Below is a Q&A from NUVO Newsweekly published on October 12, 2011 during my run for City County Council. You can read the entire story by hitting the link at the bottom of the page.
1) What do you offer as a candidate?
For starters I offer up my personal phone number and email to everybody I meet and to every home I visit on the campaign trail. I expect that my City County Councilor be available and accountable, and that's what I am now and will always be. I didn't wake up one morning and decide I needed to be elected. I actually have an ongoing love-hate relationship with politics, but became fed up enough with a lack of representation and voice from my District that I decided to run.
My youth (31 years old) allows me that perfect mix of idealism and energy that this city (and especially District 15) needs. My background in law and business (both my JD and MBA degrees earned at IU downtown) and government and media (studied at DePauw) provide me with a valuable skill set to be effective on the Council. The fact that I have experienced the highs and lows of small business ownership connects me to the thousands of Indy residents enduring that same roller coaster in these tough times.
I love my city and am proud to have seen it grow over three decades. I see elected office as a privilege and not an entitlement. I'm running as a republican, was raised libertarian, and am not afraid or unwilling to reach across the aisle when necessary to get the job done.
2) What does your district most need from the City Council?
A City County Councilor who lives in the District and serves a full term. One would think that's not too much to ask or expect from their elected official, but District 15 has lacked that for the last decade and has instead been a revolving door of embarrassing representatives and political ambition. Once we finally have a councilor that is available and accountable, we can truly have a voice on the Council. That means a voice for the thousands of young professionals who have moved downtown, for the historic westside neighborhoods that have lacked an advocate for years, and homeowners on the near north side and Lockerbie who remember when they were almost taxed out of their homes four years ago.
More at NUVO.net
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