NEW HARMONY GAZETTE PUBLISHER RUNS FOR POSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONER

NEW HARMONY GAZETTE PUBLISHER RUNS FOR POSEY COUNTY COMMISSIONER! 

Dan Barton, Publisher of the New Harmony Gazette, has announced that he is officially running for public office as a candidate for Posey County Commissioner, District 2.

Mr. Barton says that he chose this course of action after realizing that the County’s vision for infrastructure support was not reaching some of the smaller town’s, such as New Harmony. He cited the failure of the Posey County Commission to stand by it is 2014 vote to take title to the abandoned Harmony Way Bridge as one blatant example of the lack of commitment by the County Commission to all of the smaller towns in Posey County. Barton also believes that the Indiana Route 66 corridor is an integral part of the Posey County economy that connects towns of Illinois like Crossville, Carmi and Grayville with our Indiana towns like New Harmony, Wadesville, Blairsville and all the way to Evansville. He views these towns as one interconnected community.

In 2012 the Harmony Way Bridge was closed and it immediately cut off access to Indiana for 300,000 vehicles a year that crossed the bridge and used Indiana 66 as an everyday and weekend thoroughfare. He estimates that Indiana and the Harmony Way Bridge potentially lost over a million dollars a year because of County inaction, or over seven million dollars in the total in the seven years it’s been closed.

Barton says that he will also promote more open government and be committed to sharing the accurate facts with the citizens of Posey County on how the decisions for spending their tax money are made. “Transparency in County government is vital for citizens to be able to fully participate in the decision-making process. It’s better than too much information regarding the details of a county project are released to the public than too little,” he noted.

He said, “I will make it a point to bring the true facts to the decision-making process and bring those facts before the public, as I have done in the newspaper I publish, The New Harmony Gazette.” “More than once over the past four years Commissioners have released inaccurate information to the public on potentially beneficial public projects, without being able to support the information in question. I will not be a part of that disinformation process. When elected we work for the people of Posey County and not for special interests.”

He pointed out that, “If elected I will dedicate myself to making only fact-based decisions that make sense by the numbers and I will work hard to ensure that the doors of government are opened wide for the citizens to see, hear and participate in those decisions.”