Gubernatorial Candidates Announced At 3rd Dist. Democrat Dinner
Posted
Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
COLUMBIA CITY - Three candidates seeking the Democratic nomination for Indiana's governor in the 2008 election were announced Saturday night.
The candidates spoke during the annual Northeast Indiana Third District Democrat dinner at the Eagle Glen Event Center, Columbia City.
The event was hosted by the Indiana Third District Congressional District Democratic Committee.
More than 200 democrats from Allen, Kosciusko, DeKalb, LaGrange, Noble and Whitley counties attended the event.
Democrat candidates running for governor who spoke during the event were Richard Young, Miltown; Jill Long, Argos; and James Schellinger, Indianapolis.
Young served six years as county auditor for Crawford County beginning in 1982, and served as an Indiana State Senator for 19 years.
He also has served as a democratic leader for the Indiana Senate representing district 47 for the past 11 years.
Long was born in Warsaw and raised in Whitley County. He served three terms as a congress member for the fourth district of Northeastern Indiana.
Schellinger, Indianapolis, serves as president of CSO Schenkel Shultz, an Indianapolis-based architectural firm.
Also during the dinner, Tom Smith, Howe, was awarded the J. Edward Roush Lifetime Service Award.
Roush was a congressman who served during the terms of five U.S. presidents over a period of three decades.
Each year the Indiana Third Congressional District Democratic Committee presents the award to honor a person who has donated time and talents to the Democrat party.
Smith began his political career as a coordinator for Birch Bayh's U.S. Senate campaign in 1962. Since that time he has been a precinct committeeman, county chair in LaGrange County, congressional district treasurer and congressional district chairman for six years.
He now is serving his second term on the Lima Township advisory board.
Smith said he was honored to receive the award.
"My father and grandfather would be proud that I was presented with this award because they are the reason that I am a democrat," Smith said.
