ALLEN COUNTY COURT DOCKET #
020C01-1503-MI-000256
duplicate copy & supporting evidence:020C01-1503-MI-000256
cross referenced with blog post link
here:
http://roach4mayor.blogspot.com/2015/03/legal-appeal-aceb-hearing-of-02-18-2015.html
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Candidate complaints call for withdrawals
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The Allen County Election Board is reviewing new complaints filed against 27 candidates in the Fort Wayne municipal primary. Gina Burgess, who is also running for city council at-large on the Democratic ticket, filed the 40 allegations on Tuesday.
“Most of these mistakes are things people have taken for granted, but there’s actual legal statute out there [that dictates it],” Burgess said. “Minor things or not, they’re still legally required things.”
Burgess’s complaints include saying candidates didn’t use their correct name on filing forms, didn’t appropriately show they are in good standing with their political party and didn’t disclose all their economic interests. In her complaint, she said “evidence would be presented at a hearing on the matter” and she requested that “candidates listed be compelled to produce documents either [to] confirm or refute the allegations.”
“People are not reporting their business interests, not reporting their spouse’s employment and not reporting their spouse’s business interests,” Burgess said. “The standard is what [the name is] on your birth certificate is what you have to have on your CAN-42 form. When I started looking at the seriousness of the mistakes by the incumbents, I thought, ‘Wow! Something needs to be done here. We’re getting further and further down a slippery slope.'”
Burgess is asking for the Election Board to hold a hearing and for candidates in violation to withdraw from the race, or face a potential perjury charge, which is a Class D Felony.
“This is about principle and procedures and I think things will change for the better in the future, but that change has to start somewhere,” Burgess said. “Politically, this will be painful for me because I made people mad on both sides of the aisle. I did this non-partisan.”
Andy Downs with the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics and a former Election Board member said it’s too late for candidates to be taken off the ballot, even if they wanted to be.
“Early voting has started. The ballot has been mailed out, in some cases,” he said. “It is not possible to get names off the ballot. There’s also a deadline by which these complaints have to be filed and those deadlines passed a long time ago.”
Downs also said some of the alleged violations don’t actually break the law.
“If she would have read the next section, she would have seen that nicknames are perfectly acceptable to have on the ballot. You have to look at the rest of the Code and you can’t read it in isolation,” Downs said.
Indiana Code states that questions concerning the validity of a candidate have to be filed 81 days before the primary election, which would have been February 13.
But, Burgess said the Allen County Election Board mishandled complaints filed within that deadline by Democratic mayoral candidate David Roach. The board held a hearing on February 18 in which it did take one candidate off the ballot and dismissed the rest of the complaints. Roach is now appealing in court. On Facebook, Burgess wrote to the board, “if you are willing to engage and settle the matter of Roach v ACEB before the primary” then she would drop her complaints against the 27 candidates.
“I’m willing to withdraw them even though they are valid because I believe the Election Board will be more vigilant in the future, but this other case needs to stop being in legal limbo and needs to move on,” Burgess said.
Downs was at the hearing for Roach’s complaints and said he thinks the board did take them seriously.
“[Roach] did himself some damage by saying he looked for evidence and couldn’t find any, but you should keep looking. I can make that same claim about anybody, and that’s not a credible reason to investigate,” Downs said.
Burgess argues that the Election Board is picking and choosing when to investigate complaints or not and that its members need to be consistent. Downs said that there has to be a credible reason for the board to launch an investigation beyond the documents that are filed with the board.
“Someone saying I don’t think you’ve listed all your economic interests is not a credible reason. I can say that about anybody. There has to be a reason to investigate and simply saying there is one is not one,” Downs said.
Tom Hardin, a member of the Election Board, said they received Burgess’s complaints and he and his fellow members are reviewing them. He didn’t know when or if a hearing would be held. The board’s next regular meeting is April 15.
The primary election is May 5.
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