Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
He may have started his run later than his opponent, but Paul Helmke is working hard to make up ground.
The former Fort Wayne mayor is running against incumbent Mark Souder for the congressional seat in the newly formed Third District, which includes Kosciusko County. Helmke was in Warsaw last week to talk about his candidacy.
"I want to take the local perspective on dealing with things to Washington," he said. "So much of what Washington does is based on one size fits all. ... As mayor I tried to get folks in Washington to realize how things are at the local level.
"Everybody wants the same things, despite the size of the community. You learn quickly at the local level what can be done and what can't."
Government, he said, is something "you wish you didn't have. It works best when it's limited."
It's vital to have leadership that listens, he said, and he thinks one of his strengths is that he listens to people and will admit when he's wrong.
"Washington needs more of that," he said.
His priorities are to bring jobs and tax dollars back to northeastern Indiana ("We've been a donor state and a donor region for years"), increase investments in the workforce and technology, investigate high-speed rail options and improve local infrastructure.
His basic difference with Souder, he said, is that Souder has been in Washington since 1984 and approaches things from a legislative perspective rather than an executive perspective, which is Helmke's approach.
"The executive side does more negotiating, more compromising," he said. "Because of this difference, I'm better at seeing all sides, at listening."
He wouldn't be going into Congress as a typical freshman congressman, he said, since he's 53 years old. He's also perceived as having more of a moderate approach, he said - "don't make changes until changes are needed."
He was mayor of Fort Wayne for 12 years, during which time he reduced property taxes 13 percent, he said, and helped bring nearly 10,000 jobs to the area.
He consistently returned to his ability to take a local approach at a national level.
With the primary only six weeks away, Helmke has his work cut out for him trying to unseat an incumbent. But he relishes the race.
"I always like a challenge," he said, smiling. He unseated an incumbent to get elected mayor the first time, and with the new congressional seat, he said, "even Mark Souder is conceding this is an open race."
