BLM Btown's 2024 Voter's Guide -Short & Long Form
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This is BLM Btown's Grading Rubric we assess all candidates based on this grading rubric. While the questionnaire weights heavily in our decision making we also take into account the candidate political career if they have served before as an elected official, their campaign platform & performances at candidate forums, and their public persona especially if they have never held office.
Basic grading rubric for all candidate questions: Awareness Position Vision Voices at the Table Commitment & Effectiveness Passion & Comportment Assessment Guide: Strongly Agree Mildly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree Mildly Disagree Strongly Disagree N/A |
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2024 Primary Voters Guide Short Form
This guide is a short 'at the polls" guide meant for easy to access information about the candidates we assessed in our 2022 Primary Candidate Questionnaire
Here is a downloadable version of our Short Form "At the Polls" Voters Guide
| 2024_primaryvotersguideshortform.pdf |
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2024 Primary Voters Guide Long Form
All primary candidates received a questionnaire covering issues vitally important to the mission goals and values of #BLM Btown who then evaluated and rated each candidate’s responses for voters. These assessments are provided to voters for informational purposes. Black Lives Matter does NOT endorse specific candidates. BELOW is both a downloadable longform voters guide and the digital long form guide. Additionally the complete compiled answers from ALL of the candidates that answered our questionnaire is available as to download as a PDF.
BLM Btown’s Long Form 2024 Primary Election Voters Guide
Here is a PDF version of the Long Form Voters Guide or you can look below to see the digital long form guide!
| 2024_long_form_primary_election_voters_guide_-blm_btown.pdf |
BLM Btown’s 2024 Long Form Primary Election Voters Guide
Indiana Senate
Valerie McCray
Awareness: MA
Position:MA
Vision: MA
Voices at the Table: SA
Commitment & Effectiveness: SA
Passion & Comportment: SA
Total: Mildly Agree
Dr. Valerie McCray’s responses are well thought out, well reasoned and showed her extensive knowledge of each issue in each question. Her views on mental health in the jails/prisons & on multiple issues in the questionnaire show a unique ability to lead in our state on those issues. Though there were a few questions on issues we’d like to discuss further with Dr. McCray we see lots of ability to grow and use her own Black experience in these issues in the Senate.
Indiana State Senate District 40
Shelli Yoder
Awareness: SA
Position: SA
Vision: SA
Voices at the Table: SA
Commitment & Effectiveness: SA
Passion & Comportment: SA
Total: Strongly Agree
Shelli Yoder’s answers are extremely detailed, researched and it is clear she not only takes the BLM Btown questionnaire seriously, but also relishes the chance to speak about her extensive knowledge on the topics of each question. Her answers are well reasoned, her positioning sound and her care for answering each in detail is evident. She responds to each question with policies that either she supports or has authored in the State House. As Cis-White woman Ms. Yoder’s work on these responses are refreshing to say the least.
Indiana State House Representative 62
Thomas Horrocks
Awareness: A
Position: A
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: N
Commitment & Effectiveness: A
Passion & Comportment: MA
Total: Agree
While it is clear Thomas Horrocks could do more reading, researching and understanding of intersectional anti-racism though he is fairly knowledgeable about most of the issues in the questionnaire. We would have liked to see more detail in policy, programs he supports and ideology when it comes to food insecurity, and housing. We would like to mention that as a former Military officer he does not support the militarization of the police. We wish Mr. Horrocks would have provided more details to his actual policies, platform and plans.
Monroe County Commissioner District 2
Peter Iversen
Awareness: A
Position: MA
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: MA
Commitment & Effectiveness: MA
Passion & Comportment: MA
Total: Mildly Agree
Peter Iverson is knowledgeable about many of the topics that appear in the questionnaire, but sometimes is unaware of the nuance of them. He has done a lot of advocacy work for county initiatives that BLM Btown has supported. His responses to affordable housing questions highlight the extreme need for change in the Commissioner’s office & his platform shows his policy shift. Overall Mr. Iverson seems to have solid connections to local organizations dealing with the issues in our questionnaire and plans to continue their work within the context of the county’s work.
Julie Thomas
Awareness: D
Position: N
Vision: D
Voices at the Table: N
Commitment & Effectiveness: SD
Passion & Comportment: D
Total: Disagree
Julie Thomas fails to provide details to some of the key questions in our questionnaire, questions in particular about Racism that ask for policy and or local situations where different policy is needed. Due to these undetailed answers we see little of her vision, awareness or positionality on these important issues in our questionnaire. It is clear she is not un-knowledgeable about the issues but that rather she doesn’t take the time here to dig into the details and her own positioning around them. When asked about state issues she dodges how she will deal with them locally. Given Ms. Thomas’s long term as a Commissioner we are confused by her avoidance of details.
Monroe County Commissioner District 3
Penny Githens
Strongly Disagree:
Penny Githens chose to not follow our directions around the questionnaire and instead wrote a statement couching it as a “wholistic” approach. We rejected this statement and marked her as unresponsive as she did not do what was asked of her. Our assessment is not based on a whim or by chance it is a well thought out, researched and curated collection of questions by Black leaders, educators and activists in our local community. Her statement says there is “no disrespect intended” but we believe that simply is not the case. The disdain for the length of our questionnaire and its format reflects as a disdain for a Black led organization and exemplifies white exceptionalism which is a white liberal form of white supremacy. She is implying that the work as prescribed by Black leaders is not the right work she should be doing that she knows better. This has been a running theme with Ms. Githens since we first encountered her.
“It is often the white liberals who believe that their progressive ideologies separate them from the racism of the extreme right. It is people with white privilege who believe that they are not an impediment to anti-racism who carry white exceptionalism like a badge of honor.” quote from Layla Saad “Me and White Supremacy”
Jody Madeira
Awareness: MA
Position: A
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: A
Commitment & Effectiveness: A
Passion & Comportment: A
Total: Agree
Jody Madeira positioning and awareness at first seem to be consistent with BLM Btown’s values, but with a closer reading of her language there are certain phrasings and word choices that miss the mark. Her positions are often “reform” based white liberalism which lack the vision of the intersectionality of BIPOC concerns. Her responses are well reasoned and researched; she is clearly well educated especially in regard to her legal profession, but ultimately we wonder if her legal profession will be a hindrance to intersectionality and anti-racism in practice rather than policy. While she understands policy there is a missing leap from good policy to differential results & positive outcomes for BIPOC folks.
Steve Volan
Awareness: A
Position: A
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: A
Commitment & Effectiveness: N
Passion & Comportment: A
Total: Agree
Steve Volan gave adequate answers to our questionnaire, he showed he is knowledgeable but we felt he lacked details in his answer. Volan’s mixed record as a city councilor means we are unsure of his positioning on some of these issues especially due to the lack of details provided. We worked with Mr. Volan before on some issue put forth by the city when he was a city councilor, he was supportive of our efforts to block the barecat and helped find actionable ways to do so even if we ultimately did not succeed. Overall we are unhappy with his lack of details.
Monroe County Council At Large (pick 3)
Matt Caldie
Awareness: N
Position: A
Vision: N
Voices at the Table: N
Commitment & Effectiveness: N
Passion & Comportment: A
Total: Neutral
Matt Caldie is a fairly informed candidate but his knowledge is not reflected in policy or plans nor are they connected to existing policies, community programs or well established organizations. Mr. Caldie uses “reform” based white liberal language for most of the issues in the questionnaire. That positioning often lacks the intersectionality of BIPOC concerns and therefore misses the mark of being a transformative ideology.
We felt there was a lack of details in his answers and understanding of the issues in the questionnaire.
Trent Deckard
Awareness: MA
Position: MA
Vision: MA
Voices at the Table: MA
Commitment & Effectiveness: MA
Passion & Comportment: SA
Total: MA
Trent Deckard is very aware of the local issues happening in our community and gives details about these issues and many of his responses. Mr. Deckard's awareness about the continuing issues and willingness to monitor those issues that Bloomington’s marginalized communities face is evident in his responses. His work with local organizations is well documented in his record as a county councilor. While he is not entirely perfect in his positioning he seeks out wise counsel of others in the community in the know.
Cheryl Munson
Awareness: SD
Position: D
Vision: MD
Voices at the Table: D
Commitment & Effectiveness: MD
Passion & Comportment: N
Total: Disagree
Cheryl Munson is lacking some basic awareness of these issues within the questionnaire. She seems to have not done enough research or reasoning while answering these questions nor does it seem she has consulted with people working in the fields our questionnaire covers. While she has been a county councilor for a long while it isn’t clear if she has progressed in her positionality on the ever changing landscape of intersectional anti-racism. In particular her position on why Black people are incarcerated more than white people is highly suspect.
Indiana Senate
Valerie McCray
Awareness: MA
Position:MA
Vision: MA
Voices at the Table: SA
Commitment & Effectiveness: SA
Passion & Comportment: SA
Total: Mildly Agree
Dr. Valerie McCray’s responses are well thought out, well reasoned and showed her extensive knowledge of each issue in each question. Her views on mental health in the jails/prisons & on multiple issues in the questionnaire show a unique ability to lead in our state on those issues. Though there were a few questions on issues we’d like to discuss further with Dr. McCray we see lots of ability to grow and use her own Black experience in these issues in the Senate.
Indiana State Senate District 40
Shelli Yoder
Awareness: SA
Position: SA
Vision: SA
Voices at the Table: SA
Commitment & Effectiveness: SA
Passion & Comportment: SA
Total: Strongly Agree
Shelli Yoder’s answers are extremely detailed, researched and it is clear she not only takes the BLM Btown questionnaire seriously, but also relishes the chance to speak about her extensive knowledge on the topics of each question. Her answers are well reasoned, her positioning sound and her care for answering each in detail is evident. She responds to each question with policies that either she supports or has authored in the State House. As Cis-White woman Ms. Yoder’s work on these responses are refreshing to say the least.
Indiana State House Representative 62
Thomas Horrocks
Awareness: A
Position: A
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: N
Commitment & Effectiveness: A
Passion & Comportment: MA
Total: Agree
While it is clear Thomas Horrocks could do more reading, researching and understanding of intersectional anti-racism though he is fairly knowledgeable about most of the issues in the questionnaire. We would have liked to see more detail in policy, programs he supports and ideology when it comes to food insecurity, and housing. We would like to mention that as a former Military officer he does not support the militarization of the police. We wish Mr. Horrocks would have provided more details to his actual policies, platform and plans.
Monroe County Commissioner District 2
Peter Iversen
Awareness: A
Position: MA
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: MA
Commitment & Effectiveness: MA
Passion & Comportment: MA
Total: Mildly Agree
Peter Iverson is knowledgeable about many of the topics that appear in the questionnaire, but sometimes is unaware of the nuance of them. He has done a lot of advocacy work for county initiatives that BLM Btown has supported. His responses to affordable housing questions highlight the extreme need for change in the Commissioner’s office & his platform shows his policy shift. Overall Mr. Iverson seems to have solid connections to local organizations dealing with the issues in our questionnaire and plans to continue their work within the context of the county’s work.
Julie Thomas
Awareness: D
Position: N
Vision: D
Voices at the Table: N
Commitment & Effectiveness: SD
Passion & Comportment: D
Total: Disagree
Julie Thomas fails to provide details to some of the key questions in our questionnaire, questions in particular about Racism that ask for policy and or local situations where different policy is needed. Due to these undetailed answers we see little of her vision, awareness or positionality on these important issues in our questionnaire. It is clear she is not un-knowledgeable about the issues but that rather she doesn’t take the time here to dig into the details and her own positioning around them. When asked about state issues she dodges how she will deal with them locally. Given Ms. Thomas’s long term as a Commissioner we are confused by her avoidance of details.
Monroe County Commissioner District 3
Penny Githens
Strongly Disagree:
Penny Githens chose to not follow our directions around the questionnaire and instead wrote a statement couching it as a “wholistic” approach. We rejected this statement and marked her as unresponsive as she did not do what was asked of her. Our assessment is not based on a whim or by chance it is a well thought out, researched and curated collection of questions by Black leaders, educators and activists in our local community. Her statement says there is “no disrespect intended” but we believe that simply is not the case. The disdain for the length of our questionnaire and its format reflects as a disdain for a Black led organization and exemplifies white exceptionalism which is a white liberal form of white supremacy. She is implying that the work as prescribed by Black leaders is not the right work she should be doing that she knows better. This has been a running theme with Ms. Githens since we first encountered her.
“It is often the white liberals who believe that their progressive ideologies separate them from the racism of the extreme right. It is people with white privilege who believe that they are not an impediment to anti-racism who carry white exceptionalism like a badge of honor.” quote from Layla Saad “Me and White Supremacy”
Jody Madeira
Awareness: MA
Position: A
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: A
Commitment & Effectiveness: A
Passion & Comportment: A
Total: Agree
Jody Madeira positioning and awareness at first seem to be consistent with BLM Btown’s values, but with a closer reading of her language there are certain phrasings and word choices that miss the mark. Her positions are often “reform” based white liberalism which lack the vision of the intersectionality of BIPOC concerns. Her responses are well reasoned and researched; she is clearly well educated especially in regard to her legal profession, but ultimately we wonder if her legal profession will be a hindrance to intersectionality and anti-racism in practice rather than policy. While she understands policy there is a missing leap from good policy to differential results & positive outcomes for BIPOC folks.
Steve Volan
Awareness: A
Position: A
Vision: A
Voices at the Table: A
Commitment & Effectiveness: N
Passion & Comportment: A
Total: Agree
Steve Volan gave adequate answers to our questionnaire, he showed he is knowledgeable but we felt he lacked details in his answer. Volan’s mixed record as a city councilor means we are unsure of his positioning on some of these issues especially due to the lack of details provided. We worked with Mr. Volan before on some issue put forth by the city when he was a city councilor, he was supportive of our efforts to block the barecat and helped find actionable ways to do so even if we ultimately did not succeed. Overall we are unhappy with his lack of details.
Monroe County Council At Large (pick 3)
Matt Caldie
Awareness: N
Position: A
Vision: N
Voices at the Table: N
Commitment & Effectiveness: N
Passion & Comportment: A
Total: Neutral
Matt Caldie is a fairly informed candidate but his knowledge is not reflected in policy or plans nor are they connected to existing policies, community programs or well established organizations. Mr. Caldie uses “reform” based white liberal language for most of the issues in the questionnaire. That positioning often lacks the intersectionality of BIPOC concerns and therefore misses the mark of being a transformative ideology.
We felt there was a lack of details in his answers and understanding of the issues in the questionnaire.
Trent Deckard
Awareness: MA
Position: MA
Vision: MA
Voices at the Table: MA
Commitment & Effectiveness: MA
Passion & Comportment: SA
Total: MA
Trent Deckard is very aware of the local issues happening in our community and gives details about these issues and many of his responses. Mr. Deckard's awareness about the continuing issues and willingness to monitor those issues that Bloomington’s marginalized communities face is evident in his responses. His work with local organizations is well documented in his record as a county councilor. While he is not entirely perfect in his positioning he seeks out wise counsel of others in the community in the know.
Cheryl Munson
Awareness: SD
Position: D
Vision: MD
Voices at the Table: D
Commitment & Effectiveness: MD
Passion & Comportment: N
Total: Disagree
Cheryl Munson is lacking some basic awareness of these issues within the questionnaire. She seems to have not done enough research or reasoning while answering these questions nor does it seem she has consulted with people working in the fields our questionnaire covers. While she has been a county councilor for a long while it isn’t clear if she has progressed in her positionality on the ever changing landscape of intersectional anti-racism. In particular her position on why Black people are incarcerated more than white people is highly suspect.
Primary Candidate Questionnaire & Candidate Answers
Downloadable 2024 Primary Candidate Answers to Questionnaire.
Just click the link below for the total answers of all of the candidates that responded to our 2024 Questionnaire.
All the candidate answers are linked from their names in readable Google docs
Just click the link below for the total answers of all of the candidates that responded to our 2024 Questionnaire.
All the candidate answers are linked from their names in readable Google docs
