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Cohen, Ensor to chair local political parties
The two major political parties will be under new leadership in Putnam County over the course of the next four years.
The county Democrat and Republican committees held caucuses on Saturday, with each electing a new chairman for the next term.
Adam Cohen will serve as the Democrat chairman, while Jerry Ensor will be his Republican counterpart.
Also serving on the Democratic Central Committee will be vice chairman Wilma Phipps, secretary Eric Wolfe and treasurer Doug Brian.
Joining Ensor will be vice chairman Sherrie Fenwick, secretary Carol Sweet and treasurer Justin Long.
The two men expressed different goals for their respective parties, an understandable contrast in outlooks given the dominance of the Republican Party in countywide politics.
Outgoing Democrat chairman Dave Bohmer said that in his 12 years at the helm, only two Democrats have carried Putnam County in election -- Brad Ellsworth for U.S. representative and Nancy Michael for District 44 state representative, both in 2008.
Bohmer said redistricting has made even those seats next to impossible for a Democrat to capture.
No Democrat has won election to a county office in at least the last 12 years.
Ensor, who has led the county Republican committee two or three times previously, simply wants to keep his party in power.
"Just keep Republicans in office -- that's our main goal -- and to find good candidates," Ensor said. "We plan on holding the offices that we have now."
On the other hand, Cohen's challenge is fighting the uphill battle of bring Democrats back to prominence in the county.
"I'm excited, a little nervous," Cohen said. "We're in a tough county."
Regardless of the degree of difficulty, Cohen praised the county for politics never getting mean-spirited.
"I has not been nasty in Putnam County," Cohen said. "There's no reason for this nastiness that's spreading around the country, and I'm going to work very hard to make sure that doesn't happen here."
Cohen emphasized the goal of reaching young voters, hoping that getting more young people involved might give the party a boost.
"We will try to get more kids involved and go from there," Cohen said.
Another plan is a county "listening tour," a series of small gatherings in which hosts may invite a group of friends to their home to meet with party leaders.
Cohen hopes the tour can help Democrats connect with county voters.
"We're going to go out and talk more about the value of being a Democrat and the value of bringing diversity of opinions to a table -- you get things done," Cohen said.
Cohen, who also serves as Greencastle City Council president, said he hopes the county can learn a lesson from the city, where the two parties have cooperated well over the years.
"We want to look at how the city is run and go from there," Cohen said.
Greencastle currently has a Democrat mayor, Republican clerk-treasurer and a 3-2 split between Democrats and Republicans on the council.
Bohmer said he thinks the split has served the city well.
"I think the city has certainly benefited and been much healthier by having a two-party system," Bohmer said, "but that's the voters' choice.
"I think it's unfortunate because the county would benefit from a two-party system, but I don't see that any time soon," Bohmer added.
Speaking for the Republicans, Ensor expressed his belief his party could increase its power in the city in the 2015 election. With the city's population having topped 10,000 in the last census, the council will add two at-large members to its ranks, taking it from a five-member body to seven members.
Ensor indicated these brand new seats would be very much in play for both parties.
Bohmer is one of three committee members retiring, along with former vice chairman Jinsie Bingham and former treasurer Bud Sharp.
"I think we've got some good people replacing us," Bohmer said.
On the other side, only Ensor is a different face. Darwyn Nelson has served as chairman for two years after Larry Sutton stepped down.
He had positive reflections on his two years at the helm.
"Our big push was the election last fall, and we succeeded at everything we did there," Nelson said of the local effort.
Nelson said he told the committee last January of his plans not to seek the chairmanship again.