taking down words

Island Of Misfit Toys: Wingnuts, GOP Moderates Clash In Allen County

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette's Tracy Warner writes this morning about the state of the Allen County Republican Party. Hint: The wingnuts are crusading for power, and the result ain't pretty.

While the local Republican Party has seen previous battles between its usually successful moderate faction and its right wing, the rancor stemming from last year’s mayoral race is more virulent and seething longer than usual, resulting in a rare fight for control of the party.

The fight has resulted in an unusually high number of candidates for precinct committeemen – and an even more unusual number of contested races – in the May 6 primary. Among other duties, precinct committeemen elect the party’s county chairman, and some of the party’s conservative members want to remove the more moderate county chairman, Steve Shine.

Clueless about the real reasons their candidate, Matt Kelty, lost last November’s election (his campaign was awful and voters didn’t trust him), some hard-right party members are still lashing out against the party hierarchy in the wake of Tom Henry’s victory over Kelty in the mayoral race last November. Conservatives John Becker, a former state representative, and Marvin Hoot (whose wife prepared the infamous Kelty birthday cake) are reportedly behind the efforts to slate candidates for precinct committeemen. They want to put the conservative wing in position to name the next party chairman.

The list of precinct candidates reads almost like a who’s who of Kelty supporters and other disaffected party members. The Kelty camp includes both Kelty himself and Glenna Jehl, his campaign manager, both of whom already hold precinct committee posts and are seeking re-election; Hoot, a former East Allen County Schools board member; business executive Don Willis; attorney Tom Blee; Deb-Anne Smith, executive assistant to New Haven Mayor Terry McDonald; and Dan Turkette, who authors a rather mean-spirited blog formerly called Angry White Boy.

Please Pass The Slate: Local Party Insiders Pick Their Horses Today

UPDATE: In the two contested Indiana House districts, Stephanie DeKemper won against Robin Olds in House District 92, and Mary Ann Sullivan won against Dane Mahern in House District 97. Garland Graves, Jim Osborn and Lou Rosenberg were slated for the open positions on the Marion County bench. Debbie Jenkins was slated over incumbent Marion County Surveyor Mary Catherine Barton.

For those of you in Marion County, it's local party slating day. TDW has live-blogged such events in the past, but Baby TDW complicates matters in that department.

So, feel free to make this thread your home for all things slating-related. Yours truly will try to bring you some updates later today.

For now, we're all dressed up with some place to go:

Fight The Good Fight: Matt Kelty Case Will Head To Trial In August

Prepare thyself for trial, Matt Kelty.

They plan to appeal the decision, but lawyers for former Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty could not persuade an Allen Superior Court judge to dismiss felony charges of perjury and filing fraudulent campaign finance reports against their client.

Kelty's trial is scheduled to start Aug. 18 and last up to two weeks. A grand jury indicted him in August on seven felony and two misdemeanor charges. The perjury charges stem from accusations he lied to a grand jury about who funded a public opinion poll favorable to him.

In a hearing Friday, Judge Kenneth Scheibenberger swatted down the legal equivalent of a Hail Mary pass by Kelty's lawyers, who attempted to get the case dismissed by challenging Indiana's campaign-finance laws. "Some of the issues you raise will be decided on by a jury and not me," Scheibenberger told Indianapolis attorneys Larry Mackey and Jason Barclay.

Kelty sat stoically in the courtroom awaiting Scheibenberger's decision, keeping his eyes on the bench. Afterward, he shook hands and gave hugs to supporters and family who flooded the courtroom.

Mackey said he planned to file an appeal with Scheibenberger and the Indiana Appellate Court in 10 to 14 days. Scheibenberger would have to allow the appellate court to review the decision, Mackey said. Though he indicated such an appeal would "disrupt" the proceedings, he did not know if it would delay the trial.

"We'll be asking for an appeal but also getting ready for the trial," Mackey said.

Oh, Larryville: He Drinks Whole Milk But Skims A Little Off The Top

UPDATE: Ricketts' latest racket may require Council approval:

A $15,000 pay increase approved for Lawrence Mayor Paul Ricketts by the city's Utility Service Board last week might need approval by the City Council before the mayor can bank the extra money.

Legal authorities are checking to see whether the OK from the utility board is enough to seal the deal.

"I think it's not cut and dried," said James Gutting, the city's corporation counsel and the lawyer representing the board. "Certainly, I think the mayor is interested in making sure all provisions are met that are necessary."

Gutting plans to review the question with the City Council's attorney today.

If needed, Ricketts said, he would be willing to make his case with the council.

This should come as no surprise to anyone:

Mayor Paul Ricketts will be making $80,000 this year — the $65,000 annual salary he receives to lead the city of Lawrence, plus another $15,000 for additional work with the city’s water and sewer utilities.

The additional money was unanimously approved last week by the city's five-member Utility Service Board, which oversees the utilities’ operations.

The boost in Ricketts' pay is part of a resolution that also adds $12,500 to Controller Kimberly M. Diller's salary and pays the board's secretary $3,600. In addition, it provides $65,000 annually for a graphic information system coordinator.

Ricketts said the money compensates him, and the other city employees, for additional work they are doing to aid the water and sewer utilities’ operations.

“These were not duties that were part of the mayor’s job when I ran for it,” said Ricketts, who added that an $80,000 yearly salary puts his pay in line with that of mayors of cities of similar size.

Old News: Legal Team Hopes Missing Dots And Crosses Will Save Kelty

Matt Kelty: Disgraced. Defeated. Still fighting this losing battle. (Because even if he prevails in a court of law, he's still going to be Matt Kelty.)

"Attorneys for defeated Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty filed a renewed request to have a nine-count criminal indictment against him tossed out.

"In a motion filed Tuesday, Indianapolis-based attorneys Larry Mackey and Jason Barclay argue special prosecutor Dan Sigler obtained a faulty indictment from the grand jury.

"They base this argument on a December motion filed by Sigler seeking to amend the indictments to include the words “knowingly and intentionally” under the elements of the crime, words left off in what Sigler characterized as a 'scrivener's error.'

"In August, a grand jury issued a nine-count indictment against Kelty alleging that he improperly handled campaign contributions and that he lied in his testimony to the grand jury."

Big Headlines: It's Been Quite A Year For Political Hacks And Junkies

The Louisville Courier-Journal's Lesley Stedman Weidenbener runs through her picks for top political stories of the year. Boiled down to bullet points, they are:

• Property taxes
• The anti-incumbent electoral mood
• Property tax plans
• Baron Hill's return to Congress
• David Long's ascension to the top job in the Indiana Senate
• The cigarette tax hike
• Slots at the tracks
• Julia Carson's death

There's still a week left before we officially ring in the new year, but what stories make your 2007 list?

You Can't Look Away: Ring In The New Year With More Kelty Woes

Matt Kelty, still making news six weeks after he lost the Fort Wayne mayoral election:

"Many supporters of failed GOP mayoral nominee Matt Kelty point to his clearing by the Allen County Election Board as proof the charges against him are politically motivated.

"Kelty attorneys even argued the party-line 2-1 vote by the board should have prevented further investigation.

"Special Prosecutor Dan Sigler, however, took the election board to task for doing a cursory look into Kelty's finances. In his response to a motion to dismiss Kelty's charges, Sigler, a Democrat, wrote that the Republicans asked only one question before the board voted to find no violation.

"Sigler wrote that the board disregarded its power to question witnesses under oath and its power of subpoena.

"'The board ignored its investigative powers and had an absolute minimum invested in examining the defendant (Kelty's) violations,' he wrote.

"By contrast, Sigler said the grand jury met for more than a week and interviewed 15 witnesses and examined thousands of pages of bank records, e-mail and other documents.

"Andy Downs, Democratic member of the board, said all of Sigler's assertions were accurate, noting he thought he asked several good questions that weren't answered by Kelty or his attorney, Jim Bopp.

"'We didn't push the issue very far,; Downs said.

"David Wright, Republican member of the board, said he still doesn't believe Kelty broke campaign finance law and felt the board did everything it was supposed to do.

"'What does he (Sigler) expect us to do?' he said. 'It's not a grand jury. We don't go out and investigate.'"

Yeah! Didn't he get the memo that we were just supposed to act as the whitewashing arm of the local GOP?

Let There Be Light: The Push To Disclose Parts Of Kelty Grand Jury Record

His political star faded long ago, but indicted Fort Wayne Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty still gets to see his name in the papers. Too bad that old no-such-thing-as-bad-publicity thing isn't true 100 percent of the time. The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports:

"Even before the trial begins, the special prosecutor handling the case against defeated mayoral candidate Matt Kelty wants the public to see some of what was said to an Allen County grand jury.

"In a motion filed Friday, along with a lengthy response to the defense's motion to dismiss the nine-count criminal indictment, special prosecutor Dan Sigler asked Allen Superior Judge Kenneth Scheibenberger to permit portions of the grand jury testimony to be included in the public record of the case.

"When Kelty's defense team filed a motion to dismiss in late October, it also requested that the grand jury transcript be sealed. That request was granted without a hearing or response from the special prosecutor, according to court documents.

"Since then, Kelty has made numerous public statements that have 'gone beyond simply professing his innocence and which have directly intimated the charges were falsely brought and the prosecution politically motivated,' Sigler argued.

"Such statements are an attempt to undermine the public's trust, Sigler said.

"'We’re honoring the court order,' Sigler said in an interview. '(Kelty) has gone out and spoken to the public on his own and without permission. I see a difference between saying you are innocent, which any defendant can do … but to start talking about political motivations.'

"Indiana law requires grand jury proceedings be secret. Disclosure of information is a misdemeanor."

The Fallen Mighty: Allen County GOP Short On Cash After Election

The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reports on trouble in paradise for the GOP operation in Allen County:

"Indiana's 'premier political organization' might not have enough money to keep the lights on this Christmas thanks in part to some lingering resentment over the past election.

"Allen County Republican Party Chairman Steve Shine sent a letter Thursday to party supporters asking for donations as the party faces a financial crunch. He said a 'perfect storm' of events has forced the party to seek $20,000 by Jan. 31 to pay its bills.

"'The ability to maintain our current headquarters location, to have a fulltime operations manager and to keep and maintain a computer system with up-to-date software are all threatened by our current situation,' he wrote.

"The letter several times stresses the urgency of the situation, but Shine said seeking money to pay bills at the end of the year is common for the party.

"He said the party previously borrowed $19,000 from former county Commissioner Ed Rousseau and still owes $15,000 to state Sen. Tom Wyss.

"Instead of seeking money from a lone donor, Shine said it was more appropriate this time to ask everyone to chip in.

"Shine acknowledged 2007 was a turbulent year for the party, noting that the party's annual golf fundraiser didn’t bring in as much cash as normal.

"Much of the discord in the party centered on its failed mayoral nominee, Matt Kelty, who was indicted on campaign finance and perjury charges during the campaign. The situation got so contentious that Shine disbanded the executive committee, which included some of the party’s most influential advisers and donors."

Pass The Hat: Kelty Trying To Raise Cash For His Legal Defense Fund

Matt Kelty. Matt Kelty? The name sounds familiar. Ah, right. The bright, shining GOP star who was supposed to take Fort Wayne in a new political direction until he ran into a pesky thing we like to call the law. The election is over, but his legal woes are not:

"Fort Wayne Mayoral Candidate Matt Kelty is reaching out to supporters for aid in fighting his criminal case.

"According to a report in the News-Sentinel, Kelty has sent a letter to backers, asking for contributions to his legal defense fund.

"Kelty was arrested in August on nine grand jury indictments related to his failed campaign for mayor.

"According to the Sentinel, the letter emphasizes the charges against Kelty are false, and must be vigorously defended so other people aren't discouraged from seeking office.

"We tried to contact Kelty for comment on this story, but he did not return messages."

If he hadn't pulled the holier-than-thou act on the campaign trail, you'd almost be tempted to feel sorry for the guy.