Published: February 23, 2007 11:27 pm            

14 candidates apply for 3 council positions

With 14 contenders vying for three seats on the Kokomo Common Council, more than one of the at-large candidates in for interviews at the Tribune Friday couldn’t help but compare the crowded field to the pressure-packed American Idol contest.

Seven Republicans and seven Democrats applied to run in the May primary; three candidates from each party will survive to face off in the November general election. The three top vote-getters in November will take a place on the council.

Two of the three incumbent at-large councilmen — Mike Karickhoff and Tom Harrison — are back for a shot at re-election. Councilman Greg Goodnight, D-At Large, decided to vie for the Democratic mayoral nomination and won’t be back on the council.

Among the rest of the pack, former Howard County Democratic Party chairman Mike Kennedy and Delphi supervisor Dennis Morgan have previous experience serving on the council (each served one four-year term).

Five others — Red Craig, Jim Brannon, Kevin Summers, Lynne Bolinger and Gary McKay — have prior experience running for public office in Kokomo.

Summers is currently on the Kokomo-Center Schools board; McKay served one term on the same board before losing a re-election attempt in 2004. Craig also served one term on the KCS board. And McKay, Bolinger and Brannon all made unsuccessful attempts to win the mayoral election.

That leaves five candidates with no prior public political experience — Democrats Jason Miller, Mark McAlpin, Ronald Luckey Jr. and Howard Overton, and Republican David Burress.

During interviews Friday, each candidate was asked how they plan to differentiate themselves from the rest of the crowded field.

And with Kokomo’s unemployment rate stagnant at around 8 percent for the past three years, and 2,100 fewer jobs in Kokomo than six years ago, we took it on faith that each of the candidates would like to bring more jobs to Kokomo. With limited space, we opted for other topics.

Kenneth “Red” Craig (R)

Craig, 79, is well-known as a counselor, teacher and assistant principal at Kokomo-Center Schools. A Kokomo High School graduate, he also received two degrees from Ball State University and did graduate work at Butler University.

Craig said he’s concerned about the division of power in local government, recalling his lessons on the separation of powers doctrine to his former students.

“I think [economic development income tax] should be used as any other tax, but before a dime is spent, it should be debated and approved by the council,” Craig said. “It shouldn’t be a slush fund for the mayor.”

He also said he won’t be posting yard signs, but rather will have four large, billboard-type signs he’ll move around town from day to day.

Jason C. Miller (D)

Miller, 27, is a first-time candidate who said he’d like to reach out to both sides of the political aisle. The youngest council candidate, Miller is an employee at the Kokomo Country Club.

“The biggest reason I’m running is that I’m greatly concerned for the future of Kokomo,” Miller said Wednesday. “I’m 27, and I have most of my life left to live here in Kokomo.”

A nephew of Kokomo police officer Mark Miller, who heads the city’s drug interdiction unit, Miller said he’ll be campaigning partially on the idea of neighborhood-directed policing.

If neighborhood groups could become familiar with the officers on patrol, he said, the likelihood of individuals being willing to report crimes would increase.

Kevin R. Summers (R)

Summers, 43, has served nine years with the Kokomo Police Department, mainly as a school resource officer. Currently elected to the Kokomo-Center Schools board, Summers would have to resign that position if he’s elected to the council.

The Haworth grad moved to Kokomo when he was 3, and said finding ways to decrease Kokomo’s brain drain is a priority.

“I see a need for good leadership getting involved here,” said Summers, who is also a member of the Kokomo Parks Board. “I’m a people person, and this is a great opportunity to be a voice for the community.”

Mark A. McAlpin (D)

McAlpin, 59, revealed the least about his platform, saying simply that he’ll announce his ideas further along in the election.

The Delphi union training official did, however, say he “didn’t like the direction the city’s been going.” He declined to elaborate.

“The neighborhoods and citizens of Kokomo need better representation,” he said.

J. Mike Kennedy (D)

Kennedy, 57, stepped down from his Democratic Party position last year, hoping to return to the council both he and his late father, John Kennedy, represented in the past.

Twice an unsuccessful Democratic mayoral nominee, Kennedy works in quality engineering at Delphi, and has chaired the State Student Assistance Commission for several years.

Kennedy said the current council, with a Republican majority, has suffered from too much turmoil, and said he wants to bring a common-sense approach to handling taxpayers’ money. Among other things, that means he’s against spending city money to build a park in Howard County, and doesn’t want to build the U.S. 31 bypass until the city has a signed agreement from the Indiana Department of Transportation promising the city won’t be required to pay to maintain the current U.S. 31 route through town.

Mike Karickhoff (R)

The current city council president, Karickhoff, 50, spent 17 years as the city’s park superintendent before leaving to direct facilities maintenance at Ivy Tech State College’s Region 5 campuses five years ago.

Considered an adversary of Kokomo Mayor Matt McKillip, Karickhoff led the charge to force McKillip to cease spending EDIT dollars without a council appropriation. Karickhoff recently started an initiative to place control of the city’s cable access channel, KGOV, under the control of an independent board.

Born in Lafayette, Karickhoff received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Missouri before moving to Kokomo 23 years ago.

Lynne C. Bolinger (R)

Appointed by McKillip, who she lost to in the 2003 Republican mayoral primary, to the Kokomo Plan Commission, Bolinger has shown an independent streak.

Directed by the city administration to boycott a joint city/county board she served on over a dispute over control of the Kokomo-Howard County Plan Commission office, Bolinger showed up for a meeting anyway.

“They told me, ‘you can’t go.’ I have to be honest, I don’t do real well with ‘you can’t,’” said the longtime Kokomo High School English teacher.

Bolinger said one of her first priorities on council will be to work on improving morale among Kokomo police officers. She’s lived in Kokomo since 1973.

Dennis J. Morgan (D)

Morgan, 54, was born and raised in Kokomo, graduated from Kokomo High School, and received a degree in industrial management from Purdue University.

A general supervisor at Delphi Electronics & Safety, Morgan served one term as the city’s 3rd District councilman under former Mayor Bob Sargent. He later moved out of that district and was unsuccessful in a run for an at-large seat. Morgan is a deacon at Mount Pisgah Missionary Baptist Church.

Morgan said his goal is to “maintain the quality of life we have here without raising taxes,” and said he worked with the city to address vacant homes, illegal junkyards and to increase the police presence in the 3rd District during his time on council.

Ronald L. Luckey Jr. (D)

Luckey, 39, is running for office for the first time and said he feels like a forgotten candidate among the Democratic faithful. After discussing the possibility of serving as a precinct committeeman with party leaders last year, the Gerber Plumbing employee said he never heard anything further.

But that didn’t discourage him, and he’ll be discussing his ideas with voters this spring, including concerns about railroad lines being put out of service, property taxes and expanding the use of the police DARE program.

David Burress (R)

Burress, 53, was born and raised in Kokomo, graduating from Haworth High School. The owner of Burress Excavating has been in the business for 35 years, and said he’s the conservative businessman of the at-large candidates.

“I’m a conservative, and I’d like to be the first conservative elected to the city council in 16 years,” Burress said, referring to the last time former Kokomo Mayor Jim Trobaugh was elected to the council.

Burress recited the list of user-fee and tax increases ushered in by the current administration, and promised to not support any fee or tax increases if he’s elected.

Burress said the sheer number of people seeking at-large seats is a sign people feel a need for change in the community.

Gary McKay (R)

McKay, a 22-year KPD veteran, is frank about his respect for McKillip as a mayor, and said he hopes to move opposition on the council toward more of a listening posture.

“I think you need to come to a consensus,” McKay said. “I think sometimes the current council doesn’t really listen to what the mayor has to say.”

McKillip, he said, has been aggressively moving the city forward after 16 years of less active mayors.

“Not to beat his drum all the time, but he’s accomplished more in three years than the other mayors I’ve worked for,” McKay said.

Tom Harrison (R)

Harrison barely won re-election in 2003 after losing Republican Party support for his candidacy. One of the main reasons for that turn of events was Harrison’s initial support for binding arbitration on city employees’ wages. Harrison later backed out of that stance, but then played a key role in the minority Democrats regaining control of the city council.

In the last year, Harrison’s unpredictability was again evident when he professed support for the city’s smoking ban, only to vote against the final reading, ostensibly because he wasn’t told who’d be in charge of enforcing the measure.

Jim Brannon (D)

Brannon was president of the Kokomo-Howard Chamber of Commerce when a short UAW walkout convinced DaimlerChrysler officials to locate the Indiana Transmission Plant here, so he’s seen the value of economic development.

In addition, Brannon said his accounting background would “add value” to the council, and said in many respects, McKillip’s focus on quality of life issues is one he shares.

Then again, Brannon’s property tax bill jumped from $3,200 a year to $4,800 a year after the 2005 tax increase.

“I think the council and the administration should be working together,” Brannon said. “Whether that will take a new council, or a new mayor, or both, I don’t know.”

Howard Overton (D)

Overton did not return a message left by the Tribune Friday, and was not interviewed for this story.

Scott Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com

        

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