GREENFIELD — If Donald Rainwater had his way, Hoosiers would be paying a lot less in taxes. They’d be subject to a lot fewer regulations, too. There would be no mask mandate and virtually no other restrictions for COVID-19, and consumption of marijuana in any form would be legal.
Rainwater is the Libertarian candidate for governor, and in a year in which life has been turned upside down by the pandemic, he is trying to do the same thing to Indiana politics.
The candidate, who will make an appearance in Greenfield this weekend, has drawn attention for his criticism of incumbent Gov. Eric Holcomb’s policies in response to the pandemic. The state, Rainwater says, should never have been shut down, and the governor’s reopening plan — made in accordance with guidance from state and federal health officials — is not supported by science. The plan “appears to be completely random,” Rainwater writes on his campaign website.
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The attacks on Holcomb have garnered a lot of media attention and apparently some traction in polling. A September poll of likely voters by IndyPolitics.org put Rainwater’s support at 24%, compared to 36% for Holcomb and 30% for Democrat Woody Myers. That’s more than the single-digit polling numbers for Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian candidate for president, and the similar numbers Rainwater got in two previous races for state office. He followed that poll showing by raising $160,000 from supporters in just a week, and the campaign has been running radio ads around the state.
“Rainwater looks to be the candidate of choice here among Republicans disaffected with the mask mandate and Gov. Holcomb’s leadership during the pandemic,” wrote Abdul Hakim-Shabazz, director of IndyPolitics.org.
The Holcomb campaign said last week its own internal polling shows the governor with a healthy lead over both challengers: 60% to 21% for Myers and 7% for Rainwater.
Still, the overwhelming message of Rainwater’s campaign is that state government should have less of a role. Not just in COVID-19 response, but in daily life in general.
“What we have to do is get government out of our way,” he said.
Rainwater was invited to visit Greenfield by Nate Luke, the current chairman of the Hancock County Libertarian Party.
Luke said he thinks of libertarianism as a philosophy focused on individual rights.
“Everybody is the owner of their own individual self,” he said.
Luke said he objected to much of Holcomb’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, he said, the state’s choices about which businesses were essential meant many small businesses had to close down while the biggest retailers, like Walmart, were able to stay open.
“I think the citizens of this state are just tired of the government picking and choosing winners and losers,” he said.
Rainwater, an Indianapolis native and a graduate of Warren Central High School, spent a few years of his childhood in Greenfield. Later, when his parents didn’t have enough money to pay for him to continue his college education, he joined the Navy. After a long military career, he became a software engineer.
Over the past decade, Rainwater said, he’s become increasingly concerned about the size of state government. He joined the Libertarian Party and made two unsuccessful runs for the state legislature before deciding the best way to make his ideas heard would be a run for governor.
Rainwater said he is “enthused and thrilled” by the response he’s received in this year’s election.
“I don’t believe that it’s the government’s responsibility or authority to tell people who has to stay home, whose businesses have to close, whose businesses have to remain open, or that churches have to close,” Rainwater said.
Instead, he said, the state and federal government should have provided people with the best information available and let them decide for themselves whether to follow the advice of medical experts.
To boost the economy now, Rainwater said, he’d like to eliminate the individual income tax in the state. Indiana currently has a flat income tax rate of 3.23%, the state’s second-biggest source of revenue after sales tax. Removing it would slash the state budget by billions of dollars.
Rainwater said he would not seek to make up for the shortfall with other sources of tax revenue, but by cutting state spending and services. That would include significantly reducing the size of the Indiana Department of Education, giving local school corporations most of the control and offering maximum “school choice” to parents. Instead of a tax-funded public school model, he supports providing parents with funding on a per-student basis that they can use to pay tuition at any school.
Other cuts, he said, would eliminate what he called a large amount of redundancy and waste in Indiana state government.
“We need to do a better job of government, not a bigger job,” Rainwater said.
Indiana’s 6th Congressional District also has a Libertarian candidate, Tom Ferkinhoff. The Wayne County resident, who will be on the ballot with incumbent Rep. Greg Pence, a Republican; and Democrat Jeannine Lee Lake, is an accountant who provides consulting services. He said he was inspired to get involved in politics when he heard a speech former President Barack Obama made shortly before leaving office.
“He made the statement that if you don’t like what’s going on in Washington, you should run for office, and I just felt a calling,” he said.
Ferkinhoff said he sees two main problems with national politics: that the government has gotten too big, and that elected officials feel beholden to their party rather than to their constituents.
“When somebody does reach across the aisle, they’re demonized,” Ferkinhoff said.
William Henry, Rainwater’s running mate as the candidate for lieutenant governor, became involved in Libertarian politics through working with fellow veterans. Henry, who served as a photographer in the Army, said he learned many veterans were using marijuana as a treatment for problems they acquired during service.
Henry became involved in activism for marijuana legalization, and from there, in the Libertarian party. He described the party as “everything that everyone else tries to be” — more fiscally conservative than the Republicans and more invested in personal freedom than Democrats.
“It’s very attractive to people when they realize what the Libertarian Party has to offer,” Henry said.
Luke said people who are tired of the results they have seen from the current political system should consider voting for a third party like the Libertarians as a viable alternative. Most people, he said, don’t feel represented by either of the two major parties.
“We’ve got an extensive resume for what kind of policies those parties are going to put in place… so why not try something different?” he said.
Ferkinhoff agreed, saying that more people are voting against a candidate than for their opponent. He said it’s been inspiring to see the amount of attention that Rainwater’s campaign has received.
“I’m hoping that’ll start to sway people to see that this is not a wasted vote,” he said.
Rainwater said people should base their ideas about how American politics should work on the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, documents that don’t mention Democrats or Republicans.
“When I’m elected governor, I intend to try and introduce the concept of nonpartisanship, not bipartisanship,” he said.
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Libertarian candidate for governor Donald Rainwater and his running mate, lieutenant governor candidate William Henry, will speak at Riley Park in Greenfield on Sunday, Oct. 18 at noon.
Rainwater plans to take direct questions from voters.
For more information on the candidate, visit rainwaterforindiana.com.
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