In 2012, the Monroe County Grassroots Conservatives made new signs.
“Had enough?” they read. “Vote Republican.”
The group’s leader, Robert Hall, credits those signs with raising the county’s straight-ticket Republican votes by 134 percent that year. Now, as the staunchest conservatives in Bloomington sat down Thursday night for their first meeting of 2016, it’s clear they have still had more than enough.
“Marlin believes that wholesale change in the way D.C. operates is the only thing that’s going to fix our country’s problems,” campaign manager Josh Kelley, told the group about U.S. Representative Marlin Stutzman, R-Indiana 3rd District.
Stutzman is currently running for U.S. Senate against U.S. Representative Todd Young, R-Indiana 9th District, and Former State GOP Chair Eric Holcomb. The only Democratic candidate thus far is former Congressman Baron Hill, D-Indiana 9th District.
“The other two candidates in this race have not shown the same dedication to conservative values as Marlin has,” Kelley said of the Republican primary.
The questions directed at Kelley concerned Stutzman’s support of Paul Ryan, how the representative felt about the armed militants in Oregon and the representative’s response to Obama’s executive action on gun control.
Kelley replied that Stutzman voted for Ryan for Speaker in order to restore a “sense of order and normal business to what’s going on in U.S. Congress.”
He said Stutzman doesn’t like to see the government exceeding its responsibilities with regards to federal land and that “the Second Amendment was very thorough and very clear.”
Along with the Senatorial race, the Grassroots Conservatives are also keeping close tabs on the Congressional race for the seat Todd Young is vacating.
Hall himself said he is the most conservative candidate on the crowded ballot. He’s running against five other Republicans including Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller. Two Democrats have also joined the race.
“The government’s policies are causing companies to move their jobs over to China or Mexico,” Hall said. “It’s the income tax. It’s ‘Obamacare.’ It’s environmental regulations. Leaders in Congress are not doing anything about it.”
Hall said if elected, he would replace the income tax with a “fair tax” and try to end government involvement with climate change regulation.
“I’ve done a lot of research on climate change and there’s a lot of disagreement on whether it’s man-made,” he said. “The climate changes naturally and carbon dioxide is a natural element. There’s a lot of misinformation out there and I don’t think it’s a serious problem.”
Hall stands by this position despite widely supported evidence from NASA and other major scientific agencies that human activity is contributing to global warming.
At the local level, the outlook for Republican candidates is improving, according to Monroe County Republican Party Chairman William Ellis.
Ellis said they have two “all-star” candidates for county positions this year. Ann Collins is running for treasurer and Paul White Sr. is running for county council.
“This kind of support hasn’t been seen in years here,” Ellis said. “The fact that we have such quality people we can get behind and the fact that the party has the resources to get behind them is very exciting.”
Before ending the meeting with a viewing of an anti-immigration documentary, Hall announced the winner of the group’s monthly presidential vote.
For the eighth month in a row, Ted Cruz was named winner. Donald Trump was ranked fifth and Jeb Bush was in last place with -13 points.
As for Hillary Clinton?
“Hillary for prison, 2016,” one attendee’s shirt said.
