David Henry (Monroe County Council, Indiana, candidate 2024)

David Henry (Democratic Party) ran for election to Monroe County Council in Indiana on May 7, 2024.^[1]

Elections

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

David Henry completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Henry's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

David Henry was born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and was raised in Vermilion, Ohio. Henry earned a Bachelor Degree from Baldwin Wallace University in 2002 and a an M.P.A. from Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs in 2005. Henry is a civic leader, educator, and politician. Henry has worked for the District of Columbia, the Monroe County Health Department, the National Governors Association, and as a government management consultant. Henry is an instructor at the Indiana University O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, where he developed the flagship’s Homeland Security Studies minor program and lectures on homeland security and emergency management. Henry is the chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Henry is running to assure Monroe County funds its values when it comes to diverse jobs and housing possibilities for the whole community.
Henry is running to finish lingering county projects and infrastructure programs, improve support of social services and non governmental organizations, and to get stuff done.
Henry wants to support the county workforce with a servant leadership mindset that makes sure county front line workers aren’t just surviving on wages, but thriving in Monroe County. When we deliver for them, they will deliver for us.

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Servant leadership, active listening, pragmatism and positivity.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

County council is about funding our community values and assuring that when we make budgets, we recognize we are making moral choices about what we fund.

Political rhetoric falls apart quickly when you have to make hard choices about finite resources. County council uses its fiscal oversight and human resource management functions to find the most cost effect-yet-equitable ways to assure our county workers can deliver essential services and meet obligations.

Council also has other tools through grant programs and its liaison with agencies to coordinate and advocate for programs we need to protect those with the least among us, those who have been marginalized or just those that need help. Council has the power to bring revenue to the county and use it to fix failing infrastructure, conserve natural spaces, improve sites for smart growth, and spark economic development.

A good councilperson is a jack-of-all-trades and takes in all the information, understands the limitations, and make good fiscal decisions to assure we put out money where our political mouth is as we plan for the future.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Bowling Alone by Robert Putnam, The Big Sort by Bill Bishop, The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the Tao Te Ching, The Once and Future Liberal by Mark Lila, Groundhog Day (film), American Splendor (film and comic strip), Things Fall Apart by Achebe, To the Castle and Back by Havel, Harold Wilson: The Winner, A Hoosier Salad by Thomas Marshall, Staying Put by Scott Russell Sanders.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

The public’s business is done in public, and elected officials should be as open and transparent as possible with the media and public. Meetings should be timely and accessible after business hours. Elected officials should avail themselves to going to where people are rather than await them at the courthouse. County council relies on its relationship with the auditor to provide that public transparency. And when governments make mistakes they should own them, in public, with apology, and paths to improve and learn from past mistakes.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Housing choices, job possibilities, sustainable development, fostering diversity, fiscal stewardship, workforce protection and supporting Labor.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

A paperboy, only for a month.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

State Senator Shelli Yoder, Councilperson Geoff McKim, Susan Hingle, Jim Stainbrook, Santiago Sotomayor, Alessia Modjarrad, Mauricio Pazos, Matt Fyfe

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.