He asked me if I would follow him as mayor, I said, by the time you’re done being mayor, Republicans will be so sick of Democrats in Goshen no Democrat could get elected.
Alan Kauffman – Former Mayor – Goshen, IN
Alan Kauffman served as Mayor of Goshen, IN for more than 18 years. Not bad for a guy who was convinced no Democrat could get elected in Goshen after Mayor Puro.
So how did Kauffman overcome the odds? How did he become mayor when he was convinced it wasn’t possible for a Democrat to get elected?
“One night I said, well if something happened that you left office, then I was caucused in and I could run as an incumbent, I’d think about it.”
Alan Kauffman – Former Mayor – Goshen, IN
Listen to the audio below.
In March of 1997, Puro resigned and Kauffman was, indeed, easily caucused in by the Democratic Party. From there, he ran for mayor as the incumbent in 1999 and won. Incumbents hold a significant advantage to be reelected. The rest is history.
Kauffman is currently a Goshen School Board member and embroiled in an election scandal for mishandling election funds and possible illegal campaign contributions.
Fast forward to 2015. After mentoring Jeremy Stutsman for over 8 years, Kauffman had his hand-picked successor. Stutsman would defeat Republican Mary Cripe to be Goshen’s next mayor. Kauffman said he would have run again if he felt the next mayor would be a ‘flake.’
Stutsman ran unopposed in 2019 after his opponent, Republican Terry Snyder, 77, died unexpectedly just weeks before the May 7 primary election. In December of 2022, Mayor Stutsman announced he was running for his third term as mayor of Goshen.
At his public announcement that he would not seek reelection, Stutsman said:
“Over the next couple of weeks, between myself, the new mayor that … uh the person that I’m hoping will be the new mayor that’s announcing …”
Mayor Stutsman
Listen to the audio below.
More on who that person is shortly.
The mayor announcing they weren’t running for reelection right after announcing that they were caused confusion about the election.
Mayor Stutsman will remain on the May primary ballot. The Democratic party will then caucus a candidate to take Stutsman’s place for the November general election.
It’s hard to say how the GOP would have adjusted their strategy and candidate selection had they known Stutsman would not be running, but it’s safe to assume they would have taken a different approach.
It’s also safe to assume that the timing of Stutsman’s announcement prevented any Democrat candidate from announcing a primary run. Especially since it was too late to replace Stutsman’s name on the May ballot.
Once again, Goshen Democrats strategized to take the choice out of the people‘s hands and hand-pick their successor for Mayor.
Elkhart City Councilman Aaron Mishler thinks this is a brilliant strategy. Frankly, it is brilliant albeit very shady, and underhanded.
Goshen election officials said Democrats would caucus to choose Stutsman’s replacement after the May primary. It’s only April and we already have the heir apparent.
Mayor Jeremy Stutsman has endorsed Gina Leichty as the candidate of choice to fulfill his term and run for office in the fall municipal election in 2023.
95.3 MNC
Democrats are expected to caucus for a candidate in May. Stutsman has estimated he will be done as mayor in June. The election is in the Fall.
The strategy is simple:
Announce you aren’t running for reelection late in the cycle to prevent candidates in your own party from running against your hand-picked successor.
Negatively affect the other political party’s strategy going into election season.
Give your hand-picked successor an almost certain win.
Rinse and repeat anytime there’s a changing of the guard.
To be clear, I’m not accusing anyone of breaking the law. The strategy is effective. Goshen residents need to decide for themselves if they feel cheated by this scheme.
Are Democrats ok with not being able to effectively run for mayor in the primary with a level playing field?
Are Republicans ok with effectively being shut out of a truly competitive electoral process by not knowing who they were running against?
Are Goshen voters ok with the electoral process being manipulated by local Democrats so that all eligible candidates don’t get a fair shot in the primary?
11 mentioning Trump 3 Mike Pence 2 Fox News 2 Tucker Carlson 1 Ron DeSantis 1 George Santos 1 Alex Jones 1 Silicon Valley Bank pic.twitter.com/0MT8Q0fhgC
JUST IN: First Republic Bank, the San Francisco-based lender that was cut to junk by S&P and Fitch, is exploring strategic options including a sale https://t.co/fRG03oAtZGpic.twitter.com/p5vSNmnTnd
MN Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan on sex changes for minors: "When our children tell us who they are, it is our job as grown-ups to listen and to believe them. That's what it means to be a good parent." pic.twitter.com/WNXjGRgjsm
The political strategy to mutilate children in order to artificially grow a loyal voting demographic will go down as one the most evil things ever done.
— Casey Hendrickson 🎙 Syndicated Radio Host (@caseythehost) March 16, 2023
Former Vice President Joe Biden sat down with an interview for The Daily Show with Kal Penn. During that interview, he claimed he saw two men openly kiss each other when he was in high school as his dad dropped him off somewhere. I’m not going to challenge the notion of two openly gay guys kissing each other in public in the 1950s because it isn’t really relevant.
Penn asked Biden about his evolution on marriage equality (which used to mean something completely different).
“I can remember exactly when my epiphany was.
“I hadn’t thought much about it, to tell you the truth. And I was a senior in high school. And my dad was dropping me off and I was about to get out of the car and I looked to my right and two well-dressed men in suits kissed each other. I mean, they gave each other a kiss. And then one went, looked like he was headed to the Dupont building, one looked like he was going to the Hercules Corporation building.”
-Joe Biden 2023 – The Daily Show
Biden then offers up his dad’s take on the kiss:
“And I’ll never forget, I turned and looked at my dad, he said, Joe, it is simple. They love each other. It is simple. I’m not joking. It is simple. They love each other. And it has never been — it has never been — it is just that simple. It doesn’t matter whether it is same-sex or heterosexual couple. You should be able to be married.”
This isn’t the first time Biden has told this story. It has always been received with skepticism in years past.
Biden openly opposed gay marriage his entire Senate career. He even quipped that gay people working in government were a security risk.
Here’s him opposing it in 2006 on Meet The Press.
Joe Biden opposed gay marriage in 2006.
The first time we have Biden coming out and even tacitly supporting gay marriage was on Meet The Press in 2012. David Gregory even opened up the line of questioning by saying:
“He’s (Obama) opposed to it. You’re opposed to it. Have your views evolved?”
Joe Biden on Meet The Press, May 2012
The idea that Biden supported gay marriage his whole life and political career is a lie. If he had those views, he lied about them and betrayed gay people his entire Senate career. It’s far more likely that Biden is doing what Biden always does … lies for political pandering and expediency.
If Kal Penn had any integrity, he’d call him out on his lie. He didn’t.
The new Boston sculpture “honoring” Dr. Martin Luther King and his wife, Coretta Scott King, looks more like a pair of hands hugging a beefy penis than a special moment shared by the iconic couple.
