Sam Carson A Volunteer For Mitch Daniels

Jim Shella blogs about how Sam Carson, son of the late U.S. Rep. Julia Carson (D), is a volunteer for Mitch Daniels' re-election campaign. Sam Carson, the first cousin of U.S. Rep. Andre Carson and son of Sam (the Daniels' volunteer), first announced last week and then almost as quickly withdrew his candidacy for Marion Co. Democratic chairman against Ed Treacy. This comes as no surprise to me. Perhaps no other person in the state of Indiana has made more money off the Daniels administration than lobbyist Lacy Johnson, a powerful force behind the Carson political machine. Recall that Johnson helped bring about businessman Bill Mays as a major backer of Daniels in the African-American community four years ago. Johnson also successfully lobbied Sen. Earline Rogers and Sen. Glenn Howard to back his Major Moves program, which has made lots of money for Johnson's law firm, Ice Miller. Some believe that the Daniels administration assigned former excise police officer Andre Carson to the Department of Homeland Security to boost his credentials a year ahead of his planned run for Congress this year. Also, Daniels' support for Jon Elrod in the special election was a bit hard to detect. Think about it. If Sam Carson had managed to win the chairman's race against Treacy, Ice Miller would have controlled both political parties in the county lock, stock and barrel. Politics is a funny business, isn't it?