Tonight the three candidates for Marion County GOP Chair participate in a forum as a lead-up to Saturday’s election. The party’s focus has been on who can raise the most money so the GOP here can once more be relevant.

Times - and demographics - change, as should the Marion County GOP. One local matter to address is corruption. The Marion County GOP can gain traction against corruption if it requires any candidate for office in Marion County or Indianapolis to agree she or he will refuse freebies from professional sports franchises or the NCAA (like there is a difference).

Elected officials who vote on whether to extend welfare - i.e. subsidies - to billionaires who own these franchises have a conflict of interest if they accept passes to those nice suites when most of the voters can’t afford a ticket to a noise bleed seat.

If the GOP Marion County chair adopts this as a policy, more votes will be garnered than can be bought with the contributions of a dozen corporations. Office holders can watch games on TV, as do the rest of us, or give away any tickets. It’s only fair.