Caucus Information for County Council Vacancy

The Harrison County Republican Central Committee will caucus on Sunday, September 14, at 7:00 p.m. at the Harrison County Government Center in Corydon for the purposes of filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Harrison County Councilman At-Large Donnie Hussung. Donnie resigned after being appointed to fill a vacancy on the Lanesville School Board. 

Only precinct committee members may vote in this caucus. Precinct vice committee members may vote as proxies for their absent precinct committee member. Notice of this caucus has been sent to precinct committee members by first-class mail in compliance with Indiana Code.

Voting will be by private ballot and will continue until one candidate has reached a majority of the precinct committee members and proxies that are present.

Indiana law empowers the county chairman to break a tie if one exists, but the county chairman will not be exercising this authority. Voting will continue until the tie is broken by the committee members and their proxies.

Once the caucus has selected who will fill the vacancy, the county chairman will certify the result to the Circuit Court Clerk. Harrison County Circuit Court Judge John Evans will be on hand to swear in whoever is chosen to fill the vacancy.

The swift caucus timeline outlined here will allow the new council member to get to work with their fellow council members on the drafting of the 2026 budget for Harrison County government, which is currently underway.

Individuals interested in seeking the vacancy must file a written declaration of candidacy (CEB-5 form) with Harrison County Republican Party Chairman Scott Fluhr no later than 72 hours before the caucus, in this case by Thursday, September 11 at 7:00 p.m.

Individuals interested in seeking the position can express interest or send questions via email to council.vacancy@harrisongop.com. The necessary form is available from the Circuit Court Clerk's office, online via the Secretary of State's website, or via the aforementioned email address.

Candidates must be able to complete a written questionnaire and present themselves for interviews by an interview committee on the evenings of either Friday, September 12, or Saturday, September 13.

The interview committee will not make any selections or recommendations, but will report to the caucus on their interviews.

We want to thank Donnie for his over eight and a half years of hard work as a county councilman and for his over six years of service as county council president. Lanesville’s gain is Harrison County’s loss. Donnie was an excellent councilman and public servant. We are all going to miss his wisdom and common sense leadership in county government.

August GOP Breakfast

Join us at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, August 9, for our monthly GOP breakfast at the Harrison County Government Center in Corydon.

Our program for this month's breakfast will be a presentation by Harrison County Prosecutor Otto Schalk about your 2nd Amendment and self defense rights.

Otto will discuss many aspects of the right to bear arms, the right to self defense, federal and state gun laws, and then will answer your questions.

It's sure to be a very informative morning!

Breakfast is free, though free will donations will be accepted.

We hope to see you there!

July GOP Breakfast

Join us at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, July 12, for our monthly GOP breakfast at the Harrison County Government Center in Corydon.

Our program for this month's breakfast will be a double header! We'll have a presentation about the One Big Beautiful Bill just signed by President Trump, PLUS a law enforcement update from Harrison County Sheriff Nick Smith!

Breakfast is free, though free will donations will be accepted.

We hope to see you there!

The Declaration of Independence

The Harrison County Republicans hope you and your family enjoy a safe and happy Fourth of July.

If you have a few minutes, we encourage you to remember the 1337 words that we are celebrating today, words that changed the word:

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the course of human Events, it becomes necessary for one People to dissolve the Political Bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the Powers of the Earth, the separate and equal Station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the Separation.

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.

That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is in the Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient Causes; and accordingly all Experience hath shewn, that Mankind are more disposed to suffer, while Evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the Forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long Train of Abuses and Usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a Design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their Right, it is their Duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future Security.

Such has been the patient Sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the Necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The History of the Present King of Great-Britain is a History of repeated Injuries and Usurpations, all having in direct Object the Establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let the Facts be submitted to a candid World.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public Good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing Importance, unless suspended in their Operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the Accommodation of large Districts of People; unless those People would relinquish the Right of Representation in the Legislature, a Right inestimable to them, and formidable to Tyrants only.

He has called together Legislative Bodies at Places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the Depository of their public Records, for the sole Purpose of fatiguing them into Compliance with his Measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.

He has refused for a long Time, after such Dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the Dangers of Invasion from without, and Convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the Population of these States; for that Purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their Migrations hither, and raising the Conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the Tenure of their Offices, and Amount and Payment of their Salaries.

He has erected a Multitude of new Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our People, and eat out their Substance.

He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our Legislature.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a Jurisdiction foreign to our Constitution, and unacknowledged by our Laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislaton:

For quartering large Bodies of Armed Troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all Parts of the World:

For imposing taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many Cases, of the Benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond the Seas to be tried for pretended Offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an arbitrary Government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an Example and fit Instrument for introducing the same absolute Rule in these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Powers to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our Towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

He is, at this Time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the Works of Death, Desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous Ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized Nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the Executioners of their Friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic Insurrections among us, and has endeavoured to bring on the Inhabitants of our Frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known Rule of Warfare, is an undistinguished Destruction, of all Ages, Sexes and Conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.

Nor have we been wanting in Attentions to our British Brethren. We have warned them from Time to Time of Attempts by their Legislature to extend an unwarrantable Jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the Circumstances of our Emigration and Settlement here. We have appealed to their native Justice and Magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the Ties of our common Kindred to disavow these Usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our Connections and Correspondence. They too have been deaf to the Voice of Justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the Necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of Mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace, Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World for the Rectitude of our Intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly Publish and Declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political Connection between them and the State of Great-Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm Reliance on the Protection of the divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Signed by ORDER and
in BEHALF OF THE CONGRESS
JOHN HANCOCK,
PRESIDENT.

ATTEST.
CHARLES THOMSON,
SECRETARY.

PHILADELPHIA:
PRINTED BY JOHN DUNLAP..

Happy Birthday, America!

Have a safe and happy Independence Day!

Palmyra Town Clerk Treasurer Vacancy

With the resignation of Debby Jones, a vacancy now exists for Palmyra Town Clerk Treasurer.

As Debby was elected as a Republican, Indiana Code says the Republican Party is responsible for selecting someone to serve out the balance of her term, which will end on December 31, 2027.

In most circumstances, elected official vacancies are filled by a caucus of precinct committee members for the area which elected the position. However, as the Town of Palmyra is entirely within one precinct and there would be only one voting precinct committee member, Indiana Code dictates the vacancy is to be filled by appointment of the Republican County Chairman.

In order to ensure a broadly representative process, an interview committee has been created composed of Republican precinct committee members from the four precincts of Morgan Township, including the Palmyra precinct, and the three members of the Town Council for Palmyra. A majority of these individuals are from the Town of Palmyra.

Individuals interested in filling the vacancy should send an email to palmyra.clerk.vacancy@harrisongop.com before Friday, June 20 at 5:00pm. They will be supplied with a brief questionnaire and will be scheduled to have a meeting with the interview committee. After the interviews are complete, the committee will make a recommendation to the Republican County Chairman, who will appoint their recommendation.

We hope to conduct the interviews during the third weekend in June and make an appointment based on the interview committee's recommendation shortly thereafter. This timeline will fill the vacancy ahead of the thirty-day window set in Indiana Code.

Debby Jones served ten years as Clerk Treasurer of Palmyra, and we thank her for her decade of public service. This process will ensure that her successor is someone who will provide good government for the people of Palmyra.

June GOP Breakfast

Join us at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, June 7, for our monthly GOP breakfast at the Harrison County Government Center in Corydon.

Our program for this month's breakfast will be “Local Government 101”, a presentation about county, township, and town government, explaining what the various offices are and what they do. Many of these officeholders will be present and can answer your questions.

Breakfast is free, though free will donations will be accepted.