Marion Co. Prosecutor Candidate Philip Foust Joins!

**Nigel** (0:00)
Oh, yeah, my name is Nigel. Jason Hammer right over there with a very special in-studio guest.

**Jason Hammer** (0:06)
He will be on the ballot this November opposite Ryan Mears. The Republican candidate for prosecutor in Marion County is Philip Foust.
Welcome back to the program. And we wanted to get you back in studio because since the last time we've spoken, quite a bit has happened. And you've got Delaware County, which is not a neighboring county, come out and have a no confidence vote on Marion County's current prosecutor, Ryan Mears, because apparently the crime in Indy is trickling up to Muncie and Yorktown and Delaware County. We've already heard Sue Fincombe criticize the crime in Indianapolis. We had Lance Hamner, the prosecutor in Johnson County, on our program last Friday, talk about the crime that they get from Marion County.

**Nigel** (1:00)
The FOP.

**Jason Hammer** (1:01)
The FOP. Yeah. Here in Indy say, you know what? We've got a no confidence vote. So tell me your thoughts on all of these things kind of taking place within a one month span.

**Philip Foust** (1:13)
Yeah. Thanks for having me on again. I'm definitely energized and excited to continue to be out on the campaign trail, bringing my message that that we can have sanity in the Marion County justice system again. And I think we're hearing that from our friends and family outside the county repeatedly, that all's not well here and that those of you who, like me, are not happy with the level of crime and disorder and decay in our city, that we're not crazy and that help is on the way from our partners outside the county as well.

**Jason Hammer** (1:47)
And how did this come to be a Republican, a Democrat thing? Because we were kind of talking off the air a little bit.
Most people, unless you live in this political bubble that we do and some of our listeners, you probably shouldn't know the name of your prosecutor, right? It shouldn't be a well-known name, but it's kind of like a baseball umpire. If you know the name of your prosecutor, it's probably because he's not doing a good job.

**Philip Foust** (2:11)
Right, it's a great point. And I really fervently believe that this is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This isn't an enforce the law issue. It's a do basic things like seek justice for victims and protect the public. Those aren't partisan issues. But unfortunately, Ryan Mears has taken the office in an ideological turn.
It really isn't conducive to the basic requirements of that office.

**Nigel** (2:37)
What does that do to the psyche of a guy like Ryan Mears? I'm not asking, I'm just asking you to speculate here because I'm projecting here. I would think like, oh, Delarac County and Johnson County and Sufinkum and the FOB and everybody really just thinks I suck and I'm doing, I'm doing a horrible job and they're, you know, voting no confidence. And does that, does that matter in his circle right now and what he's doing?
I mean, you worked under him for a little while, I understand. And you worked as a deputy prosecutor. What does that do to your thought process as you're trying to do your job?

**Philip Foust** (3:20)
Right. I can't psychoanalyze them too much.

**Nigel** (3:22)
I know, I understand.

**Philip Foust** (3:24)
But I'll take a swing at it. And, you know, I think that if, if he understood and remembered what his job truly was, then that would matter to him, right? It would, it would hurt any self-respecting true prosecutor to get that sort of criticism from our surrounding counties.
That's not where we're at.

**Jason Hammer** (3:47)
But does the prosecutor set the tone for the county? And it's not just Ryan Mears that's causing the crime issues in Indy right now. It's a lot of things.
Over the top, woke judges, soft on crime judges. But does the prosecutor, who's probably at the top of the totem pole when it comes to crime and justice in the county, set the tone?

**Philip Foust** (4:09)
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that both of these questions tie together here, which is, it's an adversarial system, right? You've got defense on one side and they are constantly pushing for leniency, and you've got prosecution on the other side and they're constantly pushing for protecting the public and for justice for victims, right? And the problem is, and why I don't think that this criticism bothers Ryan, is that he's not a real prosecutor, right? He's a defense attorney in prosecutors clothing.
And when you have that, when you have both sides pushing, and you only have everyone pushing for leniency on both sides, then yes, it moves the entire direction of the justice system, and we're seeing the negative results of that.