Author Archive

Current structure delays progress, costs too much and is difficult to understand, McGauley says

County Government structure is outdated and expensive and should be replaced with one that is leaner, less burdensome to taxpayers and simpler to navigate, said John McGauley, Republican candidate for Allen County Commissioner.

But current county structure should only give way to an organizational chart that preserves the ability of citizens to choose their representatives, while at the same time building a government more suited to meeting the demands of the 21st Century, McGauley added.

“Every discussion of government reorganization tends to take an all-or-nothing approach to the problem,” McGauley said. “Solutions either leave county government the way it is or take from citizens most of the important choices they get to make in who their leaders are. I believe it’s possible to modernize local government while still preserving the role voters have in shaping their community.” Read the rest of this entry »

At the 11am press conference in the Mayor’s office tomorrow, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry will announce Mark Becker as the new Fort Wayne Deputy Mayor. For those of you that may recall, Becker was appointed deputy mayor under Graham Richard, but resigned to take a position at the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership as Director of Regional Development and Executive Director of the Northeast Indiana Foundation. Becker served in four mayoral administrations, including Moses, Helmke, Richard and Henry. He resigned effective May 31, 2008 under Henry’s administration.

It should be noted that Matt Bell, who was CEO of  Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana also recently left to take the position of president of Ivy Tech Corporate College.  Now Becker is fleeing a similar organization, the  Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership, which worked hand-hand with the Regional Chamber of Northeast Indiana. Interesting.

Co-writer on this blog Jim Sack stated:

I love Mark.  He has been a friend since I first met him.  He and I went to Germany together on a sister city trip and spent hours over beer and fondly giant schnauzers, one of our mutual loves.  He is a positive, upbeat, can-do manager.  Certainly, those who do not get from him what they want or who oppose what he has been deputized to accomplish have bones to pick with him, but I love the guy personally and admire him professionally.  We were on the opposite sides of the Calhoun redo and he was most polite, but I know he worked quietly to wrangle votes against me.  Polite, professional, effective and always upbeat. He works with everyone, no one on council speaks ill of him.  He does not burn bridges.

Something old, something new? And your opinion?

This will be interesting. Since the stacked and packed Indiana Election Board would not recognize the U.S. Constitution, maybe a lower level of authority will determine if Dick Lugar and his wife Charlene violated Indiana election law has they claimed a residency for voting purposes they sold in 1977. The board will determine if the case should be referred to the Marion County prosecutor’s office.

In a letter to Greg Wright, the certified fraud examiner who has filed numerous complaints, including one today to Marion County Election Board, he received this response:

March 7, 2012

Mr. Greg Wright
Certified Fraud Examiner

Mr. Wright,

This letter is to provide you notice that the Marion County Election Board (“Board”) will meet at 11:00 a.m. on March 15, 2012 in room 107 of the City-County Building, 200 E. Washington Street, Indianapolis, IN. During this meeting, the Board will consider staff’s preliminary review of W. Gregory Wright’s complaint against Richard and Charlene Lugar filed February 17, 2012. Both Petitioners and the Lugars should submit any additional information that they would like to be included in staff’s preliminary review by close of business on Monday, March 12th. Both Petitioners and the Lugars are invited to attend this hearing in person or by counsel, but whether statements and/or testimony are heard at this meeting will be at the discretion of the Board. As a result of the Board’s preliminary review of the complaint, the Board may take action including, but not limited
to the following:

(1) determine there is not substantial reason to believe an election law violation has
occurred and no further action is required;
(2) determine that there is substantial reason to believe an election law violation has
occurred and instruct counsel and staff to conduct further investigation pursuant to the
Board’s direction;
(3) determine there is substantial reason to believe an election law violation has occurred,
find that sufficient investigation has been made, and take appropriate action, such as
referring the matter to the Marion County Prosecutor; or
(4) take all matters under advisement and reserve action for a later time.

If you have additional information or analysis for staff’s review, please forward it to my
attention as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Myla Eldridge
Director of Elections – Marion Co. Election Board

“He got his F rating the old-fashioned way: He earned it,” NRA’s Chris Cox.

From the Indy Star:

Mourdock and the NRA’s chief lobbyist, Chris Cox, are holding a conference call with reporters this morning to discuss the endorsement.

While Mourdock has lagged in campaign fundraising behind Lugar, he is getting some high-powered help from groups that can put money behind their endorsements. In addition to the NRA, Mourdock is being backed by the Club for Growth and its leader, former U.S. Rep. Chris Chocola, R-Ind., and former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey, D-Texas who now heads the national tea party group FreedomWorks.

Armey will be in Hamilton County on Saturday going door-to-door to campaign for Mourdock.

Two Indiana voters Paul Killpatrick and David Stockdale  have filed through their attorney, Eric Bohnet, an appeal of the State Election Board’s ruling that Lugar is eligible to run.  He sent out the attached press release this morning.  It has been assigned for Marion Superior Court 7.

Appeal Filed in Lugar Residency Case

Voters Challenge State Election Commission Ruling in Court

Two Indiana voters filed an appeal yesterday in Marion County Superior Court asking for review of the denial of their challenges to Richard Lugar’s candidacy for the U.S. Senate by the Indiana Election Commission. The appeal also seeks an injunction to prohibit election officials from printing ballots for the upcoming May 8 primary until the case is resolved. The challengers plan
to ask for expedited consideration of their appeal by the courts.

According to Eric C. Bohnet, attorney for the voters, “The Constitution requires that Senators be inhabitants of the states that elect them. But Sen. Lugar sold his last Indiana residence almost 35 years ago, and still votes from that old address for his voting registration because he doesn’t have anywhere in this state to call home. He’s become an inhabitant of Virginia, and thus ineligible to be elected to the Senate from Indiana. Voters need the issue resolved before the primary to ensure that Republicans choose a candidate who is eligible to be elected and avoid another ‘Charlie White’ scenario.”

The statute in question, Indiana Code 3-8-1-7, states:

A candidate for the office of United States Senator must have the qualifications provided in  Article 1, Section 3, Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States. The U.S. Constitution requires, in relevant part, that a Senator must be an “inhabitant” of their
state. There was no dispute at the Election Commission hearing on the matter that Richard Lugar sold  his residence in Indiana in 1977 and moved to Virginia. Since then, he has maintained no physical residence in the State of Indiana.

Senator Lugar’s attorneys and the Commission relied heavily on Sen. Lugar’s stated intent to  someday return to Indiana, and letters from the Indiana Attorney General stating that Senator Lugar could continue voting in Indiana without an actual residence here. These letters should provide a good defense against allegations of vote fraud, but they do not affect the federal
constitutional law that determines qualifications for the United States Senate

Dick Lugar’s campaign has hit a new all-time low. Gary Wright is the certified fraud examiner who personally filed a complaint against Lugar with the Indiana Election Commission questioning if Lugar and his wife were committing vote fraud by using the home they sold in 1977 for their voter’s registration. Wright also sent information to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics regarding Lugar’s use of his campaign office as the official address of his Lugar Stock Farm.

Via Advance Indiana

Wright’s sleuthing was too much for the Lugar camp. According to a February 21, 2012 anonymous complaint sent to ACFE’s general counsel, Wright was accused of violating the bylaws of the organization of which he is a member by investigating Lugar’s and his wife’s property ownership records and absentee voting records in Indianapolis “wholly for his personal political agenda.”

I’ve read ACFE’s by-laws. There’s nothing there that could be an interpretation of a violation.

Section 5.07 Suspension and Expulsion. The Board of Regents may suspend, expel, or discipline any member if the member is found guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction of a crime punishable by imprisonment for more than one year, a felony, or any crime involving moral turpitude. A crime of moral turpitude is one that calls into question the integrity and  judgment of the offender and includes but is not limited to offenses such as bribery, fraud, corruption, solicitation, embezzlement, theft by a fiduciary or trustee, or theft by trick, deceit or false pretenses.

Maybe the writer that penned the complaint has no concept of what moral turpitude means. Or then again, maybe they do and felt Lugar was closer to it than Wright ever was.

moral turpitude n. gross violation of standards of moral conduct,vileness, such that an act involving moral turpitude was intentionally evil, making the act a crime. The existence of moral turpitude can bring a more severe criminal charge or penalty for a criminal defendant.

The Lugar campaign’s fingerprints are all over the complaint.

The complaint accused Wright of failing to conduct his investigation “in an objective manner.” The complaint attached e-mails Wright had sent to Lugar’s Senate office inquiring about the matters in which he identified himself as “a tea party member and certified fraud examiner.” The complaint referenced comments Wright made to the Daily Caller blog, which reported on the findings of Wright’s investigation as evidencing  “his bias” by questioning why “the elite press has not picked up on this.” The anonymous complaint further accused Wright of violating ACFE’s rules for use of the organization’s trademark “by associating them with his politically motivated investigation.” It accused Wright of giving the appearance ACFE “sponsors or endorses Wright’s investigation of the Lugars.” The complaint called on the organization to “expel, suspend and/or discipline Mr. Wright.”

Wright’s email’s, as explained by Advance Indiana were with exchanged Mark Helmke. Yes, that Mark Helmke, Paul’s brother. (Shout out to Paul, “Hi Paul!” I know he’ll read this, he signed up for email updates to the blog yesterday).

Wright learned that a complaint had been filed against him not through his association but rather a media inquiry from political blogger-pot stirrer extraordinaire, Abdul-Hakim Shabazz, who has been decidedly pro-Lugar in his reporting of the hotly-contested race between Lugar and Indiana Stare Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Shabazz requested a face-to-face interview with Wright, who declined his invitation given that he knew nothing of any complaint being filed against him. Shabazz then provided Wright a copy of the complaint and attachments that had been forwarded to him from a source he refused to identify. Wright knew the Lugar campaign had to be the source of the complaint because only Lugar’s office could have had copies of the e-mail exchanges he had with Mark Helmke in Sen. Lugar’s office last December unless his e-mail account had been hacked. Shabazz ran an item entitled “The Lugar Accuser Who Stood Accused” in his Cheat Sheet subscriber-only, online publication. Shabazz included no comments from Wright on the complaint filed against him.

This morning, Wright received a phone call from ACFE’s general counsel, Carrie Kelly, who advised him that no action was being taken in response to the complaint. Carrie Kelly, ACFE Associate General Counsel, called me this morning to confirm that the ACFE had reviewed the complaint letter and had responded to the sender that there was no violation…

My guess? Mark Helmke, Lugar’s Communications Director, and David Willkie, Lugar’s spokesman conspired to retaliate against Mr. Wright not only to shut him down, but to cost him his career. It failed.

Stay classy Dick.