County Council candidates prepare for their speeches. From left are Dave Wolkins, District 4; Joe Irwin, District 2; Brad Jackson, District 1; and Tony Ciriello, District 3.

By Deb Patterson
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — While a protest by Democrats against the government shutdown took place outside the Zimmer-Biomet Center Lake Pavilion, Monday, Oct. 6, inside the building was filled to capacity, maybe even over that, for a reception of four individuals — Brad Jackson, Joe Irwin, Tony Ciriello and Dave Wolkins – officially announcing their run for the four district county council seats.

State Sen. Ryan Mishler introduced each of the candidates, noting he has known all of them, with the exception of Joe Irwin for over 20 years. Yet, he has met Irwin and noted “in his short career he has hit the ground running and I’m confident he’s already working hard.”

Mishler noted a few facts about each candidates. The candidates were introduced by the districts in which they will be seeking the nomination.

He noted Jackson, from District 1, was a familiar face to many. He graduated from Wawasee High School, resides in Syracuse, built a successful family business his family continues to operate following his retirement. Jackson served as a county commissioner for 28 years, a long time member of the former North Webster Church of God, now North Webster Community Church, provides financial counseling for individuals and families. He and his wife Lynette together have two sons and four grandchildren.

Bob Bishop, Bishop Family Farms, talks of the importance of agriculture in the county.

“People ask me (why I’m running), and Ron Truex asked and said ‘ARE YOU CRAZY,’ his exact words had more emphasis than that,” said Jackson. :The reason I’m running is I love our county. It’s a great place to live, raise a family and retire … I’m retired so it gives me a little more time to dedicate. So the bottom line with me is I’m a Christian conservative. I believe in living below your means … and I believe that’s what we need in our government at all levels today. That’s what I bring to the table.”

Introducing Irwin, District 2, Mishler stated Irwin has not been in government very long. Irwin and his wife Amy have four children, seven grandchildren and another on the way. He is also a third generation family farmer. “We don’t have so many of those any more,” said Mishler. Irwin is president of he Atwood Lions Club, vice president of the Atwood Community Building and a life long community leader dedicated to strengthening local programs and events. He is passionate about representing every day residents and the agriculture community on the county council.

Irwin presented the briefest speech, which resulted in a few laughs that after he’s served over 20 years he’ll talk a lot longer. Irwin addressed why he is seeking election, noting he felt like “I was being called to do it,” after Mike Long died. “I believe keeping ag in our local government. I believe its important and I’m basically a conservative.”

When Mishler introduced District 3 candidate Tony Ciriello, whom Mishler had worked with when Ciriello was police chief, coroner, and eventually he came to work for Mishler. “I’ve known Tony for a long time,” Mishler added. He stated Ciriello began his law enforcement career in 1981 as a fire investigator with the state fire marshal’s office. He served as a sheriff’s deputy with the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department and retired in 2015 as Syracuse Chief of Police. That same year he was elected to coroner of Kosciusko County. He served 23 years as deputy coroner and eight years as county coroner. He was elected to the county council in 2022.

Ciriello noted he is running for his second term on the council and he gets asked why he is running again. “No. 1 I love being on the council. I wasn’t sure at the beginning,” he said. He spent the first year sitting at the table wondering what he got himself into, but after the first year, “I got comfortable. I was able to speak out and understand things better. So I’ve still have a ways to go and we’re not done yet. We’ve got a lot of work to do over the next few years,” he said. He noted SB 1 and the work the council has to accomplish. “I think with being in the infancy stages of that … only makes sense for me to continue on to get that mission done … We want to be a conservative county as we always are …we don’t have debt tied to the (county) government, so we as a county have no debt and we want to continue that way.”

Congressman Marlin Stuzman

The final candidate to be introduced, Dave Wolkins who serves District 4, was said by Mishler to be a stranger to nobody. Mishler joked that Wolkins has served longer than Mishler has been alive. He recalled meeting Wolkins in 1988 when Mishler’s father, Greg, was running for the legislature again. Wolkins had walked in and Mishler asked who he was and was told he was the guy running for Thames Mauzy’s seat. “Some 20 years later I’m serving in the statehouse with that same guy, who when I was a high school kid walked into a fundraiser in Warsaw. … Always an honor to work with Dave at the statehouse. I think we made a good team down there for this county and I could always count on Dave.” Mishler added when Wolkins left the statehouse “he was a man of his word when he went in and he was a man of his word when he went out.”

Wolkins, a 1961 graduate of Warsaw High School, graduated from Greenville University in 1965 where he held a record in hurdles. He received his master’s degree From St. Francis. He and Candy have been married for 60 years and have a son Matt and two grandchildren. Wolkins served on the Winona Lake Town Council for 17 years and state representative for 32 years. He has served three years on the county council. He was a teacher and track coach at Warsaw High School for 10 years, vice president of ABC Travel, president of Warsaw Power and Equipment and small business owner for over 20 years.

Wolkins noted it was awesome to have so many people show up for the evening. He stated the county has been fortunate to have the county councils it has had the last 20-30 years. “The county is in good financial shape and “I’d like to keep it that way,” he said. He noted his age has been criticized, but he takes it with a grain of salt. “I still have common sense,” he said noting it wasn’t until the last 1 ½ years he really became interested while he went through a learning curve. “It’s totally different than what I had at the state. I’m enjoying it,” he said.

Also speaking were Bob Bishop of Bishop Family Farms, Congressman Marlin Stutzman and Attorney General Todd Rokita. A brief message from Congressman Rudy Yakym was played for the crowd.

Attorney General Todd Rokita

Bishop, who set the record straight that he was not running for any office, focused on the importance of the ag community to the county. Persons involved in the various aspects of ag were asked to raise their hands, with Bishop noting “Ag in this county is the background of what happens.”

The Bishop Family Farm has been calling Leesburg home for 192 years and the family is proud to call Kosciusko County home. He stated he supported the candidates, as they are good ones, but is particularly supporting Irwin who is in his district. He also talked about technology and recently, within the last two weeks, being asked to sell his property for another data center. He declined the offer, as that is not what he is looking out to do. He also touched on economic development noting it is good as long as it is beneficial to the county.

He closed by reciting a saying he had heard from an unknown author. “Burn down your cities and leave our farms and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets in every city in the country.”

Stutzman, noted getting to know Wolkins, Ciriello and Jackson for a long time and was looking forward to knowing Irwin and supporting him in any way he could. He spoke of Wolkins being one of his first supporters when he ran for state representative, and getting to know him better at the state house. He commented appreciating the friendship and philosophy in local government after seeing the mess in Washington. He stated that was the reason he ran again, “knowing that we have good strong conservatives at home in Indiana, here at the local level, also the state level, where we have a balanced budget.”

He spoke of the redistricting and the federal government shut down, noting it was not about illegals getting benefits, it was more about the upcoming election in Virginia, where the Democrats are behind. “They are afraid of loosing the reelection … get their base in northern Virginia stirred up because of the shut down and blame Trump, they think they can get back and win the election … that’s the game the Democrats play. They’re better at politics. We’re better at policy …”

He also stressed the importance of the redistricting occurring at this time. He stated the Democrats had already done it and are maxed out. He noted the gerrymandering in Illinois boxing out every Republican. The same with California. “I think it’s really important for us to consider redistricting now and making sure we have equal representation in Washington. We are not a sanctuary state like California and Illinois where they count all the illegals. They count all the noncitizens …” He stated other states have or will be doing redistricting to make sure there is equal representation in Washington.

The evening concluded with Rokita recognizing those running for county council, and noting the need to stand up and fight for what’s right. He recognized the large number of those present under the age of 35, noting it is a sign of a big party movement.

He referenced the protesters outside the building and referenced Beau Bayh stating he is like his dad, Evan Bayh. Beau Bayh announced his candidacy for Indiana Secretary of State Monday.

Rokita stated it is at the local level where it happens. Noting SB 1 is coming “this way. There’s good and bad … four guys knew about SB 1 before they put their name on the ballot. Challenges are a great opportunity,” he said noting it’s home rule on steroids for them to figure out if they tax more or cut more. “That’s the job they signed up for.”

He encouraged the public to inform the candidates of their thoughts and hold them accountable. He stressed not waiting for others to do something. If that happens “I promise you we will lose this country.” He stressed the need to have the spirit of influence, to listen, to have those uncomfortable conversations at the dinner table and to use individual words and build confidence.

Kristi Ormsby was given accolades by many for organizing the evening’s event.