CANDIDATE PETE SWAIM SURVEY RESPONDES

Before I gladly answer your questions, I would ask in all fairness for an apology and posted correction to you previously calling me “Bruce Swaim.” This was done on your April 7 page announcing the CCO has sent out these questions to the 4th  District County Council Candidates. I would think you would first of all want to be accurate and in no way mislead the voters of Vanderburgh County.

With that said, here are the responses submitted by Peter M. Swaim, County Council Vice-President and District 4 County Council Member to the City County Observer.

1) Why do you feel that you can do an effective job as our next 4th District County Council member?  

Without a doubt I can do the most effective job. I’ve been doing it for the last three years. As Vice-President of the County Council, I’m proud of how all the council members have worked together with office holders and department heads, regardless of political party to hold the line on spending despite shrinking revenues and the state imposed tax caps, we’ve been able to make $4 ½ million in real cash cuts to the current county budget. We have been able to do this with NO reductions in county services, layoffs or spending of any of the county’s Rainy Day Funds. So, my question to you is why would anyone want to make a change in those doing that kind of job for the residents of Vanderburgh County?

2)  Explain why your education and professional expertise’s that qualifies you take on the task of leading our county in a positive direction for the next 4 years.

I earned two Bachelor’s Degrees from the University of Evansville during my 29 years on the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office. I later served as Executive Director of Evansville’s Department of Transportation and Services, managing 8 departments with a work force of over 200, when fully staffed. We were responsible for street maintenance, snow removal, cemeteries and traffic light maintenance, among other things. During that time I saved the city taxpayers over $1.2 million in energy and maintenance costs by installing L.E.D. traffic lights throughout the city.  I was nominated by Former President George W. Bush and confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the United States Marshal for the Southern District of Indiana, serving in that capacity for nearly 5 years. I was then elected by Republican Precinct Committeemen to the 4th District County Council seat.

 3)  Tell our readers what you feel are the strengths about your opponent.

I can’t tell your readers what I think, either good or bad, about someone I don’t know, would be improper.

4)  Tell our readers what you think are the short comings of your opponent?  

See above answer.

5)  What are the main challenges the county faces for the next 4 years?

Obviously the overall money crunch and its impact on paying for the operation and maintenance of county services.

 6)  Whats your stance on future tax increases for the next 4 years?

My stance on tax increases is simple, I don’t believe in them and we don’t need them.

 7)  What areas of county government can we make creative cuts to help keep budgets in line with income stream?

This is a process I’ve been involved in for the past three years. That’s when the council began asking office holders and department heads to cut their operating budgets by 3 to 5 per cent. We’ve also expected them to cut staff through attrition. This has been very successful and will continue. These cuts have resulted in a 3 per cent reduction in county property taxes for 2014.

 8)  What new county funded programs do you think you should consider during the next 4 years?

There is a project in the works that will make Burdette Park, that undiscovered jewel of the west side, a major attraction and an income producing destination, rather than merely a place for picnics and a dip in the pool. I also like the possibility of a West Side Sheriff’s Sub-Station that could be operated from Burdette Park since we already own the property.

9)  Do you feel elected county officials should or shouldn’t be allowed to hire family members to work in county funded job positions..

We are required each year to sign a compliance agreement prohibiting the employment of family members as county employees. That document speaks for itself.

10)  Whats your stance on political patronage appointments? 

Political patronage appointments are decisions each office holder has to make for themselves. My goal is to simply employ the most qualified person who applies for the job.

11)  Do you feel that any candidate running for public office should or shouldn’t accept political donations from anybody doing business with the County?

Same criteria applies as the answer above.

12) Do you feel that profession services such as general liability and health insurance, engineering and architectural services, grading and paving work and sewer installation work should be should be formally bid out? 

YES!

13)  Closing remarks shall cover any issues about your campaign as deemed necessary.

It is important to know I am currently working closely with the County Commissioners on two long term projects. Once finished they will provide considerable savings as well as producing new income for the residents of Vanderburgh County

It is also important for the taxpayers to know that my opponent, as a member of the Convention and Visitor’s board voted to award a $6 ½ million dollar contract for work on the new ball park complex to the same construction company being sued by the county, for failing to make good it’s work on the North Green River Road widening project. Not only is this irresponsible use of the taxpayer’s money, IT’S JUST PLAIN WRONG!

My faithful years of public service, I believe should warrant your vote on May 6th.

The City County Observer has just posted  Tri-State Voices TV show on the CCO Mole TV network featuring the highly respected and well known Vanderburgh County Chief Deputy Coroner Steve Lockyear.

INFORMATION ABOUT STEVE LOCKYEAR

Steve Lockyear is part of a family that first moved to Evansville in the early 1800’s. Using all of the modern technology available at the time, including sailing ship, wagon, then flatboat down the Ohio River, the family arrived in Evansville. Since then 8 generations have called Evansville their home.  Following a career path similar to past generations of his family, Steve has focused his future on running for Coroner.  Steve’s Great-grandfather was elected to the Indiana Court of Appeals and his father was Superior Court Judge.  “Service to the community has been an expected part of our family”.

   Currently Steve is the Chief Deputy of the Vanderburgh County Coroner’s Office, an office that provides morgue services to 37 counties in southern Indiana and Illinois.  Steve’s path to the coroner’s office came through The Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s office. His twenty-four (24) years with the Sheriff’s department, a majority of that as a detective, provided valuable experience and insight into crime scene and death investigation.  Retiring from there and coming to the Coroner’s office in 2009 was a natural progression.  “Here the focus is not only on the investigation of the death but helping families cope with what is probably the worst day of their lives”.  I’ve been amazed at the strength of our local families and community and how they deal with tragedies”.

Steve has been a part of the response to some of the largest tragedies in Evansville’s history, including the C130 Crash at the Drury Inn and the tornado strike at the Eastpark Trailer Park.   Steve observed that in both instances the victims of our community had the same response –  rather than giving up hope, they overwhelmingly rose to the occasion to help one another.  It is Steve’s desire to continue to serve this community that has made him so proud.

Recently the City County Observer sent Bruce Ungethiem and Marsha Abell questions that we felt would give our readers a better understanding how these two candidates feel about important local political issues.  Both individuals were asked the same questions and understand that the CCO would post their answers without opinion, bias or editing.  Mr. Ungethiem and Marsha Abell are running against other in the 2nd District County Commission seat in the Republican primary for the right to represent the Vanderburgh County Republican party in the November general election.  

County Commissioner Marsha Abell has failed to respond to the Political Survey questions we e-mailed her last week.  Because of that reason Ms. Abell forfeit the opportunity  to allow our readers to learn how she stands on important issues and challenged that faces our county over the next four years. It is also important to point out that Ms. Abell also declined to make a joint appearance with Mr. Undethiem on the City County Observer  and Woods and Woods TV program last week.

Posted below are the answers that GOP primary County Commissioner candidate Bruce Ungethiem submitted for  our readers to analize and respond  accordingly.

1) Why do you feel that you can do an effective job as our next 2nd District County Commissioner?

During my time as a community volunteer and leader, I learned the skill of listening to the people I served and understand their needs. I will use this skill to make county government more responsive to the people who elect me. I will use my experience and skills I learned in the private sector to bring professionalism to the county government that will improve efficiency and treat people with respect. I will use my knowledge of private business to develop a long range plan to bring new industry and jobs to our county.

2) Explain why your education and professional expertise qualify you take on the task of leading our county in a positive direction for the next 4 years.

With a bachelor’s degree in engineering and a minor in political science from Rose Hulman, and my experience as a professional engineer, project manager and business leader for 33 years at Mead Johnson, I am uniquely qualified to lead our county forward. I will bring the best practices of the private sector to local government and make it more efficient at a time when we need to do more with less.

3) Tell our readers what you feel are the strengths about your opponent?

I will let her answer that question.

4) Tell our readers what you think are the short comings of your opponent?

I will let her past actions and dealings with the citizens of Vanderburgh County speak for themselves.

5) What are the main challenges the county faces for the next 4 years?

The biggest challenge to our county is to increase revenue by increasing and managing growth. Growth is the key for our community to continue to provide the services required by the people. With the State tax cap on property taxes we will need to tighten our belt as well as generate new revenue. Bringing new industry into the county and building new homes the county will realize more revenue as a result of more assessed value. We need promote growth and manage it to ensure the needs of our citizens are taken into consideration as we grow.

6) What’s your stance on future tax increases for the next 4 years?

A tax increase should be the last resort in order to balance the budget. The State has capped the property taxes on homes, farms and businesses so increasing property taxes are not an option. I would prefer increasing the assessed value of property in the county by attracting new industry to the county to provide jobs and those jobs would spur new residential building. Both of these additions would increase revenue to the county.

7) What areas of county government can we make creative cuts to help keep budgets in line with income stream?

I believe we need to look at all of our current departments and the current processes and streamline those processes to make them more efficient. In addition, we need to look for synergies between departments to see if there are ways we can provide the same or better service at a lower cost. I look forward to working with the department heads to make this happen.

8) What new county funded programs do you think should be considered during the next 4 years?

I do not have specific new programs in mind at this time. If we do initiate a new program it must fit within the budget and as tight as the current budget is that may mean reducing another program.

9) Do you feel elected county officials should or shouldn’t be allowed to hire family members to work in county funded jobs?

I know that this practice has occurred in the past and I do not support this activity. If elected, I pledge not to hire any of my immediate family in a county position.

10) What is your stance on political patronage appointments?

I do not support political patronage appointments. I will hire and promote people based on the qualifications for the job and not who they voted for or financially supported in an election.

11) Do you feel that candidates running for public office should or shouldn’t accept political donations from those doing business with the County?

I believe this to be a conflict of interest and should not be allowed in government. If elected I will not accept donations to my committee from a company conducting business with the county.

12) Do you feel that professional services should be formally bid out?

I believe all contracts over $10,000 should be competitively bid with at least three qualified bidders submitting a bid. The low bid would be awarded the contract unless there were extenuating circumstances that the three commissioners agreed upon.

13) Closing remarks shall cover any issues about your campaign as deemed necessary.

As our community faces limited revenue from property taxes, our leaders will need to find new ways to continue to provide services the people need. It is time to bring new leadership to county government to meet these challenges. I believe that my experience as a project engineer and manager who has faced these challenges in the private sector makes me uniquely qualified to lead our county into the future. I hope you will agree and vote for me on May 6th.

By John Krull
TheStatehouseFile.com 

INDIANAPOLIS – Some things are just hard to measure.

That’s the real message of the teacher evaluations the Indiana Department of Education released Monday. Those

John Krull, publisher, TheStatehouseFile.com

evaluations rated more than 25 percent of Hoosier teachers as highly effective and another 61 percent as effective. Less than half a percent of those evaluated were deemed “ineffective.”

Advocates on both sides of the education war responded in predictable fashion.

Teachers said the results demonstrate that they’re doing a good job. So-called education reformers – the folks who demanded the evaluations – said that the results had to be flawed and that the education bureaucracy had rigged the game once again.

Sigh.

Like a lot of other people, I’ve watched the slow-motion train wreck that is the debate over “education reform” with mixed feelings and increasing frustration. I’m an educator myself and the son and grandson of teachers, but I’m also the father of two school-age children.

And what I see, on both sides of this fight, is a lot of people who ought to know better acting as if stridency will work better than subtlety in confronting a series of complex challenges. Education now is more complicated because the world is more complicated. We aren’t going to meet the challenges before us – we aren’t going to serve our children well – simply by slapping labels and numbers on schools, the people who work in them and the students who attend them.

These teacher evaluations are a perfect example.

Education reform advocates argue that the teacher ratings have to be skewed too high if student test scores aren’t correspondingly high. If the evaluation system isn’t faulty, what could account for such high scores for teacher competence?

Well, there are  at least a couple of things.

The first might be that the way we Hoosiers look at teachers could track with the way most Americans view Congress. Most public opinion polls show Americans have the same affection for Congress as an institution that they have for an infectious disease.

But they tend to like their own individual member of Congress – which is why they keep re-electing him or her.

It’s easier to blame an institution than it is an individual person.

But there’s another possibility, one that speaks to the challenge of educating today’s students.

My children go to the same school. They’re three grades apart.

They have had some of the same teachers. Inevitably, one child or the other has responded better to a particular teacher than the other one has.

Sometimes, it’s been my daughter who has thrived under a teacher’s mentoring. Sometimes, it’s been my son.

That stands to reason, of course. They’re different children – different people – with different skill sets and different ways of learning.

But who do we hold accountable in those situations – and how do we hold them accountable? Is it the teacher’s fault if my daughter gets an A in math and my son doesn’t? Or is it my daughter’s fault if she received a B in English and my son just got an A with the same teacher?

Or is it something more complex and much, much harder to quantify – the relationship between teacher and student? Do we have to try to understand not just what the student brings to the classroom or what the teacher does, but what they can do together?

The reality is that the educational challenges my children face are simpler than many. In most ways that matter, they’re fortunate. My children come to school every day from a happy, stable home. They arrive in class well-fed, healthy and knowing that they’re loved. In those ways, they minimize the number of variables that can affect academic performance.

The loudest voices for education reform say that taking note of factors such as those is an exercise in evading responsibility, of preparing for failure.

The more rational among us look at another way. We see it as acknowledging the scope and the complex nature of the educational challenges before us.

The brutal fact is that fashioning great schools for our children won’t be produced by the political and educational equivalent of pounding one’s fist on the desk.

Using blunt tools like teacher evaluations isn’t likely to help us solve the sophisticated cultural, economic and technological problems confronting education today. Nor will looking at only one part of a complicated equation – in this case, the teacher variable – help us arrive at the right solution for today’s students and schools.

Some things are just hard to measure.

John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism, host of “No Limits” WFYI 90.1 Indianapolis and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

INDIANAPOLIS – Let me give you an update about the work that has been accomplished by a task force designed to heighten public awareness on the problems caused by abuses of prescription drugs. I am pleased to join this task force this year.

The Indiana Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force, a group consisting of lawmakers, law enforcement officers, members of the medical community, health officials, pharmacists, and educators is dedicated to reducing the abuse of controlled prescription drugs and decreasing the number of deaths associated with these drugs in Indiana.

The numbers are shocking.

According to the Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH), 718 Hoosiers died from accidental drug overdoses in 2011, compared to 654 deaths the year before. The National Institute on Drug Abuse said more people abuse prescription drugs in the U.S. than cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants combined.

This year, we were able to pass a series of legislative initiatives:

• Cutting down on prescription drug abuse: Currently, pharmacies licensed to dispense drugs in Indiana are required to submit controlled substance prescription information to a statewide database called INSPECT every seven days. Under a new law, pharmacists will upload the data within 3 days beginning 2015 and within 24 hours beginning in 2016. This change narrows the window of opportunity for addicts to wrongfully fill a prescription multiple times. (HEA 1218)
• Improving access to mental health and addiction treatment services: ISDH reports a statewide shortage of mental health professionals and addiction treatment professionals. A new law offers student-loan forgiveness grants to psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, addiction counselors and mental health professionals who pursue addiction training in behavioral health and addiction psychiatry. (HEA 1360)
• Curbing instances of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS): Newborns exposed to prescription or illicit drugs while in the womb suffer withdrawal symptoms including respiratory complications, low birth weight, feeding difficulties and seizures. Under a new law, the ISDH will collaborate to determine best practices for physicians treating NAS and establish a standard reporting method for these types of cases. This legislation is a critical first step in determining the scope of the problem and ultimately, help direct more resources to these children and their mothers. (SEA 408)
• Assisting opioid drug overdose victims: A new law encourages emergency first responders—including law enforcement and firefighters—to be equipped with Naloxone, a medication that reverses the effects of an opioid drug overdose. Opioids include drugs like heroin, oxycodone and methadone. The measure also removes legal barriers to first responders utilizing the antidote to save lives. (SEA 227)