Independent candidate gets community support
JEFFERSONVILLE — Mac Spainhour is officially in the race for Clark County sheriff.
He filed a petition Tuesday with more than 650 signatures collected from area residents that allows him to enter the race as an independent candidate.
To become eligible to file as an independent, Spainhour said he was required to get 636 signatures, or 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent Indiana Secretary of State election.
Spainhour, 53, Clarksville, retired from the Department of Natural Resources in 2011, after serving more than 27 years as a conservation officer in Clark County. He said he’s running as an independent because he believes that strict partisan ideologies can result in inefficient governing.
“Basically, our government, to me, is pretty stagnant, from the top all the way down. A lot of that seems to be because everything is on party lines now,” Spainhour said. “It doesn’t seem anyone can compromise. They vote on straight party lines, dig in their heels and nobody can get anything done.”
Spainhour said he holds very highly the election process and citizen participation in government.
“I sure don’t want somebody telling me that you are on this party or that party, so you have to do this and that. That really is a turn off for me,” he said. “I won’t represent a party. I will represent the people of Clark County.
“For the most part, I am running on my name. I am not going to do anything that jeopardizes my name because it doesn’t just effect Mac, it effects everybody with the Spainhour name, my cousins, my parents, even my own kids. I will never sell myself to gain a political position.”
He said that during his campaign he has overwhelmingly found, especially among young people, that voters are more concerned with candidates’ qualifications and ambitions than their political party.
“A high percentage of people don’t care what party you are with,” he said. “They are more interested in what you are going to do and if you are going to do it the right way.”
Spainhour said he’s been told many times along the way that running as an Independent in Clark County will be an uphill battle, but he said the experience has been more sweet than sour.
“You get to go out and meet people. You get to talk to them and get to know them,” he said of his campaign. “That opportunity would not have been provided to me if I had not decided to run for office.”
Spainhour said he has even been inspired by his own campaign committee, which is as diversified as it is dedicated.
“They are from different political parties, races and genders and it is really, really cool,” he said. “It makes you believe that the system can work. That people can get things accomplished. It is a great feeling to see Democrats and Republicans coming together.”
Spainhour said that after only a few years of working as a conservation officer, he knew that would eventually want to serve as the sheriff of Clark County.
“I absolutely love working in Clark County and serving the citizens. I really enjoy helping,” he said. “And, who can do more than a conservation officer? The sheriff.”
He filed a petition Tuesday with more than 650 signatures collected from area residents that allows him to enter the race as an independent candidate.
To become eligible to file as an independent, Spainhour said he was required to get 636 signatures, or 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent Indiana Secretary of State election.
Spainhour, 53, Clarksville, retired from the Department of Natural Resources in 2011, after serving more than 27 years as a conservation officer in Clark County. He said he’s running as an independent because he believes that strict partisan ideologies can result in inefficient governing.
“Basically, our government, to me, is pretty stagnant, from the top all the way down. A lot of that seems to be because everything is on party lines now,” Spainhour said. “It doesn’t seem anyone can compromise. They vote on straight party lines, dig in their heels and nobody can get anything done.”
Spainhour said he holds very highly the election process and citizen participation in government.
“I sure don’t want somebody telling me that you are on this party or that party, so you have to do this and that. That really is a turn off for me,” he said. “I won’t represent a party. I will represent the people of Clark County.
“For the most part, I am running on my name. I am not going to do anything that jeopardizes my name because it doesn’t just effect Mac, it effects everybody with the Spainhour name, my cousins, my parents, even my own kids. I will never sell myself to gain a political position.”
He said that during his campaign he has overwhelmingly found, especially among young people, that voters are more concerned with candidates’ qualifications and ambitions than their political party.
“A high percentage of people don’t care what party you are with,” he said. “They are more interested in what you are going to do and if you are going to do it the right way.”
Spainhour said he’s been told many times along the way that running as an Independent in Clark County will be an uphill battle, but he said the experience has been more sweet than sour.
“You get to go out and meet people. You get to talk to them and get to know them,” he said of his campaign. “That opportunity would not have been provided to me if I had not decided to run for office.”
Spainhour said he has even been inspired by his own campaign committee, which is as diversified as it is dedicated.
“They are from different political parties, races and genders and it is really, really cool,” he said. “It makes you believe that the system can work. That people can get things accomplished. It is a great feeling to see Democrats and Republicans coming together.”
Spainhour said that after only a few years of working as a conservation officer, he knew that would eventually want to serve as the sheriff of Clark County.
“I absolutely love working in Clark County and serving the citizens. I really enjoy helping,” he said. “And, who can do more than a conservation officer? The sheriff.”
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