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Women Right of Center to Host Warrick Candidates on April 28
April 26, 2010
CHANDLER, Indiana – On April 28, Women Right of Center (Women R.O.C.) will host candidates of the upcoming Warrick County Primary at a public event being held at the Chandler Community Center. Guest speakers will be Aaron Bennett and Brett Kruse, both candidates for Warrick County Sherriff.
The free public event will provide a setting for Primary candidates to speak for a limited time and answer questions from the audience. Chandler Community Center is located at 405 Community Center Drive in Chandler.
Candidates who have indicated they will attend, to date, are Cheyenne Phillips – Auditor; Jim Bealmear – Ohio Township Trustee; Ted Metzger – State Senate; Angela Wilder – Assessor; Jo Ann Krantz – Prosecutor; Brett Kruse – Sheriff; Aaron Bennett – Sheriff; Aric Pryor- County Council District 4; Sue Ellspermann – State Representative District 74; Ian Hauer- Ohio Township Board.
The April 28 event will run from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Women R.O.C. meetings and events are open to everyone: members, non-members, men and women.
Women R.O.C. is an Evansville-based group whose goal is to gain knowledge that will help members and non-members make decisions concerning politics, community involvement and self-betterment.
For more information about the April 28 event or to R.S.V.P. contact Melissa Mauser, V.P. Communications, at womenrightofcenter@yahoo.com or call 812-480-2675.
8th Dist. GOP Candidates Try to Separate Themselves at Debate
April 20, 2010
Reported by: Michael Chesney
tristatehomepage.com
Monday, April 19 2010
Republican candidates for the eighth congressional district got what might be their last best chance to reach primary voters in the Evansville area.
Six of the candidates met Monday night at the Evansville Day School for a debate hosted by the group Women Right of Center.
One of the candidates at the debate will likely go up against State Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mt. Vernon, in November.
The primary is two weeks from Tuesday.
And they need to find a way to stand out in a very crowded GOP field.
It was a quick debate, one hour, and effectively four questions.
Not a lot of time for candidates to separate themselves, but some difference did start to emerge, like on a question of America’s role as the “world’s police.”
“Make no mistake, if we are not the police, then who is going to be?” asked Steve Westell. “Nobody else is taking the lead there. Somebody has to. Somebody has to step up to the plate.”
“I do not believe in the policing of the world and making them sucumb to our will and desire, because I believe in their right to live in their society as they wish,” said Dan Stockton. “I believe in encouragement of freedom. I believe in encouragement.”
Many in America see the war in Iraq as part of this country’s policing of the world.
Candidates were asked how America should handle that war and the one in Afghanistan moving forward.
“We are doing the right thing,” Dr. Larry Buschon said. “We are slowly retracting our troops. We are allowing the people of Iraq to regain their sovereignty, to take over the defense of their own country.”
“When the time comes for us to complete that battle and complete that war, we need to get out,” said John Lee Smith. “But, in the meantime, we must defend the troops. We must provide the supplies they need.”
During the health care debate, many conservatives accused members of congress of voting the way they wanted – not the way their constituents wanted.
So, candidates were asked how they would handle the position.
“You need to represent the Constitution as a trustee and the people as a delegate,” said Kristi Risk. “And your voice needs to be representative of both the Constitution and the people.”
“I think the people have forgotten that they represent us, we don’t serve them,” Bud Bernitt said. “You can’t point fingers all you want. But I think we have to point fingers at ourselves clearly. We are the ones who have been giving them all this power.”
The moderator also asked a question about a story FOX 7 ran on Friday – saying Buschon was the only candidate whose fundraising totals through March were posted on the Federal Election Commission website.
As of Monday night, Dan Stockton’s totals were up as well.
Other candidates point out that since they have raised less than $5,000 total, they are not required to file their information with the FEC.
GOP Congressional Debate Touches Foreign Affairs
April 20, 2010
By Thomas B. Langhorne
www.courierpress.com
Posted April 19, 2010 at 9:51 p.m. , updated April 19, 2010 at 9:51 p.m.
EVANSVILLE — Foreign affairs and America’s place in the world punctuated a debate of six 8th District Republican congressional candidates tonight.
The civil, hour-long debate in Evansville Day School’s gymnasium also marked the first large public event hosted by Women Right of Center, an Evansville-based conservative organization founded last year.
The group, which is not part of the Tea Party movement, is primarily composed of women who had been politically uninvolved.
The candidates who showed up tonight laid out their ideas about coping with anti-American terrorism.
“America is very vulnerable right now,” said Bud Bernitt, co-owner with his wife of Bloomington, Ind.-based Bernitt Realty. “Our guard is down. (President Barack Obama’s) people are going around taking the words, ‘terrorist,’ and ‘radical Islam,’ out of everything.
“They don’t realize the war we’re fighting. We’re not fighting an enemy like we’ve fought before. I believe America needs to wake up to the reality of who we’re fighting.”
Dan Stockton, a Putnam County resident and automotive manufacturing plant employee, said the U.S. objective in Iraq should not be to reshape the nation politically.
“We do not need to be there at our expense once we’ve won the war,” Stockton said. ” … Yeah, I’ll spend more money. And yes, we need to fight to win. But when we’re done, we pull out.”
Steve Westell, a Putnam County resident and a former Indiana conservation officer, drew a connection between America’s capacityto protect its position in the world and illegal immigration.
“Do we want to be the police of the world? We have to be engaged in what’s going on in this world,” Westell said.
“We have to start right here at home. A strong national defense starts with secure borders, and that’s got to be our number one priority right from the get-go.”
Larry Bucshon, a Newburgh-based heart surgeon, said America’s greatness is singular and should be used to protect its strategic allies if they come under attack.
“We are the country that is for liberty and freedom,” Bucshon said. “There’s no other country in the world other than us that can represent that on the grand scale that we can.
” … I don’t believe we should use the term, ‘policing the world.’ But what we should do is use the term, ‘protecting freedom’ around the world.”
Owen County resident and stay-at-home mom Kristi Risk, said America’s military personnel in Iraq must not be abandoned.
“I’m telling you right now that there is set upon our military a precedence that tells them that they cannot fire unless fired upon, and that is wrong,” Risk said.
The U.S. Iraq War effort must be led by its military leaders and not by politicians, Risk declared.
John Lee Smith, a financial adviser with Edward Jones Investments in Evansville, said American forces should leave Iraq when the job is done.
“But in the meantime, we must defend the troops, we must provide the supplies that they need. We cannot afford to put the troops on the line without the proper supports.”
In all, eight candidates are vying for the GOP nomination in the 8th District, considered an open seat for election purposes because Rep. Brad Ellsworth, D-Ind., is campaigning for the Senate. The Democratic nominee to replace Ellsworth will be Rep. Trent Van Haaften, D-Mount Vernon.
Not present for tonight’s debate were candidates Billy J. Mahoney, a Vermillion County resident and unemployed full-time student seeking a business degree, and John K. Snyder, a Washington, Ind., resident and former state treasurer.
Before the debate, Women ROC President Holli Sullivan said the organization draws about 50 women to its monthly meetings and communicates regularly with about 215 more.
Attracting six of the 8th District’s eight Republican candidates to its first big public event is a feather in Women ROC’s cap, Sullivan said.
“We call it our warm-up debate, because we’ll be hosting a lot more debates in the fall, local and hopefully at the federal level,” she said with a smile.
“You don’t have to know any lingo. You don’t even have to know if you’re Republican or Democrat. You don’t have to care about that, you just want to get involved or learn how to get your voice heard. ”
Women Right of Center launched its new Web site just an hour before tonight’s debate, Sullivan said.
It’s address is: www.womenrightofcenter.com.