INDIANAPOLIS | Seven Democrats are competing to replace state Sen. Sam Smith, an East Chicago Democrat whose political career was cut short by a tax evasion charge.

Smith pleaded guilty to failing to report sales tax on his family's funeral home in 2004, and the following year he voted for a new state law rendering him ineligible for re-election because of the conviction. Smith now wants his wife and partner in Divinity Funeral Home to replace him in the Indiana Senate.

Diane Smith is one of three candidates in Tuesday's Senate District 2 primary race who did not respond to multiple interview requests by The Times. The other silent contenders are Carolyn Rhymes Jordan, of Gary, and Louis Vasquez III, of East Chicago.

Senate District 2 covers all of East Chicago, the west side of Gary and parts of Griffith, Hammond, Highland, Merrillville and Schererville.

It's familiar territory for East Chicago attorney Lonnie Randolph, who held the seat for six years before leaving the Senate in 1998 to become a city judge. After a couple of unsuccessful runs for mayor, Randolph wants another shot at the Statehouse.

"There's a need for some strong advocates for Lake County (downstate)," Randolph said. "I'll be ready from day one."

Michael Scott Sr., a Gary School Board member since 1994, also is running on his readiness.

"Even though I know that (the Senate) is overwhelmingly Republican, I want to go down and try to affect some change for our citizens," Scott said. "Being one who has been a part of group governance for the past 14 years, I think I know how to work with other people."

Scott said he has helped region taxpayers already by authoring a facilities management plan that allowed the Gary Community School Corp. to open three new schools about three years ago and offset the $57 million construction cost by closing 11 older buildings.

Rising property taxes remain a bedrock election issue in Lake County, and retired East Chicago contractor Jesse Ortiz is wooing District 2 voters with a revolutionary plan. He wants to eliminate homeowner taxes, a roughly $3 billion undertaking that likely would require a mix of income and sale tax hikes.

"I see people losing their homes," Ortiz said. "I'm not saying I can lower taxes, but we can get the tax off of people's homes."

June L. Simmons Blackmon said she was happy being a teacher and community organizer in East Chicago but decided to run for the open Senate seat because she believes incumbent legislators haven't done enough to ease homeowner taxes.

"They've worked to help big business," she said. "I think that's terrible because we still get taxed higher than anywhere in the state."