Vanderburgh County Political Parties Elect Leadership

A who’s who of local politics gathered Saturday morning to determine who will lead the local parties for the next four years. It was “Reorganization Day,” and each party held its own meeting to vote on a county chairman, vice chair, secretary, and treasurer to serve a four-year term.

The Democrats presented a united front and reelected their central committee members without contested races. In a room filled with political luminaries, including Mayor Stephanie Terry, Sheriff Noah Robinson, and some city council members, the Democrats cast their votes to keep Cheryl Schultz as Chair, James Powell as Vice Chair, Ann Wallis as Treasurer, and Shannon Dierlam as Secretary.

The GOP lacked a sense of harmony, so two sheriff’s deputies watched over the gathering “just in case.” The day was peaceful, with not a single argument breaking out.

The Republican gathering was attended by 212 precinct committeemen (PCs) and their vice PCs, about 80 percent of the PCs in the party. It was more than double the turnout from the 2021 Reorganization Day. Interest ran high for this caucus after the past four years marked by GOP infighting.

Last year, conservatives in the party actively recruited candidates to run for PC and convention delegate positions. The result was a record number of PC candidates on the May ballot. Conservative activists Ken Colbert and Cheryl Batteiger-Smith recruited many of those candidates. GOP Chairman Mike Duckworth contested some of the candidates under what is referred to as the “two primary rule”. Colbert and Batteiger-Smith became very vocal critics of Duckworth’s actions.

After the May primary, when the PCs were elected, Duckworth removed Colbert, Batteiger-Smith and former mayoral candidate Michael Daugherty from their elected positions as PCs. Colbert vowed to have Duckworth removed as county chairman.

Colbert and other Duckworth detractors decided to wait until Reorganization Day to get a candidate to their liking into the office. That candidate was a Frank Peterlin, a conservative Christian with plenty of political experience. Running with Perterlin were Lauren Bell, Walter Valiant, and Brian Pease.

Evansville pastor Steve Ary was next to throw his hat in the arena. Steve ran against Duckworth four years ago and lost by a handful of votes. Ary did not recruit a slate of candidates for the other seats in the committee, opting instead to work with anyone that gets elected to the central committee.

Kyhle Moers, husband of Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Diana Moers, assembled a slate of candidates that includes the incumbent vice chair of the party and Vanderburgh County Clerk Dottie Thomas, Joe Kratochville, and former mayor and current county recorder Russ Lloyd, Jr.

Colbert was confident that the “America First Team” led by Peterlin would win, but Dottie Thomas and Mike Duckworth found at least 25 PC or vice PC positions open and they could fill those positions with anyone they wish. Adding those additional PCs with voting rights in the caucus would end up having a huge impact on the outcome of the vote.

With three candidates running for chair, many people expected the outcome of the first ballot would not give any candidate a clear majority, forcing a runoff vote. But, on the first ballot, Steve Airy had 36 votes, Frank Peterlin had 64, and a clear majority of 112 votes went to Kyhle Moers.

Moers’ slate of candidates all won, Dottie Thomas, Vice-Chair; Joe Kratochvil, Secretary; and Russ Lloyd Jr, Treasurer.

Moers says that he will be focused on unifying the party.