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By Times Staff and Wire Reports | Wednesday, November 05, 2008 | (1 comment(s))
INDIANAPOLIS | Republicans retained control of the Indiana attorney general's office Tuesday, as voters narrowly elected new GOP faces to replace long-serving incumbents stepping down this year.
Republican Attorney General Steve Carter will be replaced by his chief deputy, Greg Zoeller, who beat Democrat Linda Pence. Carter is leaving his post after 8 years.
"The No. 1 priority has been to continue some of the good work that Attorney General Steve Carter has done," Zoeller said Tuesday night. "We really have made some great strides. People around the state appreciate the work that the attorney general's office does."
The GOP typically has an advantage in Indiana. Republicans candidates may have also benefited from voter support for Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who easily won re-election Tuesday, said James McCann, a political science professor at Purdue University.
Democrats hoped support for Barack Obama, who was elected president, would give them a boost. They wanted young and first-time Democratic voters to cast straight-party tickets, helping Pence. Zoeller repeatedly challenged Pence throughout the campaign to commit to continuing the 2004 civil lawsuit Carter filed against former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick. Pence said she would need to review the case before committing.
Pence, an Indianapolis trial lawyer, represented a paving firm that settled out of the lawsuit, which seeks to hold Pastrick and a pair of top aides financially responsible for a 1999 sidewalks-for-votes scheme that drained $24 million from East Chicago coffers.
Pence responded by criticizing state contracts Zoeller signed off on during the past eight years, including a 2005 deal that outsourced tort claims work to a law firm led by a former Carter deputy.
The Associated Press and Times Statehouse writer Patrick Guinane contributed to this report.
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Dobie wrote on Nov 5, 2008 12:07 PM:
Shame on IN voters "