AUDIO: Dearborn County GOP Primary Candidates Appear On Eagle Country 99.3

Listen to our interview and debates with candidates running in contested races in the 2018 primary election.

(Dearborn County, Ind.) - Local candidates reached out to Dearborn County voters on the Eagle Country 99.3 airwaves Tuesday.

The hometown radio station partnered with the Dearborn County Chamber of Commerce to broadcast the Dearborn County Debates live from its studios.

Only about two weeks remain before Indiana’s Tuesday, May 8 primary election.

 

Dearborn County Sheriff – Republican Primary

Shane McHenry, Republican candidate for Dearborn County Sheriff. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle Country 99.3. 

LISTEN TO SHANE MCHENRY'S RADIO APPEARANCE HERE

One of the two candidates for the Republican nomination for Dearborn County Sheriff appeared on the broadcast. When asked about Dearborn County’s high incarceration rate highlighted in a 2016 article in The New York Times, Shane McHenry said police can’t be told not to do their job.

“I don’t think anybody is wanting smalltime offenders to get sent to prison for things, but people also have to be held accountable. I think it is very important as we look with being a border county with Hamilton County, Ohio, I think they do a lot of catch and release over there. Then we end up getting their overflow here, because when they come over and commit crimes, it’s not catch and release. We hold people accountable for their crimes over here. I think that’s a good thing and that’s what helps keep our community safe,” McHenry told listeners.

McHenry said housing inmates from other counties at the Dearborn County Law Enforcement Center can create an important revenue source to help hire more jailers or deputies. Putting more resource officers in the county’s schools should be a priority, he added.

He also wants to give the department’s deputies time, mental health, and physical health after they encounter traumatic situations.

McHenry is opposed on the Republican ballot by another sheriff hopeful, Brad Schwing. Schwing, a Dearborn County Sheriff’s deputy, was invited but did not appear on the broadcast Tuesday, saying he had a previously scheduled campaign event. He provided the following statement:

“I am unable to attend tonight’s happening due to a previously scheduled campaign event. Even though radio coverage would have undoubtedly given my campaign more exposure, I always try to honor obligations to the best of my ability and I do not feel comfortable canceling on people I committed to so many months ago. I will continue to post my thoughts on the issues at hand on my ‘Schwing for Sheriff’ Facebook page as I have done throughout my entire campaign. I want to thank Eagle Country for the invitation tonight and wish the best of luck to all the candidates in the upcoming Dearborn County primary election.”

Schwing’s Tuesday campaign event which conflicted with the debate broadcast was only first publicly announced last week.

McHenry took Schwing to task for repeatedly no-showing at voter events where both have been asked to appear.

“It’s a little bit disappointing that this is the fourth opportunity that I’ve had to be somewhere where my opponent has been invited to and he’s not been able to make it. The sheriff is really an out-front leadership position, and it would have been nice if Mr. Schwing would have been here to talk about these same issues that I have,” McHenry said toward the end of his radio appearance.

On whether he is more qualified for the office of sheriff than Schwing, McHenry pointed to his current elected role as president of the Dearborn County Board of Commissioners. He added that he has worked in local law enforcement for 20 years, starting as a patrolman at the Aurora Police Department and later as a detective with the sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office.

“My opponent says he can learn that as he goes the sheriff’s school if elected or learn as he goes. That would be tough. Being in the management roles I’ve been in and my years of experience, I think that really gives me a leg up and makes me the most qualified candidate, because I’ve had several years of experience with law enforcement and administrative at this point,” he said.

 

Dearborn County Council District 3 – Republican Primary

Kevin Turner (left) and Ryan Brandt, Republican candidates for Dearborn County Council District 3. Photo by Mike Perleberg, Eagle Country 99.3.

LISTEN TO RYAN BRANDT AND KEVIN TURNER'S RADIO APPEARANCE HERE

The two Republican candidates for Dearborn County Council’s District 3 seat met face-to-face at Eagle Country 99.3 Tuesday. Incumbent councilman Ryan Brandt is being challenged by Kevin Turner in the primary election.

Both men have law enforcement backgrounds. Brandt is military veteran who is now chief of the Dillsboro Police Department. Turner is a sergeant with the Greendale Police Department and volunteers with the Aurora Fire Department.

County council is the fiscal body of county government, controlling spending and budgeting. When asked if there should be a tax increase in Dearborn County to help address issues ranging from roads to infrastructure improvements, Turner said “No!”

“I think we need to double down on trying to bring more population into our county. Our county population has dropped since the 2010 census… …If we can bring in more people to pay the taxes, we are not going to have to increase taxes. It is simple math,” he said.

Ryan Brandt said he also does not believe county council needs to increase tax rates.

“We have certain fund items – Cum Bridge, Cum Courthouse, Cum Capital Improvements, our riverboat savings account, our riverboat contingency account – that all have healthy balances in them that we’ll be able to maintain and continue to do the things for the county that need to be done without having to put it on the taxpayer,” Brandt stated.

Although they agree on not raising tax rates, Brandt and Turner differed on other topics. They have different philosophies on spending taxpayer funds for county capital projects like the jail and recently completed courthouse expansion.

Brandt defended the way he and other county council members voted to fund those expansions.

“I think we’re good steward with the taxpayers’ money and we paid for those projects out of riverboat savings without bonding them. Which would have cost, if we bonded them, taxpayers another $7 million in interest,” Brandt said.

Turner called for a moratorium on capital projects.

“We need to be very careful about being sure we don’t do any more capital improvement projects, especially of that magnitude, without voter approval,” he said.

Brandt said he will continue to support riverboat revenue sharing from Dearborn County to towns and cities across Dearborn County.

On the matter of qualifications and experience, Turner said wisdom matters more – a quality he says he possesses. Brandt said his appointment as vice president of the Dearborn County Council shows his peers on council have confidence in him.

 

Why no Democrats on the broadcast?

There were no county-level contested races among Democrats, so no Democratic candidates were featured on the Tuesday broadcast.

If you want to meet local Democratic candidates, the Dearborn and Ohio County Democratic parties have invited the public to a free candidate forum event Wednesday, April 25 starting at 6:30 p.m. at the Dearborn Adult Center in Lawrenceburg.

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Dearborn, Ohio County Democrats To Hold Candidate Forum

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