Already a race after early city primary filings

Saturday, January 10, 2015

With the 2015 city primary election filing period just 72 hours old so far, a race for mayor of Greencastle has already emerged.

Despite only five total candidates turning in their declarations of candidacy by the time the courthouse closed at 4 p.m. Friday, the city primary field already includes two Republican candidates for mayor.

No Democrat candidate for mayor has stepped forward since the primary filing period began Wednesday morning. It will end at noon Friday, Feb. 6.

Already on the record as seeking the mayoral office that has been held by local Democrats for the past 28 years are former Street Commissioner Jim Wright, who announced his intentions in November and Wednesday kept his promise of filing on the first day, and local businessman and a former Texas city mayor Haywood L. Ware.

Ware, who resides at 208 S. Arlington St., Greencastle, served as mayor of Pflugerville, an Austin suburb of 46,936 residents, from 1992-98. He is currently general manager of the Sears Hometown Store in Greencastle and formerly owned the Gallery on the Square in Greencastle, 2010-12.

Meanwhile, each party already has a city clerk-treasurer candidate with incumbent Republican Lynda Dunbar filing for re-election to the City Hall position. Filing his candidacy for clerk-treasurer as a Democrat this week was Eric Wolfe.

So far, the lone City Council candidate to file has been Republican Tyler Wade, appointed to the Fourth Ward Council seat late last year as a

replacement for T. J. Smith.

Candidates in the two major political parties, Democrat and Republican, can file a declaration of candidacy for any of the nine city positions in the Voter Registration Office (Room 21) at the Putnam County Courthouse.

The primary election is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, when Greencastle voters will choose their party's candidates for mayor, clerk-treasurer and -- for the first time in history -- seven City Council seats instead of five.

On the 2015 city ballot for the May primary and November general election for the first time will be two additional at-large seats added by virtue of Greencastle topping the 10,000 population mark, which means Greencastle will seat a seven-member Council in 2016 and beyond.

Voter registration clerk Stacia Hathaway said potential candidates can pick up a packet of information from her office any time during office hours (8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday).

Meanwhile, those contemplating an independent bid for any of the city spots will need to go through a petition process, Hathaway noted, with a June 30 deadline to complete and file necessary documents.

At least five new faces are assured among the nine city government positions destined to take office on Jan. 1, 2016.

Of the current City Council members -- other than the aforementioned Wade -- only Democrat Adam Cohen, the First Ward representative and Council president, and the longest-serving councilman, Republican Mark Hammer, Second Ward, are expected to seek re-election.

Third Ward councilor Jinsie Bingham and the lone current Council at-large member, Phyllis Rokicki -- both Democrats -- have said publicly they do not plan to seek another term.

City Republicans are hoping to break a 28-year Democrat stranglehold on the mayor's office that began with two terms of Mike Harmless (who took office Jan. 1, 1988), followed by a record three terms of Nancy Michael and two by current Mayor Sue Murray.

Murray has been adamant about serving only two terms, saying she does not plan to seek re-election, leaving the mayor's office up for grabs after her tenure expires on Dec. 31, 2015.