Monday, October 29, 2007

Does Anyone Take the Election Board Seriously?

My communications with the election board lead me to believe they are going to call Matt Kelty's failure to file a CFA-11 for Dan Turkette's contribution a "late filing". Give me a break. The only reason it was filed at all, 5 months late, is because I reported it missing. If one uses the election board's logic then the very act of identifying a report as missing would make it a "late" filing. In other words, there is no possible scenario that anyone could get in trouble for not filing a report.

When Robert Enders filed the LPAC report a few days after the deadline - that was a late filing. When a candidate indicted on 7 campaign finance related charges retroactively files a report after a citizen complaint - that is a failure to file. Is there any other board in all of Allen County that is as ineffective and in need of a complete overhaul than the Allen County Election Board?

14 comments:

J Q Taxpayer said...

I am not surprised and not because it is Kelty. I think even Andy wants the system to work.

I still pose this question. Of all monies given them why would it be Dan T.'s money not showing up? Outside the blog world and inside the confines of the GOP office how many people know Dan T. that well. I still am not sure of their reason.

As for the boards and commissions that dance to their own tune. Gosh, that is a subject for after the election but I feel there is a fair number that could be done away with and no one would miss them.

Kevin Knuth said...

Jeff,

I am going to AGREE with the election board on this one.

To the best of my knowledge, the law does not define the difference between "late" and "not filed" based on how much time has elapsed.

Now if the law DOES make that distinction, then I will agree with you!

Jeff Pruitt said...

So there's no point to ever filing a large contribution form before the primary. It's easier to just wait and see if anyone catches it and then pay the $100 fine. What a model of transparency.

I stand by my statement on this election board - they have acted as accomplices to Matt Kelty and helped undermine our campaign finance reporting system

Jeff Pruitt said...

And you probably wouldn't even have to pay the $100 considering this election board never fines anyone for anything...

J Q Taxpayer said...

Jeff,

The election board can be either a royal pain in the butt for everyone or try to make the system work.

While Kelty has maybe made some errors that you would like to see him fined for is fine. But would you say the same thing to some guy who runs for an office, raises maybe $200, and accidently messes up. Should he be busted for $100?

Even Andy Downs told me last year or so, "We try to make the system work!"

My guess if the Election Board went through every report filed with a the finest of combs many many more people, from both parties, would be paying fines.

Maybe we should hire seven or eight Election Board Police. They will take every report, check every donation to make sure money was not passed through others, that the date is correct, and every other detail of the law is followed.

We can not pick which rules we want held to the letter of the law without doing the same for all. Do we want to spend the money to make sure every detail of all reports are meeting the letter of the law or just those that someone private person finds?

I am not defending Kelty's group but I just wonder if we are going to check everyone to the same level or only to the level some private citizen wants, for one person running for office?

david said...

I think it is really tough to separate this one - though I can understand why it might slip through.

The question we must all ask ourselves is how many little mistakes show a trend ? At what point are all these events from the Kelty crowd not just coincidences ? I'm all for giving the benefit of the doubt - but after similar mistakes are made over and over again - instincts should tell you something.

DaveC

nonothing said...

does anyone take these charges seriously. it always amazes me that liberals go to the courts to win elections. is it because your bereft of ideas? are you thinking hey everyone knows we are going to tax and spend so lets try to take this election by legal means. the fact is the charges are meaningless your afraid they kelty will win on his ideas so you search every move he has ever taken looking for a slip up.

take this to heart even if henry wins its a hollow victory no one cares when kelty filed paper work or how he got his money this is left to you nut jobs who surprisingly cast a blind eye on your own candidates finances and paper work.

nonothing said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
david said...

At least we don't cast a blind eye on our own candidates integrity. I'm not pro-Henry but I can tell you that I can smell a trend a hundred miles away and the trend I smell coming out of the Kelty camp is mismanagement and disorganization. I would have voted for Kelty back in May/June but I cannot turn my head against repeated mishaps.
It may not be Matt himself - he seems like a nice guy - perhaps it is the people he surrounds himself with. I can only assume those people would continue to surround him in office. Thus far, I have not seen Henry or his staff try to "cover things up" and that is good enough to get my vote at this stage with the choices at hand.

BTW - this is not a liberal vs conservative thing.

nonothing said...

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

this IS a liberal conservative thing you just like to lie to yourself it makes you feel better.

watch how many of you cast a blind eye to the presidential campaign

ps you never had a doubt for who you were voting for just another comment to make yourself feel good

david said...

Dead Serious. I think the world is much more complex than the black/white, us versus them picture you paint. I just got back from voting at the City/County building. Here is who I voted for:

Mayor - Tom Henry
2nd District - Didier
At Large, Shoaff, Brown, Crawford

I'm pro-Harrison Square - but I voted for Shoaff. Why ? He had some of the best arguments against it. I think he is intelligent and will provide good balance in council.

I suppose that makes me a liberal. For president, I'm voting for Rudy at the moment. I'm a registered Republican - I vote for the people I feel would run office the best not based on party or conservative vs. liberal. It's called being a moderate - and I think there are a whole lot of us.

david said...

typo - i meant 3rd district

Jeff Pruitt said...

City politics are about as non-partisan as possible. Anyone that thinks otherwise simply hasn't been paying attention

John Good said...

David & Jeff -

Cut nonothing some slack here - at least he's upfront about his views and choices. The name says it all.