Discussion of Indictments with Kelty Insider

I was hoping to speak with Mark Garvin, Kelty campaign spokesman, before the decision on the indictments were handed down. However, by the time I got around to contacting Mark the indictments and the press conference had already taken place. I figured he might be too busy to discuss the situation but much to Mark's credit he took the time to meet with me and discuss the situation.

One thing that has surprised me throughout the day is that NOBODY had any information on what was going to happen. And even after the indictments were handed down people still didn't know the details and Mark was no exception. I was actually quite surprised to find Mark upbeat and hopeful about the current situation. He adamantly disagrees with my (and the grand jury's) interpretation of the campaign finance statutes and maintains that Matt Kelty followed the law in his campaign finance reports. Like nearly everyone I spoke to, he was unclear about the perjury charges and couldn't offer any additional information.

He told me that the campaign had prepared for either grand jury outcome and he reiterated that Matt Kelty would not be withdrawing his candidacy. He admitted that this would likely hurt fundraising efforts but that they were going to ratchet up the campaign to a new level nonetheless. They are going to be more aggressive by pushing certain issues even harder than in the past and they are going to ask for even more effort from their volunteers. He also expected Kelty to use this situation to work harder than he has been which frankly I'm not sure is even possible.

One of the issues Mark mentioned was Harrison Square and that Matt Kelty has been steadfastly against the project from day one. He also said that HS was still extremely unpopular with the citizens and if Tom Henry was going to continue the path of the Graham Richard administration then that might bode well for Kelty.

I asked Mark if there was any animosity from Kelty towards Republican insiders that might've pushed for this inquiry and he said that if there was then Matt was extremely good at hiding it because he's seen no sign of it. Our meeting was cut short due the Kelty rally at the courthouse, but the one thing I took away from this meeting was that the Kelty campaign was not demoralized - they were not going to give up or even sulk for a day. Kelty's campaign is still energized and willing to fight for their candidate...