Editor’s note: Write-in Hancock County Council candidate Zachary LaFavers’ questionnaire was omitted in our Thursday edition. The Daily Reporter regrets the error.
Why do you want to be on county council?
It’s simple. I want to give the people a voice; for too long, it has always been who has the biggest name in town or the most money. It’s never about who can give the people the biggest voice. I not only plan to give the people a voice, but I also plan to get the people involved. Let’s give everyone a voice. Let’s make change for the future together and as a community. If elected, I plan to do just that.
What makes you the most qualified candidate for the position?
I may not be a businessman, nor have connections or service to the two parties, and I may not have as many years on me as the other candidates in the mix, but I can tell you this: I’ll work hard. I’ll come into meetings and to my job with the goal to give the people a voice, to make the people my priority. I will tackle every task and every problem with the people’s best interest at heart. I want to forget party politics. Let’s get back to people politics and give the people a voice.
What are your top three goals for the position?
My three goals for county council would be to tackle our crumbling infrastructure, re-write and re-structure our tax policy and to virtually eliminate drug use and drug-dealing and any drug-related crime in our community. I will not stand for our problems as a people to be unmet, and I will not sit by and watch as our voices go unheard. I will stand up and fight for the average working class Hoosiers here in Hancock County, and I won’t stop until we have made our community the best in the state.
What do you believe are the most pressing issues facing the county council?
The most pressing issues facing the county in my opinion are drug-related crime, unmet infrastructure needs and a tax policy that doesn’t favor the working man. My solution? To get leaders, statesmen in our local government, to change the wrong in our community. Statesmen and women like Judy Swift, Martha Vail and John Jessup, all with a desire and passion to serve and give the people of this community a voice. I want the laziness and ignorance in our local government to be removed. Let’s throw out the oligarchy we’ve allowed to take hold in our community.
How would you plan to address the overcrowding at the jail?
This issue is very simple; overcrowding is a nationwide problem. We have the most incarcerated citizen group per capita in the world, and it’s because too many in the system stay in the endless loop and never get a chance to recover, get clean and get out. We have a corrupt justice system that puts non-violent, small, petty drug offenders behind bars for two-plus years and never once asks if there is a chance for rehabilitation. We need to rehabilitate non-violent, small drug offenders and get them out of this system of constant drug use.
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Name: Zachary LaFavers
Age: 19
Party: Independent (write-in candidate)
Office sought: County council at-large
Occupation: Correctional officer with the Indiana Army National Guard
Political experience: None.
Family: Single
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