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Dear Editor:
Big money has arrived in Noblesville’s mayoral election campaign.
Chris Jensen’s campaign committee is called “Jensen for Noblesville,” but a detailed look at his campaign contributions for 2017-18 suggests otherwise (Official CFA-4 records).
Special interests dominate the whopping total fundraising contributions of over $140,000. About 71 percent came from outside Noblesville, including money from donors in Washington, D.C., California, Colorado and Illinois. Over $41,000 came from political action committees (PACs) or other organizations, including his single biggest donor, “Ditslear for Mayor.”
Graphic provided
But the real story is in the long list of corporations and corporate executives connected to development, real estate, engineering, construction, consulting and other supporting special interests. Over 50 different corporations are named, so the list reads like a Who’s Who of LLCs associated with development in the Central Indiana area.
Of course, you’ll find Rebar Companies (tax-supported developer of ‘The Levinson’), Blue Sky Technology (tax-supported new building at Federal Hill) and Noblesville Fieldhouse LLC (tax-supported), but many are more difficult to clearly identify. The list adds up to a total of about $77,000 of donations from specific corporations or individuals linked to corporations and Special Interests.
Bottom line: Only about $11,000 – or about 8 percent – of Jensen’s total campaign contributions come from Noblesville resident individuals not somehow linked to some special interests.
We know who will represent Central Indiana “Big Money,” but the voters of Noblesville have to ask themselves – who will represent them?
Tim Hamashuk
Noblesville
Let’s be transparent: this article & its corresponding (misleading) pie chart was crafted by Pickett & Associates, the communications firm that Julia Church Kozicki has paid $12,000 thus far. Mr. Hamashuk is a friend and supporter of Ms. Kozicki, who volunteered to put his name at the bottom of this piece. In discussing special interests, let’s look at the fact that Ms. “Church” Kozicki would not be in this race without her family’s name and their associated interests with the city and our schools. In addition, look at the amounts that the other candidates have raised. Ms. Kozicki loaned her campaign $10,000, and Mr. Corbett has raised a bit over $4,000, nearly half from his own pocket. If a candidate can’t attract donors to his/her own campaign, how will they attract economic development to our city? I’d invite anyone to schedule a call or coffee with Mr. Jensen, as I’ve found him to be incredibly open and honest.
John Tucker if I can I respectfully would like to point out you are 100% incorrect. The chart was prepared by Tim Hamashuk who is in no way affiliated with Pickett and Associates.
The rest of your argument is equally inaccurate. The Campaign Finance information is available to any and all and it is not challenging to find it and verify at the Hamilton County Election Office. A few minutes there on the website and I am sure you will wake up and smell the coffee.
Chris is a nice guy with a beautiful family and no experience beyond being on City Council one term and working as a Public Relations Consultant at Lochhmueller Group. AS a PR Professional I would expect he would be most pleasant to enjoy a coffee with.
http://lochgroup.com/aboutus/
It is important that you realize that the people who have donated the most to Mr. Jensen are not interested in moving to Noblesville they want to do BUSINESS with Noblesville. We are either too easy or plain ignorant if we don’t realize we don’t have the means of a Carmel. What will hurt their economy would completely sink Noblesville’s economy. Our margin for error is much slimmer and doing more with less is not only commendable but smart management.
You throw the claim that raising small amounts of money on the part of Mr. Corbett must be an indication of inability. You could not be more wrong. I see his signs all over town. You have to admit he has done a remarkable job on a small amount of money.
That is Return on Investment and it is easy to see Corbett’s ROI is much stronger than Jensen’s.
I guess I’m most interested in building a stronger Noblesville for our citizens and not area developers.
Carmel has a Cult-like nature, Don’t let Noblesville become an unwitting participant in the Ponzi scheme that is Carmel. If you like Carmel it has close access. I lived there for 31 years, the best years of my life. I must say I prefer Noblesville’s authenticity over Carmel’s showplace nature. People here are as friendly and easy going as they were when I initially moved to Carmel in 1985. Over the years the ostentatiousness and pretentiousness in Carmel became more than I wished to deal with. I am very happy to call Noblesville Home.
To John Tucker. WOW! Very disappointing and offensive to read the lies you posted about me. I have never heard of the company you say created my article. I personally entered all 300+ records into my own spreadsheets and performed pivot table analysis. Additional web research that anyone can do will yield the same results. I am just a Noblesville citizen who is very concerned about the over-emphasis on new development to the detriment of existing residents. Compared to the other Hamilton County cities, Noblesville has higher taxes, higher crime rates, and a lack of committed critical infrastructure investment planning for addressing the horrendous east-west traffic and needed new police facilities. Among other needs. Lots of new trails, fancy parks, and taxpayer funded commercial projects though. Please double check your erroneous sources. Thank you.
Hey guys, just a note from your friendly Noblesville-based Pickett & Associates folks (a strategic communications firm providing PR, Marketing and Digital media) … Confirming we DID NOT create the pie chart. Indeed, we are proudly working with Julia, creating her website and helping with advertising etc. I’m heartened by her sincere commitment to present her platform, listen to constituents and interact with voters. I’ve not met Mr. Hamashuk, but I commend his interest in our community. On a personal note, I know three of the four candidates … Chris went to school with my oldest daughter, I’ve known him since he was in 8th grade. I’ve written a number of articles for the Hamilton County Business magazine and have interacted with Mike Corbett. (I do not know Vince personally, but look forward to saying hi at our next candidate’s forum!) And it’s been a delight to get to know Julia, a super-smart woman who has served on the Noblesville school board for 12 years while practicing law and raising two sons. How lucky we are to have such thoughtful public servants in our midst! Now, get out there and VOTE everyone!