Local News

Reports reflect low-key fundraising

October 28, 2022

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HANCOCK COUNTY – Candidates in local contested races in the upcoming general election are asking for little in contributions and in many cases are funding their campaigns themselves.

The latest reports of receipts and expenditures of political committees have been filed with the Hancock County Election Office, reflecting a reporting period through Oct. 14.

While there are several county government offices on the ballot, the only race is between Democrat Frank Rock and Republican incumbent Mary Noe for county council district 2. Paperwork Noe’s campaign filed reflects no cash on hand, contributions, receipts or expenditures, while Rock’s reports he raised $160.

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Noe, who’s held elected offices in the county dating back to the 1980s, said she’s always taken a subdued approach to her campaigns.

“You’ll probably see that I am probably the least political politician in our county,” she said. “I love what I do. I have been doing it long enough that I feel I do a pretty good job and represent the constituents as best I can, and the political side of it I just never had a big interest in.”

Helping her get her name out there, she said, are the connections she’s made through her husband and children having gone through the Mt. Vernon school system as well as her involvement in various groups in the community.

“I feel like this side of the county, for the most part, knows me or has interacted with me at some point,” Noe said, adding she hopes those who are new to the area whom she hasn’t met hear about her via word of mouth.

The sole contribution on Rock’s report came from the church he attends – New Zion Community Church in Indianapolis – which he said he did not ask for but was rather offered to him. He spent the funds, along with some of his own, on shirts advertising his candidacy. Rock added he has another contribution from the county Democratic Party that will be reflected in the next round of paperwork.

“I’m not an avid fan of campaign contributions,” Rock said. “That is one of the most abused processes in American democracy, and some people – especially national candidates – they abuse it, and there’s no laws that prevent it from being abused.”

Rock said he didn’t want to seek contributions from businesses out of concern he’d be more politically indebted to them if elected than the constituents who voted for him.

“That shouldn’t be in our democracy, in any government public office at all,” he said of corporate political contributions.

There’s a four-way race for two at-large seats on McCordsville Town Council between Democrats Linda Robinson and Andrea Yovanovich and Republicans Bryan Burney and Scott Jones.

Burney reported $2,550 in contributions for the most recent reporting period, all of which came from himself. The candidate, who had served on the town council from 2016 through 2019, said he’s done a lot of door-knocking in past campaigns, but the COVID-19 pandemic’s influence on social distancing and McCordsville’s soliciting rules prompted him to run a media campaign this time around. That’s included hiring a graphic artist and website designer as well as running advertisements in the Greenfield Daily Reporter and on Facebook. His campaign strategy has also involved door hangers, direct mail and yard signs.

“Even locating people that knew how to do this who would be willing to help me – a relatively small thing on a short-term venture – was not really easy,” Burney said. “I had no idea what it would cost going into it, but I think the people I had help me did a nice job. The direct mails arrived on time, the Facebook ads went out; I think I got my message across.”

Robinson’s campaign reported $375 in contributions, $250 of which from the county Democratic Party. She said she put it toward signs and mailings and added she’s been active on her campaign’s Facebook page as well.

Candidates running for local offices that pay less than $5,000 a year who don’t receive more than $500 in campaign contributions or spend more than $500 on their campaigns don’t have to form committees or file financial reports.

Jones said he’s spent about $250 on yard signs.

“I kept everything very much grassroots and was very active in social media boards,” he said.

Yovanovich said she plans to submit a report by the next deadline reflecting a recent $250 contribution from the county Democratic Party. The bulk of her campaign efforts, she said, has been made up of her own resources and time.

“As a local candidate, I felt my time and efforts were better suited attending meetings and educating myself rather than fundraising,” she said.

Mt. Vernon’s school board has a three-way race for two seats among incumbents Kellie Freeman and Shannon Walls and challenger Joshua Worth. School board races are nonpartisan. Worth’s campaign filed a report reflecting $940 in contributions, while Freeman and Walls didn’t meet the threshold requiring them to submit paperwork.

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“I have a tremendously supportive family and they know how passionate I am about the kids’ education and our schools as a whole, so they wanted to show their support,” Worth said, adding like-minded families and community members did so as well.

He added his campaign expenses have included yard signs and that he also has a campaign Facebook page.

“I’m not running with another person, so I had to raise money in order to be competitive,” Worth said.

Kellie Freeman

Freeman and Walls said one of the reasons they teamed up on their campaigns was to save money.

“That was really a big deciding factor when we decided to run together – just trying to be fiscally responsible for our own households,” Walls said.

The two candidates said they’re using signs, social media and contacting people via text and email to spread the word about their campaigns.

Democrat Marian Hensley, who’s in a four-way race for one of three seats on the Buck Creek Township Advisory Board, was the only candidate in that contest who needed to file financing paperwork. Her report reflects $830 in contributions and receipts. She faces Republicans Erin Harsin-Jordan, Matthew Kelly and Scott Whitehouse.

Another match-up whose contenders did not need to file paperwork were Southern Hancock school board candidates Jim Buist and Jon Hooker.

2022 general election voting locations

Hancock County Annex, 111 American Legion Place, Greenfield

11 a.m.-7 p.m. weekdays Oct. 12-Nov. 4