Who Are Real Constituents? Not Us

Let’s imagine together, shall we? Let’s say there’s a younger person somewhere who’s basically a pretty good human being. They’re involved in their community, their church. They volunteer, coach their daughter’s soccer team, do good work. They are well liked. Here and there someone says to them, “you know, you ought to run for office. We need good people like you.” They laugh it off, for a while. But the idea takes root, sprouts and grows and at some point they do. Maybe it’s a school board seat, a delegate, a precinct seat. Maybe it’s a spot on the town board, or city or county council.

They win the election. They continue doing good work. They represent their constituents well. They (well, OK, MOST of them) understand that local government is truly there to help, not hurt.

Their good work, their good community focus, opens more doors and next thing you know they end up in a higher office — state or federal.

Something changes.

All those wonderful lessons they learned in their community seem to fly out the window and all of a sudden they forget who they work for. Their constituents go from you and all their neighbors and turns into lobbyists, special interests, their own party, government employees.

At lower office, they looked at themselves as your employee, the hired hand, so to speak. Now, they see themselves as part of a ruling class; the people who know best what’s good for us peons.

Wouldn’t it be grand if this little scenario wasn’t something we could easily imagine? Trouble is, it sounds familiar, doesn’t it? All too familiar.

Politics is about money. It’s a place for those who either like what they have or want more. More power. More money. Keeping the lobbyists and peers happy matters. Us? Not so much.

Some are wondering if this doesn’t describe our still fairly new governor? Friends in southern Indiana say Mike Braun is a great guy. Well respected in Jasper. He ran as the business guy, not a politician. He told us he felt our pain on property taxes. He vowed to fight shoulder to shoulder with us.

Then he forgot who his constituents were.

Just last week State Comptroller Elise Nieshalla Secretary of the Office of Management and Budget Lisa Hershman and State Budget Director Chad Ranney announced that the state of Indiana is in great shape financially. We have $676 million in the general fund, $41 million Medicaid Contingency & Reserve, $706 million Tuition Reserve and — are you sitting down? — $1.1 billion in the Rainy Day Fund.

That’s a pretty healthy safety net, but Braun and the Republicans still couldn’t find a way to fix property taxes. Is it because the problem is too complex, like they like to tell you? No, not at all. It’s because politicians lack the will to stand up to special interests and lobbyists. In short, they would rather anger you than them.

How sad is that?

Take Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. It’s actually perfect, as the Don likes to say. But it’s perfect because it draws a big, honking line in the sand for everyone, right, left and in the middle. Trump’s critics say it will add trillions to the national debt. Supporters say it will spur the economy like none other. We don’t have to agree or disagree, just stay tuned. Watch. The real answer will reveal itself.

A lot of people had hope that Trump would run the country like he does his business . . . well, not the ones that ended up in bankruptcy. Ditto with Braun. Here’s hoping both of them remember, sooner rather than later, who the real constituents are.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically in The Times. Timmons is the chief executive officer of Sagamore News Media, the company that owns The Noblesville Times. He is also a proud Noblesville High School graduate and can be contacted at ttimmons@thetimes24-7.com.