Sullivan issued a statement that Elrod seems unclear about which constituents he wants to represent. She said voters in the 97th District don't deserve "someone who looks at each campaign as a steppingstone to the next elected office."
"I think people have a right to question him," said Michael O'Connor, the county Democratic Party chairman. "To say, 'I'd like to represent you in the Statehouse' is pretty disingenuous."
O'Connor said Elrod's "flip-flop" was part of a larger trend of Republicans abandoning all but the most winnable races in a year when polls show more people identifying with the Democratic Party.
Less than ten months ago, Mary Ann Sullivan had her sights set on becoming a city-county councilor. She competed against Andre Carson to fill the city-county council vacancy of Patrice Abduallah. Sullivan finished third in a 3-person race, receiving just 2 votes from Democratic precinct committeepersons. Sullivan, who has never held elective office, was talking about running for state representative before she even sought the city-county council seat. She was clearly seeking the city-county council seat as a stepping stone to running for state representative this year.
As for O'Connor, isn't this the same guy who was putting out a press release the other day accusing Mayor Ballard of not visiting storm-damaged areas of the city? On that note, Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi offers this great retort: "The only disaster area Mayor Ballard hasn't toured in recent weeks has been the Marion Co. Democratic headquarters." UPDATE: Whoops, I mistakenly attributed that quote to Brizzi, who emceed last night's GOP fundraising dinner. I should have attributed it to Robert Vane, who introduced Mayor Ballard at the dinner. Sorry, Robert.
9 comments:
Jonathon Elrod was first elected to a 4 year term on a Township Board but after only 2 years, jumped ship to run for the Legislature. After a year in the Legislature he tried disastrously to jump ship again to run for Congress. The dude simply doesnt seem to be interested in anything except jumping ship to something more advantageous to him, not to the electorate...
Voters had better demand a written pledge from him that he'll serve out his full term. He's left them in the lurch before!
First, that was a great line by Brizzi. I have to give it to the enemy when they hit the zinger. Having said that, my issue with Elrod isn't just the notion that he would seek another office. If he decided two years from now to run for Secretary of State, more power to him. But what you don't do is take your ball and go home because you don't like your chances. Mary Ann Sullivan, being new, threw into the city-council race, but when she realized she wasn't going to win, she didn't say, "I withdraw." She took the lump (and continues to take it in posts from you) for a bad showing. See, somehow that had more dignity than just saying, "No Mas!"
Taking your chances on a caucus election and running in a general election are two different birds altogether, Chris. Namely, Sullivan didn't have to raise and spend money for her CCC caucus race. Elrod was faced with the prospect of having zero help from the party in raising money for a race everyone said he couldn't win. When he had to make the decision to run, even many Democrats believed Andre Carson was unelectable. Both Jon Elrod and David Orentlicher were backstabbed and double-crossed by people within their own respective parties after they decided to run. Look at poor David. He is strapped with a $350,000 personal debt and few people in his own party who will even call him their friend today.
AI, you make several wrong conclusions in your post. First, MaryAnn Sullivan has been campaigning as if she had an opponent since February. She had yard signs, polling place handouts and has attending lots of neighborhood association meetings and had a booth at gay pride. {Where was Elrod?}. She has been raising money. She did NOT ever expect a free ride. In fact, in party slating, she ran against a sitting city councilor from a family that has been politically active for years.
Elrod knew when he ran that the GOP would not help him. They said so. Plus they have not helped the last 2 or 3 GOP candidates in that district.
David Orentlicher was not backstabbed by the party. He was advised by many of his closest supporters not to make the run for congress. He chose to ignore that advice and ran anyway. The debt is a voluntary one. The real loss here is not having him as a state representative.
Finally, I have to agree with Brizzi re: the diaster area of the Marion County Democratic Headquarters but that will change in the very NEAR future.
I ADORE Robert Vane! I think he is absolutely brilliant!
--Melyssa for HFFT
Lest anyone forget that Andre Carson ran for the city-county council only as a stepping stone, knowing full well his grandmother would be dead within months. He started running for the congressional seat before he was even sworn into a full term and just months after he was appointed. He did nothing on the council but draw a paycheck and campaign for Congress.
Oh my Mr. Wilson seems to be making the rules different again for us democrats. Andre never fullfilled a single term of anything he was elected to and jumped ship. Whats good for the goose is good for the gander Mr. Wilson. This is a paultry reason to not support Mr. Elrod. I am ashamed that my great Jeffersonian Party can't come up with any other reason to oppose a candidate than jumping ship which is just a regular occurance in any party. As for Mr. O'Connor? Darn, I can't think of a reason for him not to move back to Greenfield from whence he came.
This district can't be all that strong republican if they only have 4 committeepersons eligible to vote in the caucus. There are 42 precincts......by the way, I never got an answer to my question...where was Elrod during the Gay Pride parade and festival????
The question was already answered in a prevous thread on this blog--he was at the LCR's booth in the afternoon.
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