Vanderburgh prosecutor candidates argue over who has deeper Evansville ties

EVANSVILLE — A combustible pairing from the start, the two candidates for Vanderburgh County prosecutor are trading barbs over how hometown they are, with one calling the other "an attorney from Indianapolis."

The attack by Democrat Jon Schaefer on Republican Diana Moers revives an issue that current Prosecutor Nick Hermann employed against Moers in the May 3 GOP primary.

Hermann said without evidence that since he was elected in 2010, Moers had "worked six jobs in three different states." Moers, an Evansville native who returned here a year ago after living out of town for two decades, countered that she had worked and lived in Indiana — in Indianapolis — continuously since 2010.

She said she regularly visited family and friends in Evansville in that time.

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Schaefer takes Moers' time in Indiana into account, stating in a new radio ad that, "Our close-knit community knows the value of supporting and investing in one of our own."

"I grew up here, went to school here and established my family here," Schaefer says in the ad, ticking off a list of crime and drug issues afflicting Vanderburgh County.

Then Schaefer lowered the boom.

"We cannot afford to outsource our prosecutor’s office to an attorney from Indianapolis," he said. "We need a competent local prosecutor prepared to lead on day one."

Candidates disagree about what the ad is saying

"Wow," Moers said upon hearing the phrase, "attorney from Indianapolis." She has worked in state jobs in Indianapolis since August 2010, but she is a native of Evansville. Since moving back here, she has continued to work as a section chief in the Indiana Attorney General's Office, traveling around the state as necessary.

"This is a classic good ol' boys club argument. It's to suggest that, because (Schaefer) is from here, that the judges or other people will give him favor — and that's simply not true," she said.

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Moers said Schaefer's radio ad purposefully makes her sound like an outsider in Evansville, when her roots here run deep. She said her paternal grandfather's sister, the late Barbara T. Muensterman, owned and operated the Hilltop Inn with her husband from 1977 to 1999. Brothers of engineer Leo Moers, Diana Moers' great grandfather, were bricklayers who helped build Reitz High School and the former Hercules Buggy Company building that burned last month, among other local landmarks.

Moers moved back home to run for prosecutor because she believed Hermann needed to be ousted, she said. She vows to stay if she loses next Tuesday's election.

Schaefer's phrase, "one of our own" is troubling, Moers said, because it seems intended to isolate people who aren't originally from Evansville.

But Schaefer said his radio ad is just about Moers' lack of experience in Vanderburgh County's courts system compared to his.

"She would be no more qualified to come down here and run for mayor," he said. "People would say the same thing — 'Hey, you can't just walk in, in a year, and suddenly you're qualified to be mayor. You don't know the town.'"

Moers hasn't prosecuted cases here, Schaefer said. Her entire experience in Indiana courts comes in state jobs in Indianapolis, he said.

"I mean, you know — she's an Indianapolis attorney," he said. "I'm not faulting her. She's not an Evansville attorney."

Both candidates left the area to pursue careers before returning

A reading of both candidates' resumes and campaign biographies shows that both left the area two decades ago to pursue their careers elsewhere — and Moers is the only one who grew up in Evansville. But Schaefer has been back in the area longer — nearly 13 years to Moers' one.

Schaefer, 44, grew up in Haubstadt, Indiana, in Gibson County. According to his resume, he graduated from the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville in 2000. He spent the better part of the next two years working as a Montgomery County probation officer in Crawfordsville, Indiana. The year after that, he earned a master's degree in criminology at Indiana State University in Terre Haute. He also taught criminology there.

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Schaefer spent the next three years at Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island and the following two years-plus as a criminal justice professor 45 miles north at Massasoit Community College in Brockton, Massachusetts.

In January 2010, Schaefer began working as a deputy public defender at the Vanderburgh County Public Defender's Agency, where he works now as second-in-command.

In the same year Schaefer graduated from USI, Moers graduated from North High School in northern Vanderburgh County. She spent the next four years at Indiana University in Bloomington and the three years after that at Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing, Michigan.

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Moers held attorney jobs in two other states — Michigan and Illinois — before returning to Indiana in August 2010, according to her resume.

She began working in the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office in Indianapolis, prosecuting violations of the Indiana Securities and Loan Broker Acts. In 2015, she became executive director of the Indiana Board for Depositories in the State Treasurer's Office. Two years later, Moers joined an Indianapolis law firm — leaving after six months, she said, because she missed working in courtrooms.

Since November 2017, Moers has worked as a deputy attorney general and section chief in the Attorney General's Office. In total, Moers worked in Indianapolis for 11 years and three months before coming back to Evansville a year ago.

It boils down to what the campaign has always been about

By making his radio ad about her origins, Schaefer said, Moers is "deflecting the obvious and fair criticism that she does not have any experience in Vanderburgh County."

"How can we expect her to be able to lead the prosecutor's office from day one when you've simply never practiced law here?" Schaefer said.

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It's the same argument that has raged at the center of the Moers-Schaefer campaign since it began after the spring primaries. Schaefer argues that his nearly 13 years in the Vanderburgh County Public Defender's Agency gives him the advantage of familiarity with the local courts system. Moers counters that trial skills are the same everywhere. Indiana Rules of Evidence are the same in all 92 counties, she says.

"I will successfully prosecute cases as I have before: based on my leadership experience, legal experience, diligence, and hard work," she said.

Early in-person voting for Tuesday's election ends on Monday.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Prosecutor candidates clash over who has deeper Evansville roots