Not letting age slow him down, 90-year-old Daviess County resident John K. Snyder appeared Monday on the national FOX News morning show “Fox and Friends” to announce his running for national office.
Snyder said Fox network contacted him about his candidacy on the Republican ticket for the Eight District House seat and asked him to drive to Indianapolis to appear on the show where he promised to be a “voice of reason.”
“Our federal government is out of control,” Snyder said. “As America slides deeper and deeper into unimaginable federal debt, we are risking losing control of our economic future to global forces.”
Two attributes will be highlighted during his primary campaign — Snyder will not accept political financial donations, and he pledges up front that he will not serve more than two terms if elected.
The father of six children and grandfather to more than 30 grand- and great-grandchildren, Snyder said, “I grew up in the Great Depression and served in World War II. I’ve seen what awaits my grandchildren if Congress doesn’t wake up and do the right thing.”
Not a novice to politics, Snyder has served twice as state treasurer and ran for governor once. He’s been a delegate to the Republican state convention 21 times and to the party’s national convention five times.
“I decided back in November I was running,” Snyder said. That was before Congressman Brad Ellsworth announced he would not be seeking a third term but would be running for the U.S. Senate. “I know something about finances,” Snyder said, adding that the financial situation in the U.S. wasn’t getting any better.
“I see all of this chaos, and I wonder what kind of America my grandchildren and all Americans will be living in 10 years from now,” he said.
He said that his grandmother had a saying during the Great Depression that is highly relevant for Congress today: “Use it up. Wear it out. Make it do or do without.”
According to Snyder, today some would probably say: “Spend it all, go in debt. Forget core values, place your bets.”
A long-time resident of Daviess County, Snyder spent many years crisscrossing the district first as a regional sales manager for a major school equipment company and then as a two-term state treasurer. During his time as state treasurer, Snyder instituted programs that delivered a higher return on investment of state funds than all previous state treasurers combined.
“I know well about the prudent management of government funds, and if the voters of the Eighth District send me to Washington, D.C., I’ll be about it once again,” Snyder said.
“After watching the insanity erupt among our elected Congressional figures over the past decade, where sound bites and empty posturing triumph over anything of real achievement, I felt sick,” Snyder said. “Sick of watching the values that made our country great get flushed down the drain. Sick that our country has achieved unimaginable levels of debt in mere months that will take decades to pay off. Sick that greedy executives suck up bonuses while taking emergency government subsidies. Sick that failed national government policies are being re-packaged as progress.”
Snyder recognizes that one Congressman cannot change everything. “But I can be a very loud 90-year-old voice in the nation’s Capitol,” he said.
Snyder will be facing seven other candidates in the Republican primary May 4.
