Taxpayer-funded mailer promotes county economic development work -- and GOP candidates

MUNCIE, Ind. — The Delaware County Redevelopment Commission paid for a promotional mailer sent to 35,000 homes in the county boasting about economic development work by county commissioners and County Economic Development Director Brad Bookout.

Taxpayers footed the bill for the flyer while two of the three commissioners and Bookout campaign as candidates in the upcoming GOP primary.

“We want people to know what we’re doing,” said James King, president of the commissioners, who is running for re-election and is opposed on the Republican ballot this spring.

King told The Star Press that the people complaining about the mailer had a vendetta against him and that it was like paid articles about the city that appear in Muncie Magazine. The plan, he said, was for different flyers to be mailed out by the commission quarterly.

On March 28, Delaware County Sheriff Tony Skinner, who is supporting King’s opponent in the primary, took to social media to criticize the piece of mail.

“A fluff piece touting the accomplishments of the county commissioners and Brad Bookout, all paid for by the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission (with your tax dollars). I don’t remember ever receiving something like this before. That’s because I don’t think it has ever happened, at least not in my career. Is it illegal, I’m not sure. Is it unethical? 100% yes. A taxpayer-funded pseudo-campaign advertisement mailed a week and a half before early voting begins is extremely unethical.”

King made a failed run against Skinner the Republican primary in 2022.

“It’s an inappropriate, self-promoting use of our tax dollars,” said Matt Kantz, a Republican and 3rd District county councilman, who is not up for re-election this year. Three GOP nominations for at-large seats on the council are contested in the May primary.

Bookout, who is running for one of those seats in the primary, did not return repeated phone messages seeking comment.

Redevelopment Commission member Amber Greene, who is also a Republican at-large county council candidate, said she was planning to ask Bookout, who also serves as executive director of the redevelopment commission, about how the mailer came to be during the commission’s regular April 11 meeting. However, on April 9, Bookout sent notice to Greene that the meeting was cancelled due to an anticipated lack of a quorum. The next regular meeting is May 9, two days after the election.

Featured prominently in the March mailer is King, who was also a member of the redevelopment commission in 2023 but is no longer a member of the commission. He said that last year the redevelopment commission approached Muncie Magazine but were concerned about the cost and that the magazine had Muncie and not Delaware County in its title.

Later in the year, at the Nov. 2 redevelopment commission meeting, King told fellow commission members that he wanted to communicate directly with county residents about the work being done by the commission, like information the city of Muncie had been detailing for the public about local projects.

According to a video recording, King said in the meeting that he was thinking of a “flyer or booklet” to let people know about redevelopment commission projects and specifically mentioned trails and local roads that have been paved with money from the redevelopment commission.

But the mailer sent in March made no mention of trails or paving. King later told The Star Press that the topic for the first mailer was jobs and economic development and other mailers would have other topics.

Red Elephant Digital Media made a proposal to develop a mailer that estimated the cost of sending out 35,000 flyers at $12,800. The proposal was prepared by Victor Whitehead of Red Elephant. Whitehead is a former chairman of the Republican Party in Delaware County.

Commission member Angela Moyer, who works as project director for the county engineering department, made a motion to have “James and Brad move forward with Red Elephant” on the mailer.

There was not a vote during the meeting on a specific plan for content of the communication nor about the amount of money to be spent. The county redevelopment commission draws money through tax increment financing districts in the county.

Greene, who was not a member of the commission in November, and Kantz both say that minutes from the meeting never show a vote was taken to approve a proposal. In March a mailer touting the county's economic development work began appearing in mailboxes around the county, carrying a return address to the redevelopment commission.

The mailer produced features a large photo of King, who is running for re-election against Republican challenger Stephen Brand, and Commissioner Shannon Henry, who is not up for re-election this year. The men are posing with officials from Italian firms approached about expanding to Delaware County.

Below them is a headline that reads, "Delaware County Commissioners sign agreements with three Italian companies." The same side of the postcard carries another headline that says: “County commissioners emphasize the significance of diversifying the local economy, moving away from reliance on a few industries.”

One small photo includes Bookout in a group shot of officials. Another small photo includes County Commissioner Sherry Riggin, who is also running for re-election as commissioner.

Riggin said she heard there was going to be a mailer sent, but she was not involved in its creation, nor was she shown the item before it went into the mail.

“It’s disappointing,” she said of the mailer. “If the taxpayers paid for it, the money should be refunded.”

The back side of the mailer features a collage of positive economic development headlines for Delaware County and color blocks with reverse type that states, “In the four years: 900 new jobs have been created, $450 million in capital investment and $40K average pay for new jobs.”

Underneath that is a list of 16 companies that the mailer says have been actively investing in the county over the last four years.

To the far-right side of the mailer a cutout photo of Fabrizio Vito, president of Vi-Technik, an Italian company that announced plans in November to occupy a 15,000-square-foot facility in the Muncie Industria Center, along with a quote: “We looked at many locations in the Midwest before choosing to visit Delaware County. Once there, the reception and relationship we developed with Brad Bookout helping us advance our plans was second to none. In addition, we are happy to be in an area with a strong presence of other Italian firms.”

Above it all is a double headline that says, “Fueling Growth: County commissioners are strengthening Delaware County’s future through job creation & Investments.”

The text makes no mention of the Redevelopment Commission. It is only listed as the return address.

King said it should have included the commission.

Kantz said that the work was not necessarily illegal, but it was inappropriate.

King said there are people running for county council this year but seem to be running against him while is he running for county commissioner.

"There’s a certain group out there” who want to attack James King, King said.

David Penticuff is a freelance reporter based in Muncie. He can be contacted through the Star Press newsroom.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Unapproved, taxpayer-funded mailer promotes county and GOP candidates