ANDERSON — The ads turned negative. The governor got involved. Even the police were called in.
The messy campaign for the District 37 seat in the Indiana House of Representatives concluded Wednesday afternoon with Scott Reske holding onto the office. The 11,723 uncounted absentee votes spirited Reske to a 13,840-12,060 win over challenger Kelly Gaskill. Independent candidate “Roofer” Robert Jozwiak received 1,197 votes.
Preliminary results on Tuesday night showed Gaskill with a slim 10,229-10,195 advantage over Reske. But the incumbent said he was confident of victory and found only the margin a surprise.
“Historically, absentees have been worked pretty strong by Democrats; I slept pretty well last night, let’s put it that way,” said Reske, who won by 1,780 votes. “The magnitude was a lot higher. I thought it would be about half that, 800 to 1,000 votes.”
Telephone messages left for Gaskill were not returned Wednesday afternoon. A caller identifying herself as Heather Gaskill, however, called to say that her mother would not respond because of the “disrespectful” and “untruthful” manner in which The Herald Bulletin treated the campaign.
Reske, 49, a civil engineer and an officer in the United States Marine Corps, was first elected to the District 37 seat in 2002. Gaskill, 43, was elected Fall Creek Township assessor in 2006 and is a former Guide Corp. employee.
The race seemed an unremarkable example of a political rookie challenging a more experienced incumbent. Then came a series of negative, direct-mail advertisements aimed at Reske and paid for by the House Republicans Campaign Committee.
Reske confronted Gaskill’s husband, Mike, about the ads, and the couple interpreted his comments as threatening. On Sept. 25, Mike Gaskill filed a complaint of intimidation with the Anderson Police Department against Reske and submitted recordings of the conversation as evidence. The complaint was dismissed on Oct. 3 after investigators failed to identify criminal intent. No charges were filed.
Reske retaliated, challenging Gaskill to a second debate, which she declined. A series of advertisements then appeared, claiming that the Gaskills’ property assessment went down after Kelly Gaskill became Fall Creek Township Assessor. She denied the accusation, claiming that she did not become assessor until the year after the assessment changed.
Just days before the election, Gov. Mitch Daniels appeared in a television ad supporting Gaskill.
“They spent $130,000 on that ad and she never talked to the newspaper,” Reske said. “Even in her own commercials she never talked. It became evident to people that she had some communications challenges, and it showed itself in her commercials.
“The governor talking for her was a symbol of Indianapolis coming into Madison County and controlling this race.”
Reske said the Gaskill campaign outspent his by a 4-to-1 ratio. He said his campaign relied on a grassroots effort that included 30 campaign workers at the polls Monday.
District 37 includes the southern portion of Madison County.
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