Candidates for Monroe County public offices faced off on local issues like jail overcrowding and night court Thursday night.\nIvy Tech Community College of Bloomington and the League of Women Voters hosted the debate for the contested seats of prosecutor, sheriff and two circuit court judgeships.
Monroe County Prosecutor\nTo open the debate for the county prosecutor race, incumbent Republican Carl Salzmann, Monroe County's prosecutor for the past 12 years, mentioned his experience in the Army, his graduation from the police academy with honors and his law school training. He noted that there has been a drop in felonies and misdemeanors while he has served as prosecutor.\nSalzmann's opponent, Democrat Chris Gaal, focused his opening speech on change, communication and decreasing violent crime. Gaal has experience as an attorney, has held positions at the local government level, graduated from IU's law school and taught law at the Kelley School of Business. He wants to work with the jail to create a new re-entry program, he said.
JAIL OVERCROWDING\nRegarding the overcrowding in the county jail, Gaal said not everyone in jail needed to be there. With a majority of people in jail suffering from addiction problems, those who are not a threat to others should be treated outside of jail, he said, but those in jail for violent crimes must stay. Some of his ideas for solving the overcrowding in the Monroe County Jail are day reporting, addiction treatments and new re-entry programs. Also, cases should not drag on forever, he said.\nSalzmann explained that when the jail was built in 1986, it was already near capacity. He said many alternatives have been tried, but there is "no more elasticity in the system." However, only 10 people in jail have been awaiting a trial more than six months, he said, and he feels his track record is excellent.
DEALING WITH REPEAT OFFENDERS\nWhen a panel member posed a question about a 70 percent repeat offender rate, Salzmann responded first, saying that the community has been proactive in diverting as many cases as possible.\nGaal shot back that 70 percent was actually an average and the number was as high as 80 percent a month ago. He views this as failing, he said. He also said misdemeanors were down because fewer were being filed. \nSalzmann said that the pre-trial diversion program accounted for many of the misdemeanor dismissals. The program is important for a community that supports education to have because young people need a second chance to keep misdemeanors off their record, he said. He also claimed the recidivism rate within the pre-trial diversion program was low at 15 percent.
Monroe County Sheriff\nRepublican Brad Swain and Democrat James Kennedy face off for the seat of Monroe County sheriff.\nKennedy, a former chief of police and retired Army officer, talked about informing the community with bi-monthly reports containing the miles driven by squad cars, among other things.\nSwain, with 20 years experience in the Monroe County Sheriff's Department -- 10 as a detective -- talked about attending to the spiritual needs of inmates. He also wants to check all new programs for overlapping qualities so as not to add to the work of the already over-burdened jail staff, he said.\nBoth candidates said they want to increase the patrol staff, which serves the same size population as the city of Bloomington and covers five times as much land.
Circuit Court Judge\nThe candidates for circuit court judge, seat VIII, are incumbent Republican Jeff Chalfant and Democratic candidate Theresa Harper. Both candidates said they wanted to provide night court for those who have to miss work to appear in court during the day, especially, Harper said, those required to have frequent hearings.\nChalfant talked about being short on court rooms and needing a cost analysis study to determine what could be done with the available funds. He said he did not know the best solution.\nIn the debate for circuit court judge, seat V, Republican Francie Hill and Democrat Valeri Haughton both said they support the use of the Victim-Offender Reconciliation Program. Hill, however, said she was glad to have it as an option but it would not work in all situations.
