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IUS professor to be on Libertarian slate
By Lesley Stedman Weidenbener
lstedman@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
May 2, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indiana University Southeast economics professor will be the Libertarian Party's candidate for the 9th District congressional seat in the fall election, challenging the winners of today's Republican and Democratic primaries.
Eric Schansberg of Jeffersonville, who is on sabbatical from the New Albany campus, said yesterday that he has long been interested in seeking public office and decided to run now because "there are no fiscal conservatives in the race at all."
"I've joked to my friends that my life would not be complete if I did not do this at some time," Schansberg, 41, said yesterday. "But I have other things to do in my life, and if we had a candidate in the race that was doing a reasonably effective job, I might not have run."
U.S. Rep. Mike Sodrel, a New Albany Republican, is seeking a second term and faces political newcomer Sam Schultz in today's primary.
Democrats are expected to nominate former congressman Baron Hill of Seymour, although Gretchen Clearwater of Bloomington, John "Cosmo" Hockersmith of Vallonia and Lendall Terry of Versailles are also in the race.
The Libertarian Party of Indiana chose Schansberg at its annual convention Saturday. The party also chose Steve Osborn of LaPorte as its candidate for the U.S. Senate. Sen. Dick Lugar, a Republican seeking his sixth term, is the only other candidate currently in that race. No Democrat filed for the seat.
Schansberg said yesterday he expects the anticipated battle between Hill and Sodrel to be one of the tightest congressional races in the country. It would be their third campaign against one another.
"They know each other pretty well," he said. "And they're going to get to know me."
Schansberg is a prolific writer of research papers, essays and editorials and contributes articles regularly to the Indiana Policy Review. He's also the author of four books, including "Turn Neither to the Left nor to the Right: A Thinking Christian's Guide to Politics and Public Policy" and "Poor Policy: How Government Harms the Poor."
Yesterday Schansberg said he's not satisfied that anyone running for the 9th District seat is "speaking to really important issues" for the lower and middle classes, including payroll taxes, Social Security reform and education.
Those issues will be as big a part of his campaign as his position on fiscal restraint. He said yesterday that President Bush and the Republican Congress have increased spending at a greater rate than any administration at least since that of Lyndon Johnson.
Libertarians have not had much success in the 9th District. In the past two general elections, Libertarian Al Cox sought the seat, winning 1.6 percent of the vote in 2004 and 1.3 percent in 2002.
But Schansberg said he plans to be more active. He hopes to raise enough money to get his message to voters and plans to travel the district, meeting with any group that will give him the opportunity.
"At a minimum, this is a great forum to get people to talk and wrestle with important issues," he said. "That's first and foremost what I'm after."
Yesterday Joe Wert, a political science professor at IUS who knows Schansberg, said he doubted he will have much impact on the race.
"Libertarians tend to appeal to the fringes of both parties," Wert said. "I don't think he'll be a big factor in terms of who's going to win because he'll pull equally from both."
Reporter Lesley Stedman Weidenbener can be reached at (317) 444-2780.
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