For Immediate Release September 30, 2010
Contact Mike Kole cell: 317-709-3874
Mike Kole, Libertarian candidate for Hamilton County Council and a Fishers resident, has joined a lawsuit in response to the failure of the Town Council to place the question of whether Fishers should remain a Town or become a City on the ballot.
“Last year, I signed a petition designed to take the question of ‘City or Town’ to the voters, as I believe it is the right of the people to decide,” said Kole, the 2006 Libertarian candidate for Secretary of State. “The most important thing to me is genuinely representative government. Fishers government fails to allow the people to decide how they want to be represented when the Council blocks a properly produced petition from appearing on the ballot,” said Kole.
On the actual question, Kole is not a supporter of Fishers becoming a City.
“There is the potential for checks and balances arising from an Executive being separate from the Legislative body. However, the actual experience of having a Mayor in Carmel and Westfield has been that of pet projects and a rapidly increasing debt load. With one-party rule in Carmel and Westfield, the Councils and Mayors have not provided checks and balances,” says Kole, adding, “But just because I personally don’t favor Fishers becoming a City doesn’t mean the people shouldn’t choose. Put this question on the ballot.”
Kole offers a compromise: Remain a town, but eliminate at-large voting.
One of the most important issues this suit addresses is the at-large nature of voting. Fishers Town Council instituted this method in order to preserve the political power of their party.
“When a person gets to vote on a candidate that will not their representative, they take that vote less seriously and tend to vote for the party rather than the person,” Kole charges. “This is poorly designed government that discourages accountability and voter participation.”
“Because a candidate can win 100% of the vote in a district and still lose in a landslide as the incumbent is carried by other six districts, ballot box challenges are few,” said Kole, noting that only one seat was contested in the 2007 General Election, with none contested in 2003.1 2
1 http://www.co.hamilton.in.us/library/elections/links/2003g_cand.pdf
2 http://www.co.hamilton.in.us/library/elections/links/2003g_cand.pdf
Mike Kole is the Libertarian candidate for Hamilton County Council in District 2. He has been a Fishers resident since 2004, residing with his wife and two young children.
Kole is the Chair of the Libertarian Party of Hamilton County, and was the Libertarian candidate for Secretary of State. Kole’s vote percentage in 2006 allowed the Libertarian Party of Indiana to retain automatic ballot access through this election.
Contact info:
Mike Kole cell: 317-709-3874
Kole campaign blog: http://kole4cc2.blogspot.com/