5 candidates want Bowser's seat
By Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch

A caucus of precinct committee people from around LaPorte and St. Joseph counties will choose a replacement for the late state Sen. Anita Bowser on Sunday, March 25.

That's according to LaPorte County Democratic Party Chairman Dr. Vidya Kora, who said the caucus is at 2 p.m. at the LaPorte County Complex.

As of Sunday, five candidates expressed interest in the position, but Kora said not all have yet officially filed for the race. To officially be considered, he said, candidates simply must file their intention with the county or state parties.

Since the seat covers LaPorte and St. Joseph counties, state democratic party Chairman Dan Parker will oversee the process.

The five candidates all have confirmed to The News-Dispatch their respective interest in the seat.

Mark Yagelski, LaPorte County councilman and Michigan City resident, said Sunday he intends to submit his name, as does Deb Birkholz, LaPorte County Democratic Central Committee secretary.

Former LaPorte County Sheriff Jim Arnold, Michigan City teacher Robin Oshinski and Lynne Kaser, First Ward Michigan City Council candidate, also have confirmed their interest in the seat.

Yagelski said Sunday from Washington, D.C., he's been interested in the seat for some time.

Birkholz said she hasn't yet filed, but admitted she likely will do so in the next couple days.

“I wanted to wait until the funeral was over. I'm meeting with some friends tonight and then I'll decide if I want to go forward,” she said. “It's probably going to happen.”

Birkholz is retired as president of the office and technical workers union at NIPSCO, and has lobbied at the state level for nearly 20 years. She became secretary of the county central committee in 2005.

“I was approached by current legislators to seek the seat,” she said, refusing to name the legislators.

According to Kora, “around 80” precinct committee people will vote in the caucus. Of those, 64 are from LaPorte County and 16 from St. Joseph County.

Kora didn't mention any St. Joseph County residents who have filed for the seat.

Contact reporter Jason Miller at jmiller@thenewsdispatch.com.

USW vet bids for Senate seat
Tuesday, March 13, 2007 1:56 AM CDT
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BY KEITH BENMAN
kbenman@nwitimes.com
219.933.3326

Longtime United Steelworkers official Debra Birkholz is expected to announce today her candidacy for the seat left empty by the death of State Sen. Anita O. Bowser, D-Michigan City.

Birkholz is expected make the announcement today at the annual United Steelworkers lobbying day in Indianapolis.

"I think we need a labor candidate for the Senate," Birkholz said on Monday. "I've been very active lobbying at the state for 25 years on issues that affect working people."

Bowser, a Statehouse veteran sometimes called "the conscience of the Senate," died the morning of March 4 in Indianapolis. She was 86.

Bowser was first elected to the Indiana House of Representatives in 1980. She was elected to the Senate in 1992, representing LaPorte and St. Joseph counties.

The 8th district term expires in 2008. Democratic precinct leaders will caucus March 25 to chose a successor to Bowser.

If Birkholz were selected, she would become the second United Steelworkers member from Northwest Indiana in the Indiana General Assembly. Dan Stevenson, D-11, Highland, serves in the Indiana House. He is a member of Local 1010 at Mittal Steel.

"It will be nice to have a Steelworker in the House and the Senate," Birkholz said.

Birkholz, 55, was president of Local 13796, representing clerical employees at NIPSCO, for 13 years. Before that she served as local vice president, trustee and griever.

She retired from NIPSCO last year. She is currently LaPorte County Central Democratic Committee Secretary.

Kaser won't seek legislative position held by Bowser
From Staff Reports

Lynne Kaser, a Democratic candidate for 1st Ward Michigan City Common Council, said Monday she will not seek to replace the late 8th-District State Sen. Anita Bowser.

“I love this city. I was born and raised in Michigan City. I believe in the unlimited possibilities of this city,” Kaser said in a news release. “And I believe I can be a vital voice for the citizens of the 1st Ward and Michigan City to achieve those possibilities.”

Kaser described Bowser as “incomparable.”

“It has been an honor and quite overwhelming to be mentioned as a possible successor of this brilliant, gifted legislator of District 8,” she said. “However, I truly believe I could be a more positive force for my hometown as councilwoman of the 1st Ward.”

Shortly after Bowser's death more than a week ago, rumor spread that Bowser told friends Kaser would be her choice to fill the seat, but Kaser said she'd not been contacted by Bowser or anyone close to her.

Former LaPorte County Sheriff Jim Arnold, current LaPorte County Councilman Mark Yagelski, Michigan City teacher Robin Oshinski and LaPorte County Democratic Party Secretary Deb Birkholz have expressed interest in the seat.

A caucus of Democratic precinct committee people from LaPorte and St. Joseph counties to elect a successor is at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at LaPorte County Complex.

MCAS board president to seek Bowser's post
By Deborah Sederberg, The News-Dispatch

The race for the District 8 Indiana Senate seat now includes the Michigan City Area Schools board president, as well as an award-winning MCAS kindergarten teacher and several other possible candidates.

Following Tuesday's School Board meeting, Board President Jeff Jones distributed a press release to announce his candidacy for the seat left vacant after the death of State Sen. Anita Bowser, D-Michigan City.

Jones, 53, is an assistant vice chancellor at Purdue University-North Central. He said he has been interested in the senate seat for several years.

“Although I've shared that idea with several trusted advisors, I decided last year to not seek the seat as long as (Dr. Bowser) chose to serve,” he said. “I had too much admiration for her to challenge her in an election.

“This idea has been on my mind to the point that over a year ago I approached Purdue's top leadership to get approval to seek this seat when the time came.

“Purdue University is willing to accommodate this public service.”

PNC Chancellor James Dworkin said he learned of Jones' candidacy Tuesday morning. He had no other comment.

Jones was appointed to the MCAS board last summer by Circuit Court Judge Robert Gilmore after the board failed to reach a consensus about filling a vacancy left when former board member Tom Dombkowski resigned. Jones then won election to a full term last November.

If Jones should win the appointment to the Senate, the board would be forced to replace him.

“I didn't seek that School Board seat with the idea that it would be short-term service,” Jones said. “Dr. Bowser's sudden passing changed the timeline for my decision. If I am selected to serve as the next state senator from District 8, you can bet that one of my top priorities will be to continue to influence the future of public education from the statehouse.”

Jones offers several qualifications for the Senate position.

“I have served in leadership positions in higher education, public education and health care,” he said. “When you look at the state's budget, the vast majority is spent in these three areas. My experience with leadership of complex organizations will prove useful if I am selected to succeed Sen. Bowser.”

Jones is married to Pamela Jones, a teacher at Joy Elementary School. They are the parents of three grown daughters. He has a doctorate from Purdue University-West Lafayette.

A caucus of Democratic precinct committee people from LaPorte and St. Joseph counties will meet to elect Bowser's successor at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 25, at LaPorte County Complex.

Jones faces Robin Oshinski, a kindergarten teacher at Joy School who this year was named Teacher of the Year by the Learning Disabilities Association of Indiana, who has filed her request with the parties.

Other candidates include former LaPorte County Sheriff Jim Arnold, LaPorte County Councilman Mark Yagelski, LaPorte County Democratic Party Secretary Deb Birkholz and Robert Neary, a deputy prosecutor in Lake County.

Neary will seek Bowser's seat
From Staff Reports

The son of the man replaced in the Indiana Senate by the late Anita Bowser announced Tuesday he plans to seek the seat his father once held.

“Anita leaves big shoes to fill, and I am ready to fully commit to the task of representing the district she served so well,” Robert Neary said in a news release Tuesday.

A lifelong Michigan City resident and attorney, Neary said Tuesday that Bowser spoke to him before she died about “taking back his father's old Senate seat.”

Neary's father, Dennis, held the 8th District seat from 1976 to his retirement in 1992, when Bowser replaced Neary with the lawmaker's endorsement.

“It was a bittersweet conversation, and I was moved by her support,” Neary said of his conversation with Bowser.

Neary has worked for the Indiana attorney general and LaPorte County government. Currently he works as a deputy prosecutor for the Lake County prosecutor's office.

He lives in Michigan City with his wife, Carla, and their three daughters, Rory, Molly and Mary Cate.

Birkholz decides to run for seat left vacant by Bowser
By Jason Miller, The News-Dispatch

After saying Saturday it was likely, but stopping short of announcing it, Deb Birkholz Tuesday told officials with the United Steel Workers of America in Indianapolis that she intends to seek the 8th District state senate seat left vacant with the death earlier this month of Anita Bowser.

In a news release Tuesday, Birkholz said she believes she's in the best position to “pick up the baton” left by Bowser and to “carry on Anita's goals of equality, fairness and justice for all.”

Birkholz announced her candidacy Tuesday at a legislative rally of Steelworkers in Indianapolis and was introduced by Steelworkers District Director Jim Robinson, who said Birkholz has “strong support from the members of organized labor in this effort.”

She said she chose to announce in Indianapolis instead of the district because lobbying for unions at the statehouse is where she first became interested in politics.

“I was coming down anyway for the legislative day, and it's really where I first began,” she said. “I felt it was the right thing to do. It was laborers who first asked me to run, and they're my family.”

Birkholz said she's been active in labor issues for nearly 30 years, having served as president of NIPSCO's clerical union, Local 13796, and having held the position of senior customer service representative. She also serves as secretary of the LaPorte County Democratic Party.

Democratic precinct committee people from around LaPorte and St. Joseph counties will vote on a replacement for Bowser on Sunday, March 25, at the LaPorte County Complex in LaPorte.

The 8th District covers the northern half of LaPorte County and a portion of western and northern St. Joseph County.

Birkholz appears to have the support of LaPorte County attorney and former county party chairman Shaw Friedman. Birkholz didn't confirm or deny the notion that Friedman asked her to run, but she said if he had, it would make no difference.

“If that were true, it wouldn't matter anyway, because he can't vote,” she said earlier.

Neither Freidman nor Birkholz could be reached for comment Tuesday.

Bowser's successor won't fill her shoes
Rick A. Richards

It's dance season, and I don't mean the “big dance” going on with the NCAA men's basketball tournament or television's “Dancing with the Stars.”

No, it's political dance season because everyone, it seems, is doing a quick step over Anita Bowser's grave to get in the best spot to be chosen her successor. Some of the dancers were limbering up even before she died.

But when Bowser died in her sleep the morning of Sunday, March 4, after a courageous battle with breast cancer, the dancing to fill her shoes only intensified.

It's worth noting right now that one of the six announced candidates (all of whom have visions of grandeur to some degree) will sit in her seat in the Statehouse. Not one of them, however, will come close to filling her shoes. The combination of intellect and principle displayed by Bowser is rare in any person, but it's especially rare in a politician.

What made Bowser unique is that she didn't care about the consequences of what she said. She was passionate about the Constitution and about issues that others tried to use as a way to manipulate the Constitution.

In just over a week, on Sunday, March 25, Democrats will caucus at 2 p.m. in the LaPorte County Complex to choose her successor. It will be one of these six: County Councilman Mark Yagelski, former sheriff Jim Arnold, retired union boss Debra Birkholz, PNC administrator Jeff Jones, lawyer Rob Neary or teacher Robin Oshinski.

All of them bring a desire to serve to the table, but it remains to be seen who that service will be dedicated to - residents of the state's 8th Senate district, Democratic party power brokers or themselves.

Any of those are a possibility with the choices before the Democratic precinct committeemen from LaPorte and St. Joseph counties who will gather in nine days.

A political newcomer could be chosen or the choice could be a proven political insider. It's really anyone's guess who will be chosen, but whomever gets the nod from political insiders will have to stand for election on their own in 2008.

One thing is certain, though. Whomever is chosen is going to have little influence in the State Senate. Not only will the choice have the least seniority of the 50 senators, the choice will be from a party that's been in the minority in the Indiana Senate since 1978.

With a 33-17 majority, Republicans control everything that goes on in the Senate. That means Democrats have virtually no influence, which makes what Bowser was able to accomplish in the Senate so remarkable. Even though she always voted in the minority - and was not afraid to speak out against efforts like erecting a Ten Commandments memorial on the Statehouse lawn or opposing a proposed constitutional amendment on same-sex marriage - her arguments were based on her understanding of the constitution.

I simply don't see any one of the six who want to replace Bowser willing to make that kind of a political statement. I'd like to be surprised, but I suspect that it will be a long time before the 8th District - or the state of Indiana, for that matter - sees an officeholder with the political courage of someone like Anita Bowser.

Rick A. Richards is city editor of The News-Dispatch. He can be reached at rrichards@thenewsdispatch.com or at 874-7211, Ext. 441.

8th District updates
From Staff Reports

Yagelski bows out of race

One candidate to replace the late 8th District State Sen. Anita Bowser has bowed out less than a week before a successor is to be named in a Democratic caucus.

Third District LaPorte County Councilman Mark Yagelski said Monday he's dropping out of the race to focus more on his duties as a councilman, and as a member of the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District board.

A longtime steelworker and manager with Mittal Steel, Yagelski plans to endorse Deb Birkholz for the race. Birkholz has a longtime affiliation with United Steelworkers Local 13796, having served as its president for many years.

“It's my belief that (Birkholz) would do the best job of carrying on Anita's legacy in Indianapolis,” he said.

Yagelski said his work schedule played a role in preventing him from running.

A caucus of Democratic precinct committee people will choose a replacement for Bowser at 2 p.m. Sunday in the LaPorte County Complex.

The five remaining candidates are Birkholz, former LaPorte County Sheriff Jim Arnold, Michigan City Area Schools teacher Robin Oshinski, Jeff Jones, a MCAS board member and Purdue University-North Central vice chancellor, and local businessman Rob Neary.

“I am very gratified by the encouragement of my constituents who urged me to seek the Indiana Senate seat,” Yagelski said.

8th District updates

From Staff Reports

Wiseman declares candidacy

Michigan City attorney Joan Wiseman filed a declaration of candidacy Monday for the District 8 state senate seat left vacant by the death of Anita Bowser.

“Everyone has a right and the corresponding duty in a democracy to get involved and to use their talents and education to make our community a better place,” Wiseman said in a press release.

“Anita taught me to see the lawmaking process as a human one. She stressed that each one of us is valued in our constitutional system, which is not perfect, but certainly represents hope of what we as Americans can achieve.”

Wiseman is a graduate of Purdue University-North Central and the Valparaiso University School of Law. She chairs the legal program at Brown Mackie College in Michigan City, where she teaches and mentors nontraditional students.

She has served as president of Parents and Friends, treasurer of the Michigan City Urban Enterprise Zone and treasurer of the Michigan City Bar Association. She has been a Teen Court judge for more than 10 years and a member of the LaPorte County Correction Community Advisory Board for four years.

Wiseman is married to Tom Anderson, Save the Dunes Council executive director, and is an Indiana Air Board member. They live in Michigan City and are the parents of four children. They also have four grandchildren.

8 run for Senate seat

By Deborah Sederberg, The News-Dispatch

It's eight for District 8. When the filing deadline closed Thursday, eight LaPorte County residents had filed to fill the District 8 State Senate seat of the late Anita Bowser.

Democratic precinct committee chairmen will caucus at 2 p.m. Sunday at the LaPorte County Complex to select a replacement.

The eight candidates are:

€ James Arnold, a two-term sheriff of LaPorte County who was among the first to throw his hat into the ring. State law does not permit a sheriff to serve more than two terms.

€ Deb Birkholz, a former president of a United Steel Workers local representing clerical and office employees of NIPSCO.

€ Guyla Blind, who says she's a former teacher and business owner who has held “executive positions.”

€ Jeffrey Jones, assistant vice chancellor for engagement at Purdue University-North Central and president of the Michigan City Area Schools Board.

€ Donna Kavanagh, host of a local cable television show who in 1998 ran unsuccessfully for state representative.

€ Rob Neary, a deputy Lake County prosecutor, who is seeking to fill the seat once held by his father.

€ Robin Oshinski, a kindergarten teacher at Joy Elementary School who this year was named Teacher of the Year by the Learning Disabilities Association of Indiana.

€ Joan Wiseman, a local attorney who chairs the legal department at Brown Mackie College, where she teaches and mentors non-traditional students.

According to the secretary's office of the state Senate, the eight filed before the 2 p.m. Thursday deadline. Candidates must file 72 hours before the Democratic caucus.

Contact reporter Deborah Sederberg at dsederberg@thenewsdispatch.com.

Teacher will seek Bowser's seat
From Staff Reports

Robin Oshinski has announced she will seek appointment to the state senate seat left vacant by the death of Anita Bowser.

Oshinski, a kindergarten teacher at Joy Elementary in Michigan City, is supported by Dunes Shore PACE (Political Action Committee for Education) of Indiana State Teachers Association, an affiliate of I-PACE (Indiana Political Action Committee for Education) of ISTA.

She and her husband, Jerry, are longtime residents of LaPorte County. They are the parents of two children and have two grandchildren.

Oshinski said “economic development is a key concern” as is “attracting quality businesses and industries to the community who will provide family wages and benefits.”

“Many of our young parents today are maintaining one or two jobs while attending school themselves,” she said. “Still, these families value education at all levels. As a senator, I will be committed to addressing their concerns regarding their children's well being and will work to improve academic achievement within our schools.”

Andy Borrelli with Dunes Shore PACE, said, “She's a successful teacher in an urban school district who's earned recognition for her work with general and special education students. She knows the issues facing public education in our state. I believe she has the ability to work with Democrats and Republicans alike to forge legislation improving and promoting public education in Indiana.”

Members of the Democratic caucus for the 8th senate district, which includes the north half of LaPorte County and the northwest corner of St. Joseph County, will meet at 2 p.m. Sunday in the LaPorte County Complex to choose Bowser's successor.

City woman will run for Senate seat
From Staff Reports

A Michigan City woman who said she once was a LaPorte County politician announced Thursday she's filed to fill the 8th District State Senate seat left open by the death of Anita Bowser.

Guyla S. Blind said Thursday she's a former teacher and business owner who has held “executive positions.” When asked what executive positions she's held, Blind said, “This isn't the time to discuss that.”

She also declined to say where she taught, give her age or what businesses she's owned.

“I don't give out that type of information,” she said.

“I am the best choice for this position, not only because of my professional background, but also I am a widow with no family commitments and I have total time to devote to the Senate seat. Also, I have personal interest in some of the projects, especially the Illiana Expressway, and I want to be the solution to this project. I have hundreds of county residents counting on me and I am the person that can get this done.”

A member of American Legion Auxiliary Post 83, past member and officer of Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity Phi Wives, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Eastern Star and Arts Guild of Southern Illinois, as well as organizations in Starke County, Blind said she will run for the seat in the 2008 election, even if she isn't chosen on Sunday by a Democratic caucus when it meets at the LaPorte County Complex.

“I will provide high quality professionalism when elected and I will be dedicated and perform in a professional, courteous and impartial manner to my constituents,” she said. “I've wanted this seat for a long time. I knew Anita and didn't want to run against her.”