So, who's going to win this thing?
It was last Wednesday night and about 1,500 Marion County Republicans were seated in the Indiana Convention Center, wondering if there was to be a peaceful transfer of power after 28 years of rule by Chairman John Sweezy, or whether it would end in anger and flying folding chairs.
The question was aimed at Sheriff Jack Cottey. "Who do you think is going to win?" he responded.
"John Keeler," I replied. "Is everything lined up?"
Cottey winked and smiled.
About 50 feet away, allies of Washington Township Chairman Monty Combs were interrupting Ed Simcox, who was running the meeting, shouting questions about the rules.
There was only one brief flash of anger, however, from a Lawrence Township man who stood up and yelled at one of the questioners, "Will you please quiet down so we can get going?"
Greg Zoeller, one of Combs' floor operators, explained Cottey's wink. There were some 300 people who were credentialed as precinct officials that the Combs camp believed were from such diverse places as Michigan and Bloomington (we followed a woman with Republican stickers and Ohio plates out of the convention and onto the eastbound interstate after the voting had commenced). One Combs ally asked, "Did you see where they bused them in?"
Other than the one traveling Buckeye, there was no physical proof offered of the existence of imported Republicans, though establishment Republicans acknowledged there had been a flurry of new precinct appointees in the weeks leading up to the caucus.
When it all ended, former legislator John Keeler and his slate of Carolyn Grant as vice chair, Claudia Cummings as secretary and Sen. Murray Clark as treasurer were swept into office – Keeler by a 667-444 advantage. Perhaps the margin was realized with the imported help.
That being the case, the Combs insurgency appeared too tired to press the matter further. Keeler acknowledged that hundreds of new precinct officials had been added since the Sweezy resignation announcement. But he said he had “no personal knowledge,” adding, “The only thing I’m aware of is the source of new precinct committeemen by headquarters.”
Regardless, there could be little doubt that the main kingmaker on this night was Sheriff Cottey. His finger and footprints were all over this process. For the second time in a little more than a year, Cottey appears to have anointed a protégé for true power. He was a key facilitator in Sue Anne Gilroy's rise to the GOP mayoral nomination in 1999, and then a confounding presence throughout the campaign as his feud with John Sweezy kept poking above the surface. By the end of the Gilroy campaign, a radio ad in which he expressed fear that Bart Peterson's 200 new cops would send the criminal element into the townships had some branding Cottey as a racist.
That notion reared its head again when Combs' vice chair candidate – former Indianapolis News columnist Jackie Cissell – complained that Cottey upbraided her in front of her son for running at a St. Patrick's Day event last week. Cissell said that Cottey threatened that she "was through" in the Marion County GOP.
When Cissell addressed the convention, she said, "And if Sheriff Cottey is here, I just want to say that I don't believe he's a racist." Cottey stood at the back of the room – ever-so-present – and simply sipped on his soft drink.
Second change of guard
The events of Wednesday night presented the second major change of the guard in Indiana after the state's vaunted Republican Machine seized up with the election of Evan Bayh as governor in 1988. The first occurred in March of 1993 in Allen County. After the 1992 debacle in the 4th Congressional District when rogue candidate Chuck Pierson won the nomination, Orvas Beers, a longtime big county boss and associate of Keith Bulen and John Sweezy, realized it was time to quit. The transfer of power was to have gone to longtime Fort Wayne City Chairman Alan McMahan, but a feisty lawyer/broadcaster named Steve Shine conducted about 40 living room kaffee klatsches over several months, sent out holiday peanut brittle, created alliances in the news media and established an atmosphere for change. It wasn't until a week before the caucus that the old guard realized that Shine was a serious threat and began enlisting and credentialing new precinct officials in the gaping holes of the organization. But it was too late. Shine carried 67 percent of the vote in a stunning upset.
In Marion County, a challenge to the old guard the way Shine had done it was not possible. Rumors that Sweezy would retire had been flaring up and dying down since last summer after years of controversy and the party's under-performance – culminating with Stephen Goldsmith's ’96 loss of his home county in the governor's race and the ’99 Gilroy defeat. Sweezy finally declared his intention to step down last month. Then Keeler was presented as the organization's choice, despite his awkward document promising not to publicly criticize Mayor Bart Peterson because Keeler is a member of the city's lobbying firm. At that point, Combs was left with little time and virtually no resources with which to wage his battle. Meanwhile, Cottey and Lawrence Mayor Tom Schneider (who hopes to succeed Cottey) greased the chute for Keeler. Word had it that dozens of new precinct officials were being credentialed out of Lawrence Township.
Resigning prematurely and having a successor in the wings is a longtime Marion County Republican tradition. It happened most recently when Keeler stepped down from his House seat, and Jim Atterholt, with the blessings of Jack Cottey as a favor to U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, easily ruled the day. When Atterholt was warding off a challenge from Lugarite Jane Carwile, sheriff cars were conspicuously parked in front of the caucus site as a not-so-subtle signal as to who was to be elected.
Keeler an old guard?
While John Keeler certainly benefited from the old guard, this is not to say that he won't represent a new day for Marion County Republicans. Keeler was known as a master strategist, a good fund-raiser and a progressive Republican during his tenure in the Indiana House.
Keeler should also have an ample grip on the benefits and pitfalls of a further relationship with Jack Cottey. The sheriff "made" Sue Anne Gilroy, then confounded her over a row on sheriff gun sales after an ABC News 20/20 exposé, and then his feud with Sweezy. When Majority Leader Paul Mannweiler nominated Keeler, he told the delegates, "I've known John Keeler for 37 years. Nobody tells John Keeler what to do."
Keeler stressed the need to heal old "festering" wounds while fulfilling a "basic role" of raising money, recruiting good candidates and bringing the once proud organization (currently without e-mail, voice mail or a Web site) up to speed. The new chairman said that the party would probably have a Web site up “within two or three weeks. We’ll just move as fast as we can.
"I don't believe in dictatorship," Keeler said. "I will lay out a plan and head in a common direction." He said he would seek to attract "young people and minorities" while expressing a “tolerance of positions.”
"Only the Democrats are laughing when our misfortunes are on the front page," Keeler said.
Keeler's speech presented a stark contrast to Sweezy's farewell. Sweezy framed the past vividly, telling the GOP faithful that the Marion County organization was the "cornerstone of not only the State of Indiana, but the nation. We were always on the [Electoral College] map first." He also said, "We have built a thriving community" while refusing the sellout to corruption. But, he added, that it "has been lonely."
Keeler's implications
Keeler's election could have immense implications not only locally, but statewide. Washington analyst Charlie Cook notes that Indiana is no longer a "bedrock" Republican state. It had no chance of returning to that status as long as the Marion County GOP languished. While the Lugar and McIntosh campaigns are reviving the statewide lists in time for 2000, Indiana Republicans could get a huge boost in fortune if Keeler does heal the many rifts, brings technology and his party into the 21st century.
bhowey@nuvo.net
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