(Michigan City, IN) - A longtime local attorney is hoping to unseat incumbent Mike Bohacek in the Indiana State Senate District 8 race.  Gary Davis, 63, a Democrat, is running against Bohacek, a Republican, nearing the end of his first four-year term.

           

Davis grew up in Michigan City and lives on a small northern La Porte County farm.  Once a La Porte County deputy prosecutor, Davis represents mostly clients seeking workman’s compensation benefits in Indiana and Social Security disability payments.

           

Davis said his top priority is more money for under-funded schools.  He said Indiana teachers are among the lowest paid in the nation and the amount of money per student in the state is close to the bottom.  "It’s just gotten worse.  We have to change it,” Davis said.

           

Davis said he would also push to increase pay for workers in the state where the minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour.  He also wants to boost workman’s compensation benefits and give protections to workers let go from their jobs.  "Unless you’re in a union or have a contract, you can be terminated for any reason or no reason at all.  I’ve seen it happen so many times to people who have given their heart and soul to their company,” Davis said.

 

Bohacek, 51, of Michiana Shores, is a former two term La Porte County Commissioner.  He’s also a station owner through Echo Global Logistics in Chicago.  Bohacek said his top priorities are reducing prescription drug costs, more funding for education and no defunding of the police.  He’s currently working on legislation to discourage huge price mark-ups by requiring full disclosure of drug costs upon receipt starting at the wholesale level until the products reach the consumer.

 

In some cases, he said drug costs end up being three times greater than the original price.

“I think once we start peeling back this onion and showing these unnaturally high profits it’ll start lowering some costs,” Bohacek said.

 

Bohacek said he wants more funding for education but wants those dollars used strictly for teacher pay hikes and other expenses directly tied to classrooms.  He doesn’t want extra money to go for things like hiring more administrators when need isn’t supported by student head counts and other data.

 

Bohacek said he’s also crafting a measure to limit the amount police and fire department funding can be cut.  Under his proposal, police and fire department budgets could be scaled back only by the percentage of tax revenue local governments lost in collections from the previous year.

 

Bohacek said he supports law enforcement being assisted by mental health professionals and social workers but not defunding the police movement spreading across the nation.  “I cannot support using it as a political bargaining chip,” he said.