There is never a perfect candidate; politics is occasionally a game of choosing between the lesser of two evils. Rather than endorsing a candidate that doesn’t represent the views of The Shield, we have chosen to not endorse a candidate for the 8th district.


We feel that neither Democratic candidate, Trent Van Haaften nor Republican candidate Larry Buschcon, will represent USI, Vanderburgh County or Indiana in the ways that we need them.
Van Haaften’s interests don’t always lie with the constituents, but with the money. He has a record of accepting funds from various interest groups and subsequently voting for these groups’ views instead of local Hoosiers’.
He received the second highest amount of gifts from lobbying groups in the Indiana General Assembly of 2009. Mostly these gifts came from AT&T, and during that year, Van Haaften drafted a bill strongly backed by the aforementioned company regarding high-speed Internet availability.
Buschcon’s record is not much better than Van Haaften’s. The former surgeon has received much of his funding from those within the health care industry, which leads one to question his motives in adamantly opposing the recent health care bill.
Keeping this in mind, when added to the rest of his stances on other issues, the staff at The Shield finds it difficult to justify supporting his run for representative.
While we do not wish to discourage political discourse or participation, we also feel it is necessary for students to know why support should be given, and since we find neither candidates deserving of our endorsement, neither will get it.