On Tuesday, Oct. 27, the Evansville Rotary Club hosted its second national candidate as keynote speaker — Democrat Mary Allen.
Allen is vying for the 8th District seat held by Incumbent Rep. Mark Messmer (R). She had 20 minutes to introduce herself to the Rotary Club and talk about her experience. Evansville Rotary Vice President Jim Spath asked Allen about topics local and national including the war in Iran, the use of tariffs and the state of the national debt.
He questioned Allen about the role of congress as a check on executive power, in an era of presidential executive orders.
“Do you believe Congress should reclaim a more active role in shaping national policy and exercising its constitutional responsibilities?”
Allen simply answered “yes,” drawing laughter and some applause, after which she expanded her answer.
“That is what we're hired for. I mean, we are firewalled between — there's a check, in a balanced system — and there have been too many precedents set over numerous years that have chipped away at that and deteriorated that.”
In other topics Allen said tariffs can be beneficial if used correctly, but doesn’t feel it’s the case under the Trump Administration.
Allen had 3 minutes to answer each question. Again, one question was concerning the United States’ national Debt. Military defense contracts, she pointed out have increased under this administration.
“4.7 billion we just added with the budget bill last year, while cutting services and providing mostly tax benefits to the ultra wealthy.”
In April, Lockheed Martin secured a $4.7 billion contract to increase production of PAC-3 MSE advanced air defense missiles.
Spath asked Allen about the Evansville Police Department’s use of controversial flock cameras. She suggested they’re a useful tool for law enforcement, but also need important safeguards. The topic packed the Oct. 27 Evansville City Council Meeting.
Other topics included the use of Russian oil to ease domestic fuel prices, data centers and a War Powers Resolution to end the Iran War.
See full audio above, or the full transcript under this article.
As Allen forms her messaging on topics and shares them with voters and civic groups, she said it can be difficult to keep up with headlines she needs to address.
“But they all typically fall into the same buckets. You know, how is this decision impacting affordability in a negative way? Is this decision another egregious executive order …”
Last week, Rep. Messmer was the keynote speaker. The story about him is here.
WNIN will add video, full transcript and audio to the story about Rep. Messmer presently.
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Candidate Mary Allen (D) Q &A session with Jim Spath, Evansville Rotary Club
AI generated with light editing
Jim Spath: The Evansville City Council voted for the city to continue to use flock cameras despite strong opposition from a room full of people attending the meeting, because the city council believed that the cameras are in the best interest of its constituents. If elected to Congress, would you be willing to make similarly difficult decisions based on your judgment, even when you face strong opposition? And how would you balance constituent concerns with your responsibilities to serve the broader public good?
Mary Allen: So the city budget we passed that not last night, but the meeting before, and that did include $182,000 line item under contractual services, which would fund Flock. There has been opposition to Flock, and I actually have a meeting with our DFLK Evansville group this afternoon. I have very similar concerns. I have concerns with Flock, and I think it's something that we need to continue to scrutinize and to hold accountable because, as is any tool, it can be misused. So going into that meeting, I had questions, and there was discussion about potentially reappropriating that line item, and we received new information, and so, and I think with new information, that requires conversation, more conversation to be had, so we went in and we approved the budget as a whole.
The Flock contract itself isn't up until middle of November, so there are more conversations. But some of that conversation that was had ahead of that city council meeting were new guardrails that were implemented because what we are seeing is abuse in other areas. We're seeing it around the country. This tool being misused, and as we heard even in Rotary, some of the safeguards and things that have been implemented. And even ahead of that meeting, they had new safeguards implemented just that week, so turning off access to ICE … they share a lot about those safeguards here, so I don't need to fully reiterate those.
But having making sure we have a case number, an active case number, an IDOM dispatch number. … I wanted to go back to the community and say, ‘okay, what do we think about this with those tightened up guardrails’ … and an increased transparency portal, which I actually just spoke with our chief last week because there was something lacking on that transparency portal. And when I reached out to him because someone had pointed that out to me, I reached out to him and he immediately got corrected. So he had thought that there was something on the transparency portal that actually wasn't. But when I reached out to him, he immediately implemented that piece. So I appreciate the willingness to have dialogue, ongoing dialogue with our police department and ongoing dialogue with our community, … and within the nation. But yes, to answer your question, we need to bring stakeholders to the table and make really tough decisions on what we feel like are in the best interest of the people, and we are going to continue doing that and having those conversations in regards to block.
Spath: Okay. Next question, shorter, I hope. Many many families are struggling with the hidden costs of groceries, housing, utilities, and healthcare. What specific actions would you support in Congress to make life more affordable, and how would your approach differ from the policies pursued by the current Republican-led Congress?
Allen: So, like I was saying earlier, that is the thing that we hear the most about when we're knocking doors and having conversations with people, is ‘the cost of everyday goods,’ and ‘corruption,’ and those two things go together. You can't talk about affordability without addressing corporate consolidation. So when we have corporate consolidation, there's less competition that drives down quality and it drives up price, and we're all being impacted by it, which is why we need to get money out of politics. Because when you have corporations giving unlimited amounts of money, spending millions of dollars in elections, they want a return on that investment, and oftentimes those elected officials deliver on those, so that consolidation and money in politics has a direct correlation, direct connection to cost of living, as well as the war in Iran, as well as the tariff wars, retaliatory tariffs.
We're seeing those have an impact on price, on cost of living, our healthcare. … we need to have, we need an overhaul in healthcare. Talk about integrated systems and consolidation … we see that in numerous industries and especially in healthcare. So we need major reform in terms of healthcare to bring those costs down. Like I talked about with my friends who pay 30 more percent of their income. Imagine what else they could do with being rotate, bring that back into the economy instead of into healthcare.
So also wages — people are struggling. People are being more productive than ever and contributing more, but that's not being reflected in wages. So that's something we have a minimum wage that hasn't been addressed since 2009 — hasn't been changed since 2009. … I grew up in a union home. We need to ensure that people have the right, you know, that collective bargaining is protected … protecting the right to organize. We know that the union job is one of the best pathways into the middle class. So there are numerous ways to address this affordability crisis that we are in, and we need to come at it from all angles.
Spath: Okay, so next question is it's kind of long, so I'm going to summarize it. The President President Trump has has authorized a waiver allowing Russian or Russian origin diesel fuel to enter the U.S. markets. Now, there's concerns from bipartisan concern both in the aspect of is is it legal to do that, is it is it is it is it violating sanctions against Russia, and is it supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine? What should Congress do about this action? And is there anything we can do to address that?
Allen: Yeah, I think all three of those things that you mentioned are big concerns. Is it legal? One — and you know when I hear Congressman (Messmer) even last week say, ‘well we weren't happy about it,’ but what are we doing about it? We need to stand up and do our job as Congress and hold this administration accountable. And have a lot of governing by executive order, a lot of ignoring — I swore an oath to the Constitution in the military, and then again as a public servant. And when you see that being ignored, that was another motivator for me getting involved in this race. But there are so many issues with that. I mean, Russia is the aggressor. They attacked a sovereign nation, Ukraine, who was our ally …I feel like kind of sometimes we're upside down. Like we are becoming enemies with our global allies and cozying up with Russia, so you know, and then to see potential decision making about slowing down the Star Shield offensive and defensive capabilities of Ukraine. That's another issue to be addressed. But we definitely, with us purchasing diesel from Russia, we are now then helping to fund their war against our sovereign ally, sovereign nation, who is our ally. It's it's all wrong.
Spath: So this one's going to kind of combine data centers and AIs to save time. So as data centers and artificial intelligence expand, how would you balance the potential economic benefits and concerns about energy and water, rising utility costs, job disruption, privacy, and public safety. If elected to Congress, what special policies would you support to hold technology companies accountable, protect local communities, and work with other countries to establish safeguards while allowing responsible innovation?
Allen: And that is a balance. We want economic development, and we want innovation. We want those things, and I support those things. And we need to protect our communities and be sure that these things support and build up our communities, and and not be destructive to them. So we can hold two things, and and figure out how to best achieve both of those objectives. And to me, and so I spoke about slowing down. Doesn't mean a full stop, but to say there are more questions than there are answers, and we have had public officials signing NDAs.
That should never happen. You immediately are shifting who you are representing at that moment and who you are loyal to. So no, no public official should be signing an NDA. We all have the right and deserve clean air and clean water, and affordable utilities. So we need to ensure that these things won't hinder any one of those things. So we need to make sure that they're paying their own way. So it is really for economic benefit. Indiana has lost over $600 million in the state alone because of tax abatements. So they need to pay their own way, and they need to — we need to ensure that they are providing their own electricity in a renewable way, and building up around and building the community that is around it.
So, in terms of AI, and that was sort of kind of along the lines of Flock too, from a federal level versus a city level. Those are two different conversations because it's a you know with AI being unregulated. I think we need a federal baseline. I am for local control, but we need a federal baseline to protect our communities in terms of, you know, data centers too. We have a lot of counties with no zoning, all those things, and I know municipal budgets are struggling, and so it can look attractive. So we, I would support federal baseline protections for our communities, especially in terms of AI, we have people within that industry who are asking for regulation, even. So those, in order to know, we need to make sure that we're protecting jobs. You know, AI can be wonderful in the use of healthcare.
There's a lot of places for innovation, but also we need watermarks. We need to make sure we understand what's a deep fake, what what video is real, what video is AI-generated, to protect our community, to protect our kids. They're giving bad advice, and we have to make sure that there are people being held accountable. We need to make sure that we have audits for when AI is being used to figure out healthcare, jobs, housing, to make sure, yes, that we're protecting our communities.
Spath: Thank you. That was a ton of stuff to throw into a three-minute question.
Allen: Yeah, sorry, but I find myself going back and forth.
Spath: Why don't we just do a whole presentation on it someday? Okay. So the U.S. military's involvement in Iran in the conflict in Iran raises important questions about Congress's constitutional authority to authorize military action. Do you believe the president was justified in initiating military action against Iran without prior congressional approval? And if elected, what do you support? Would you support a war powers resolution to underlimate U.S. military involvement in that conflict?
Allen: Yes, I think diplomacy should always be our first instinct, not war. And Congress alone has the authority to declare war. So I think there was never a real, well thought out, laid out plan. And justification for this attack, we've lost 21 service members, and we have injured 850 something other of our service members that we know of, and killed numerous civilians. … I don't believe that motivates anyone to come to the table diplomatically. I would have, and I have spoken numerous times that if I were in Congress, I would have signed ‘yes’ to pass the War Powers Resolution. We went into this, like I said, without clear reason and without a clear exit strategy, I do not believe we are safer for it, and I believe we are all paying the price. Like I said, first and foremost with lives, and second with our pocketbooks.
Spath: Okay, here's one you touched on in your presentation: the growing national debt and persistent federal budget deficits raise serious questions about the country's long-term fiscal stability and the burden future generations may face. If elected to Congress, what specific steps would you support to significantly reduce annual deficits and put national debt on a sustainable path?
Allen: Well, that's a big question. I think one we all need to to figure out and to bring like again experts to the table — economists, people. We and we have to have the spines, Democrats and Republicans, to come to the table to not blame one another, to say cut spending, raise taxes, do this, do that, and nothing ever really gets done. And like I said, we're straddling the backs of our youth with currently $40 trillion in debt. So we're going to have to make hard decisions, and I think as politicians, oftentimes too, they get scared to make really hard decisions because they're worried about the re-election, and so oftentimes worried about ‘what decision am I making or not, that is going to hurt or help my re-election,’ instead of ‘what decision am I making that is going to hurt or help the American people.’
So there are a lot of ways and things that we need to look at. You know, if we ran our homes, like we our country is running our budget, we'd be in trouble. And our budgets are moral documents, and they show our priorities. And I think our priorities are upside down. So we have, I have some numbers. You know, you know, we're looking at a military budget request of $1.5 trillion next year, in just one year. We spend more on that than the next nine countries combined, and a lot of that is, you know, private defense contractors, that you know, and potentially some, you know, no bid and contracts and things like that. So, 4.7 billion we just added with the budget bill last year, while cutting services and providing mostly tax benefits to the ultra wealthy.
So, You know, but there are things that we need to obviously look at where we're spending, address subsidies, government fraud in terms of defense contractors, all of those things. See where we're spending, and then invest in high return on investment areas. Those things exist, and we need to think about investing in our small businesses and growing our local economies, growing our base, you know, ending unauthorized wars where we're spending billions of dollars. Looking at tax expenditures, what is that look like with all the tax codes and tax expenditures? I think there there are so many things to look at and address in reducing spending and increasing revenue, and there are lots of opportunities and ways to do it.
Spath: Okay, two more questions. In recent administrations, presidents of both parties have increasingly relied on executive orders to advance their policy agendas, raising questions about the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches. Do you believe Congress should reclaim a more active role in shaping national policy and exercising its constitutional responsibilities?
Allen: Yes. … That is what we're hired for. I mean, we are firewalled between — there's a check, in a balanced system, and there have been too many precedents set over numerous years that have chipped away at that and deteriorated that. Yes, there's a the president can have make executive orders to have certain directives, but we've got to question those, and are those to (our) benefit? Do they make us safer? Do they make us better in building up our community, or what are those executive orders, and are they legal? And so many of these, in recent times, have been found to be not legal, and they've been overturned. But what kind of harm and money and waste of time and energy and harm have been done in the meantime, while we're waiting on that, when Congress should have been doing our job in the first place?
Spath: All right. Since that was so quick, I'm going to do two more. President President Trump's tariffs have raised questions about their overall impact on the American economy, including their effect on consumers and businesses. Some reports have estimated that the tariffs have imposed substantial costs on Hoosiers, while supporters argue that they can protect American industries and workers. How would you evaluate whether the tariffs are benefiting or harming the economy?
Allen: Well, yeah, yes, they can be beneficial when they're strategic and targeted, but when we have widespread tariffs, retaliatory tariffs, they're damaging, and we pay the price. And some of those have been found to be illegal, and corporations got those tariff refund checks. We didn't, and we have found that you know studies have shown I believe we have paid like $1,800 more something like that this past year due to tariffs. So they they can be strategic and helpful and build our economy, but they can also be really harmful. And right now, we're in the harmful realm.
Spath: That was these last two questions. But moving along, okay, this is the last question. If elected to Congress, what would be your top legislative priorities, and what specific actions would you take during your first year in office to advance them and deliver meaningful results to the people you represent?
Allen: It's so exciting to think about that question, and I think that's and that's been one of the probably emotionally challenging things about this journey too. As we've traveled and we have built relationships in all 21 counties, and we hear, like I was saying earlier, those stories … they're real people and they're real faces, (and I think we went too fast on all the others.)
And I think, ‘what if I don't get in a position to do something about it in a real meaningful way?’ But on the flip side, I get really excited about what can we do if we are in a position to do something about it and to deliver real results for everyday people who are just working hard and want to raise their family and they want to contribute to society. And so it's a really it's really privileged place to be, and I'm excited to even potentially have the opportunity.
And I speak a lot about, like I said, affordability, accountability, and accessibility. And I think we need, again, to address immediately corporate consolidation, help bring costs down. We need to end the war. Help bring costs down. We need to fight to protect Social Security, which is there. There are ways to do that to ensure that it's there for us and for our kids. Scrap the cap, invest the rest. I don't know if you've heard that being talked about, but those are some methods for protecting Social Security.
We need to create bipartisan, humane immigration reform because it can happen. What is happening right now is not that, and it needs to end. So that is something I look forward to really working on. And again, holding two things at the same time: we can have secure borders, and we can have humane immigration reform that reflects our values as a country. … Can (we) overturn Citizens United on day one? No. But we can start chipping away at it, getting money out of politics. Politicians have talked about it for a really long time and haven't done anything about it. So we can get money out of politics, and we can actually ban congressional stock trading and on an executive level to know that your representative is looking out for you.
Spath: Okay, great. Now we're at the portion of the meeting where we have five minutes to give you to express any final thoughts on anything you want the club to take away from your presentation today.
Allen: Okay, just a couple more slides … I will just say it has been an honor of my lifetime, truly, to be on this journey, and I can't believe we are seven days away. (to campaign staff and supporters) People lock in! it's been really intense sitting up here and seeing my whole team right here staring at me, and I'm like, ‘I hope they're proud of what we've said.’ But I want to acknowledge them very quickly. My team, and my husband, and my daughter who are here, and they have been an instrumental part. The passion, the dedication behind this team and campaign has been something I never would have dreamed when we first started this.
But to know people have buy-in and ownership of a vision for something better for all of us, and they are all working really hard to make that happen. And I've never been more proud to be a part of a team like that. And a little bit of our campaign by the numbers. We've been building coalitions all around these 21 counties, meeting people who just love their neighbors and want better for them. We have contacted 70,000 voters either through door knocking or phone calls. We've texted about 200,000. Who is so tired of getting political texts? I am so sorry. … we have text banking teams at universities. We're engaging young people. We have so many amazing universities all throughout the eighth district. So many, and we are engaging young people, and they are text banking over pizza, and they're getting involved and engaged with electoral politics, and that is so exciting. And we've had over 3,000, some 3,600 conversations.
So it's not just a one way text, and you're hearing from us, and that's it. If you text us back with a question, and it's in good faith, we are sincerely trying to engage with you and to have those conversations and answer your questions because you deserve to know. Like I always say, you deserve to know where we stand on something.
At the end of the day, though, you're not hiring me to go there and just implement what I want to do and what I think is right. You're sending me there to be your delegate. I have put 55,000 miles on my Subaru to my husband's chagrin. It is the largest geographical district in the state, and so we have you know Evansville is our biggest city. Terre Haute is the second, which means we want to be intentional about having our congressional offices here in Terre Haute and one place in the middle in Vincennes, and making sure we have ongoing office hours and making sure we're utilizing technology to have virtual engagement and to make sure we're hosting town halls in person on a regular basis when we are doing district work. That's what we're supposed to do when we are back in the district engaging with our constituents.
And we have had over 450 volunteers to help make all of that happen. So, I just thank you for the opportunity to be here in front of you. I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve you on City Council. I hope you will give me the opportunity to serve you in D.C. as your next Congresswoman. Thank you so much.
Spath: All right. Thank you so much, Mary. (We) really appreciate you joining us today and sharing time with us and engaging in this conversation.