All right. Welcome to the public forum for candidates for county clerk. I'm your moderator,
Alana Stonebreaker, from Indiana University Libraries Bloomington and former county council member in
Tippecano. This is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Bloomington Monroe County. We are pleased
to have co-sponsors of IU Pace, Political and Civic Engagement,
Kappa Tau Omega, Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Monroe County Branch NAACP, the Monroe County NOW, and
the South Central Indiana Citizens' Climate Lobby. And let's just give our sponsors and co-sponsors
a round of applause. Yeah, very important to have forums and so happy that we're able to have this.
And also wanted to thank Katz
who is up in the top bleachers recording our event. So after this event, you should be able to access
the recording. I will take a moment to review the ground rules which each of the candidates have accepted.
Candidates respond in turn to questions posed by me, the moderator, rotating which candidate will answer
first. Responses are limited to 90 seconds unless I specify a different time.
Audience members are invited to submit questions on the cards provided. And I believe that we want to
raise the hands of the cards. So there's your card first, so raise your hand if you're interested in
a card in terms of it. Just to give you an idea, as moderator I have about six questions and then we
switch over to questions from the audience. Please raise your hand if you need a card or can direct
one from the stage.
Each candidate will then be asked to make a closing statement of one minute. The candidates have agreed
to a civil discourse. I'd like to introduce our three candidates on the stage. There's Tanner Branham,
Joe Davis, and Tree Martin Lewis. Tree Martin Lewis, excuse me. Lucas. Lucas, Lucas, oh my goodness.
I get extra points already.
That was the first question, no I'm just kidding. So Lucas, so I'm going to start the first, oh so we're
gonna start with opening statements and we will go in order starting with Tanner. Great. Hi everyone,
so I just wanna start off by thanking the League of Women Voters for hosting this event and thank you
to Alana for moderating.
My name is Tanner Branham and I'm running to be your next county clerk. I am experienced and eager to
take on this role. I have been a lifelong resident of southern Indiana, lifelong Hoosier. I got my first
look at what public service looks like through my father who was a, he was a public office holder so
I spent my childhood going out knocking doors with him and getting involved with politics.
And then I went off to college and that led to me to seek a degree in political science and legal studies.
In my 20s, I spent a couple years interning and working at the prosecutor's office and the public defender's
office in Lawrence County. After that, I substitute taught middle school and high school for a couple
years while also managing the bookstore, Inkling's bookstore down in Lawrence County.
For the past seven years I've been an employee at IU. I started out as a tech professional working in
web services support for IU, so maintaining the IU's web presence. That gave me a lot of skills
in technology. After that I went to the Office of Enrollment Management where I was an executive assistant.
And I am now currently, I've left IU and I am the chief deputy of the county clerk's office.
I've been a dedicated Democrat my entire life and I'm very excited to ensure that we have the best elections
possible and protect our vote. Thank you Good evening, my name is Joe Davis and I wish to be your Monroe
County clerk to make better of Bloomington and Monroe County to serve the people it is time to
for service, a political service. Just let's get it done. I want to thank all of you, the League of
Women Voters, those in attendance, the administration and staff who set up for this event tonight, and
all of you at home who are watching on Facebook Live or watching later on CATS TV, the proceedings of
tonight's forum.
elections need to be trusted, accurate, and accessible for all. The other roles of the clerk, administration
of the courts, producing and managing records, and serving the people are the other areas that we need
to have the best we can have. And I thank you for listening to
all of our candidacy statements and please join me in electing myself, Monroe County Clerk. Thank you.
Good evening. I'd like to thank the League of Women Voters for putting this on tonight. My name is Tree
Martin Lucas and I'm running for Monroe County Clerk. I'm not asking you to take
Oh fudge. Can you hear me now? Very good. I'm not asking you to take a chance on me. I've done this
work. I've served as both the election supervisor and chief deputy and at times I've done both jobs
simultaneously. I know this office inside and out and at times
I've carried the responsibility that would be beyond my years. The clerk's office isn't political. It's
personal. Let me say that again. The clerk's office is not political. It's personal. It's about people.
Every person who walks through those doors deserves respect, kindness, and professionalism. I believe strongly
in voting and voter participation. Why? Because every voice matters. I've built strong relationships
across our courts and our counties. And I know how to lead a team and get the job done. Experience matters.
I'm ready on day one. I appreciate your support.
All right, this first question, and we're gonna rotate who goes first, so this first question will be
Joe. The County Clerk's webpage lists several functions. How do you anticipate allocating your time
and effort among court case filings and status reports, traffic violations, child support, protective
orders, record requests, and marriage licenses and elections? And there are 90 seconds for each question.
I'm sorry, could you repeat that question? Oh yes, I'm happy to repeat, hang on. The county clerk's
webpage lists several functions. How do you anticipate allocating your effort among court case filings
and status reports, traffic violations, child support, protection orders, records requests,
marriage licenses, and, one of the important ones for us, elections?
I have the full faith and confidence of the existing staff in the voter registration office, in the
general clerks area where people file, be it to the courts or for a marriage certificate or a death
certificate is filed. Or if a person needs to address something, a civil matter or even a defense, a
criminal defense matter,
The clerk is the gatekeeper to the accurate filings of all of these documents and acknowledgments. The
clerk's office already is staffed with people who are doing a great job, but together we will improve
that job and we will provide even more clarity in what one must do in order to achieve their action
goal. This is what I will do
and my direct experience over the course of my life through being a practicing jurist, making many,
many legal filings over the past three to four years full-time, my past experience as a contractor when
I've had to seek redress through a property loan, lien, or getting married and eventually divorced.
through the clerk's office. Please, together we will improve and build upon the best system that we
can do as a community. Thank you. Tre, same question. When you look at the website, it is daunting.
We do so much in the department. Not only do we have all the legal aspects, but throw on top of that
elections.
How the office runs now is very efficient. The employees are wonderful. We also have technology that
helps us. We have technology such as Odyssey e-filing. It takes your, the person can file it home in
their pajamas. If they're pro se, they don't need an attorney, they can file themselves. And then that
filing goes to different areas of the department. If you're in small claims, you handle all the small
claims issues.
If you're in the divorce, you handle those. Protective orders, we've got that department too. The office
runs smoothly because we have good people. My goal is to communicate with my people, but also listen
to the people that come into the office. They're not in familiar territory, we are. And the main goal
I have is to listen, and I mean truly listen,
Sometimes you're so busy trying to figure out the answer that you don't listen. If I don't know the
answer, I'll find it. My goal is simple, to treat everyone with respect, dignity, and professionalism.
Tanner, same question. So yeah, the clerk's office has a lot of different responsibilities and I feel
like I would handle those equally.
Going back to the exact question, see, I would use my time equally among the various responsibilities
within the office. I have a lot of great experience working at IU, doing project management and working
with a variety of different departments to handle different issues. And that's the kind of experience
I want to bring into the clerk's office. Awesome, thank you. All right, our next starting question is Tree.
Do you support or oppose having vote centers in Monroe County? And what would you do to promote your
position? Vote centers, I love them. For the simple reason, on provisional day, we have to cast out
so many votes because people went to the wrong precinct. Can you vote? Absolutely you can vote. You
can vote anywhere you show up. Will your vote count? No, it won't.
the board will not accept your vote, and it's thrown out. If we had vote centers, all of those votes
would matter. Everyone would still have that voice. I totally support vote centers. Now, to
get it accomplished, we would have to get another party to agree with us. How do we get them to agree
with us? Well, we don't shove things down people's throat. We listen.
Oh, there's that word again, listen. Listen to what they have against vote centers and see if we can
change it. Sometimes it may just be the location of the vote center. We have to meet everybody's needs,
can we? I don't know, but we can make compromises, but we won't even know about these compromises unless
we have those honest conversations with both sides' listenings, both sides' giving, and both sides'
Compromising. Vote centers are a great thing. Location is a great thing. The cost on the county, it
will be better for that too, because we don't have to buy all those ballots. All those ballots that
we shred after the election. So it's cost saving too in the long term. Do I have the money in equipment?
Yes, we do. Tanner, same question.
Yes, I am an extremely strong supporter of vote centers. When we had the vote center referendum last
year, I left public comment to the elections board in support of vote centers. I've been a strong advocate
for vote centers in the county. As for bringing them to the county, it's all about collaboration and
compromise, as Tree just said. Unfortunately, we live in a Republican-dominated state. We do have an
elections board that has
a Republican member, and we need to work with them in order to bring vote centers to the county. Joe,
same question. I agree with my colleagues. I think that vote centers are a way of the future, but it
comes down to a question of convenience versus efficiency. If they're vote centers, that probably means
that it's going to be necessary to close some of the existing precincts
Some of those are very disparate from the center of Blooming or the center of Monroe County.
So those folks, those very rural locations, they will need to be able to have other convenient means
of getting registered to vote or voting on the ballot. That means an increased outreach with mail-in
voting. That means trying to enable the most
opportunity for early voting so that people can early vote when they come into Bloomington.
So vote centers, yes, but we have to consider that with vote centers, probably they'll be closing the
closing of many of our more rural precincts. And that is hard on the elderly. It's hard on the student
who might be going to Ivy Tech
who lives out almost at the reaches of one of our neighboring counties. So let's continue to have this
discussion, make sure that it's transparent, and bring the most logical way for us to have everyone
be able to access the ballot equally with equity. Thank you very much.
Next question, I think we're starting next with Tanner. Okay, so this position is a department head
who manages a staff of people. What experiences do you bring to that part of the role and what is your
approach and philosophy to managing people? Yeah, so I've been very lucky throughout my career to have
a lot of really great managers and I hope to just bring their spirit to the office.
I also have a bit of experience managing people myself. I've been a campaign manager here locally, so
I've had a lot of experience managing volunteers for multiple campaigns. I also, as I mentioned earlier,
I worked briefly as a manager of a small bookstore, which is a great experience, you know. So I have
a lot of experience managing people there. And then during my time at IU, in the Office of Enrollment
Management, I was not exactly a manager,
I was an executive assistant for someone who was a manager and I worked very closely with them with
managing their multiple groups and departments. So yeah, I bring a lot of good management experience
and I just wanna bring a spirit of collaboration and understanding to the office to work with my colleagues.
Thank you, Joe, same question. Growing up,
I have had to manage farm operations. In my longest career as a natural builder, a designer and builder,
I needed to manage my crews and bring on new crews often seasonally. And the thing that I have learned
over all these years is that people have their own strength and confidence in their abilities and if
one fosters
independence and gives them some leeway such that they can be the captain to make decisions appropriate
to them but verified by myself, then I can guarantee a very successful team, a collaborative team where
everyone looks to push the team in general towards success. I see no reason
to believe that that's not already in existence in our Monroe County clerk operations. I believe though,
however, that there is always opportunity for improvement. And that means from the newest clerk who
was just hired on and in training to the most experienced other staff members, everyone should be feel
free to make
contact with the boss and My door will always be open because that's what is necessary for the best
of Service to the people. Thank you sure you same question Supervising of people does it come naturally?
I think it does when I was chief deputy I supervised about 40 people in the office and
as election supervisor during the election cycle, that number would rise from 250 to 300. Did I have
a personal relationship with the 300? No, I did not. But they knew what they could expect from me. I
had their backs. When that phone rang, I answered it. When they had a problem, I sought a solution.
People are not disposable. If they have a bad day, we all have bad days, don't we?
And we don't do our jobs as wonderfully as we did the day before. And that's understandable.
If it's a habit, it's one thing. If it's standard procedure, it's another. Corrective training is the
answer. Not firing someone. When someone walks out that door, you've invested time in them, you've invested
money in them, there goes knowledge. Institutional,
Knowledge. You can't replace institutional knowledge. So if you have a problem with an employee, you
speak to that employee. You make a plan for corrective training. You communicate. You might find out
that the person hates their job and would rather do protective orders. Then that's where you should
move them. Everyone has a personality. Everyone has a life. Work is only part of that life. There has
to be a balance between work and home.
And I think Joe is next. And the question that we have is one submitted from the audience that I wanted
to put in here, which is, do you see it as the clerk's role to increase voter registration and voter
turnout? And if so, how would you do this? Do you need me to repeat it? Yeah, Joe. Could you please
repeat it? Yeah. Do you see it as the clerk's role to increase voter registration and voter turnout?
And if so, how would you do this? Yes.
It is the clerk's role to provide accessibility. However, the clerk has to operate within the bounds
of statutory and rule of law when it comes to the election rules in the state of Indiana.
Now, some of these things are constantly changing. That means that the clerk needs to be abreast of
what lawsuits are happening and where they might be going because when they take effect, one must be
able to turn on a dime. Democracy requires the maximum accessibility to every voter. That is where the
power is that
can unlock that individual and turn them from a victim who thinks that they have no control over their
life to the point where they are powerful. And maybe it starts with only one vote, but that could be
the launch pad for them to do other things. And all of a sudden, if we become a community of powerful
people, then we can change our community for the better
much more easily because especially when this happens, partisan politics all fall away because it's
who you, is your neighbor, your friend, and your family member that is important. Thank you very much.
All right, Trudy, next question. Same question. This question matters a lot to me, and I've put some
research in it, so I'm gonna tell you what I feel.
I believe the clerk's office plays a critical role in making voting accessible while always remaining
nonpartisan. There's that word again, nonpartisan. And if we're serious about strengthening voter engagement,
we have to focus on four things. Clear information, accessibility, smart technology, and real community
outreach. First, engagement starts with understanding.
Voters deserve clear, consistent information about registration deadlines, early voting, and where to
vote. And we have to do a better job of reaching younger people, meeting them in schools and on the
digital platforms they use every day. Second, accessibility matters. Voting location and hours must
be convenient, well publicized, and supported by real people
who can answer questions and help voters when they need it. Third, technology should make things easier,
not harder. I will continue improving online tools so voters can quickly check their registrations,
understand their options, and feel confident walking into the process. And finally, true engagement.
What does that mean? It means showing up, partnering with schools,
local offices and community organizations. Thanks. Tanner, same question. Yeah. Yes. Getting people
registered to vote and to participate in our electoral process is something I'm deeply passionate about.
I am currently the chair of the Monroe County Young Democrats. And in that role, I've been tabling at
every possible event we can to get young people engaged with politics and registered to vote.
So I'm very passionate about that. And in the office, I hope to do a lot more voter outreach, especially
using modern tools, modern technology. Social media, obviously, that's where people are, and that's
how you have to reach them these days if you want to get people involved. So yeah, thank you.
Thank you all. My next question is going to be for Tree. And the question kind of relates to that same question.
How will you approach ethics, transparency, and conflicts of interest so people can trust the decisions
that you make? Let me know if you need me to repeat that. Ethics. That's a big word in itself with a
lot of meaning. I think I'm a very ethical person, and I hope that my life that I've lived has shown
of my ethics. When I go into the office, I view it as nonpartisan.
There's that word again. Meaning everybody can walk in and we help everybody regardless of their party
affiliation. Conflict of interest. At this time there is no conflict of interest with me. I believe
that the office is nonpartisan. People are people wherever they go. If you walk in that door I'm gonna
help you. Try to meet your need. Answer your questions. Listen to your concerns.
and provide help if I need to. There's a big difference between giving legal advice and trying to steer
people in the right direction. The clerk's office cannot give legal advice, but we can steer them in
the right directions. I can give them the number to Middle Way House. I can give them the number to
the shelter, the Shalom Center. I can suggest the rise. So ethics, integrity,
Conflict of interest, I'm good with those. Thank you. All right, so we loop over to Tanner, and I'm
gonna repeat the question again in terms of it. How will you approach ethics, transparency, and conflicts
of interest so people can trust the decisions you make? Well, I of course wanna bring a non-partisan
attitude to the office. I wanna work bipartisan with our
you know, Republicans, I want them to feel welcome in the office. I want to treat my personal political
views as separate, right? Tanner, the political activist, the campaign manager is different from Tanner,
the clerk's employee, the clerk, potential future clerk. So yeah, that's how I want to approach the
office and ensure that there is no ethical concerns there.
Transparency, I want the office to be as transparent as possible. I want our data to be accessible online,
easy for people to find whenever they need it. Thank you. Joe, same question. When it comes to gaining
the trust of the public, it is based on the ethics of the office, the office staff,
the ability for the office to be transparent in how they conduct their role according to the law, and
should there ever be any sort of problem or issue that it's quickly revealed and there are measures
taken to correct that oversight or whatever the issue might be. That's how one gains trust, the trust
of their peers. So obviously,
We know that the office is all about service. There is no partisanship at all that should be found there,
even though some of the staff have to be Republican or they have to be Democrat in order to be able
to check each other in the voter registration office where people visit the people who come in to be
candidates or register to vote. There can be always improvements
and tools that can be created to help individuals better understand what their options are. And these
self-help tools can help that individual decide for themselves. It doesn't mean that the clerk is providing
legal advice. Providing the many options that are available so people can serve themselves is always
the way that we should be heading toward a better, efficient,
system for us all. Thank you. All right. My next question is for Tanner in terms of it. And it is, what
is your top priority to support women, LGBTQ plus folks, and marginalized genders in Monroe County?
Great. So for protecting LGBTQ folks, continuing to be an advocate for LGBTQ rights, and particularly
same sex marriage, and respectively, clerk's office, right?
Of course, a lot of that is dependent on state law, state and federal law, but remaining to be compliant
with those and continuing to support same-sex marriage is top priority. Supporting women, I have been
very lucky to have so many amazing women that I've worked with throughout my career and in the office.
There are so many amazing women who work there and I want to continue to support those employees
in the office. Also doing a lot more voter outreach to those communities. So as I had said previously,
in my personal capacity camp tabled at different events throughout the county and just encouraging voter
registration among those groups to support them. Thank you. I'm just going to pause and say, if you
have any questions, we're nearly to the end of our questions. So put your hand up high.
Ralph or someone else can come and get them if you have them in terms of it. So Joe, same question.
And would you mind repeating that again? Oh yeah. What is your top priority to support women, LGBTQ
plus folks and marginalized genders in Monroe County? My top priority to support women, the LGBTQ community
and other minorities
Be they trans or even they just be black and brown people who are very vulnerable these days in our
community. One of those ways to support them is to keep the clerk's office and the courts and the jail
downtown where they belong. They have been here for over 100 years ever since the inception of Monroe County.
It needs to stay here. This is where the population center is. This is where people's, the groups that
serve the communities who need the most assistance are located. Moving the jail and the courts and the
clerk's office out to the North Park area makes no sense whatsoever. Providing more free legal, Indiana
free legal help kiosks around
the city of Bloomington besides just the public library and the Charlotte T. Zitlow Justice Center would
help. We need to have some of these in other towns and also in the courthouse itself and city hall here
in Bloomington. People can help themselves. They just need to be able to see some tools that can show them
The way forward, that is well how I will help the women, the LGBT community and those minorities that
need the best support here in town. Thank you. Same question. My top priority for women is basically
keep marching forward. We've gained ground, but there's more to do. As for the LGBTQ plus community,
My advice is if you need someone to stand with you, I will. If you want to get married, I do those marriages.
Why? Because everybody has a life. Everybody needs to be a part of our society. We can't branch off
into different sections of the world. We have to work together. We have to be a part of the team. I
don't like how we always find differences in each other. I would rather we find what we have in common.
Common ground so we can discuss things and we can work on things together. Collaboration, that's wonderful.
If the county opens back up and there would be jobs again, because you know we're in a freeze right
now, I would hire anyone that applied. If they could do the job and they show up for work, we've got
a good start. Thank you. So this next question is for Joe.
Under current laws, ballots cast during early voting cannot be scanned until election day. Do you think
earlier scanning should be allowed, and what concerns or benefits might this introduce? And for this
one, I'm just going to give people a minute, because I think it's a little bit more straightforward
of a question. So, okay, go ahead. Oh, yeah, I can totally, I guess it's not a straightforward question.
Under current laws, ballots cast during early voting cannot be scanned until election day. Do you think
earlier scanning should be allowed, and what concerns or benefits might this introduce? So earlier scanning
of early voting ballots and mail-in ballots. My position on the scanning of early voting ballots is
no way, no how,
scan them on election day. There are too many risks. If there was scanning before that time, it puts
the anonymous secret ballot component at risk. People are supposed to be able to cast their ballot without
anyone else knowing who they have cast their, you know,
office holder ballot choices. It's important that everybody feel confident that their vote is accurate,
but yet it must remain secret. Otherwise, we stand a chance of losing the public's trust. Just think
how often we get information that our data has been compromised. We must protect this at all costs.
Thank you. So Tre, same question. And I'm just going to read it. Under current laws, ballots cast during
early voting cannot be scanned until election day. Do you think earlier scanning should be allowed?
And what benefit and concerns might this introduce? OK. I'm almost squirming to answer this question.
I've worked early voting. I do believe we should scan early. There is no way to connect the ballot to
the voter. They walk up to the scanner, and they put it in.
Boom, it's gone. There's 100 other ballots there. I don't know which one is yours. It's a great thing.
On election day, all we have to do is pull that V drive, and that's what it's called, a V drive, put
it into tally, and then the ballot is totaled. It's not totaled when it is put into the scanner. That
doesn't take place until we put it into a system called tally. Oh, the dead voter law. How could we
get around that?
Your vote doesn't count if you vote early and you die on the way home. Your vote only counts on election
day. So what do we do about that? Oh, we can go in and do a, what's the word? A trunfication of the
number. I don't know how you voted, but I can find your ballot and I don't know, I can't see it,
but I could actually take that ballot out of the V drive. So that vote is not counted. Dead voter laws.
You have to live in the state of Indiana to vote. And if you're dead, you're not living. I can't take
credit for that. Someone told me that and it was like, oh, it's that light bulb moment. I understood.
So am I in favor of early voting scanning? Absolutely, I am.
All right, let's move on to Tanner now. I would request it, yeah. So yeah, I would say that I would
support it, yes, as well. It is an issue that I want to do more research on, just on kind of the pros
and cons. Obviously, the big pro is that we get the election results faster, which who can argue with
that, right? We get to count votes faster. So yeah, I think overall, I would support it. Awesome. So
a question from the audience, and I think
Who are we at? Oh, we're at Tree. So why did you feel the need to run for county clerk? And is there
a specific opportunity or problem that we need to address that motivated you? My decision to run for
the clerk comes from something simple but powerful. I have a deep commitment to public service and a
belief that experience accuracy and integrity truly matter.
Public service is not new to me. It's who I am. It's been the center of my career and my connection
to the community. I'm running for clerk because this office matters. It's essential to making sure our
courts run efficiently, transparently, and correctly every single day. I've spent years working inside
the systems that make Monroe County move. 12 years at the Monroe County Sheriff's Office,
in the administration side and eight years in the clerk's office as the election supervisor and the
chief deputy. I've done the work. I've seen firsthand how critical organization is, communication and
attention to detail. We have to earn and keep the public trust. What I would change or make better,
communications within our department and the courts. That relationship is hand and glove.
When we look good, they look good. When they look good, we look good. If we get along, we talk, we know
what's going on, we can do a better job for our community. And that's what it's all about, making our
community a better place. Thank you. So same question to Tanner. Why did you feel the need to run and
is there a specific opportunity or problem that we need to address? Yeah.
I decided, well, as I started out saying earlier, I've just kind of always been involved with public
service, right? I saw public service firsthand through my dad, and that kind of just always felt like
a natural path to me to seek public service. I've been a dedicated member of our Democratic Party, and
I've always been a little back and forth on whether I wanted to run for office myself, but back in last
summer, Nicole, our current clerk, is of course term-limited, and we needed somebody to run for clerk,
I was asking around the party and there was just nobody else who really seemed like they were gonna
step up. And so I thought, you know, I have a background that fits this role. I've been passionate about
public service. I think it's finally time that maybe I give it a shot and try running for office.
And so, you know, as I said earlier, I also, you know, I've been very passionate about like bringing
vote centers to the county and that's something I really wanna get done in the office. So yeah, that's
why I'm running, hopefully to serve my community and hopefully bring vote centers to the county.
So thank you.
Joe, same question, why did you feel the need to run and is there a specific opportunity or problem
we need to address? Friends, the reason that I am running for Monroe County Clerk is because of the
core values that I was taught growing up on the farm in our small rural community. All the farm families
we hung out with,
just believed in serving each other. And so it comes naturally. My mom was a trustee for our township
for over 40 years. This is just what people do when they care about each other. Why Monroe County Clerk?
Well, honestly, when I first registered for office as a candidate, I registered for Monroe County Council
District 2.
But then I saw that clerk was also too a position that was going to be open. And I thought about it
and I realized I truly have a depth of experience of interacting with the clerk's office as a user,
as a client, as a community member. And I have seen ways in which the interaction between the courts
and the clerk's office can be improved. I personally have experienced
degradation of evidence because of mistakes that have happened between that relationship. And now I
have to dig myself out of a matter before the appellate court which was unnecessary. But that is why
I know that I will be able to provide better tools to the existing system and I thank you.
All right, this is gonna be my final question before closing statement. And since we've been talking
about coordination with the courts, it's about the courts. So what do you believe is the, what do you
believe, sorry, how do you believe it's important to work in coordination with other offices? And what
do you do to help facilitate the relationship with those offices, i.e. the courts? And then the second
part about this is,
which I think is related, but if it's not, I'm very sorry. How would you handle petitions for orders
of protection, meaning domestic violence in terms of it? And I'm gonna start with, I think we start
with Tanner. So hey, so I've been, I have a lot of experience collaborating with different departments
at IU. That's kind of the energy that I wanna bring to the office, right? I wanna collaborate with the
different,
courts, all of their offices and ensure that everybody feels heard, that we're not like, you know, taking
a stern stance and saying my way or the highway to all these other people, right? We want to
work collaboratively. We're all on the same team. We're all trying to just, you know, accomplish our
given responsibilities.
Can you repeat that second part? The second? All right, so good working relationship with those offices
is the first part. And then the third part is, how would you handle petitions for orders of protection?
How would I handle petitions for orders of protection? I'm going to say that that's an issue I need
to look more into. Again, I would just kind of bring that collaborative energy and work with my fellow
colleagues to accomplish those. Thank you. Joe, same question.
Collaboration is what makes work get done. Many hands make light work. I can speak to you specifically
about one instance in which I was seeking a protective order from an unhoused gentleman who was repeatedly
trespassing and vandalizing my front porch and my curiosities. Eventually, the gentleman was caught.
I filed for an order of protection with the protective order project in the clerk's office. And their
assistance was so valuable to help me get this PO filed. Unfortunately, the gentleman could not be found,
so he could not be served. And therefore, my time was running out to be able to have the court issue
this order of protection. On the 31st day,
One day after the order or the process expired, the gentleman was picked up by BPD. I immediately got
a call from the victim assistance staff member and she told me that he was shortly to be arraigned before
the judge. And so I hurriedly ran down to the clerk's office and I filed a notice with the court to
ensure that
that he would be able to be served with this PO. And it was able to happen because of the collaboration
that took place. And that is what I'm talking about. That is how justice is served. Thank you. Chi,
same question. Why do you believe it is important to work in coordination with other offices? And how
would you help facilitate a good working relationship with specifically the courts? And then the second,
The second kind of question is how would you handle petitions for orders of protection, which I'm gonna
look at my judges in the room and I think the two are connected. So working with the courts is imperative
with the clerk's office. We are handing love. If we don't function, they don't function. Think of the
clerk's office as the hub and the courts going out as the wheel. It starts with us, but it goes out.
In the spring of 2026, which is now,
The state is taking over Odyssey. It goes from Odyssey e-filing to Odyssey IN filing. This is supposed
to be easier for the pro se litigants to file and also easier for them to look it up on their iPhone
or their iPad. And I'm gonna brag on our courts. Our courts now send out text message reminders. Mind blown.
I don't know about you, but I would never make my dental appointments if it wasn't for text reminders.
They send out the text message that says when your court date is. It's a reminder. They are the pilot
county. As for protective orders, our office does a fabulous job. We have two dedicated women that listen,
understand, and help the victim through the process. Then from us, it goes to the judges. The judges
are phenomenal.
They keep everything confidential, they do the best that they can in the situation, and they give the
help that the person needs. In that respect, we are so blessed to live in Monroe County. We are a county
that cares. Thank you. All right, thank you everyone, and thank you everyone for your questions. We're
gonna now move into a closing statement, and we are gonna start with Joe.
Thank you all for coming tonight and listening to our respective messages. I believe that each of us
would do a fantastic job as a Monroe County clerk. The question is, do we want to have our systems improved?
Every one of us is going to be operating from day one getting the job done because we're just all those
type of individuals where we're going to prepare.
and we are going to hit the ground running. So the question becomes, who will bring you the
pro se individual, the individual who's not an attorney, the ability to find your power, to take your
action, to get it filed? I am the one who is going to bring that to you. And this will ensure that not only
We find the best clerk interconnection between our government, but also to our best service for all
the people. Vote Joe Davis for Monroe County Clerk. Thank you. Tree was next for closing statements.
I'm next? Yeah. We can barely hear you on this end. Oh, I'm so sorry. I'll be more in the microphone. OK.
I've done the job. I understand the responsibility and I know what it takes to keep this office running
smoothly for our courts, for our voters and our community. I'm ready to step in and lead from day one,
not with a learning curve, but with experience, steady leadership and a commitment to doing the work
the right way.
Monroe County deserves a clerk with dedication, transparency, and a clear vision for the future. And
I'm ready to deliver that every single day. This office is elected for a purpose. Not appointed, the
clerk is elected. And why is that? Because I won't have a boss to have to reckon with. My boss is the
citizens of Monroe County, and that's why it's elected.
I would be honored to earn your vote, your trust, and the opportunity to serve. Again, my name is Tree
Martin Lucas, and I'm running for clerk. All right. Thank you all so much for coming out tonight. I'm
running for clerk because I am a qualified individual. I've been passionate, a passionate supporter
of our Democratic Party, and I will be an amazing clerk for the county.
I am currently the chief deputy clerk in the office. So I am currently doing the job and I'll be able
to ensure that there'll be a smooth transition if I am to be your next clerk. I have a lot of experience
working with technology and technology is more important now than ever. And that's kind of experience
that we need in the clerk's office. So I hope that you will support me to be your next clerk and I hope
that I can win your vote for Tana Branham for clerk. Thank you very much.
All right, so first let's thank all the candidates for a lively discussion. Okay, on behalf of the forum
sponsors, remember to vote. Election day is Tuesday, May 5th. Early voting begins Tuesday, April 7th.
And for those that are sticking around, we'll next be doing our county prosecutor. And I'm just gonna
say that we're gonna start that at
703, so we're gonna give us 10 minutes in between. So 703 is when we're gonna start that. So thank you
everybody for coming. This forum is hosted by the League of Women Voters of Monroe County and we're
also pleased to have our co-sponsors IU Pace, Kappa Tau Omega, Chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha. Monroe County
Monroe County Branch NAACP, Monroe County NOW, and the South Central Indiana Citizens' Climate Lobby.
And thanks to CATS for recording the event. And let's give our sponsors and co-sponsors a round of applause.
I'm just gonna go through the ground rules, which the candidates have accepted.
Each candidate has one minute to make an opening statement. Candidates respond in turn to questions
posed by me, the moderator, rotating which candidate will answer first. Responses are limited to 90
seconds unless I specify a different time. Audience members are invited to submit questions on the cards
provided, and we have some cards over here in terms of it. We have, like I said, seven questions prepared today.
Each candidate will then be asked to make a closing statement and the candidates have agreed to a civil
discourse. So I'd like to introduce our two candidates, Benjamin T. Arianton and Erica Oliphant in terms
of it. And I just really give them a round of applause. This is hard, for sure. And so without further
ado, we're going to start with opening statements starting with
Ben. Good evening. I want to start out by commending prosecutor Erica Oliphant for breaking barriers.
Breaking barriers matters and her election as the first woman to hold the office as the elected prosecutor
is an important milestone. And it's wonderful that she's going to be a senior prosecutor having served
two terms. But if elected.
I will be your first black prosecutor in Monroe County and only the third ever black person elected
as your chief law enforcement officer for the county. For a black person to serve as a chief law enforcement
officer in a judicial district carries profound weight. Considering the darkest chapters of our nation's history,
and the long struggle for equal justice in the law. Every single time we see a Confederate flag flying
in 2026. But stepping into this role isn't just about history, it's about serving our future. Your time's
up. And I thank you for considering voting for me. Awesome. Erica. Thank you.
Thank you to our forum hosts and to our moderator, Alana Stonebreaker, today. I appreciate the time.
My name is Erica Oliphant, and I am running for re-election as your prosecuting attorney. I have proven
my dedication since my election in 2018 to community service, compassionate justice, and constitutional values.
My activities in office have earned awards, including the 2019 Haynes Turner Peacemaker Award from CGM,
the 2022 Women Excel Bloomington Award from the Chamber of Commerce, and the 2023 John L. Kraus Award
for Public Policy Innovation from IU's Public Policy Institute.
If retained in office, I will continue to partner with organizations who support those with mental health,
substance use, housing, and other critical needs, continue to expand diversion opportunities, and dedicate
most of our resources to those repeat and violent offenders who cause the most harm in our community.
Please vote for me in the Democratic primary on May 5th. Thank you both. Let's give them a round of applause.
All right, so my first question is for Erica. How should our prosecutor prioritize potential cases to
take to trial? So we tend to take cases to trial when we can't come to a plea agreement. 97 some percent
of our cases are resolved by plea agreement. But traditionally, those who go to trial are those who
have the least to lose.
Those tend to be homicides, child molests, those very serious felonies that...
that really did a lot of harm in our community. And so you have to make sure that deputy prosecutors
have those trial skills. I have personally tried every kind of case from the lowest misdemeanor through
murder, including a couple of murders and one attempted murder as the elected prosecuting attorney.
And I can tell you it's no small feat in today's
You know, in today's world, we have about 60 hours of digital evidence in about every major felony case.
And so it's a lot to manage. And you want to make sure that we have the skills necessary to be able
to bring those over the finish line.
When we're talking about less serious offenses such as possession of drugs or nuisance crimes like criminal
trespass, it's much better to work with community partners on diversion efforts to try to connect people
with resources that they need so that they don't come back into the criminal justice system.
I have a lot of experience and education in reducing recidivism, and I like to make evidence-based decisions.
Thank you. Ben, same question. Could you repeat the question, please? Yeah. How should our prosecutor
prioritize potential cases to take to trial? Thank you. The prosecutor should prioritize violent cases
to take to trial. The answer is abundantly clear.
Violence belongs in prison and does not belong in our community. And as the proud father of a four-year-old,
child violence is particularly appalling. And make no mistake, by electing me, you will be electing
a very tough prosecutor when it comes to crime, when it comes to violence in our community. When I learn
about the prosecutor's office taking what would appear to be
a lenient stance of someone charged with having material that is harmful to children, I get very concerned.
I want the position of the state to be tough when it comes to that type of material. And so that is
why I implore you to elect a prosecutor who is going to take the violent cases to trial. We will be
actually going to jury trial and not dancing around.
We will not be delaying cases. And so that's why it's important that we prioritize violence. And that's
why it's my platform. Thank you. All right, so this next question, we are starting with Ben. What are
the potential consequences of the recent transfer of the state's adult protective services from prosecuting
attorneys to a state contract with PCG Indiana Incorporated?
There's a lot of potential harm in the fact that adult protective services housed within the Monroe
County Prosecutor's Office allows us to have our own control and our own imprint on what we determine
is going to be abuse of elderly folks and adults that need protection. So when we have a super majority
Republican state that we currently live in is very alarming and it's concerning that we're going to farm out
some of our most vulnerable community members. It's really disheartening and it's concerning to me.
However, there are only limits on what we can do. And so as your prosecutor, I'm going to stand for
what's right and to do the best that I can to serve the people in the community of Monroe County.
Thank you. Would you like me to repeat it?
I think I've got it, thank you. We did have adult protective services in 17 different prosecutor's offices
across the state of Indiana up until July of last year. Monroe County was a hub and we served Morgan
County and Owen County in addition to Morgan County. I was really heartbroken when the state of Indiana
elected to take the lowest bidder to provide this vital service to our elder community.
Essentially, they have now broken it down. We had 17 hubs that serve the state of Indiana. Now we have
five regions. I'm very concerned that doing so means that it is less personal, that there aren't people.
We had investigators that went to people's houses and laid eyes on people when there were reports of
endangered adults to make sure that they were okay, that they had supports, food,
shelter, electricity, things like that and that their emergency needs were met.
and then provided more thorough investigations. And we had, you know, as prosecutor's offices, we have
attorneys on staff by nature of our work. And so we were able to quickly file emergency protective orders
for endangered adults, and we were able to file guardianships where necessary. And in this privatized
situation, they don't have attorneys on staff. So I'm really not sure how they're handling some of those
legal matters nowadays. But I am gravely concerned that our endangered
are not being served as well as they were by prosecutors, but I hope that I'm proven to be wrong about
that. So then my next question is for Erica, and I'm gonna choose one from the audience to mix it up.
What can be done to improve protecting all victims of domestic violence cases? So the question is, what
can be done to improve protecting all victims of domestic violence cases?
Thank you. So a few years ago, actually I think it was during my first term, we were able to get additional
Victims of Crime Act funds for our victim assistance program, adding an additional victim assistance.
We now have a total of four. And the reason we did that is so that we would have more people in our
office who can meet with victims, make referrals to outside services such as
middle way house or sometimes even beacons, sometimes food pantries, sometimes protective order project
or POAP. And so we have those, somebody who can really establish a good rapport with victims, make sure
that they're informed of the rights of the process and what's going on in their cases.
We do also belong to the Domestic Violence, Monroe County Domestic Violence Coalition. We attend meetings
and collaborate with others who serve this population here in Monroe County, working to make sure that
our local advocates are well trained, that they understand how the criminal justice system works, and
that they also understand the civil remedies that are available to them to help protect them from violence.
Thank you.
I have the question. I appreciate it. Thank you. So what can be done to protect victims is to increase
victim services, make it far more robust by increasing advocating for grants to victim of crime at VOCA
to increase federal funding to assist victims. We need to
ensure that victims know that the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office is going to stand for you and not
allow the ball to get dropped. And then you're going to have a feeling that we don't protect victims.
So what that's going to take is a whole shift in the system. What we need to do is be active when it
comes to protecting victims of domestic violence. And how we do that is assigning a prosecutor that's
going to make sure that the victim is addressed, talked to, and made heard.
And we do that by ensuring that the victim has access to the needs that they need by providing them
with great resources. And we can do that by being a better prosecutor's office that works toward helping
victims and not allowing things to slip through the cracks by missing deadlines and filing deadlines.
It's super important that we work to help victims.
Because victims need to know that they're not gonna be left alone, they're not gonna be fallen behind,
and they're gonna be helped. And that's why I wanna serve as your prosecutor. Thank you. So our next
question is going to be about child support. And so the next, so this question for Ben.
How is the prosecutor's office involved in child support, and how do you see collaborations with other
agencies in this work? So the prosecutor's, and I'm sorry, is this for us or for me? That's for you.
The prosecutor's office has a 4D agency called the 4D prosecutor's office, which handles child support.
It's an entire division within the prosecutor's office, which has its own separate deputy prosecutors
that prosecute child support. It's imperative that we help parents
get child support. Child support works to make sure that children get the support that they need so
that children can thrive. Children are our future. And so we need to make sure that child support is
paid, that parents that have been awarded child support have a prosecutor's office that's willing to
ensure that child support payments are made. And so we're going to work with other agencies in the state
to make sure that child support is paid
And we will make sure that our Child Support 40 office is robust and works collaboratively with the
community to ensure that child support payments are made to the parents that need them so that the children
can get the support that they need. Thank you.
Thank you. Yep. So the child support division in my office, as I mentioned, did win the 2019 Haynes
Turner Peacemaker Award, and part of that was because of a cultural shift. Traditionally, in child support,
you know, the theory was you get the highest possible child support order, and then you really go after it hard.
But we have found over time that when the custodial parent and the non-custodial parent feel that the
order is fair, that we have greater compliance. And not only that, we have better joint partnership
in parenting those children. So we have used a lot of services from Centerstone for those parents whose
barrier to payment is
related to mental health or substance use. We've worked with Work One to help people become employed,
if that is their barrier to payment. And then we do have to very judiciously use some of our administrative
sanctions that we have. So if people are willfully failing to pay their child support as ordered, we
can use things like suspending their driver's licenses, suspending their professional licenses. Believe
it or not, we sometimes have medical doctors who make a lot of money who don't
to pay child support, and so sometimes we do have to resort to some of those significant sanctions.
But overall, I think it's going very well. Anyone can come to the prosecutor's office who has a child
and needs to establish paternity or establish a child support order, but we are required to do it in
TANF cases where people are getting welfare.
And just a reminder that if you have any cards in the audience that you can raise your hand and we'll
come around and pick them up if anyone has any cards for that. All right, so this next question is for
Erica. How would you approach ethics, transparency, and conflicts of interest so people trust the decisions
that you make? Yeah, so as the chief law enforcement officer
for the county and also as someone who manages essentially a large law firm with 18 deputy prosecutors.
It's imperative that our attorneys and staff
operate at the highest ethical standard. So I do make sure that my attorneys receive proper ethics training,
and it's been made very clear to them that unethical behavior is not going to be tolerated. When we
have conflicts of interest, whether it be somebody on our staff has allegedly been a victim of an offense,
or a law enforcement officer is
you know, alleged to have committed a crime. We look at those very closely to make sure we don't have
a conflict of interest if we handle the case. When we do, we do file for a special prosecutor as is
provided by Indiana code, but we try not to go to that well very often because there's very limited
resources for senior and special prosecution in the state of Indiana. And so we try to be very judicious
with those.
those requests. As for transparency, I am working on releasing a data dashboard. We expect that it will
be live in June, but the point of this data dashboard are we public facing and it will provide statistics
in terms of what cases we receive from what agencies, how many are filed, how many are declined, how
long it takes to dispose of them, and what the demographic information is on those cases. My time is
up. Thank you.
Same question, how would you approach ethics, transparency, and conflicts of interest? I would approach
those topics with great care and concern. When we consider ethics, it is absolutely imperative that
the prosecuting attorney's office is considered ethical, and all of the deputy prosecuting attorneys
are ethical in the way that they prosecute, in the way that they handle themselves. It's super important.
Conflicts of interest.
As an attorney, conflict of interest is super important to make sure that we don't have inherent conflicts
of interest. And so as your prosecutor, I will make sure that we don't have conflicts of interest. And
if we do, we will use a special prosecutor when necessary. But we're not just gonna farm out a case
to a special prosecutor just because it's a hairy topic or something. There needs to be a truly
legitimate conflict of interest. And so if something were to occur at Lake Monroe, I'm not just going
to punt the ball and ask for a special prosecutor. No, that's a waste of resources. You're electing
me to make difficult decisions, and I'm willing to make those difficult decisions as your chief law
enforcement officer. My office will not be punting when the situation gets difficult.
And so therefore, we will do the right thing. We will be ethical. We will address conflict of interest.
And when it comes to transparency, obviously there will be matters when it comes to law enforcement
that we're not able to share with the community. But everything that my office is capable of sharing,
you better believe the door will always be open. And I will answer any questions when it comes to how
the office operates.
and how we prosecute. Thank you. I'm going to take this moment to allow candidates to respond to the
statements that the others have made until this point in terms of it. So we'll start with Erica. Did
you want to respond? Yeah. You know, one thing I want to respond to is just now Mr. Arrington referred
to a situation with a big high profile case in 2020 that took place out at Lake Monroe. And I did not.
petition for a special prosecutor in that case. In fact, I did file criminal charges and sign them.
However, the defense attorneys did file a seven-page petition for a special prosecutor, and that ultimately
is how that got disposed. It did go to a special prosecutor. I think another thing that Mr. Arrington
seems to imply is that we are not supporting victims, that we are
I think falling short in our prosecutions. And though I will admit that we sometimes do have cases that
fall apart, we do sometimes have bad outcomes. Overall, we do serve our constituents very well. And
we get convictions when we need to get convictions.
And we have excellent trial attorneys in our office who do a great job of making sure that we're proving
homicides. We just recently had a case where someone was convicted of several counts, including child
molest. And those are some of the hardest cases that there are to prove. When it comes to deadlines,
we share responsibility with the courts. We're not the only party in a case. It's the courts, it's the
defense attorneys, and it's us.
My time is up. All right, any response as well from Ben? Yes, absolutely. I'm so glad that Erica wanted
to bring up these things. And I failed to mention the sexual assault response team, SART team, that
was not mentioned at all, that my prosecutor's office will certainly be robust again. You know, when
we talk about
cases falling through the cracks and things of that nature. What I'm particularly talking about is when
criminal rule 4C runs in a speedy trial and a case is dismissed with prejudice, which then double jeopardy
attaches and the persons being prosecuted can never face prosecution. And then the victims can never
have their day in court. I believe Erica referred to as a tragic result. It's disgusting.
and should never have occurred and will not occur under my administration. I have already spoken with
a seasoned trial attorney, felony trial attorney prosecutor who will be my chief deputy. We're going
to bring talent to the prosecutor's office. It's going to be phenomenal. It's going to be wonderful
and it's going to be great for our community. We're going to turn things around. We're going to right
the ship and the prosecutor's office is going to have a positive view
from the community, not a negative one. We're gonna be better. We're gonna change things. I have a meeting
with Ryan Mears, and I'm looking forward to it, and I'm gonna look to him as a mentor. So thank you
so much. Ben, so this next question is, which leads really well from the last one, which is, this position
is the department head who manages the staff of people. What experiences do you bring to that part of
the role, and what is your approach and philosophy to managing people? Thank you so much.
Yes, I piggybacked on my meeting with prosecutor Ryan Mears, who is the Marion County prosecuting attorney.
One hundred and eighty eight deputy prosecuting attorneys in the county of Marion, who we are going
to be partnering with as far as stopping the prosecution of simple possession of cannabis marijuana.
Ryan Mears stopped prosecuting marijuana in 2019, had the courage to do what's right. I just met
an IU student suffering from chemotherapy, very young. And she shared with me that cannabis was helping
restore her appetite. And so it's just, I have to tell you. So as far as managing an office, I will
be looking at Ryan to be a mentor to me, because I'm certainly new in so far as being your
elected prosecutor, but I have experience. And if that experience is being a manager at Pizza Hut, as
well as other various jobs,
That is what I have as far as significant experience in life. I've been a truck driver, over the road
18-wheeler. I've had various jobs. I've been an administrative law judge presiding over cases for four
years. So I bring a wealth of experience, and I implore you to look at my resume. I have had nothing
but service my entire career, and that's why I'm here to serve you. And I thank you so much. Erica,
I'm going to repeat the question.
This position is department head who manages the staff of people. What experiences do you bring to that
role and what is your approach and philosophy to managing people? Thank you. So I have been managing
the office for over seven years now. We have a total staff of about 50 people. 18 are deputy prosecutors.
The rest of them are support staff such as investigators, case managers, legal secretaries, victim assistants
and investigators.
I might have said investigator twice. I like to lead from the front. So I always tell my staff I will
never tell them to do something I'm not willing to do myself. I go to court. I cover for people when
they're sick or on vacation. I can try a case. I try to make sure that my people are well trained, that
they feel like they have the support that they need in terms of resources.
I like to make sure that they see that I'm there for them. But I also like to set expectations and make
sure that they understand that I expect professionalism and excellence in the courtroom. You know, there's
a big difference between the Marion County Prosecutor's Office and the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office.
For those 180 people that Mr. Arrington mentioned, Mr. Mears has several supervisors.
I have a supervisory committee that's just myself, my chief deputy Jeff Kerr, and my first deputy Chris
Pierce, executive director Beth Hamlin. And we have a very collaborative approach where we're always
kind of staffing matters together to make sure that we're coming to the best decision for our people.
Time is up. So my next question since it's come up is cannabis prosecution.
So what role should the prosecutor take in terms of prosecuting cannabis related cases? And Erica will
start. Oh, sorry. Cannabis prosecution. So what role should the prosecutor take or approach should the
prosecutor take in terms of cannabis prosecution writ large? And we'll start with Erica. Is that better?
Yes. Okay, thank you. I'll try and be closer. Thank you.
So when I became an attorney and then again when I was elected prosecutor in assumed office in 2019,
I took an oath to uphold the constitution of the state of Indiana, which vests the responsibility for
making passing criminal laws to the Indiana General Assembly. I have a great amount of discretion when
it comes to making decisions for charging and prosecuting individual cases based on the evidence that's
presented to me by law enforcement.
But it is illegal to make a categorical declaration that you will not prosecute a criminal law. There
was a non-compliant prosecutor statute passed in 2024 that makes that illegal. However, I think it is
better to place all of our resources, the majority of our resources, on making sure that we are focused
on those repeat and violent offenders who cause the most harm in our community. When you look at our,
Marijuana prosecutions from 2025 of those cases that were filed 38 of those cases were dismissed 21
of those cases did pretrial diversion and only two resulted in conviction All of those cases that were
dismissed or diverted Those cases are automatically expunged from people's criminal records after 60 days so
Making a public declaration does nothing but aggravate those people at the state of Indiana who make
our laws, including the governor and Todd Rakita. Thank you. Cannabis is legal in Illinois for recreational
use, in Michigan for recreational use, now in Ohio for recreational use. In Kentucky, I believe they
have medicinal marijuana.
Again, I met that patient, and this is not just the first patient that I've met that discussed the fact
that cannabis helps them. When Ryan Mears, the Marion County prosecutor, had the courage to stop prosecuting
simple possession in 2019, that is the same year that Erica took office. We know what's possible. Erica
discussed this at its illegal. 80 prosecutors across the every region of this country signed a pledge
not to prosecute doctors, women and nurses.
I will not surprise you that you'll find that the only prosecutor in Indiana to sign that pledge was
Ryan Mears. I will be prosecutor number two to sign that pledge. There is a nonprofit fair and just
prosecution that 80 prosecutors signed the pledge that specifically discusses that prosecutors have
immense discretion that we
With that discretion comes the obligation to seek justice. I assure you that it is not justice to prosecute
someone for marijuana and simple possession. 21 pretrial diversions would be some $11,500 extracted
from poor people. Who gets pulled over for marijuana odor from the vehicle? The person with the tail
light out in a broke down car or the rich kid in a Mercedes. We need to address what's right.
My next question is for Ben, which is kind of related. So we're talking about marginalized groups. So
what is your top priority to support women, LGBTQ folks and marginalized genders in Monroe County?
Thank you. And I'm fingers crossed I have applied for the Stonewall Democrats endorsement.
So we'll see. But and I said I'm going to proudly display that because LGBTQ plus needs support. They
need to know that hate does not belong in our community.
And that means that hate includes violence because violence is broad spectrum. When I explain to people,
when I go knocking on doors canvassing, which is so wonderful, meeting constituents in Monroe County,
I explained that when somebody busts out your car window, that's violence because of the cost to the
person and all that we was rifling around looking for something to steal from your car. That's violence
and we're going to prosecute it tough. Violence does not belong in our community and I'm going to be
very tough when it comes to that.
But marginalized communities, LGBTQ+, black, brown, when we have ICE coming to town, we need a prosecutor
like the Philadelphia District Attorney who says, ICE, you come to town, we're going to prosecute you.
Use your bully pulpit. And I implore our prosecutor to do that while she's still in office, because
you're going to have a new prosecutor.
Your first black prosecutor, it's going to be wonderful and I really appreciate everyone's support.
It's so exciting meeting constituents. All the yard signs you see around for Benjamin Arrington, it's
wonderful and I really appreciate it. So thank you. I'm going to repeat the question for Erica. What
is your top priority to support women, LGBTQ plus folks and marginalized genders in Monroe County?
Yep, so it has been my goal since assuming office in 2019, but even before that, for the nine years
that I was a deputy prosecutor in the office, to make sure that we live up to our constitutional values
of fairness and equality for all people. And that includes women, that includes LGBTQIA+, and that includes
all marginalized genders in our community.
I have made efforts in, like I said, in research for identifying and reducing racial and ethnic disparities.
And by working on those race disparities, unfortunately we don't have good data collection modalities
for these LGBTQ plus and other types of genders with Indiana's record keeping or ID laws and things
like that.
But I can say that we do try to approach these cases, these people as individuals, considering all of
the circumstances in their lives. I've had occasions to prosecute transgender individuals. I've had
occasion to have victims of crime who were transgender individuals. And it was my goal and my approach to treat
those people with compassion and dignity focusing on the very real experiences that they were having.
And so we will continue to have that kind of care in our office. Thank you. Thank you, Erica. The next
question is for Erica. Have you had experience with the high tech crime unit? Can you give examples
of the kind of cases where it would be or has been used to the court?
Yep, so in 2022, I applied for and received a grant from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council to
establish and maintain the Monroe County High Tech Crime Unit. It's currently operated in partnership
with the Ellisville Police Department, and the unit is used to process digital forensic evidence, including
cell phones, laptops, sometimes things like Fitbits, DVRs, the little computers in our cars, all manner of,
digital devices. And I have had occasion to introduce this kind of evidence in a homicide case, but
I can say that the cases that we're seeing most frequently recently are those involving child sex abuse
material, unfortunately.
we are getting very good at detecting those crimes. The High Tech Crime Unit has at all times been affiliated
with law enforcement that is a member of the Indiana Crimes Against Children Task Force, but my office
became a member of the Indiana Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force in 2025. And so through that,
we have partnerships and relationships, including training to make sure that we can really
aggressively prosecute those really horrible exploitative crimes. The high-tech crime unit recently
received an electronic sniffing dog who also doubles as a therapy dog. His name is Frank and he is a
very beautiful Labrador. Thank you. Oh yeah. Have you had experience with the high-tech crime unit?
Can you give examples of the kind of cases where it has been or would be of use to the court? So I have
not had experience with the high tech crime unit. I'm not a prosecutor and so I do not have access to
that. However, I can envision how it would be utilized in so far as in cases developing evidence regarding
child sex material could potentially, I could see that also with gathering evidence regarding other
digital forensics. However, when I hear high tech crime unit, I am certainly a little concerned though
that we do need to get the flock out of Bloomington. And so if there's any connection, which again,
I do not know the high tech crime unit, I'm not involved. And so I haven't been, you don't know what
you don't know.
But I will tell you that I will be looking into it once elected and I don't want to see a partnership
with FLOC because we don't need to have a supervisory state that every time you step out of your home
that you're under supervision. Benjamin Franklin said it best, those who are willing to sacrifice their
liberty and freedom for a little security deserve neither. And so I do believe in that and so,
I want to look into and learn more about the high-tech crime unit. Thank you. Just a final reminder,
we're reaching the end of our prepared questions. So if you haven't submitted your question, make sure
to hand it over to our lovely volunteers here. So this question is next going to Ben, a question from
the audience.
How much leeway do you have before instituting the habitual offender statute? With the jail crowding,
how can you defer nonviolent offenders and impose stricter penalties? So the specific leeway that you're
in reference to is
Statutory and would need me to have a book in front of me which is impossible to do so I don't know
why But what I will tell you is that of course things will be reviewed again I'm gonna have an excellent
chief deputy prosecuting attorney who have already discussed with who's a seasoned felony prosecuting
attorney from a very red County, however, he lives here in Bloomington and so is a great person and but
we're going to be tough on crime if it's a habitual offender statute or a habitual substance offender
for a vehicle because OWI and getting people off of the road driving drunk is a passion of mine because
we don't need, again, violent people, people that are operating a vehicle under the influence, people
that want to do harm to our community. And so habitual substance offender, habitual crime, all of that
will be looked at with great detail and care
Following the statutory guidelines that are placed by the General Assembly, you know there When it comes
to sentence things in that nature that also primarily is going to go along with the judge plea deals
depended on situations But one quintessential thing is that my office will be working excellently with
a public defender We're gonna have a cooperative working relationship to help reduce jail population
only for those violent offenders that belong behind bars Thank you. My time is up
I'm going to repeat the question for Erica. How much leeway do you have before instituting the habitual
offender statute? And with the jail overcrowding, how can you defer nonviolent offenders and impose
stricter penalties? Yep. So as with any
charging decision, we have a lot of discretion in individual cases, including whether to file habitual
offender or habitual substance offender petitions for those who are eligible. Now those, you know, in
other states sometimes they're colloquially known as like three strikes laws or something like that,
but essentially a habitual offender petition is an opportunity to add an enhancement
to a felony offense when somebody has a prior, two or more prior convictions for felonies. You know,
we tend to reserve those for people who have more recent or more serious violent criminal history rather
than using that for, say, like driving status offenses like habitual traffic violator or something along
those lines.
You know, we do try to defer nonviolent offenses and not use our limited jail resources on those. As
you have probably heard, we have a crowded jail. It's overburdened. So we do try to avoid putting people
in jail who do not belong there. Make sure that we're making liberal use of our pretrial release program
and to alternatives in the community.
But when it comes to those who are habitual offenders, you know, we do reserve those for those violent
crimes and make sure that those are the people that we are trying to use prison for. Thank you.
My time is up. We had a question from the audience about jury trial and prosecutal, prosecutional experience
in terms of it.
So the question was how many jury trials have you done? How many years of prosecutor experience do you
have? And I'm gonna extend it to what is your general approach from your time as a working in prosecutors
or otherwise? And we'll start with Erica. Thank you.
So I have been a prosecutor since I took the bar exam in 2009. I started out in misdemeanors and traffic
infractions under Chris Gull back in 2009. I worked my way up. I started handling about two and a half
years in. I started handling felony drug cases for Monroe County.
At that time, I became a member of the Monroe County Drug Treatment Court Team. I also have served on
the Monroe County Veterans Court Team, the Monroe County Mental Health Court Team, and the Monroe County
Reentry Court Program. I then moved up to general felonies, so handling everything from a felony operating
while intoxicated or a theft, a burglary, robbery, to murder cases.
I have had over 20 jury trials. I actually am not exactly certain of the number. Again, I've tried everything
from a Class C misdemeanor operating while intoxicated successfully to conviction to I think my most
recent murder trial that I was lead counsel on was in 2021 where I secured a conviction in a case where
a man stabbed his girlfriend 157 times.
You know, generally I do try to have a problem solving approach in my work. I try to make sure that
we can prevent people from coming back into the criminal justice system over and over. And I do try
to make sure that we focus those trial resources, our incarceration on those repeat and violent offenders
who cause the greatest harm in our community. Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna be direct.
My jury trial experience is limited, but let's be absolutely clear about what the elected prosecutor
actually does. This is not a line attorney position. It is an executive, administrative, and policy
making role. Monroe County has an office of 18 deputy prosecutors handling a daily docket. The elected
prosecutor is the CEO of that office.
I have extensive, varied court experience. My job won't be monopolized at the council table. That's
not my job. Now, I'm going to have a very hands-on approach when I first get elected. You're going to
see me at initial hearings. You're going to see me all over because I want to make sure that my deputies
are going to be doing consistent with my policy and my approach to have a positive working relationship
with the public defender's office.
where the vast majority of the cases are processed through. My job is to bring a battle-tested chief
deputy to lead our trial teams while I focus on the structural policies that actually keep our county
safe. Right now, we have an administration that fails to maintain its own docket and lets violent predators
walk free on missed deadlines.
I will manage the policies, clear the docket of victimless crimes, and give our trial attorneys the
support they need to achieve an 80% conviction rates that we see in places like Marion County. You're
out of time. That's what executive leadership looks like. Thank you. OK. And that's the end of our prepared
questions. So now we're going to move into closing statements. So we're going to start with Ben.
I want to thank the League of Women Voters for bringing us here. This was amazing. And having the League
of Women Voters host this event is so wonderful. So thank you so much to the League of Women Voters
and to all the audience members that took time out of your busy lives to come and listen to somebody
who wants to run for office and ask for your vote. Thank you so much for coming here tonight.
Tonight you've heard two very different versions of the Monroe County Prosecutor's Office visions. You
can choose the status quo, an office that relies on unwritten rules and plays statistical shell games
with victimless crimes and tragically drops the ball on severe violent felonies because of administrative
fatigue. Or you can choose a principled transparent leadership
I have told you exactly what I plan to do. We will stop wasting taxpayer dollars and police resources
on simple possession of marijuana. We will join other prosecutors, 80 other prosecutors in every region
of this country, and pledge to protect the reproductive rights of women, doctors, and nurses not to
face prosecution.
And so thank you, please vote Arrington for prosecutor.com. Thank you. Erica. Thank you. I have the
experience, leadership skills, and temperament to effectively seek justice and ensure community safety
in Monroe County. I have far more trial experience and administrative experience than my opponent.
You may think it's not a line deputy position, but in times of staffing shortages, I handled a major
felony caseload for six months, competently, while also running the office. We are facing state and
federal attacks on home governance, including direct threats to prosecutorial discretion and changes
to tax codes and grant funding programs that limit resources. Monroe County will not be served by strident
proclamations,
What we need instead is deliberative collaboration and problem solving to improve justice in our community.
I have spent years developing and maintaining relationships in our community to meet critical needs
of justice involved individuals. I ask for your vote to retain me in office in the Democratic primary
on May 5th. Thank you. All right, so thank our candidates for a lively discussion.
On behalf of all the forum sponsors, remember to vote. Election day is Tuesday, May 5th. Early voting
begins Tuesday, April 7th. Thank you all for coming.