Welcome to the HoosLeft podcast, a show about Indiana politics, history, and culture from the unapologetic perspective of the Hoosier left. My name is Scott Aaron Rogers and I’m recording from Bloomington.
For a political sicko like myself, I have been embarrassingly ignorant about county government. With all the noise at the national, and even state levels, most of us pay little attention to the areas of government we’re most likely to interact with on a regular basis and the officials whose decisions most directly effect our lives. A few weeks ago, I talked to long-time Monroe County Commissioner Julie Thomas, who gave me a bit of a crash course on county government. We talked about her record in office and she gave her reelection pitch.
Home to Bloomington, Monroe County is largely under one-party Democratic control, so the May 7 (or vote early now) primary more than likely determines the winner come November. And so, between the overall ignorance of county government and the fact that the candidates would all generally agree on the big national issues we spend our time focusing on, I didn’t have a good grasp on the contours of the local races - the areas of intraparty disagreement, the contentious issues. As I’ve spoken with a couple more candidates in this County Commissioner’s race, the picture begins to come into focus.
Thomas, and fellow incumbent Penny Githens are facing aggressive primary challenges - In District 2, Thomas is facing fierce opposition from County Councilmember Peter Iversen, while in District 3, Githens faces two challengers - IU Law Professor Jody Madeira and long-time Bloomington City Councilman Steve Volan.
Based on nothing more than the yard signs I see while driving about town, one thing becomes clear - Iversen and Madeira are essentially running as a bloc. You rarely see one of their signs without the other. So, I’m going to cover the two candidate as a bloc, and give you back to back episodes with back to back interviews. I’ll have thoughts at the end.
First, we’ll hear from Iversen. In our conversation, we’ll discuss his accomplishments on the county council before getting into his platform for county commissioner. He focuses his campaign on five primary issues - livable wages, quality of life, equity and inclusion, climate adaptation, and housing. We’ll talk about each, as well as other contentious local issues like annexation and building a new corrections facility.
But before we get to the interview, I need your help.
In a media environment filled with bland, lazy, both-sides journalism at its best, and blatant right-wing propaganda at its worst, Indiana needs INDEPENDENT left-wing media to inform Hoosiers about what’s really going on in our state. My work is dedicated to calling out the Republican supermajority, their financial backers, and others in their network that actively work to make Hoosier lives worse, those whose policies endanger our children through lax gun regulation, bullying queer youth, and poisoning our environment. I work to highlight these bad actors so we can replace them with more empathetic leadership, and also shine the spotlight on the Hoosier activists, organizations, and elected officials who are doing the hard work to build a more just, equitable, and compassionate Indiana for the next generation of Hoosiers. But I’ll take on Democrats too: when they put their donors over their voters, when they talk out of both sides of their mouth, and when they fail to push back against GOP authoritarian extremism with the necessary urgency and tenacity.
I go deep to provide information and analysis you won’t get anywhere else in Indiana. But I can’t do it without you. I’m not motivated by the dollars, but everything costs money. Web hosting, equipment, editing software, travel to meet with other activists and organizers. I need your financial support with a paid subscription over at scottaaronrogers.substack.com. For five dollars a month or $50 a year, you can help me push our state in a better direction, and help me keep the lights on. And look, if you can’t afford it at this time, you can still help. Subscribe at the free level over on Substack. Set your favorite podcast player to auto-download new episodes of the show. Rate and review the show on whatever platform you use. Follow me on social media at facebook.com/hoosleft (spell); I’m also now on Bluesky at the same handle. I’m personally at scottrog78 (spell) on Instagram, Threads, and Twitter; and on Mastodon at scottrog78@hoosier.social. I’m now posting video, too. Full episodes on YouTube and clips on TikTok: the handle on both of those is @hoosleft. Please, subscribe. But, most importantly, share our message. Forward the articles to friends, family, and colleagues; don’t just like, but share on social media; spam your local elected officials.
With your investment, a full time HoosLeft looks like new content every day, full coverage of the 2024 election cycle in Indiana and beyond; and it looks like zooming out to see how the networks acting in our state function nationally and even globally. It might not be in my financial interest, but I do not plan on paywalling any content, because I believe in open access to information, and your support helps make that content freely available to all Hoosiers. But I desperately need your contributions in order to keep bringing you this meaningful content. So please, before this interview, pause right now, go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level. To those who have contributed already, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I appreciate every penny and it means the world to me. And to everybody, thanks for listening.
Here’s my interview with Peter Iversen.
Once again, that was Democratic Candidate for Monroe County Commissioner Peter Iversen.
I’ll be back real soon with part II, in which I’ll interview Jody Madeira and give my thoughts on the state of these County Commissioner races. For now,
Thanks for listening. Follow me on Facebook, Bluesky, YouTube and TikTok at hoosleft and on most other social media sites at scottrog78. If you want to reach me, send me a DM on the socials or email me at scottrog78@gmail.com. My guest today, Peter Iversen - can be found online at peteriversen.org (spell) . If you haven’t yet, when you’re finished here go to scottaaronrogers.substack.com and subscribe at the paid level. Help me keep this project going. Until next time, this has been the HoosLeft podcast. I’m Scott Aaron Rogers. Love each other, Indiana.
HoosLeft #30: Building Bloc, Part I
Guest: Peter Iversen, candidate for Monroe County Commissioner, District 2
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