Resident runs for 9th District seat

John Tilford is attempting to change the way the political game is played. Tilford, a Bloomington resident, is running for Indiana’s 9th District congressional seat — without taking a single campaign donation.

Tilford said representatives who take donations spend too much of their time catering to their current and potential donors.

“When someone makes a campaign donation, they buy access to you,” Tilford said. “The people who need that access, the disabled, the poor, the people working two jobs, they can’t make donations.”

He plans to get the word out about his campaign by using social networking, word of mouth and around $2,000 of his own money for minimal advertising.

Tilford has also promised that he will never run for re-election.

“Representatives in office make trips to places not because that’s where the problems are, but where the population centers are so that they can get reelected,” he said. “By only running for one term, I won’t waste my time trying to get re-elected.”

Tilford will face two other Democratic candidates in the May primary: Robert Winningham, a Charlestown, Ind., resident and a former member of Rep. Lee Hamilton’s staff, and Gen. Jonathan George, a Bedford, Ind., resident and a retired national security advisor to Pres. Barack Obama.

The winner of the primary will face Republican Rep. Todd Young, who is expected to run for re-election.

Tilford admits that if he does make it past the primary, he will accept funding from the Democratic Party before the November general election.

“I don’t like it, but that’s reality,” he said. “Still, the money will be from the Democratic Party. I won’t be beholden to any one person.”

Experience
Tilford, 65, has had a number of government jobs throughout his life. He was a Marine during the Vietnam War and an Army Reserve Colonel. He also worked for the Internal Revenue Service and the Defense Intelligence Agency.

The job he takes most pride in, he said, was his position as Monroe County Veterans Service Officer. He believes this experience in aiding veterans of Monroe County will give him an edge over his competitors.

“I have had direct, face-to-face contact with people in the 9th District for decades,” he said.

Tilford calls his decision to run a “take back Congress” movement.

“I consider myself a regular citizen,” he said. “If one regular person can get in Congress, then maybe another one can. And then four, and then eight, and so on.”

Platform
If elected, Tilford plans to focus on two main areas.

Fix social security
Tilford said he is determined to fix problems with the Social Security Administration.
His main concern is the processing of disability claims. 

Tilford’s late daughter went through the process of applying for disability benefits. He said that people are denied many times over before they are approved.

“If they were just taken care of in the first place, taxpayer dollars would be saved and these people, who often have no income and are in some kind of pain, would be helped earlier,” Tilford said.

Fix veterans services
As the former Monroe County Veterans Service Officer, Tilford believes he has the knowledge to correct problems in veterans’ services.

“We owe it to veterans to support them,” Tilford said. “It’s part of the cost of the overall cost of national defense.”