Indy Mayoral Race Sees Its First Negative Attack

INDIANAPOLIS -- Democrat Joe Hogsett’s campaign is criticizing the Republican Party for going negative on the eve of Indianapolis' mayoral election. 

A flyer arrived in voter’s mailboxes over the weekend saying that while Hogsett was a U.S. Attorney, he went easy on violent criminals because prison sentences for criminals he prosecuted decreased.

Hogsett’s campaign organized a press conference Monday to deride the mailer. The candidate didn’t attend, insteading bringing out county prosecutor Terry Curry and Sheriff John Layton.

The mailer is misleading, Curry said, because judges are the ones that set prison time for criminals. "Prosecutors don’t impose sentences," he said. "These sort of statistics are meaningless."

Republican Chuck Brewer’s campaign didn’t respond to messages from WFYI, but Brewer told WIBC this morning he had nothing to do with the mailer. "I am against negative campaigning," he told host Tony Katz. "I’ve said it from the very beginning, I never want that kind of stuff to be associated with me."

Marion County Republican Party Chairman Kyle Walker confirmed to WFYI he proposed the mailer to the state party and helped create it, without the knowledge of Brewer or his campaign. There is a difference between personal attacks and those against someone's record, Walker said.