INDIANAPOLIS – Congressman Todd Young’s week was chock-full of him dodging questions about his unwavering support of Donald Trump and his policy positions that benefit the special interests at the expense of Hoosier families.

After the presidential candidate condoned sexual assault and refused to say he would accept the results of Election Day, Todd Young refused to speak out, instead saying absurdly that there could be “psychological rigging of the election” and claiming he was “reading” during the final presidential debate.

This desperate dodge comes despite saying he would be the “independent voice prepared to speak out quite forcefully against” Trump when he’s wrong.

But that wasn’t all the ducking Congressman Young did this week. During the U.S. Senate debate early this week and throughout the entirety of the campaign, Congressman Young refused to explain his harmful record for Hoosier families, including:

– Why he voted to allow companies like Carrier to keep their tax breaks even when they ship Hoosier jobs overseas

– Why he chose to accept donations from Carrier’s parent company even after it outsourced 1,400 Indiana jobs to Mexico

– Why he said the auto rescue that helped save 100,000 Hoosier jobs was a “waste…let it go belly up”

– Why he voted 23 times against the opportunity to prevent known or suspected terrorists to purchase guns

– Why he voted against funding for PTSD treatment for veterans and against suicide prevention services for service members and veterans

– Why he voted against protecting Social Security from privatization, called Medicare “welfare,” and voted to reopen the donut hole for seniors

“Instead of being an ‘independent voice’ as Congressman Todd Young vowed, he has defaulted to dodging and ducking questions from reporters and refusing to provide answers that Hoosiers deserve to know,” said Brooke Bainum, press secretary. “Despite campaigning for more than a year, Congressman Young still has no answers for why he wants companies to keep their tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas or why he wanted the Indiana auto industry to go ‘belly up.’ It’s clear that Todd Young will continue to put his own political ambition first and continue ignoring questions about his harmful record to Hoosiers.”

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INDIANAPOLIS–Congressman Young, who continues to support Donald Trump despite tapes of him condoning sexual assault and his toxic rhetoric about women, veterans, immigrants and even a Hoosier judge, claimed just last week that when Donald Trump is “wrong” he could be an “independent voice” who would speak out “quite forcefully” against him.

“I would be supportive of him, but when he’s wrong, I would be an independent voice prepared to speak out quite forcefully against him,”—Congressman Todd Young to the Washington Post, October 11, 2016.

Yesterday, Congressman Young had his chance to prove his independence after Trump refused to commit to accepting the results of Election Day at the final debate, a position that has drawn sharp condemnation from Republican Senators and leaders. Instead…

Young, who is running for Senate, neither supported nor criticized Trump. He said he missed the debate, because he was reading at the time.” —Los Angeles Times

Young is in “a bit of rhetorical purgatory, forced to respond to Trump but unwilling to pick a fight with him. Young said Thursday there could be a “psychological rigging of the election”—Politico

Today, Young is joined on the trail by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who could show the Congressman a thing or two about what standing up to Trump looks like:

So the questions for Congressman Young today are: Does he not think what Donald Trump said on the integrity of our elections was “wrong?” Or does his spineless response mean what matters most to Congressman Young is political self-preservation, and he’s lying to Hoosiers about his ability to speak out “quite forcefully” against Donald Trump?

Or perhaps, we should ask Secretary Rice.

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IDP Holds Todd Young accountable for anti-Hoosier record

INDIANAPOLIS – On Friday morning, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and area seniors and students held a press conference to highlight Congressman Todd Young’s record of harmful policies that fail to look out for Hoosiers.

The event was the start of the Congressman Young “Harmful for Hoosiers” Tour, which is shining a light on how Congressman Young has turned his back on Hoosier workers, manufacturers, seniors and students.

Speakers discussed how Todd Young has repeatedly pushed policies that jeopardize Hoosiers workers, including his opposition to the auto rescue that saved 100,000 Hoosier jobs. They also criticized Young for his vote to keep tax breaks for companies like Carrier who ship jobs overseas, but then voted to eliminate the Trade Adjustment Assistance program that helps Hoosiers who lose their jobs due to outsourcing like those at Curtiss Wright Controls in South Bend.

“When you look at the issues—from wanting to shut down Indiana’s auto industry to describing Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme,” it’s clear from Congressman Young’s record that he is not the right person to represent Hoosiers in the Senate,” said Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend. “We need problem solvers today, but Todd Young has done the political route at the expense of Hoosier seniors, students, and workers.”

Congressman Young’s policies to make college less affordable—which include significant cuts to the Pell Grant program and a doubling of student loan interest rates—were also slammed during the event.

“As part of a generation of college students who are in danger of drowning in student loan debt, I know how important it is that we do everything we can to make college more affordable, not less affordable,” said Andrew Galo, a student at Notre Dame. “That’s an issue that everyone should agree on, regardless of political affiliation. But unfortunately, Congressman Young helped draft and voted for a plan that would drastically cut the Pell grant program and cause more than 32,000 students in Indiana to lose access to this important program. Todd Young isn’t looking out for college students and that’s not the kind of leader we want to see representing us in Washington.”

The “Harmful for Hoosiers” Tour also highlighted Todd Young’s radical plans to voucherize Medicare, reopen the donut hole, and privatize Social Security has put our seniors at risk. Under Congressman Young’s plan, they would have to pay an average of $6,400 in out-of-pocket costs for crucial prescription drugs, a cost that not many Hoosier seniors can afford.

“Congressman Young’s plans for Hoosier seniors is dangerous,” said Judy Grzegorek, a retired medical professional in South Bend. “He called Medicare ‘welfare.’ Well, it’s not welfare. Seniors like myself have paid into this program our entire lives. We’ve earned these benefits, and we’re not willing to risk them for the special interests. We can’t trust Todd Young to look out for us if he is elected to the U.S. Senate.”

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Open Letter to Governor Mike Pence by John Zody, Chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party

Dear Governor Pence,

Since you accepted the position to be Donald Trump’s running mate in the presidential election, you have crisscrossed the nation with political campaign trips while using state resources. A recent report showed how your political travel immediately goes back to the Hoosier taxpayers – as they are forced to foot your bill.

In light of this report, I am asking you to use your campaign funds to pay back Hoosiers and the state. In total, more than$24,000 in state taxpayer dollars have been used to pay for your political travel to states like New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Colorado.

Indiana’s governor is given a security detail provided by the Indiana State Police that’s needed to protect our state’s highest executive. These officers’ biggest responsibility is to ensure the safety of the governor with all official-related travel across Indiana and sometimes, around the globe.

But it shouldn’t be taken for granted that Hoosiers foot the bill. In fact, like all responsibilities of the position, the governor should be pragmatic about travel, its purpose and whether state resources should be used to pay for it.

As Hoosiers continue to work more for less and make only 86 cents to every one American dollar, it’s imperative that state officials do all they can to protect the value of the tax dollars that are earned by our hardworking Hoosier families.

I’m not asking you to remove Indiana State Police from your security detail. However, it should be understandable that as a candidate for office both now and in the recent past, that you would have the resources to do the right thing and refund the state.

I hope you find a resolution to this matter soon.

Sincerely,

John Zody
Chairman
Excerpts from the WRTV story below.

“While Governor Mike Pence is out of the state and on the campaign trail, Indiana taxpayers are stuck paying the skyrocketing overtime bill for the special team of state troopers protecting him as governor.

Indiana State Police’s Executive Protection Section is tasked with protecting Indiana’s Governor, the First Lady and Lieutenant Governor.” […]

“Before Pence became Trump’s running mate, the Executive Protection Section filed an average of 126.3 hours of overtime per month, costing taxpayers an average of $4,219.65 in overtime per month.” […]

“That number shot up 335 percent in July, when Pence was picked to be Trump’s vice-presidential nominee, according to state police overtime records obtained through public records request made by Call 6 Investigates.

In July 2016, the Executive Protection Unit had 549.5 hours of documented overtime, adding up to more than $19,500.

Then in August, the amount of overtime declined slightly to 399 reported hours of overtime, but that cost still added up to more than $15,000.”

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INDIANAPOLIS – It’s been one year since Tennessee Trey Hollingsworth announced his intentions to attempt to buy Indiana’s Ninth District. And since then, not only are Hoosiers well aware that Tennessee Trey isn’t one of them, but he’s made it pretty clear that he does not care about showing any Hoosier values either.

With today being the one year anniversary of his carpetbagging campaign, let’s take a walk down a memory lane that’s full of gaffes, dark money, and a simple refusal to release tax returns.

ISSUE	RESPONSE
Tax Returns	Trey flat out refused to release his tax returns to show Hoosiers that he actually lives in the Ninth District and pays his fair share of taxes. [WTHR, 9.19.16]
Understanding Middle-Class Hoosiers	Tennessee Trey said he understood middle-class Hoosiers because he “employs them.” – [WISH-TV, 9.22.16]
Favorite Hoosier	When asked about his favorite Hoosier, Tennessee Trey refused to answer the question. – [Bloomington Herald-Times, 10.19.16]
False Ad Attacks on Shelli Yoder	Media finds attacks by Tennessee Trey to be false and misleading against Shelli Yoder. [WTHR, 10.12.16]
Property Taxes	Media reports discovered Tennessee Trey forced Hoosiers to foot bill when he refused to pay property taxes on his business. – [Indianapolis Star, 4.26.16]
Dark Money	Trey allowed his father to spend $1 million and counting to carpetbag the Ninth District with false ads. – [WTHR, 10.12.16]

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