Among the implications of the mayoral election Nov. 8 is a little slice of history.
If Mayor Tom Henry is re-elected, it would mark the first time in more than a century either political party has held the mayor’s office for at least 16 consecutive years.
For many years, city voters had a habit of replacing Republicans with Democrats, and Democrats with Republicans. From the mid-1950s through the 1970s, voters were particularly volatile, limiting to a single elected term Republicans Robert Meyers and Robert Armstrong as well as Democrats Paul Mike Burns and Ivan Lebamoff. When Democrat Win Moses was re-elected in 1987, he was just the second mayor after Republican Harold Zeis to win re-election since Republican Harry W. Baals four decades earlier.
The closest lock on the office in the past century is credited to Baals, who won election three times beginning in 1934 and served 13 consecutive years (one term was for five years), from 1935 to 1947, then came back and won again in 1951. And Republican Paul Helmke held the office for a dozen years, from 1988 to 1999.
But to find the last time either party controlled the office for at least 16 years, you have to go back to the 19th century, when Democrats Franklin Randall, Charles Zollinger and Charles Muhler held the mayor’s office from 1869 to 1889.
Graham Richard’s election victories in 1999 and 2003 paired with wins by Henry in 2007 and – if he’s re-elected – 2011 would give the Dems four mayoral victories in a row.
Hughes fundraiser
Six area Republican mayors are joining together to host a fundraiser for Paula Hughes, the Republican who hopes to make sure that the Democrats’ winning streak stops at three.
Mayors Terry McDonald of New Haven, Suzanne Handshoe of Kendallville, Norm Yoder of Auburn, Wayne Seybold of Marion, Bob Vanlandingham of Wabash and Bruce Hosier of Portland are joining County Commissioner Nelson Peters in hosting the fundraiser.
Tickets for the fundraiser, today at 816 Pint and Slice on Calhoun Street, start at $500.
Self-representation
Attorneys have a well-known line that advises against representing oneself in a legal matter.
This came to mind earlier this month, when the Indiana Supreme Court rejected Secretary of State Charlie White’s request for the court to rule against the Democratic Party in its efforts to gain a legal ruling that White was ineligible to run for his office. White decided to represent himself on this civil law matter.
Because the Indiana Recount Commission rejected the Democrats’ request to rule White ineligible, White is now seeking a favorable ruling in the lawsuit.
However, the Supreme Court wrote, White’s motion was “procedurally defective” because he filed it in the wrong court. It should have been filed in Marion County courts.
