Mel Robertson
A Crawfordsville man may join a two-way race for the Indiana state Senate District 23 seat.Sen. Joseph Harrison announced his retirement in November. Now, Montgomery County Councilman Phil Boots may join Richard "Dick" Thompson and James R. Detamore in the race for Harrison's seat."That's possible," Boots said Friday when asked if he will register as a senator candidate Monday. "I haven't talked to my committee. They should be meeting this weekend and I will know something Monday."Thompson and Detamore, both of Lebanon, registered for the position in January."The main thing I'm running on is economic development," Boots said, referring to one of the three items on his agenda. Property taxes and applying more money toward educational programs are other issues Boots intends to pursue if the Republican decides to run for state senator."I think we need to find another way to finance local government," he said, referring to the use of property tax in the current system."I think we need to apply more money toward (educational) programs and not facilities," he said. "There are a lot of things in the classroom that teachers need help with … items children need to learn … the structure's just wrong."A New Market High School and Milligan College, Johnson City, Tenn., graduate, Boots is president of Boots Bros. Oil Co., Inc., which operates local convenience grocery stores. He resides at Crawfordsville with his wife, Farzaneh Dargahi, and has two sons, Brian and Kavian.
