Hardy to challenge incumbent Buyer

After twenty years of active military duty, a seasoned Army veteran is giving up his decades-long tenure with the armed forces to enter public service. \nRepublican Dennis Hardy filed candidacy for Congress in Indiana's fourth district, which includes Monroe County, last Wednesday. Hardy, who most recently served in the Army Operations Center in the Pentagon, seeks to unseat incumbent Representative Steve Buyer. \nHardy has identified three key issues -- integrity, constituent services and homeland security -- around which he has centered his campaign. And for him, the fight is personal. Hardy claims Rep. Steve Buyer compromised both his personal integrity and a responsibility to Indiana voters by sending a letter to House speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, in March stating he had been called for active duty to serve in Iraq and requesting to be relieved of his congressional duties. \nIn a March 2003 press release, Laura Zuckerman, Buyer's communications director, stated Buyer had been "called to active duty in service of his country" and would act as an Operational Law Judge Advocate in the Iraqi theater. \nThat's a claim Hardy refutes vehemently. He maintains that no orders commanding Buyer, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, to serve were ever carried out and the ensuing investigation "sent shock waves" through the Pentagon. According to Joe Hanley, chief of public affairs for the Army Reserve, "there were never any orders out on Congressman Buyer."\nBuyer's actions prompted him to contest the incumbent's seat, Hardy said. \n"I perceived his actions as purely political; he's using this stunt to catapult his political career and run for a higher office," Hardy said. "I perceived his 'mobilization' as purely political."\nBuyer responded by denouncing Hardy's charges as "false" and "vicious." Lobbyist and Army veteran Paul C. Bergson, who worked with Buyer in the Reserves, sent an open letter to republican leaders deeming Hardy's charge as "one of the most ridiculous and mean-spirited allegations I have seen in my 37 years in the Army Reserve."\nBergson said there was no record of Buyer's call to active duty because he was never mobilized nor deployed. Furthermore, Bergson alleged Hardy violated the Privacy Act and other Department of Defense directives by searching soldiers' databases for "personal use."\nHardy, for his part, lets Bergson's allegations roll off. \n"He can't attack the message, so he's attacking the messenger as an alternative," Hardy said. "It's a question of integrity. Without integrity as a public servant, you stand for nothing. If people can't trust you, what good are you?"\nIf elected, he would move Buyer's district offices to more central locations. Specifically, he would open a large office in Tippecanoe County, the heart of the district's northern portion. He would also open headquarters in the central and southern regions, as well as several "temporary offices" in more rural reaches. The offices would be open later than usual business hours to accommodate constituents with 9 to 5 jobs. \n"I'm bringing government back to the people," he said. "We're going to work very hard to get people involved."\nHardy's seasoned military career led him to identify homeland security issues as another pillar of his campaign. Specifically, he believes the National Guard should be called to back up the border patrol and officers with the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- a measure he believes won't incur much additional expense. \nCampaign manager David Lohr said Hardy has been making numerous and varied appearances throughout the state since his campaign began in September.\n"We're looking at people who just aren't having a say in how they're represented, and that's why Denny's going out and getting his message heard," Lohr said. "He's at the Wingate Corn Festival. He's at the dinners and parades and festivals that could fit in one corner of a room."\nLohr said the Hardy team plans to utilize the grassroots to mobilize voter turnover. He realized early in the game that a congressional hopeful with no previous terms of service couldn't expect to match the incumbent with endorsements. That's why Hardy's going straight to the voters. \n"We have to match the incumbent just enough to be competitive, but the grassroots has to carry us over," Lohr said. \n- Contact senior writer Holly Johnson at hljohnso@indiana.edu.