Voter panel devolves to 'vitriolic politics'

A voter information panel held Wednesday by the Graduate and Professional Student Organization degenerated into what one observer called a discourse in "vitriolic politics."\nThe panel, assembled in the State Room East of the Indiana Memorial Union, was comprised of chairs of the three largest political parties in Monroe County -- the Democrats, the Republicans and the Libertarians. GPSO organizers intended to educate potential voters about the issues of local elections and the stances of candidates running in those races.\nBut several scowls conquered the faces of audience and panel members when Monroe County Democratic Party Chair Dan Combs made disparaging remarks about Libertarian Party of Indiana Vice-chair Rebecca Sink-Burris and Libertarians in general.\n"The Libertarians are eating up our time," Combs said at one point. "Let's just get off the Libertarian thing. It makes no sense. John and I have the issues. We may disagree, but we're the only ones that matter here."\nCombs was referring to the third panel member, Monroe County Republican Party Chair John Shean, in the comment that followed his ridicule of the Libertarian platform regarding pollution policy and the abolition of the public school system.\nIn response, Sink-Burris said she and her political colleagues had every right to attend the panel.\n"The Libertarian Party is immediately relevant to this year's election," she said. \nSink-Burris also defended her party as the third largest in the country, saying the group consists of more members than all other minor parties combined.\nDuring more agreeable moments, the political leaders explained their parties' lines on the usual local issues to the 40 graduate students and political enthusiasts in attendance.\nSink-Burris described the Libertarian plan to abolish property taxes and minimize the role of government. Combs spoke of the need to support small businesses and nurture entrepreneurial minds, while Shean questioned the role Indiana's government plays in "creating jobs."\nBut during another stretch, Combs touted his party's function in Monroe County's success.\n"Everything you see in this community has been brought here by the Democrats," he said. "That is, except for the problems."\nShean, a transplanted Bloomington resident, took exception to Combs' comment, saying the Democrat was unfairly "laying all the problems of Monroe County at the feet of the Republicans."\n"I didn't know I was responsible for all the problems of the county," Shean said. \nAfter the audience member questioned Combs about the state of "vitriolic politics" in Monroe County, the Democratic chair was quick to refute the accusation, saying he would rather describe local politics as "visceral."\n-- Contact senior writer Rick Newkirk at renewkir@indiana.edu.