Dobis quietly leaves Legislature behind

CROWN POINT | State Rep. Chet Dobis said Friday he chose to end his 42-year career in the Indiana General Assembly because, "I don't want to go to work there, anymore."

The 69-year-old legislator said he had no fears of running for re-election in the newly drawn 14th House District despite a Republican-sponsored redistricting that would have forced him and fellow state Rep. Vernon Smith to run against each other.

"My poll shows me winning my old district by eight points. But I was thinking, what do I win?" He said the partisan rancor over right-to-work legislation and a host of other issues soured him. "I don't want to be there," he said

Dobis, first elected to the Indiana House in 1970, used his seniority to rise to speaker pro tempore, the No. 2 position in the Democratic-controlled Indiana House in 2010. But he lost it when fellow Democratic legislators turned their backs on him over his support for the proposed Illiana Expressway.

Dobis locked horns with local Democrats as well in past years, annoying them with lectures to cut spending or face Republican-sponsored property tax caps.

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr., Lake County Democratic chairman, said, "He had a great career before he went crossways against the (county legislative) delegation. Many thought of Chet as possibly House speaker one day. He worked with the Republicans and tried to be bipartisan, and they sort of stabbed him in the back for it."

County Councilman Ted Bilski, D-Hobart, said, "I have fond memories of him. He thought enough of me when I first ran for office to endorse me." He said Dobis not only scolded local officials but also later praised them for cutting spending. "I think we started to win Chet Dobis over because he came out publicly to say what a stellar job the county and local municipalities were doing."

Meanwhile, Lake County Councilman Rick Niemeyer, R-Lowell, is a candidate for the state Legislature.

The 61-year-old Niemeyer filed papers this week in Indianapolis to run in the May 8 Republican primary for the new 11th House District, which contains much of his home base of rural south Lake County as well as southern Porter County.

Niemeyer had spent 23 years as West Creek Township trustee and assessor after 23 years before winning election in 2010 to the County Council.

Niemeyer said last summer he became interested in running for the office after the same redistricting that put Dobis at a disadvantage, created the 11th District.

He said he believes he is following in the footsteps of his late father, Ernie Niemeyer, who served in the state Senate from 1972 to 1984. 

"That was really a big part of my dad's life. I had a conference in the statehouse Wednesday and I still wasn't sure if I would run, and then I thought walking into all that history and opportunity to serve the state; that is a big thing I want to be part of," Niemeyer said.