Many of you know that Indiana's Secretary of State, Charlie White, is in hot water for voting in a precinct in which he no longer lived and continuing to serve on the town council of an Indianapolis suburb after moving out of that town. White himself admits that he voted in the wrong precinct and dragged his feet in changing his address. He currently faces seven felony counts, any one of which would automatically force him out of office. However, in the last week, action has taken place that, to my mind, likely assures that White will be out of a job in any event.
Last Friday, a judge ordered the state Recount Commission to reconsider a legal challenge to White's place on the ballot.
Marion Circuit Judge Louis Rosenberg said the commission's interpretation of the law when it dismissed questions of White's eligibility would "undermine a key purpose of (the law): preventing fraud."
[snip]
The Democrats said their claim shouldn't have been dismissed because a state law that requires candidates for secretary of state to be registered to vote means they must be registered legally.
Rosenberg had the right to throw White out of office himself, but opted not to do so. However, according to Jim Shella of Indianapolis CBS affiliate WISH-TV, Rosenberg still has the right to issue a ruling himself if the Commission doesn't follow his orders to his satisfaction. And based on the wording of the ruling, it's hard to imagine White keeping his job.
If Rosenberg or the Commission bounce White from office, Vop Osili, the Democrat who lost in the race, would become Secretary of State by default. If he's forced out of office by the criminal case, Mitch Daniels will be able to appoint a replacement.
Earlier, Shella wrote that White's stupidity could have a ripple effect all the way up the ballot. Under Indiana law, a party's Secretary of State candidate has to garner at least 10 percent of the vote to retain major-party status. If White gets bounced out of office in the civil case, the Republicans will have legally received no votes in the Secretary of State's race--which would knock them down to minor-party status. If this were to happen, it would instantly give us a fighting chance of taking Dick Lugar's Senate seat.
How's that? Well, Lugar faces a teabagger challenge from state treasurer Richard Mourdock. If the Repubs were dropped to minor-party status, the Senate nominee would have to be chosen at a state convention--one that would almost certainly be tilted far to the right. By nearly all accounts, Lugar wouldn't stand a chance of coming out as the nominee. Remember, state conventions are the primary reason Mark Warner and Mike Lee are in the Senate in the first place. So White's stupidity could potentially cost the Repubs a Senate seat--or at the very least force them to spend a ton of money in a state where they can't afford to spend it.
Oh, and as a bit of comic opera to this affair--the state Republican Party chairman still insists that White was elected legally.
Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb on Wednesday said Hoosier voters fairly elected Charlie White to office last fall.
“He won the election,” said Holcomb, who was in Fort Wayne addressing the Downtown GOP Club. “The votes counted. We’ll move on from there.”
So let's see if we've got this right. White admits to being illegally registered, and yet Holcomb still thinks he was elected fairly? Riiiight. I thought the Republicans were supposed to be so zealous about insisting that election laws be enforced to the letter. Drop Holcomb a line at eholcomb at ingop dot org.