Jackson Touts Connections In Re-election Bid For Commissioner
Jackson Touts Connections In Re-election Bid For Commissioner
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David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
Jackson Touts Connections In Re-election Bid For CommissionerSometimes it’s not just what you know but who you know that helps get things done.
Serving 24 years as the northern district county commissioner, Brad Jackson has made such connections not only at the local level, but also at the state and national levels.
Jackson is running this year for re-election for his tentative final four-year term as commissioner. He faces Republican Marcia Baumgartner in the June 2 primary.
A recent example of Jackson’s relationship-building is his efforts to help Polywood grow in Syracuse.
“I worked with Mike Noe, the town manager; Larry Martindale, the president on the town council; and (Ind.) Senator (Blake) Doriot; and Congressman (Jackie) Walorski; and Senator (Mike) Braun. Those people were all actually involved and on-site. We also reached out to Senator (Todd) Young for support and Congressman (Jim) Banks,” Jackson said during an interview Tuesday after the county commissioners meeting was over.
Jackson recalled he was at a Kosciusko Economic Development Corporation (KEDCo) meeting last year, and Polywood CEO Doug Rassi was in attendance.
“Doug was just sharing problems he was having. He was having problems with electricity, because Polywood consumes actually 50% of the power in Syracuse and the substation is underpowered,” Jackson said. Whenever the power goes out, it takes Polywood hours to reboot. “So the substation in Syracuse is undersized, but getting NIPSCO sometimes to do anything is an act of Congress, literally.”
Along with electricity problems, Rassi explained at that meeting that his other problems also include water disposal and getting trucks in and out of the Polywood site.
“The roads are not made for semi traffic. So, actually this is kind of a cool thing, we the county are teaming with the town of Syracuse to work on the road situation,” Jackson said, noting the details are still a “work in progress.”
“What drove all this, too, is that they have extruders that make their product, that turn milk jugs into the actual boards to make the furniture,” Jackson said. “That’s not just something you go buy at Walmart obviously. So, they have them on order, and (Rassi) said, ‘Right now, Syracuse doesn’t have the power to totally power these’ and he said they’re on order and they’re going someplace.”
Polywood has another facility in North Carolina. Jackson said Rassi wasn’t trying to be threatening or anything like that, just pointing out the extruders were going to one or the other of Polywood’s facilities. Rassi said the power in Syracuse had to be fixed or the extruders would go to North Carolina.
Jackson said Rassi mentioned at that meeting that when Polywood came to North Carolina, the state “rolled out the red carpet” and “all these high-level officials” came out to see him and welcome him. Jackson said part of that was probably because Polywood was new to North Carolina, while the company has always been in Syracuse and grew here.
“So I thought, ‘You know what, why don’t we make him feel (welcome). Our federal elected officials are taking note of what they’re doing, they’re creating a lot of jobs.’ So before the meeting was over, I texted Mike Braun and Todd Young and Jackie and Blake. Since that time, Senator Braun did a plant tour and walked through the whole plant with them and had a meeting with their team there and all that. And Jackie the same thing,” Jackson said.
He said that all went a long ways in letting Rassi know he has access to his elected officials.
Jackson had a meeting with Ind. Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and she reached out to Rassi to see if the state could do anything for Polywood.
“I don’t want to sound bragging, but I have those relationships,” Jackson said.
He’s also not afraid to call up other elected officials to get help with local issues because he has that relationship with them. He reached out to Ind. Sens. Ryan Mishler and Blake Doriot about restrictions on use of highway funding before the county commissioners approved a follow-up letter on the issue to be sent to them.
“That letter is a follow-up to a conversation that already occurred,” Jackson said.
Those officials he now can easily reach out to – via text, phone calls, emails or letters – are also endorsing him for re-election.
“I’m honored because usually in primaries people don’t endorse. That’s kind of a rule,” Jackson said. “But somebody has to really feel they have a good repertoire to do that. And to have Sen. Braun, Young, Walorski, Banks and Doriot and Mishler and (State Rep.) Dave Wolkins and (former county commissioner) Ron Truex and then (former Elkhart County Sheriff) Brad Rogers, it’s just kind of humbling and unusual.”
For more about Jackson and his re-election campaign, visit the website bradjacksonforcommissioner.com.
