PORTAGE | It took precinct committeemen less than 30 minutes Sunday to pick Jack Clem to fill the vacant 10th District House seat.

Duane Cheney, a five-term legislator, failed in an effort to reverse his earlier resignation and keep the seat during the closed caucus at Portage City Hall.

State Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said a motion that would have allowed Cheney to rescind his resignation failed.

Cheney sent a letter Thursday to House Speaker Pat Bauer and Parker asking for his resignation to be rescinded. He filed the resignation on June 22 after announcing plans to move out of the district.

His preferred successor was A.J. Monroe, but Monroe withdrew his name from consideration Thursday after Porter County Democratic Chairman Leon West changed his support from Monroe to Clem, a longtime Portage and Porter County politician.

"Clem was the only person that filed and based on state law, Mr. Cheney could not run for the seat he resigned from. The precinct voted unanimously to accept Clem," Parker said, noting there were no arguments during the proceedings.

"We stuck to the process. The committeemen had heard plenty in the 72 hours up to this point," he said.

Cheney graciously accepted the decision.

"The precinct spoke and I as a Democrat support Jack [Clem]," Cheney said after the meeting.

Precinct Committeeman Jack Jent said the vote was a matter of logistics.

"It wasn't against anybody, but Cheney won't be in this area anymore," Jent said.

Monroe declined comment after the caucus, but Clem said he was pleased with the results.

"The main thing is Duane (Cheney) is out of the area," said Clem, who vows now to "stop (Gov.) Mitch (Daniels) from selling things and support labor issues."

For others, seeing the end of an era was hard.

State Sen. Karen Tallian, who came to watch, said she was happy to see the caucus go smoothly, but realized Cheney's impact.

"I think everyone is sad to see Cheney retire and go," she said.