US Senate Candidate John Hostettler spoke Tuesday night about why he is running for the seat.
Kosciusko County Silent No More hosted a candidate forum Tuesday at Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church attended by approximately 50 people.
Tuesday was the third candidate event held by the group.The group also held a Tea Party rally Nov. 21 at Lakeview Middle School that was attended by approximately 1,600 people.
Senate Candidates Richard Behney and Don Bates Jr. spoke in Warsaw during previous candidate events.
A senate primary candidate debate also is being planned for March 6 at Lakeview Middle School from 10 a.m. to noon.
Republican senate candidates Marlin Stutzman, Behney, Bates Jr., Dr. Tom Haney, and Hostettler will speak during the March 6 event.
Haney will speak at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 at Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church during the next forum.
Hostettler will run in the May primary against Republican senator candidates Stutzman, Behney, Haney and Bates Jr.
Hostettler, 48, (R- Blairsville), a professional engineer, served in the United States House of Representatives from 1995-2007.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering in 1983 from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute.
He served on the House Committee on Agriculture and the House Committee on Armed Services from 1995-2007. He also served on the House Committee on The Judiciary from 2001-2007.
Following the first election of Bill Clinton as president, Hostettler decided to run for the House of Representatives.
In 1995, in his first year in office, Hostettler amended the District of Columbia Appropriations Bill to eliminate the domestic partnership policy on the government.
In 1998, he traveled to Moscow as part of a Congressional delegation to discuss U.S. deployment of a national missile defense system with members of the Russian Duma.
Hostettler said he is running for the senate seat so that his four children will have a better life, and he feels his conscience is leading him to run.
He said he decided to get back into politics and run against Bayh.
"It never ceases to amaze me at how someone who has such a liberal voting record could be attached to an individual who is perceived and portrayed to be conservative," Hostettler said.
He said it his goal to expose Bayh's liberal voting record.
He said Congress should be held accountable for how much money the government spends.
"In fiscal year 2009 we had a $1.4 trillion deficit, and in current fiscal year 2010 we are projected according to the congressional budget office to accumulate a $1.5 trillion deficit," Hostettler said.
He said the issues that are being dealt with now - such as health care and a deficit - are issues that he dealt with in 1995, but are now magnified.
