No Stranger to Politics
by Sandra Hoy • Photos by Daniel R. Patmore
Hauling hay and hoeing beans on his family farm helped prepare Jonathan Weinzapfel for the rigors of politics.

The fourth of six children, the Democrat mayoral candidate grew up in St. Philip, Ind., where his father and uncle still farm about 500 acres.

“Especially in summers, it was always one of our family requirements to get out and haul hay, drive the tractor and hoe beans, whenever there was work to be done. I like to think that had a lot to do with building a strong work ethic,” he said during an interview in his busy campaign office on the fifth floor of the Court Building in downtown Evansville.

That farm-grown work ethic has taken Jonathan through law school and into a career that combines his work as an associate at the law firm of Bowers, Harrison, LLP, with his responsibilities as State Representative for District 76. Unopposed in his bid to become mayor of Evansville in the Democratic primary, he will face the incumbent mayor, Russell Lloyd, Jr., in November.

Jonathan’s mother, Sylvia Weinzapfel, executive director of the YWCA, attributes her son’s political career to all the League of Women Voters meetings she “dragged” him to as a child.

“I like to say I’m responsible for his interest in government. When our kids were little, I was a stay-at-home mom and active in the League of Women Voters,” she said. “There were lots of stay-at-home moms then. During the day, we’d go to League meetings and take our kids with us. I can remember lots of conversations, going home in the car, about what we discussed at those meetings.”

Jonathan, 37, said he didn’t become seriously interested in politics until his senior year at Indiana University at Bloomington, where he majored in chemistry and business. His first job out of school was in pharmaceutical sales for Eli Lilly. After almost two years with Eli Lilly, he was offered a job in Washington, D.C., working for former U.S. Congressman Frank McClosky.

“Obviously, it was a dramatic career change, but my interest in politics and government peaked at that point. It was a great opportunity, so I took it,” he said.

While serving as an aide to McCloskey, he earned his Master’s Degree from Georgetown University, following that with a Juris Doctorate from the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis.

In his first venture into politics in 1996, Jonathan ran unsuccessfully for McCloskey’s former Congressional seat, losing to John Hostettler, but giving the 8th District Congressman his toughest race to date, so tough that ABC’s Cokie Roberts, among others, prematurely declared Jonathan the winner on election night.

In 1999, he was appointed to the late Joe O’Day’s seat in the Indiana State Legislature and has been elected to the seat twice since then. He is currently chairman of the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee, as well as a member of the House Financial Institutions, Judiciary and Public Health Committees. He is former Chairman of the House Environmental Affairs Committee and the Environmental Quality Service Council.

At Bowers, Harrison, LLP, which has long-standing ties to both political parties and mayoral candidates, Jonathan specializes in municipal law and business litigation.

“The practice of law is a wonderful profession,” he said. “It also really does go hand in hand with politics and government.”

It also pays better than the state legislature – an important consideration for a young husband and father. Jonathan and his wife, Patricia, a former news reporter for WFIE-NBC 14 and an adjunct instructor at the University of Southern Indiana, have three small children, Nathaniel, who will be 4 in August, and twins Benjamin and Eleanor, who will be 2 on the Fourth of July.

“Obviously, it’s very difficult to make a living through elected office,” Jonathan said. “If your means of providing for your family is dependent upon whether the voters elect you to office every two years – or every four years for that matter – that’s a pretty risky proposition..."

Read more in the June/July issue!