Liggett, Davis vie for Dist. 33 seat (10/20/04)

During five previous re-election campaigns, State Rep. Ron Liggett hasn’t had a really close call.

If the interest shown both locally and on a state-wide level is any indication, this year could be different.

In a race that has been targeted as critical by both parties, Liggett, a self-employed contractor from Redkey, is being challenged by Portland businessman and resident Bill Davis.

With Democrats holding a slim 51-49 advantage in the Indiana House of Representatives, the race — along with a contest for a vacant District 31 seat in Blackford and Grant counties — could decide which party controls the legislature. The Republicans have clear control of the State Senate.

Neither man has access to poll numbers, but an unofficial yard sign poll — combined with the big dollars and big names who have chimed in with endorsements and support — indicate it could be a tight race in District 33, which includes all of Jay County and roughly the northern two-thirds of Randolph County and the eastern third of Delaware County. (See map on page 5.)

In the past week, U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and Indiana’s Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis have shown up in Jay County to endorse Davis and Liggett, respectively.

State Rep. Brian Bosma (R-Indianapolis) will speak tonight at the Jay County GOP dinner, while Indiana Gov. Joe Kernan will be in Portland Thursday night for the Democratic Party fall dinner.

State Democratic and Republican committees — as well as political action committees — have also tossed a healthy amount of cash (the two candidates have combined to raised more than $450,000) into the race for signs and advertising that has been uncharacteristically rough-and-tumble for a local election contest in this part of the state.

Through this morning, contributions to Liggett’s re-election campaign totaled almost $244,000, while Davis’ bid to unseat Liggett had raised about $210,000.

Charges and counter-charges have flown back-and-forth mostly in radio advertisements, with charges aimed by the Davis campaign at Liggett’s record in the Indiana Legislature on issues including a proposed gas tax hike and Indiana’s budget deficits. Liggett has responded by saying that Davis is running false attack ads.

Liggett says he’s proud of his record in the Indiana Legislature and that several of the charges contained in the advertising funded by state GOP officials are false. For his part, Davis says he’s kept the campaign clean and focused on the issues.

In separate interviews last week with The Commercial Review, the candidates talked about the campaign and a variety of other issues — including a fundamental question: Why should someone vote for you?

Liggett, who sees himself as a champion of the rights of “average Hoosiers,” says he’s proud of many things that have been accomplished in the Indiana House.

“You’ll have to look at my record. You’ll have to look at what I’ve done for business, to try to attract business to the community. You’ll have to look at how I’ve worked to protect working Hoosiers,” Liggett, the owner of a construction company, said.

Davis, the owner of Limestone Products Inc., said “I’m going to do in Indianapolis what I tell you I’m going to do in Jay County. I’m going to be honest, I’m going to be upfront about the issues. I’ll work hard to make sure we get the spending ... and programs in place to put Indiana back to work. I think I’m going to represent the values of this district.”

Both candidates agree that the economy, jobs and the high cost of health care are among the top issues concerning District 33 residents.

“People are concerned about taxes, and they’re concerned about jobs,” says Davis. “Beyond that are social issues” such as abortion and same-sex marriage.

Pointing to a current $800 million state deficit, Davis said the state needs to get its finances in order.

“Until we can stop the bleeding, we can’t fund the kind of projects in this state that we need to fund — technology projects, education projects. Until we get that under control, it’s hard to create jobs, hard to fund health care for children, things of that nature.”

Davis has endorsed a position statement sent out by Indiana House Republicans urging passage of a 99 percent spending limit. That would limit state spending to 99 percent of projected revenue over the budget period.

Liggett, who lays at least some of the blame for the state budget deficit on bad trade and other domestic policy in Washington, D.C., says that he is proud of how well state and local officials are now cooperating in economic development.

“A lot’s been done. The whole point is, what’s the end result?” said Liggett. “Those that want to criticize what we’ve done point out that we’ve lost more jobs than any other state. You can’t argue that numbers-wise. But there are other numbers that reflect that Indiana’s doing better than most other states ... You can look at that two ways — as a pessimist or an optimist,” Liggett said.

Property taxes, which have been a huge issue over the past decade in Indiana, are also a source of disagreement.

Liggett, while touting efforts to reduce the property tax burden, says it’s likely an evil Indiana residents will have to live with for the foreseeable future. Davis, meanwhile, says he believes taxing property is an outdated system that begs for change. He admits that change would be extremely complex.

“It would be difficult to change Indiana’s property tax system because number one it’s a consistent tax, unlike income tax,” said Liggett. “And when you look at the number of things that would replace the property tax ... there’s a lot of cost shifting, obviously to folks who don’t own property with moderate incomes. It escalates the sales and income tax so dramatically.”

Liggett also said he is concerned that some major corporations in Indiana, which are currently paying no income tax in the state because of legal structuring, would pay no tax at all if property taxes were eliminated.

“I think property tax, at one time, was a measurement of wealth,” Davis said. “The thought was the wealthy people would pay the property taxes, and it would be a continual flow. The fact is, today, property taxes are not necessarily just paid by the wealthy ... I think it’s time to take a look at other avenues.”

Davis, who said a combination of other taxes such as income and sales should replace property taxes, said he has met senior citizens during the campaign who say they may be forced to sell their homes because of high property tax bills.

The two also diverge on the Build Indiana Fund, a lottery-funded program that has been halted during the economic downturn of the past few years.

The BIF gave a grant allotment to each state representative and senator to take back to his or her district.

Davis said that while the money was nice, the Build Indiana Fund should be left where it is — on the shelf.

“Our community has certainly benefited from Build Indiana Funds, and I don’t think anyone can argue with that,” says Davis. “That being said, during the last 12 years we’ve gone from a $1 billion surplus to an $800 million deficit ... Would we have been better off to fund the projects that needed funded and have merit and kept some of that money for a rainy day? So when we have downturns in the economy we could have enough money to get through the hardships we’re having now?”

Liggett, who like most members of the general assembly found BIF awards to be great public relations, said he hopes the program is revived.

“The folks from the rural communities would really like to see (Build Indiana) returned. This is not political, but it’s geographical. In the urban areas they would like to see the BIF money spent on one major project. Most rural legislators would like to see it returned. If there’s a recovery, there could be a resurgence of Build Indiana money,” Liggett said.

Liggett said he also has been told that several Jay County organizations — including the Jay School Corporation and the Jay County Fair Association — could still get Build Indiana money that was promised several years ago but frozen by late Gov. Frank O’Bannon when the state’s budget began to tighten.

Liggett, who has easily defeated challenges from five different GOP candidates (Greg Beumer, Dick Thornburg, Sam Shoemaker, David Robertson and Noel “Bud” Carpenter) says he has no doubt his District 33 seat is in the sights of the Indiana Republican Party.

“Oh absolutely ... It’s an investment of money for power is what targeting is,” Liggett said in an interview last week. “The Indianapolis Republicans want power. To get that power they have to knock off somebody. And I was their top selection to knock off. That’s the bottom line. It’s not that they don’t like me. They don’t like what I stand for — especially big business.”

“I don’t believe that Ron himself has been targeted,” said Davis. “Ron holds the seat in District 33 that could very well change the balance of who is going to lead the state ... through the next two years ... If you just look at raw numbers and how people normally vote, District 33 is a Republican district. It’s quite natural. If you’re looking to gain House seats, you look for those areas where people are going to more than likely vote in your party.”

The money flowing into the race has reflected the interest not only locally but statewide.

The biggest contributor to the Liggett re-election campaign was a political action committee of the Indiana State Teachers Association, which has given in excess of $81,000. The Pat Bauer for State Representative Committee, which was formed for the speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives, recently gave $20,000 to Liggett’s campaign.

Davis has received more than $80,000 recently — including $30,000 from a political action committee of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, $26,600 from the Indiana Republican State Central Committee and $25,000 from the Christel DeHaan Foundation.

Liggett says that one of the toughest things about being a legislator is being criticized for making tough decisions.

One of the issues that has been raised in radio advertisements — and in a meet the candidates forum last week — were several votes on increasing the state tax on gasoline.

Ads run by the Davis campaign say that Liggett voted for a 47 percent (7 cent per gallon) increase on the gas tax. The increase that was eventually passed was 3 cents, with the state getting two cents and local entities one cent.

“I’m criticized for a Senate bill that proposed to raise the gas tax 47 percent. It wasn’t my bill ... but the point is when you face an election everyone wants to attack your record,” Liggett said.

Liggett said that local elected officials had discussed with him the need for more road and street funding.

Davis did not raise or discuss the gas tax issue during his interview.

Davis says that he’s in the race “trying to make things better. The state of Indiana’s going in the wrong direction. We’re on the wrong track, and we don’t seem to be getting any better at it. I want to be a part of making our district better — better for me, better for my family, better for the people who live here. And that’s not a lot different than what I’ve been involved with throughout my adult life.”

Liggett had praise for the way that leaders in Jay County have planned for the future and worked together — citing examples such as the hiring of a community developer, the strength of The Portland Foundation and the formation and continued activities of Jay County Development Corporation.

“(Jay County is) one of the leaders in the state, and they don’t recognize how important it is to a legislator to be able to call people, to be able to communicate with and take advice from them ... I listen to their complaints ... that’s probably the most important thing I get out of being a legislator,” Liggett said.

Davis said that the work of running for state representative has been difficult but rewarding.

“I think if you’ve never been involved in a political race — especially one of this magnitude — it’s a bigger undertaking than I think most people would realize. But that being said ... we’ve enjoyed the experience. We’ve had a great time meeting people, particularly going door-to-door. And people are nice ... We’ve just found it a great experience,” Davis said.[[In-content Ad]]