The Indiana Farm Bureau political action committee, ELECT, has weighed in on the upcoming general election by endorsing various candidates on Indiana ballots for U.S. Congress, Indiana State Senate, and the Indiana House of Representatives, and many of the candidates are now getting the word of their endorsement to local media. This year the endorsements for congress go to 6 Republicans including incumbents Marlin Stutzman, Todd Rokita, and Todd Young.
Pete Hanebutt Political Education Specialist at Indiana Farm Bureau, explains during an interview process the pac is looking for candidates’ positions on a range of issues.
“Issues for us at the statehouse level are always tax issues, always regulatory issues, some land use issues, and the ability for municipalities to reach out and regulate beyond their municipal borders is a challenge for us in the current climate. At the federal level, trade, taxes and regulation are always federal issues that Indiana Farm Bureau and American Farm Bureau are looking at.
Hanebutt added the regulatory issues include, “the EPA and the Clean Water Act and how that is implemented and phrased. That was a big topic of discussion this past summer. Inheritance taxes are a big issue for us.”
He says the Farm Bill was certainly a topic covered in interviews during this Farm Bill year, but it wasn’t a game changer for endorsement decisions.
Indiana Farm Bureau ELECT endorsements don’t mean an automatic contribution from the political action committee, but this year the federal candidates have been allocated a donation.
“At the federal level there is a maximum contribution of $5,000 and many of the candidates that we’re endorsing at the federal level will get that maximum contribution, but at the statehouse level there aren’t limits and they vary all across the board. Some candidates that might be in tight races where they legitimately need help to be reelected, and I’m thinking of incumbents now that have proven to be good to us in the past, they have a proven track record with us, those candidates might be worthy of several thousand dollars of contributions, but in most cases it’s less than $500 in a contribution.”[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/10/ELECT-2012-endorsements.mp3|titles=ELECT 2012 endorsements]
In the full HAT interview you’ll hear Hanebutt explain the process for determining candidate endorsements. And the full list of endorsements for the November 6 general election is at this link.[audio:https://www.hoosieragtoday.com//wp-content/uploads//2012/10/Pete-Hanebutt-on-IFB-ELECT.mp3|titles=Pete Hanebutt on IFB ELECT]
ELECT is funded through voluntary contributions of individual members and no monies of Indiana Farm Bureau for-profit companies are used to support political candidates.