If you love the latest gossip, rumor, and blatant political innuendo when it comes to Indiana politics, then you will love this free edition of The Cheat Sheet.

1. The Cheat Sheet, Vol. 7, Issue 16 – April 2018
It's the new hangout for Indiana's political class, the Antelope Club. It’s the place
where Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians can all hang out, have a great
time and drink in peace and harmony. 615 N Delaware Street, Indianapolis• FREE
PARKING• JOIN TODAY
A Few Items of Note
There’s been a lot of speculation as to
whether Governor Eric Holcomb’s Chief of
Staff Earl Goode will be departing soon.
Initially, the word was that Goode would be
leaving this summer because when he
came on board, it was just to get Holcomb
through his first couple of years. It turns out
Goode will be sticking around for a while.
Our very reliable sources on the second
floor tell TCS Goode will be staying at least
through the next budget session in
2019. We are told Goode is enjoying his
job and not slowing down as initially
speculated.
You might remember the Mike Delph poll
recently cited over at Howey Politics that
took a snapshot of the U.S. Senate race in
his district. That poll had Todd Rokita in
first place with 28 percent, Mike Braun was
at 23 percent, and Luke Messer was at
12.7 percent. The rest were undecided. We
did some checking on that, and while the
numbers were accurate, the poll was
actually taken about a month ago near the
time Delph was getting ready to announce
his re-election bid, so the data was a little
dated.

2. The Cheat Sheet, Vol. 7, Issue 16 – April 2018
It's the new hangout for Indiana's political class, the Antelope Club. It’s the place
where Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians can all hang out, have a great
time and drink in peace and harmony. 615 N Delaware Street, Indianapolis• FREE
PARKING• JOIN TODAY
Delph wasn’t the only person who was
polling. TCS hears Travis Holdman had
also been polling his race and asking
questions about the U.S. Senate
candidates. It turns out in Holdman’s
district Braun had the “lead” with about 26
percent of the vote. Both Messer and
Rokita were tied at 13 percent each. The
rest were undecided.
Oh, and we did a little more digging on
Braun’s recent internal polls. They say it
has him in the lead about 8-9 points. They
also say the number of undecided voters
has been dropping and not moving towards
Rokita. Take that for what you will. But his
poll does line up with another one we were
privy to which had him in the lead, Messer
in second place and Rokita in third.
Speaking of primary challenges, both
Holdman’s and State Senator Jim Merritt’s
don’t quite seem to be firing on all
thrusters. (Pardon the Star Trek IV
reference). Crystal Lamotte who is
running against Merritt is apparently difficult
to deal with to the point that the Micah
Clark crowd that has been trying to support
her has given up. Meanwhile, Eric Orr isn’t
getting the traction he wanted either against
Holdman and the people backing him (i.e.,
Monica “the Hutt” Boyer et al; I just can’t
give up my movie references today) are
going after people like Tim Wesco because
they don’t think he’s “pro-life” enough. (We
are not making that up.)
If you’ve ever wondered who reads the
Cheat Sheet, we can tell you, everybody,
who is anybody in the political
class. Shortly after we wrote last week
about rumors that Todd Rokita might try to
challenge Eric Holcomb for the primary in
2020 if he loses the U.S. Senate race,
several people attached to the Rokita crowd
(TCS hears) called the Governor freaking
out to tell him that wasn’t on their agenda.

3. The Cheat Sheet, Vol. 7, Issue 16 – April 2018
It's the new hangout for Indiana's political class, the Antelope Club. It’s the place
where Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians can all hang out, have a great
time and drink in peace and harmony. 615 N Delaware Street, Indianapolis• FREE
PARKING• JOIN TODAY
We didn’t think those guys paid attention to
the liberal media or non-trustworthy
conservative or whatever we are this week.
If you’re looking for a date for a special
session, scribble down May 14 because
that’s looking more like the day it will
happen. May 15 is technical correction day,
so lawmakers have to be here anyway.
However, by doing it on the 14th, they can
come down on Sunday where it’s easier to
get a hotel room for those who might need
one, also since they can only do technical
corrections on the 15th, lawmakers have to
get their act together and can’t mess
around. It also means bills can be posted
the prior week and meet the publication and
notice requirements so none of those rules
will need to be waived.
Both State Treasurer Kelly Mitchell and
Auditor Tera Klutz, CPA have officially filed
their convention paperwork. Connie
Lawson has also filed. The GOP
convention is June 8-9 in Evansville. TCS
doesn’t expect anything to get out of control,
but the X-Files conspiracy theorist in us
(there we go again with the sci-fi
references) is that if anyone loses a
primary, they could potentially gum up the
works at the state convention by running for
one of those three offices. How, you might
ask? Well, State Party rules allow for
candidates to declare candidacy for the
constitutional offices within 30 days of the
convention. The GOP state convention is
June 9. The primary election is May 8. So
someone could lose the primary and then
file the next day. And when you throw in
the fact there are currently no contested
statewides, and the convention is in
Evansville, as opposed to Indianapolis, you
might not get as many people signed up for
delegates, and lower turnout can increase
the opportunities for someone to play
games and give us material to write about in
a future Cheat Sheet.
Before we forget, look for First Lady Janet
Holcomb to be coming soon to a movie
theatre near you and first dog Henry
Holcomb to likely becoming to a toy shelf
near you.
The Usual Disclaimer Stuff:
The Cheat Sheet is a publication of
IndyPolitics.Org. This is a compilation of pure
gossip, rumor and blatant innuendo.
We assume no liability if it is wrong, we only
take credit for it when it’s right!
If you’ve got something you want to share,
(good, bad or ugly) send it to
Abdul@indypolitics.org. We promise to take all
the credit and all of the blame.