My opponent has been trying for months to dig up dirt on me.  This was all he could find, so he made a smear campaign with incomplete facts and no context.  I hope this will clear up any misinformation with clear facts and irrefutable truth.
 
Regarding The 46% pay raise for Lorissa Sweet on Wabash County Council…
Excerpt from a letter from the Wabash County Auditor…
 
Concerning Mrs. Sweet voting herself a pay raise, every year Commissioners and the personnel committee determine salaries and make recommendations to council, as to raises throughout the county.  The only raises Mrs. Sweet has received are those recommended by these entities and those determined percentages received by all elected officials and/or employees in the county.
 
In 2019, we had a county-wide job study done on county employees to see where we were as a county compared to other counties with similar demographics.  This resulted in a larger than normal increase in some county salaries, including council. The personnel committee and commissioners actually arrived at a 21% increase, making the council still the second lowest paid County Council in a county of our size.  Many years the council has offered to take no pay raise, but has been advised otherwise, as to stay in alignment with other similar counties and avoid more large increases. Mrs. Sweet’s 2022 yearly pay was $6,788.14.
 
Concerning the Tax Increase…
Excerpts from the Minutes of the 9/16/17 Wabash County Council L.I.T (Local Income Tax) Public Hearing to decrease Property Tax Relief Credits from 1% to .5%…
 
Chairman Dawes read the proposed Ordinance #2017-85-07 … Auditor Shepherd further explained that the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Points fund) would fund the approximate $570,000 budget of the County's Central Dispatch department that is currently being funded from the County's General Fund and would further rearrange the percentages to fund the PSAP at .09% with a .41% increase instead of a .50% increase) in certified shares/ revenue. Dawes explained that the proposed change will not increase Wabash County's total income tax rate, but will reduce cap losses and increase revenue to all local taxing units.
 
 
…Auditor Shepherd explained that the .09% rate would be used to pay for the central dispatching call center and that the .09% equaled the approximate $580,000 Central Dispatching budget currently paid from the General Fund. Councilman Dale stated that the PSAP revenue will be distributed to only the County unit because the County alone has the burden of funding the dispatch center. Chairman Dawes explained that this would take funding pressure off the General Fund which for several years has found it necessary to borrow from other funds in order to pay for expenditures and services until the semi-annual property tax distributions are received in June and December. Dawes explained that much of the increased expense of the General Fund is related to the courts and jail costs. He explained that the current Sheriff has been proactive at the State level serving on committees with other county sheriffs in an attempt to get funding assistance to meet the increased costs of jail inmate housing since this is an unknown burden for the future. Councilman Mize further explained that the cash flow of the County's General Fund has been impacted for some time because of increasing criminal costs and we must find a way to address this in order to fund required services. Auditor Shepherd mentioned that there are state-mandated salaries in some departments of the General Fund that the County must pay regardless of the status of other county employees' wage increases or decreases. Shepherd stated that all local taxing units will receive additional income tax shares (revenue) from the decrease in the property tax relief percentage, but on the other hand, property tax bills may decrease because of lower assessed values and some alleviation of funding to support General Fund expenses. She stated that homesteaders will still receive the homestead deduction and the supplemental deduction from assessed values for which they qualify with the continued goal of the rearrangement of percentages to result in a minimum impact on taxpayers. The total local income tax rate will not change.
 
…He (Chairman Dawes) stated that Wabash County officials have consulted with Purdue economic professor Larry DeBoer and Tax Consultant Darren Bates who have been working on these issues with many other counties. Both consultants agree that this is the best choice for increasing revenue because the percentage rearrangement does not change the total income tax rate. They also agree that Wabash County will be insolvent in the future without making some changes within 5-10 years, unless there are changes made at the State level to the entire Indiana taxing system. Dawes stated that Council recently approved the 2018 county budget and the county departments submitted "bare-bone" budgets with very little that could be reduced unless massive employee lay-offs are done which would result in cutting valuable services to the public. Dawes explained that State mandates, increasing jail costs are substantially contributing to the revenue crisis.

Concerning the vote against hunting and fishing, it was a straight out lie.  I shared an article on October 19, 2016 about voting "no" on a  Hunting and Fishing question on the upcoming ballot with no commentary.  Three days later I posted and I quote, "After asking some people about question 1 on the ballot to get clarification, someone finally posted this.  Therefore, now that I have a better understanding, I will be voting "yes."  Attached was a post with facts about the Constitutional Amendment.  

Further proof that my opponent not only over exaggerates, takes things completely out of context, but flat out lies.  I am an open book and will never be perfect in how I legislate, but I promise to always be open and honest about my decision-making processes.
 
Thank you for taking the time to be an informed voter.  If transparency, honesty, and integrity in your Representative are important, I’d appreciate your support and vote for the New District 50 State Representative, on May 7th.

For more valuable information check out:
www.campaignfinance.in.gov to compare our donors and how we spend our money.
www.ivoterguide.com to compare where we each stand on conservative issues.