Spending Concerns, ‘Helping’ Propel Shoemaker CampaignChallengers are a healthy part of the electoral process and Ron Shoemaker said he wants to provide that option in the upcoming Warsaw mayoral primary.
The District 2 Republican city councilman, who threw out the idea of challenging two-term Mayor Joe Thallemer last summer, filed last week and said he thinks there is an undercurrent of concern about how the city is being run.
For months, Shoemaker has gained the support of those who want to see more racing at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds and from others who have found reasons to oppose Thallemer.
“There’s an underlying tone about change,” Shoemaker said during an interview Thursday.
“Change is good. It can bring good things. I feel very confident about what we are doing,” he said.
Shoemaker, 71, is finishing his first term as councilman. He was chosen by a Republican caucus to replace Charlie Smith, who died in a plane crash in 2015.
In a news release posted on ronshoemaker.com, he said he had no intentions of running for mayor, but says, “After seeing firsthand the ongoing problems and issues, it became quite clear to me that I should.
“When I see a situation I?know I can change for the better, conditions I know I?can improve, people I can help, I just can’t walk away,” he said in the statement.
During his time on council, Shoemaker’s made a name for himself by repeatedly opposing initiatives from the Thallemer administration and casts himself a fiscal conservative.
“I really have a conservative nature,” he said. “It’s easy to spend other people’s money, which is a shame.”
He’s opposed several spending plans on major projects, but at the same time did not deny the need for improvements.
That was the case for the new fire station south of town. He opposed an initial plan to spend $3.2 million but also opposed a revised plan that cost about $2.3 million.
He opposed a bond issue to finance revamping and expanding the city’s sewer treatment plant and voted against a rate hike plan because it included a 51 percent increase for small businesses.
He said he thinks it’s troubling that customers outside of the city, including those in Winona Lake who are served by Warsaw, did not see their sewer bills rise after the city revised rates this year.
Thallemer said that’s because Winona Lake paid a huge sum of money earlier under the agreement.
Shoemaker said his first vote cast as a councilman was in opposition to an ordinance that would fine residents for shoveling snow into the street. That ordinance was later rescinded.
Shoemaker said his decision to run has nothing to do with Thallemer personally.
“I don’t dislike Joe at all. I?have nothing personal with Joe,” Shoemaker said. “I don’t discount some of his accomplishments, but I do disagree with some of the ways he’s doing things.”
On several topics, Shoemaker declined to provide details and has not yet issued any proposals he would support if elected.
His proposals, he said, will be forthcoming.
While he said he has concerns about spending issues, he declined to spotlight any specifics.
One of the themes underscored in his online news release is that he wants to “help people” and he cast it as a customer service issue.
“I think we need somebody in that office for everyone,” he said, without expanding on specifics.
Supporters of the racetrack are touting Shoemaker’s campaign and contend that Thallemer, who lives near the track, is supporting neighbors in their effort to shut down racing.
The dispute is entering its second year. Members of the fair board contend expanding racing is necessary for the fairground’s future.
Neighbors contend renewed racing violates a nearly 30-year-old agreement.
Thallemer has made it clear he’s not taking sides in the lawsuit and offered a compromise calling for a limited number of races if the events ended by 11 p.m.
That idea and attempts to work out an agreement through mediation failed and the case is headed to trial.
Some of Shoemaker’s most ardent supporters are on the Facebook page We Want Another Warsaw Speedway and the Warsaw Community Facebook page.
On Thursday, Shoemaker said he’s hoping for a compromise, but declined to say what might be a fair number of races.
Shoemaker is retired after a lengthy career as a salesman in orthopedics. He worked for Zimmer before joining Howmedica and said he was the first to sell the Mayo Clinic a full hip replacement.
In the 1980s, he was a county commissioner in Fairfield County, Ohio, where he said he was able to reduce indebtedness to a $1 million surplus.
He attended Indiana University and majored in marketing.
