaut, performing at local variety shows and making some local recordings. He learned to rap almost as a matter of self-preservation because of the threat of rap battles he constantly faced in the school lunchroom and on the streets. To be found unprepared was a recipe for embarrassment and ridicule. "It was a peaceful way of deciding who was the wittiest, who was the best wordsmith, who could throw out the biggest words. You would study all night with the Webster's dictionaries." He did some break dancing until his grandmother objected to how dirty it left his shirts.

Elrod: Elrod has an extensive career as an amateur stage actor. In high school, he had the male lead in "Gift of the Magi" and played the Spaniard Inigo Montoya in a student production of "The Princess Bride" -- even choreographing the sword fighting scenes. In college, he helped found a law school drama society that performed plays with legal themes, including a take on "12 Angry Men." Recently he won the role of Felix in a community theater foray into "The Odd Couple." In school bands he played the baritone, trombone and tuba.

Comment: These two guys are as different as oil and water.

Political influences

Carson: Julia Carson, of course. His grandmother was a state legislator for 18 years and served a decade in Congress, from 1997 until her death in December. Andre worked on her campaigns and was a party to countless dinner-table chats with his grandmother on politics. In 1984, she took him to the Democratic National Convention in San Francisco -- an experience he calls transformative.

Elrod: He comes from a political family. His grandfather, French Elrod, was a Marion County commissioner from 1955-65. His father, Bob Elrod, has been the Republican attorney for the City-County Council since 1970. Both his mother and father are longtime Republican committee workers. His parents particularly identify with the politics of Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar -- fiscally conservative, strong on defense.

Comment: It's what is not written here. People in the GOP will tell you that Elrod's family never pulled any strings to help him get elected. He earned the offices to which he was elected in his own right. Carson, on the other hand, relied exclusively on the help of his grandmother and political cronies to attain every job he's gotten in life.

Education

Carson: Carson has a bachelor's degree in criminal justice management from Concordia University-Wisconsin through its satellite campus in Hamilton County. He has a master's in business management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Elrod: Elrod has a bachelor's degree in history from Xavier University in Cincinnati and a law degree from Indiana University.

Comment: This is an issue I've discussed before which the local news media has completely ignored. If you accepted their education at face value, you would get the impression both candidates have earned undergraduate and post-graduate degrees. Carson's education claims are extremely suspect. We are to believe that Carson, while working full-time as a state police excise officer, earned a bachelor's degree from a Wisconsin university by traveling up to Carmel for night classes between Spring, 2001 and Spring, 2003. In his last semester, he earned 21 credit hours, bringing his total credit hours to 128. The school allowed him to transfer 6 hours from Ivy Tech and another 14 hours from the Indiana Police Academy, where he finished 88th out of 89 in his class. He got 20 hours of in-service credit. Sorry folks, but you don't have to be a skeptic to question this degree. Elrod graduated magna cum laude from Xavier University, which King omitted from Elrod's education credentials. Both his undergraduate and law degrees are from respected universities. They are legitimate.

Family

Carson: In 2001, he married Mariama Shaheed-Carson. They have a 14-month old daughter, Salimah, whose name means "peaceful" in Arabic. Mariama, 32, is an assistant principal at Snacks Crossing Elementary School in Pike Township. She is the daughter of Marion Superior Court Judge David Shaheed.

Elrod: Elrod is single.

Comment: King has a bias against single persons.

Faith

Carson: When he was little, his mother made him read Bible stories and report on them each night before bed. He was baptized in a Baptist church. Through seventh grade he attended St. Rita's, a Catholic school, and considered the priesthood until he hit puberty. As a teen, he read the Talmud, ancient Jewish teachings, and the Bhagavad-Gita, the Hindu scripture. In high school, he became drawn to Islam by the sight of crisply dressed Nation of Islam members in his neighborhood. He sought guidance from Imam Muhammad Siddeeq, who briefly counseled Mike Tyson. Carson converted to traditional Islam in the mid-1990s. His mosque, Nur-Allah Islamic Center, closely identifies with Wallace Deen Mohammed, who abandoned the race-based theology of the Nation of Islam for the more universal teachings of traditional Islam.

Elrod: He has spent his entire life in the United Methodist Church, the diverse Mainline denomination home to both George W. Bush and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Growing up, he attended University Heights United Methodist Church on the Southside. While at Indiana University, he served as the sexton at a Methodist church in Bloomington. He now attends Roberts Park United Methodist Church Downtown. He is a thesis shy of attaining a master's in theology from Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis -- not because of interest in becoming a pastor but more for the sake of learning.

Comment: More talk about Nation of Islam. No mention of Carson's ties to Louis Farrakhan, C'mon, Robert King, it's the elephant in the room none of you media folks want to discuss because you know how much it infuriates white voters in the 7th District. Elrod and I are both Methodists. He still attends church regularly. I don't. [Update: The front page of the print edition carries a tag line saying on Monday the newspaper will carry a story entitled, "Carson Faces Concerns About His Muslim Faith." Again, the concern isn't that he is a Muslim. The concern is with his ties to the controversial Louis Farrakhan. It seems the media can only discuss it in those terms to try to turn the table on those raising questions about the Farrakhan connection to make them appear bigoted against the Islamic religion and deflect attention to the bigoted and anti-Semitic teachings of Farrakhan.

Career

Carson: Carson is a marketing specialist. He joined Cripe Architects + Engineers, a local firm that specializes in designing schools as well as commercial projects, last year. He spent nine years as an officer with the State Excise Police, which enforces alcohol, tobacco and gambling laws, primarily in the area of sales to minors and illegal gambling machines. For nearly a year, he was detached to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security's Intelligence Fusion Center, a multi-agency force that works to prevent terrorism, major crimes and narcotics trafficking. He was a watch officer, supervising intelligence analysts.

Elrod: Elrod is a lawyer. For five years, he has worked in the law practice established by his grandfather and continued by his father, Elrod & Mascher. He handles everything from personal injury cases to divorces to bankruptcies -- everything but criminal law. He has both defended corporations and sued them. "Nothing is too big and nothing is too small," he said.

Comment: Amazing how Carson can take those jobs his grandmother got him and make them seem impressive. Elrod and I are both lawyers. Is there any better way to earn a living?

Campaigns

Carson: Carson has received strong support from national Democratic Party leaders, including a fundraiser earlier this month in Washington, D.C., and is using an experienced Washington consultant. Locally, he inherited much of his grandmother's political machine, which helped her repeatedly fend off Republican challengers. His campaign has produced a pair of television ads and a radio ad that have aired repeatedly.

Elrod: Elrod has received no support from the national Republican Party. His political consultant is based in Franklin and is working on its first high-profile campaign. He has yet to hit the airwaves with ads, but video of his effort to write thank-you notes to supporters while sitting in the House chamber became a YouTube moment. He has received support from the Indiana Republican Party and his mother, Bev Elrod, recently made 517 phone calls on his behalf in a single day.

Comment: Again, King's bias against Elrod shines through.

Paths to Office

Carson: Carson has yet to face voters in a contested race. When City-County Councilman Patrice Abduallah resigned last year, Carson emerged from a caucus of precinct captains as the choice to fill the seat on an interim basis. He ran unopposed in November. After his grandmother's death, he was the first-ballot choice of county precinct committee chairs.

Elrod: Elrod won his first two elected offices in upsets in districts heavily favoring Democrats. In 2004, he won a seat on the Center Township Advisory Board by 35 votes. Then in 2006 he defeated Democratic incumbent Ed Mahern by eight votes to win a seat in the Indiana House. His secret, particularly in the House race, seems to be hard work. In that campaign he knocked on 6,000 doors.

Comment: King couldn't twist these facts against Elrod, could he?