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Speaker 1: Casey. Remember that story we did. It's been a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks ago now, where we talked about how there's

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Speaker 1: a new group and their focus is on trying to

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Speaker 1: elect independent candidates in the state of Indiana. I remember

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Speaker 1: talking about billboards.

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Speaker 2: Is that correct?

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Speaker 1: So basically what has happened is there is a group

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Speaker 1: Independent Indiana is the name of the group, and they

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Speaker 1: have rightfully recognized that both the Republican and Democrat parties

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Speaker 1: in this state are completely awful. You can't trust either

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Speaker 1: one of them, and they both repeatedly let the people down.

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Speaker 1: And they have said, hey, we need to focus on

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Speaker 1: getting independent candidates, such as independent minded people, but people

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Speaker 1: running as independents elected in the state of Indiana. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: they think that the two party system is hurting Hoosiers.

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Speaker 1: So follow up to this, they reached out and said, hey,

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Speaker 1: we'd like to tell you a little bit more about

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Speaker 1: what we do because one of the things that we

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Speaker 1: had touched on is look, it's all well and good,

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Speaker 1: and we support that one hundred percent because I think

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Speaker 1: our most people know our slogan on this show is

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Speaker 1: we hate all these people equally. But the reality is

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Speaker 1: there are massive hurdles to running as an independent or

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Speaker 1: being elected as an independent, especially the higher up you

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Speaker 1: go in the office you desire to seek. It's one

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Speaker 1: thing to say, I'm going to try to win a

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Speaker 1: seat on the you know, Relsville Town Council, right, we

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Speaker 1: love the people of Reelsville. No, if it's just the first,

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Speaker 1: you know, the first little town that came to mind,

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Speaker 1: it's another thing to and you could probably do that

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Speaker 1: as an independent if you're a known quantity in your community.

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Speaker 1: But it's a much bigger thing to say I'm going

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Speaker 1: to win as a Secretary of State or as a

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Speaker 1: US Senator. So they reached out and said, hey, we'd

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Speaker 1: like to tell you a little bit more about what

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Speaker 1: we do because we think this can be done. So

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Speaker 1: joining us now on the WBC hotline is Nathan Gotch.

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Speaker 1: He is the executive director for Independent Indiana. Nathan, Hello, Hey,

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Speaker 1: good morning to both of you. All Right, so tell

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Speaker 1: us about the group. And I mean, look, I think

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Speaker 1: we're spat on, right, We're not going to be sur audience.

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Speaker 1: I think it's nice you guys are doing this, but

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Speaker 1: the reality is you got some big hurdles to overcome

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Speaker 1: to get independent people elected in the state.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So let me tell you sort of what the

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Speaker 2: genesis of this idea was. I think, regardless of where

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Speaker 2: you're at on the political spectrum, I think it's pretty

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Speaker 2: clear that whenever you have one party rule, and that

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Speaker 2: that is true for the state of Indiana, but also

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Speaker 2: for a place like Marion County, when you don't have

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Speaker 2: that competition, we all start to suffer. And so our

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Speaker 2: interest is figuring out, Okay, what can we do to

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Speaker 2: try to return that to the state. And so we

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Speaker 2: went and looked in the data and I did an

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Speaker 2: analysis of all the election results the last two years

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Speaker 2: across the state of Indiana, and what I found was

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Speaker 2: that independent candidates were starting to win in what to

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Speaker 2: me were really surprising members. So I reached out to

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Speaker 2: a former Indiana State Republican Chare to find out if

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Speaker 2: there really was something here. And I asked him, I said,

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Speaker 2: what number of independence getting on the battle of the

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Speaker 2: last two years, this is for any part of than

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Speaker 2: is said, what number would suggest to you that there's

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Speaker 2: something going on? He said, fifty would surprise him. Now

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Speaker 2: the actual numbers two hundred and forty four. His follow

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Speaker 2: up question was, well, how many of them actually won?

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Speaker 2: His guest was five percent. The actual number is fifty

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Speaker 2: two percent. And what we're seeing, as you said, these

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Speaker 2: are local races, but we're also starting to see independents

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Speaker 2: run in bigger races for county wide races, for state legislature,

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Speaker 2: even a couple for Congress. And of those two hundred

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Speaker 2: and forty four who ran and lost, nearly a third

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Speaker 2: got between thirty and forty nine percent of the vote.

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Speaker 2: So that suggests to me that the people of Indiana

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Speaker 2: are actually wanting another real choice when they go into

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Speaker 2: the ballot booth in November.

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Speaker 1: First, yeah, real quick, let me introduce you. Nathan Gotch

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Speaker 1: is our guest. He's the executive director of Independent Indiana.

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Speaker 1: They're they're a group dedicated to try to getting non

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Speaker 1: part our parties and are independent candidates elected in the

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Speaker 1: state of Indiana. So are you trying to say, look,

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Speaker 1: we're kind of right now bypassing the idea of the

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Speaker 1: state wide offices at least from our focus, because there

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Speaker 1: are such financial and you know, legal hurdles, et cetera,

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Speaker 1: which we'll get to in a second. You're trying to say, look,

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Speaker 1: we're not even focused on that right now. We're going

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Speaker 1: to build from the ground up.

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Speaker 2: We're trying to first of all, let people know, hey,

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Speaker 2: this is already happening. What most Hoosiers are feeling is

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Speaker 2: something that is all across the state. I think a

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Speaker 2: lot of us, you know, because we don't really talk

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Speaker 2: about politics and our social struggles anymore. It's become sort

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Speaker 2: of taboo. You know, a lot of people think that

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Speaker 2: they're alone. The truth is they're not. And the Independent

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Speaker 2: Voter Project just to an analysis of Indiana voters, and

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Speaker 2: what they found was forty four percent of registered voters

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Speaker 2: are independent. That compares to thirty one percent who are

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Speaker 2: Republicans and twenty five percent as Democrats. So the first

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Speaker 2: thing we need to do is get the word out

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Speaker 2: that these independents are already running and they're winning. And

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Speaker 2: our organization is coming online to try to provide information

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Speaker 2: and resources to people who might have considered or be

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Speaker 2: considering running as an independent in the future. And then

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Speaker 2: the other thing that we're doing, to your point, is

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Speaker 2: we're studying how we can trying to level the playing field.

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Speaker 2: You know, two of the movies that sort of stand

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Speaker 2: out as Hoosier stories, Hoosiers and Rudy, those are underdog

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Speaker 2: stories and the reason that those those movies you know,

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Speaker 2: are so compelling is those those teams and Rudy were

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Speaker 2: able to achieve amazing things and they you know, they

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Speaker 2: were successful, they won, but it was because they had

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Speaker 2: a level playing field. And I think if we start

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Speaker 2: to see a more level playing field where independence, Republicans,

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Speaker 2: and Democrats get to play by the same rules, I

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Speaker 2: think you're going to see more and more Independence running

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Speaker 2: and being more successful. Nathan, I'm wondering what sort of

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Speaker 2: barriers are you running into and what are you going

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Speaker 2: to do about clearing those roadblocks. So, look, the first

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Speaker 2: two that really make it hard for Independence to be

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Speaker 2: more competitive are the fact that we are one of

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Speaker 2: only six states with straight ticket voting, and we also

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Speaker 2: have signature requirements that are very different for independence versus

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Speaker 2: Republicans and Democrats. So let me give you an example

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Speaker 2: of that. If you wanted to run for Congress, you

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Speaker 2: have to as an independent get depending on the district,

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Speaker 2: around four thousand signatures. If you're running as a Republican

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Speaker 2: or Democrat, you don't have to get any. Now, when

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Speaker 2: it's that many signatures, you have to hire a firm

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Speaker 2: to help you get them. So we did some analysis,

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Speaker 2: and the cost estimate is around eighty thousand dollars to

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Speaker 2: get those signatures just to get on the ballot again,

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Speaker 2: versus there's no there's no fee, there's no barrier for

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Speaker 2: anybody running as a Republican or Democrat. That just feeled

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Speaker 2: wrong to me.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you extrapolate that out for a statewide race,

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Speaker 1: and you're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars even sometimes

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Speaker 1: into the high hundreds of thousands of dollars just to

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Speaker 1: get on the ballot to run as an independent exactly.

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Speaker 2: Our estimate places that number between seven hundred and eight

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars. I don't know about you, but I

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Speaker 2: don't think that we should be forcing wooziers to have

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Speaker 2: to buy their way out of the ballot and really

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Speaker 2: creating a system where only a multimillionaire could run for

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Speaker 2: statewide office.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Nathan Gotch is our guest. Couple of minutes left

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Speaker 1: with him. He's the executive director for Independent Indiana. They're

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Speaker 1: trying to get more independent people to run for public office,

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Speaker 1: to get more independent people elected for public office. What

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Speaker 1: what do you guys need? Because while we're skeptical, it's

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Speaker 1: going to work. I think I speak for Casey with this.

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Speaker 1: We want you guys to succeed because we recognize how

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Speaker 1: poorly the Democrats and Republicans have governed. And I think

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Speaker 1: there is a certain stain, for lack of a better term,

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Speaker 1: or reputation that comes with the Libertarian Party of Hey,

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Speaker 1: they're there, but they're not really serious. I think independent

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Speaker 1: people running are gonna have a better chance of winning

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Speaker 1: in many cases than the Libertarian So what do you

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Speaker 1: guys need to get off the ground and get going.

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Speaker 2: The most important thing people can do is get curious

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Speaker 2: about this. You know, we've got lots of information on

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Speaker 2: our website, Independent Indiana dot org. But the other thing

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Speaker 2: that a lot of people ask me is who are

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Speaker 2: these people? You know, I think our stereotype of an

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Speaker 2: independent is kind of a wacky person who couldn't get

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Speaker 2: on the ballot as a Republican or Democrat. That may

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Speaker 2: have been true in the past, but it's really not today.

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Speaker 2: In fact, we're having an event next Monday in Indianapolis

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Speaker 2: Monday night to twenty second where we are bringing in

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Speaker 2: three successful independent candidates from around the state so that

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Speaker 2: people can get to see them up close. Hear from them,

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Speaker 2: hear them tell their stories, and ask them questions. I

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Speaker 2: think if people come to that event and you can

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Speaker 2: register for it on our website, it's free, but go

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Speaker 2: to Independent Indiana dot org to register, you're going to

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Speaker 2: find that these are the kinds of people that really

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Speaker 2: we imagine when we learned about how our system of

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Speaker 2: government works when we were in school. These are just

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Speaker 2: people who are in it for the public service, peace,

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Speaker 2: and they want to solve problems in their community.

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Speaker 1: Nathan Gotch, executive director for Independent Indiana, can find them

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Speaker 1: at Independent Indiana dot org.

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Speaker 2: Good luck, Thank you so much. It's Kennel and Casey

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Speaker 2: on ninety three WIBC