Saturday, February 09, 2008

More 7th District News

The 7th District Democratic race has grown more crowded with the entry of former state health commissioner Dr. Woody Myers. That makes five candidates for the Democrats despite efforts of the Democrats to anoint the late Rep. Julia Carson's grandson, Andre Carson, as her successor. Some of Carson's opponents, who were already suspicious of the conduct of the January caucus last month which chose Carson by a handful of votes on the first ballot over a number of more qualified candidates, will be asking more questions about the the transfer of funds from Julia Carson's campaign to the state Democratic Party. According to Carson's year-end report, her treasurer transferred a total of $12,000 to the state party in three separate payments on October 1, November 1 and December 1, 2007, respectively. These larger payments were in addition to other payments the campaign committee made to the party to reimburse it for rent and other expenses for the space it shares at the party's headquarters. Take note of the fact that the payments all came after Carson's hospitalization in September, which began her rapid decline before she passed away in December. The committee still had a balance of over $118,000 as of the end of the year. Finally, the Star reports that Carson becomes the first candidate to hit the airwaves with a TV ad. Mary Beth Schneider writes:

Democrat Andre Carson's first TV ad in his campaign to succeed his grandmother in Congress is as notable for what it doesn't say as for what it does.

Not once in the 30-second spot, which begins airing on Indianapolis TV stations today, does Carson mention former U.S. Rep. Julia Carson.

Julia Carson died Dec. 15, and her grandson Andre was selected by Democratic precinct committee members in January as their party's nominee in the March 11 special election.

But while the ad doesn't mention the late congresswoman by name, it does stress family.

"The most important thing I can pass on to my daughter are the values that my family taught me," Carson says in the ad, as the screen shows his 1-year-old daughter, Salimah. "Work hard, fight for what you believe in and help others."

And twice in the half-minute ad, Carson mentions bringing "change" to Washington.

Not surprisingly, the ad tells us little about Carson. What's he going to say? I got a political patronage job in Center Township Trustee's office right out of high school working for my grandma, She later used her political clout to get me a job as a state excise police officer. After a decade on the public dole, my grandmother's political machine got me appointed to the Indianapolis City-County Council and helped me get a job as a marketing representative for an engineering firm which does a lot of work with the City of Indianapolis and other local governments. And then my grandmother's political friends and Louis Farrakhan announced to everyone at my grandmother's funeral home that I was the chosen one to take her place in Congress. Yeah, that sounds pretty convincing, don't you think?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

*yawn* Andre is the same old same old. No thanks.

Anonymous said...

Gary,

I checked today, and those payments from the Carson committee to state party were payroll reimbursement.

Routine stuff.

Anonymous said...

Jen is right. Julia has pretty much always had a campaign person on staff, and they office and work out of the state party HQ.

But the Carson committee paid almost nothing for that earlier in 2007...perhaps a strange bookkeeping error?

Maybe that paragon of bookkeeping excellence, Wilson, has a clue?

Gary R. Welsh said...

Thanks for the clarification, Jen. The timing doesn't look good, particularly since her campaign was effectively over before it ever began.

Anonymous said...

Carson's ad says, "Work hard, fight for what you believe in and help others."

Tranlated: Work hard [at holding on to power], fight for what you believe in [a government job for me, myself and I] and help others [by helping myself].

Anonymous said...

Are any of these primary candidates (of either party) what would be considered pro life?

Flipper said...

Gary,
Thanks for the call back last night.
What will be interesting in the 7th district campaign is that a very successful Latino attorney will throw his name in the ring prior to the may primary on the republican ticker.
This will be interesting.

Anonymous said...

Here it is: I can vote for Senator
Barak Obama tomorrow - But, Andre
Carson? No, absolutely not. What is the differnce in the two? Farrakhan.
Knowing full well that he would be the heir-designate of Julia Carson's seat in Congress - he asked a racist to speak at her funeral, obviously without any thought of the reaction of the
majority white vote in this the
seventh district.
I have no problem voting for a black Democrat for Congress or for
President; but I will not vote for
Andre Carson and I urge others not to elect a man with ties to a racist to Congress.
May God Bless this great nation and reserve a hot place in hell for
George Walker Bush.


Sarge

Anonymous said...

So who are you voting for Sarge? And if you don't want to say, who are you considering?

Anonymous said...

Are we going to continue to be bombasted with these untruths and gossip or are we going to discuss the issues.......no one can give one reason for not voting for Andre Carson other than one based on untrue gossip or lies or hate or all three. i will vote for him gladly.

Anonymous said...

Gary, that last paragraph is a gem.

Anonymous said...

ok, 12:32, here's one, and it's not gossip, it's gospel truth:

He hasn't earned it. He's the least-experienced candidate. And his slating was not exactly a fair election. And we resent outsiders telling us who to vote for from a funeral pulpit--what a classless move.

Sorry. That was four. All factual.

You'll soon realize that people's gag reflexes aren't very good, especially when something is shoved down our throats.

Anonymous said...

Ok, I'll bite: he has no legislative experience.

Would you hire someone for a high-level job without any relevant experience?