Governor-Elect Eric Holcomb picks Kyle Hupfer as IN GOP Chairman

This isn't exactly breaking news. But we wanted to update all our readers that former Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) director and attorney Kyle Hupfer to takeover as head of the Indiana Republican Party when current State Chairman Jeff Cardwell steps down in a few months. Niki Kelly at the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports:

Kyle Hupfer

Hupfer is the current 5th District Chairman and a trusted longtime friend of Holcomb.
“I know Kyle Hupfer is prepared to manage the robust statewide grass-roots, finance and communications organization that is the Indiana Republican Party well into the future and ask that members of the state committee select him as our next state chairman,” Holcomb said.
Hupfer is chief administrative officer and general counsel of Indiana Mills & Manufacturing, Inc., in addition to serving as co-chair of the Holcomb-Crouch Transition Board.
He previously served as the director of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources for then-Gov. Mitch Daniels and also as the chairman of the Indiana State Fair Commission.


We had reported previously on this blog about speculation that former Marion County GOP Chairman Kyle Walker would be Eric Holcomb's pick to lead the Indiana GOP. Our sources tell us that Mr. Hupfer is not a bad choice to be chairman. If Mr. Hupfer is a decent choice to run our party. He should be mindful of Eric Holcomb. That man is capable of all kinds of underhandedness. Good Luck to you Mr. Hupfer! With Holcomb as Governor you will need it! As for further information about the man Kyle Hupfer will be replacing current State GOP Chairman RINO Traitor Jeff Cardwell we refer you to our previous posting about Mr. Cardwell here.

Goodbye Mayor Hudnut

Indy Republican is sorry to report that former Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut passed away this morning at age 84. The Indianapolis Star's Justin Mack has this to say:



Former Indianapolis Mayor William H. Hudnut III has died at the age of 84.
Hudnut's family on Sunday announced that after years of battling illness, Hudnut died in Maryland.
Memorial services are still being planned for the former mayor and former senior pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Indianapolis. There will be two public services: one in Indianapolis, and one in Washington D.C.
“On behalf of our family, I would like to thank everyone for their outpouring of love and support during this difficult time.  It was a real gift to Bill that he had an opportunity to hear how much he meant to family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors — and to the communities he served — through your notes, cards, letters, personal visits, and comments on his CaringBridge posts,” his wife, Beverly Hudnut, said in a statement. “So many wonderful people helped us in so many ways these past couple of years— and we will be eternally grateful."
Included along with the announcement of his passing was a valediction from Hudnut himself. In it he calls his journey a "wonderful trip," and he hopes that his epitaph will read, “He built well and he cared about people.”
"One cannot choose how one finishes the race, only how one runs it. I would not have chosen a long, slow slide into complete heart failure, but I tried to cope with it with 'gaiety, courage and a quiet mind,' to borrow from my mother who in turn was quoting Robert Louis Stevenson," Hudnut writes. "It has often been remarked that life is a journey, not a destination. About the destination, 'I believe, Lord, help thou mine unbelief.' I leave this earthly life at peace, with faith and trust in a future that will carry me beyond the bourne of space and time, but also with wariness of plotting the furniture of heaven or the temperature of hell.
"There is much I cannot fathom about the afterlife. Will there be recognition? What part of me, if any, survives? Forever, or just until I am forgotten? A little reverent agnosticism seems to be in order, because 'now we see through a glass darkly.' More positively, 'we walk by faith and not by sight.'"
In the wake of Hudnut's passing, Mayor Joseph Hogsett has called for all state and Marion County officials to join him in flying flags at half-staff this week.
"Today, our city mourns the loss of a visionary leader who cared so deeply for Indianapolis that he dedicated much of his career to its transformation," Hogsett said.
"Mayor Hudnut was ahead of his time, helping to turn, as he often said, 'India-NO-place' into 'India-SHOW-place,' and paving the way for the world class city that Indianapolis has become," Hogsett said in a statement. "He was a true public servant, with an energy and personality that captured the hearts and imaginations of countless residents.
"For the City of Indianapolis, there will only ever be one Mayor Bill Hudnut. But it is my deepest aspiration that we will continue building on his legacy and in so doing, make our Mayor proud.”
Former Mayor Greg Ballard offered a statement as well, calling Hudnut "a true Founding Father of modern Indianapolis."
"Through his leadership, imagination, and sheer determination, he made our capital a destination city for people and events from around the world," Ballard said. "Regardless of where Mayor Hudnut lived, he always called Indianapolis home. He was an invaluable friend and advisor to me during my time as mayor, and my deepest condolences go out to his family. He will be missed.”
Hudnut was a Princeton University and Union Theological Seminary graduate who served as a pastor in Indianapolis, Buffalo and Annapolis. In 1972, he was elected to congress to represent the people of Indianapolis.
Hudnut won his first mayoral bid in 1975, and was re-elected three times. In his 16 years as the leader of the city, Hudnut oversaw dozens of major building projects were downtown, including the expansion of the Indiana Convention Center.
In 2014, statue of “Mayor Bill” was dedicated in his honor near the Convention Center.
Hudnut was honored as the “Nation’s Outstanding Mayor of 1988” by City and Slate Magazine; named “Man of the Year” by The Indianapolis Star in 1979; and awarded Princeton University’s highest alumni honor, The Woodrow Wilson Award for Public Service, in 1986.
After leaving office in Indianapolis, Hudnut relocated to Chicago and then Washington, D.C. area.
"I have tried to lead a useful life," Hudnut writes in his valediction. "Of course, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve displayed some real shortcomings and caused some hurts along the way.  I’m sorry. But overall, I look back with gratitude. I have been blessed in so many ways."
This story will be updated.
Call IndyStar reporter Justin L. Mack at (317) 444-6138. Follow him on Twitter: @justinlmack.


Milestones of the Hudnut era (1976-92)
In 1978 Indianapolis Mayor Bill Hudnut appoints the first black to the post of deputy mayor. Joe Slash later served as the mayor’s chief of staff. He stayed in the administration until 1989.
In 1979 Hudnut introduces the idea of a Downtown shopping mall. The mall opens in 1995, during the administration of Hudnut’s successor, Stephen Goldsmith.
In 1980 Indianapolis hosts its first Final Four.
Construction of Hoosier Dome begins in 1983; it’s the first home of the Indianapolis Colts.
In 1983 the Indiana Pacers were struggling on the court and financially and appeared headed to California when Hudnut urged local real estate magnates Mel and Herb Simon to buy the team. They bought it.
Indianapolis Colts move to Indianapolis from Baltimore, 1984.
Indianapolis hosts Pan American Games, a major international multisport event — 38 nations, 30 sports — in 1987.


Well written Mr. Mack! Bill Hudnut was the last man of merit to date that Indianapolis has selected to be it's Mayor. We all here are certain that Mayor Hudnut and Gary Welsh are in Heaven right now having a great chat! Pretty certain that Gary is giving him an earful about Indianapolis Corruption! We encourage our readers to thank Mr. Mack for writing such a wonderful piece about the now late Mayor Hudnut.

Kyle Walker for Indiana GOP Chairman? Is the State Republican Party going to commit suicide?

Good evening folks. Our sources tell us here at IR that former Marion County Republican Chairman Kyle Walker is in the running to become the next State GOP Chairman. Walker's claim to fame is that he served as former Indianapolis Greg Ballard's lapdog. In addition to that Walker has helped to destroy the Republican Party in Marion County. If Walker is picked he will do serious damage to the state party. It does make sense that "Bagman" Holcomb would pick a loser such as Walker to be state chairman. Because Walker like Holcomb is a political hack devoid of any meaningful convictions. If Walker gets picked the Indiana Republican Party deserves to be thrown to the ash heap of history! As unwelcoming as the Indiana GOP is to anyone who is a real republican. Under Walker the two parties will be the same organization and true republicans will be turned into pariahs. If Walker is picked we encourage all our fellow republicans out there to refuse to lift a finger for the INGOP. If they are going to betray us and abandon Real Republicans like Christine Scales then the Indiana GOP should go down to utter defeat! In other bad news Governor-Elect Eric "Smells like Washington" Holcomb has announced he will appoint prominent welfare queen, and corporate/political whore Jim Schellinger to be Indiana's Secretary of Commerce! Why in the name of hell is Holcomb appointing a former democratic candidate for Governor to serve in his administration? This just proves that both political parties in this state are just one political party. If this is the road the Grand Old Party wants to travel down in Indiana. Then we at Indy REPUBLICAN urge all true republicans to drive the State GOP into a ditch! Enough is Enough! Let us break our chains! Set the captives free! To paraphrase that great republican William Lloyd Garrison: "We will not act with moderation! We will not issue a moderate alarm when the Hoosier state is burning down! We will not allow the continued bipartisan pillaging of our lives, liberty and treasure to go unchallenged! We will mercilessly fight every fake, low down, no good, slime ball that continues to destroy our state! We will ultimately win! Bayh and Lugar are no more! Nobody is unbeatable!" Fight the good fight brothers and sisters!

RIP Florence Henderson

We were all sad to hear that last Thursday Florence Henderson most famous for playing "Carol Brady" on "The Brady Bunch" from 1969-1974 passed away. She was an extremely talented actress, singer, dancer, and comic. She will be sorely missed. To celebrate just how great a person Mrs. Henderson was. We felt it would be only fitting to show footage that displays here comic side. So take a look at her appearance on "Saturday Night Live" back in 2000.

Update: Apologies to all our readers we are having trouble embedding the video so here is a link to it here: http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/ladies-man-the-skanks-cold-open/2869231

Why John Gregg Lost

As promised earlier this month. INDY REPUBLICAN is giving it's own postmortem view as to why we all got the Governors race here in Indiana wrong. As we have stated here previously we had outlined Eric Holcomb's many weaknesses as a candidate. We stand by every word in those posts. But  as with all elections the Governors race did not occur in a vacuum. Outside events played a role in shaping the outcome of the race. Overall we feel that John Gregg ran a good campaign and Eric Holcomb didn't run the best campaign. However that being said there are several areas where the Indiana Democratic Party messed up with other races and that along with other factors is what allowed Gregg to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Gregg ran a good attack ad against Holcomb arguing about how Holcomb was selected by the State Republican apparatchiks and not by the voters. Which is a criticism of Holcomb we have made as well. But the fact that as we pointed out this summer is how democrats did the same thing when they dumped Baron Hill and replaced him with Evan Bayh to run for the Senate. So attacking the backroom deal way in which Holcomb was selected probably was diluted by the fact Democrats had done the same with the race for the Senate. Hence the attacks on Holcomb didn't land the punches they otherwise would have. Gregg did phenomenally well at fundraising. He raised almost as much as Mitch Daniels did in his 2004 race. We can understand Gregg's campaign being proud of this. However bragging about having raised this near record haul was not a good idea. Gregg's whole campaign was being pitched to the voters that he was a different kind of candidate, one who would bring together both parties, a candidate who was not a typical politician. That seemed to be working. When his campaign decided to boast of his fundraising this sent a message that he was just another politician interested only in raising money and also made him appear somewhat less than squeaky clean. Gregg did make mention briefly of Eric Holcomb's very nasty 2000 race for state representative. But did not elaborate or go in depth as to the details of that race. If he had pointed out how Holcomb had accused his opponent of promoting perversion. That would have seriously undermined old Eric. Since the voters were not given that information simply saying that Holcomb had engaged in one of the nastiest campaigns in state history did not give undecided voters any reason to either vote against Holcomb or to board the John Gregg express. Gregg was good at rebutting attacks on himself which is something most candidates are terrible at. He was not however as skilled at attacking Holcomb. Not that his attacks were bad it's just they should have been better. A experienced candidate like Gregg should have been aware of this. The first mention in campaign ads that Holcomb was the new candidate for Governor actually came from the Gregg campaign. Bad move. They should have let Holcomb be the one to make his first move. With Gregg in the unique position for a Indiana Democrat of having both more money and higher name recognition than his republican opponent. Gregg should have spent his time building himself up, campaigning non stop throughout the state, and until Holcomb was able to actually get his name out there, keep the race about why Gregg should be Governor. So that by the time that Holcomb would have been able to scrape enough money together to run ads. Gregg would have solidified his position even further and Holcomb would have had an even bigger problem. By mentioning Holcomb in an attack ad Gregg simply gave Holcomb free advertising and made Holcomb's name recognition go up. Yes it was bad publicity for Holcomb. But it got Holcomb's name out there and gave him a boost he desperately needed. Gregg should have not mentioned Holcomb period unless or until Holcomb had gotten his name out. Free piece of advice to all you aspiring candidates out there: Do not help your opponent in anyway! Don't attack them unless they give you reason to.

As to why we all felt so strongly that Gregg would win. Simply put given Gregg's skill at fundraising, his having campaigned for Governor for over a year versus Holcomb's three and a half months, combined with the fact that all polling up to that point had shown that Gregg was ahead. With the exception of a last minute Howey Politics poll that showed Gregg and Holcomb tied (more on that in a minute). The trend seemed to be breaking Gregg's way. Even Larry Sabato the great political scientist and publisher of The Crystal Ball thought Gregg would win. What all of us and Dr. Sabato missed is the last minute poll that showed Holcomb and Gregg tied 42-42 and the number of undecided voters having grown. This should have told us that Holcomb was improving his position, that Gregg was not, and with more undecideds that clearly signaled the race was tightening. Hillary Clinton certainly was a drag on Democrats and Trump's margin certainly helped some down ballot Republicans but at the end of the day. Gregg lost because he did not use his resources as well as he should have. If we were Indiana Democrats we would get rid of the dead weight at the top of the state party and work on winning races at the local and state legislative level. Also they need to start calling out the Republican Establishment and their many shortcomings rather than doing things like voting en mass with them to gut the State Board of Accounts! Yes they don't have enough votes now to do much but they can start to earn them by taking principled stands for good government! If they don't even complain about the RINO Establishment of Daniels-Holcomb and their shortcomings than they will not give voters any reason to vote for them. Hopefully we all have learned something valuable here. Mainly how not to fuck up a campaign!

Reasons to be thankful

We know it is hard for many of you to be hopeful at times like this. For we have to look forward to Eric "Bagman" Holcomb as Governor as well as Mike Pence as the next Vice-President of the United States. But there is a lot we all as Hoosiers and Americans have to be thankful for! For one thing we are Americans! We are citizens of the greatest country in human history! We have freedoms that are unparalleled throughout history! Ironically we the people have had these freedoms so long we have started to take them for granted and we are in danger of losing them. But we have them anyway. Yes it is true that Gary Welsh the great Titan of the Indiana Blogsphere passed way to soon. But we all need to be thankful for his contributions to this state and this nation. Thanks to him and Paul Ogden Dick Lugar and Evan Bayh are no longer rotting away in the Senate! Yes Misters Donnelly and Young are no prizes but at least it has been shown in politics that no one is invincible. Paul Ogden is still blogging all of us here have joined the cause as well! Inspired by Gary Welsh and Paul Ogden to be modern day troubadours to sing the songs of good government and freedom! Others here and there along the highways and byways will join us and ultimately we will succeed in making a more perfect state and a more perfect union! We must remember that although exposing corruption is one of our primary goals. In addition we must practice positive active goodness. Our enemies the Daniels, Bayh's, Holcomb's, Delaneys, the Matt Tully's, and the Jim Shella's wish only to continue their nihilistic crusade to destroy the good for being good. Unlike them we wish to be free and enjoy life not just avoid pain. The parasites mentioned above believe that others are merely tools to be used to further their own ends. All of us deal with others by choice and voluntary association. We strive to avoid using anyone in any manner. That is why the powers that be are scared. They know themselves to be full of it! And nothing scares them as much as men and women who can think! Slowly but surely people around this state and around the country are beginning to question the elites! Christine Scales has been the target of both political parties in Indianapolis because of her stateswoman like refusal to be bullied by either former Mayor Ballard and his RINO cronies or by Mayor Hogsett and his minions. Paul Ogden is the object of both praise and hatred for his refusal to stop calling out the garbage that has to long disgraced our state! Together and individually we shall smash the media monopoly in this state! We must remind each other and ourselves that the best things in life happen outside of government. We must remind our elected officials they work for us and we own their fate they don't own us. This struggle has and will be long and complicated. It may take decades and may require both parties to fade into oblivion before we have reclaimed our state. But ultimately we will win because we will not submit. We will honor the heroes gone before us. We will continue the work that Gary Welsh began. We will succeed and cause him and all the other angels in heaven to shout with joy at what we will ultimately accomplish. We will continue to offer advice as time, experience and the Holy Spirit guide us. As David struck down Goliath and the walls of Jericho came a tumbling down. So shall the cracks continue to open and widen in the bipartisan cabal that controls so much of our state! Remember the words of Christ who said: "Let not your heart be troubled", "let none be yee called masters", and lastly our brothers and sisters as the savior also said "Do not worry about tomorrow. For each day has enough worry unto itself. By worrying can you add a minute to your life or an inch to your height." Oh we all here forget to mention word on the street is that Holcomb is already ruffling feathers and might be in for a rocky start as governor. There are many who fear him. But just as many who will undermine him everyday he is in office. He would be wise not to trust anyone.

With that we bid you all Godspeed! May the blessings of God be with you all! AMEN!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's coming up on Turkey Day fellow freedom fighters! So all of us here at Indy REPUBLICAN wish you a Happy Thanksgiving this Thursday! We will be back after the holiday guys and gals! So just kick back, relax and remember to enjoy yourselves! We leave you this great song celebrating freedom from the great Billy Joel:

Election recovery

We here at Indy Republican have been deeply moved by all the attention and support we all here have received from our readers. It's true we were wrong in most of our election predictions. But it happens.  We are still as determined as ever to hold those in power accountable. We will be posting some new items soon. We just need to still recover from this bat sh!t insane election year. See you soon!

Live Blogging the Historic 2016 Election Results

Good evening all! We here at Indy REPUBLICAN will be providing updates throughout the night. Not much in so far. Judging by email and social media traffic we have seen today. John Gregg's campaign seems to still be running strong today. Eric Holcomb's people still seem to be uncoordinated. "Tennessee Trey" Hollingsworth has been campaigning all day in his district and seems to be in trouble in his race. We will bring you more news as we are able.

Stay tuned.......

As of 7:40 PM Trump has carried Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. In Indiana looking rough for Evan Bayh. Trey Hollingsworth and Shelli Yoder are dead even. Ritz and Gregg are behind their REPUBLICAN opponents. Most of the state has not reported. The races for Governor & SPI maybe shaping up to be nail bitters! We will keep you all up to date!

Closing in on 9 in the PM. And the we at the IR newsdesk are wanting to pull our hair out! At this rate it's looking bad for Gregg and Ritz if they lose by these margins we see a lot of mass firings at the Indiana Democratic Party! At least Bayh looks like is done for! We certainly hope so!

More later....

Holcomb, Hollingsworth have won there races. Glenda Ritz has also lost her race. Holcomb's win is the biggest surprise of the night. Will do a full post mortem of tonight's state and national elections. Our only thoughts tonight as to Holcomb's win is that Trump's momentum in Indiana and Hoosier voters dislike of Hillary Clinton was to much for Gregg to overcome. Inspite of some disappoints tonight we are all thrilled beyond measure that Evan Bayh will not be returned to the Senate. That is a huge win for all Hoosiers!