Zoeller Endorsed by Indy Star & NWI Times; Linda Pence Resorts to Smears & Rumors

From the Indy Star:

Zoeller's style and approach to the job are less dramatic than Pence's. But, as mentioned, he has a record of quiet and effective service on his side.

Zoeller promises to target sexual predators and root out public corruption. He also wants to expand an existing identify-theft program and protect teachers from nuisance lawsuits.

Both candidates are clearly qualified. The choice comes down to whether Pence's vision of a much larger influence of the attorney general on the local level is a better approach than Zoeller's strategy of continuing but enhancing the office's traditional functions.

The Star favors Zoeller in part because of his record of success. But also because his understanding of the attorney general's role appears more realistic than Pence's.

From the NWI Times:

Under Carter's administration, the attorney general also has entered the field of investigating public corruption and vote fraud cases. Steve Carter and Lake County Prosecutor Bernie Carter (no relation) brought in Indiana State Police resources and state lawyers to dig deep into East Chicago operations after the botched 2003 mayoral primary.

The attorney general could not prosecute anyone in the resulting vote fraud lawsuits because the office doesn't have prosecutorial powers, so it assisted Lake County's prosecutor in obtaining 46 vote fraud convictions. The attorney general's office also filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick's administration in the wake of the 1999 Sidewalk Six scandal. That suit accuses the city government under Pastrick's rule of being a corrupt organization.

One of the architects of the attorney general's attack on public corruption has been Zoeller. He remains committed to attacking corruption.

Pence is an aggressive candidate, but she should have been more up-front about her role in the racketeering case, in which she represented Rieth-Riley. The contractor paid $625,000 to settle the claims against it and agreed to cooperate against the remaining defendants.

Attorney-client privilege must be protected, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't have made it clear right away that she represented one of the major contractors in that case.

Pence's negative edge is troublesome. She says Zoeller's references to the racketeering lawsuit against the Pastrick administration is a political maneuver, perhaps because Pastrick is a powerhouse in her own Democratic Party. But Zoeller's zeal for the racketeering lawsuit speaks to his commitment to attacking public corruption.

Carter's administration has worked well. We endorse Zoeller, who has been an important contributor to Carter's successes, for Indiana's next attorney general.

And the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, too:

The incumbent in the attorney general's office isn't on the ballot this year, either. But the chief deputy - Republican Greg Zoeller - is, and that's almost as good. Attorney General Steve Carter gives Zoeller his enthusiastic endorsement, and so do we. (Zoeller was not the choice of Gov. Daniels, so he already has one good fight under his belt.)

Zoeller knows what the office's duties and limits are, and he would act accordingly. He also has a good sense of what his priorities should be. Stopping sexual predators online, for example, is near the top of his list. He would mediate more often than not but would not be afraid to litigate when that is called for.

His opponent, Democrat Linda Pence, is currently a litigator and would bring that sense of purpose to the office.

All of this comes as Linda Pence airs a scurilous negative ad smear about Greg Zoeller and continues to blatantly distort the role and function of the attorney general's office.

Greg Zoeller has spent his life serving other people; the people of Indiana, the people of his church, and the people of his community. The idea put forward by Linda Pence in her advertisement, namely that Greg Zoeller doesn't care about the most vulnerable among us, is not merely risible. It is a disgusting insult to one of the finest public servants and certainly the nicest and most genuine person I have ever encountered in Indiana politics.

But, for just a moment, let's assume that Linda Pence and her supporters know more about the functions and authority of the attorney general's office than the folks that have served in it for eight years (especially the guy that was the #2 there for that time).

Let's assume that the position of attorney general is really that powerful (something that I do not concede in the slightest, but merely put forward here for the sake of argument). Do Hoosiers want someone with the shady background and questionable inclinations of Linda Pence in that office? Someone that has defended corrupt CEOs, codefendants in the biggest corruption case in Indiana history, convicted murderers, the biggest drug ring in Indiana History, and corrupt politicians of her own political party?

I think not.

Oh, and that rumor that Zoeller is pulling his television time? It's not true (though people misinformed or ignorant about the mechanics and internal nuances of media buys could be tricked into thinking that it could be). But hey, such distortions and lies are par for the course for Linda Pence and company.

Sources have confirmed to me that Greg Zoeller will stay on the air, and (more importantly still) he will have a powerful new ad early next week. I'm told that it will talk to Hoosiers about some of the very issues I have spent recent months first blogging about here.