Democrat Brian Gulley, a former Portage City Council member, and Republican Spencer Lemmons are running for the open District 2 seat on the Porter County Council.
Democratic Councilman Jeremy Rivas is not seeking reelection after his fourth term on the council.
Gulley served on the city council from 2020 to 2023, but lost reelection. “I just feel like I have the right experience to guide the county through this uncertain time,” with Senate Enrolled Act 1, he said. “In Portage, we had financial struggles when we came in,” he said.
The United Auto Worker has been following and in attendance at the MUST meetings where County Councilwoman Michelle Harris, R-At-Large, and the clerk-treasurers of every city and town in the county have been debating what recommendations to make to the state regarding the county’s local income tax plans.
“I can hit the ground running,” Gulley said. “Raising the LIT is not my preference, but I’ve always said I’m in support of fully funding local government. You’re shifting the tax more onto working people when you’re moving from property tax, which is not my preference.”
“If we have to raise taxes just to offset losses,” Gulley doesn’t see a benefit in SEA 1. “Did they not care? Did they not know? It’s frustrating.”
Regarding the principal of the investment from the sale of Porter Memorial Hospital, Gulley thinks the Porter County Foundation Board, made up of the 10 members of the Board of Commissioners and the County Council, has managed it well. He said if raising the LIT is deemed necessary, he’s for raising it enough to not have to rely on the interest for operating expenses, but use it to bestow grants for extras that improve the quality of life for the county’s residents.
Gulley said he wouldn’t be too supportive of raising taxes to bring a professional sports team to Northwest Indiana. He’s leery of becoming too dependent on any one big industry.
Gulley and his wife of 20 years are raising their four children in the Portage Township School Corporation. He is vice president of the Portage Democrats and also president of the Portage Park & Recreation Foundation, which he has been a part of for four years.
Lemmons has never held public office, but had an unsuccessful run for the U.S. Congress in 2020. The Marine Corps veteran is a police officer in Hammond and has been vice president of the FOP lodge there for three years, where he is chair of the benefits committee.
“With SEA 1 particularly, we need somebody who has been tested under pressure and has the financial background to make the decisions that need to be made,” said Lemmons, who assists the FOP’s trustee in managing dues and pensions.
Lemmons doesn’t have an opinion on a specific target percentage for the county’s LIT. “I don’t know, because I don’t know what the budget looks like,” he said. “I don’t have access to that. Generally, as a conservative, I don’t like raising taxes. I’d like to have all the information before making a decision.”
The same goes for what he hopes to see out of the MUST process. “I get kind of mixed signals of what’s going on,” he said. “Until I can see the numbers for myself, I can’t make a calculated decision in what we should do next.”
Regarding the Foundation principal, Lemmons said, “I hope we don’t have to (draw further from it), but the nest egg has to be used for something. If it’s for the right reasons, sure. I think it goes by the case-by-case basis what we’re tapping into it for.”
As for a hypothetical food and beverage tax imposed on Lake and Porter counties should the Bears relocate to Hammond, Lemmons acknowledged that as a Hammond Police officer he would benefit professionally. But as a Portage resident and if he were elected, “that’s kind of a tough sell for me. I’m honestly open to it, but I haven’t heard how it’s going to benefit the people of Porter County,” he said.
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Lemmons and his wife have one child.
“I don’t have experience in public office, but what I do have is experience in public service,” Lemmons said.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.