Matt Kelty's Motion to Dismiss is Denied

As expected the judge denied Kelty's motion to dismiss - I doubt this was a real shock to anybody. Dan Turkette of Fort Wayne News was in the courthouse and you can read his coverage here.

According to Turkette the trial date was set for Aug 18 in order to give the defense time to appeal the judge's ruling. Seems like a waste of time and money to me - money Kelty surely doesn't have at this point...

Election Board Member Should Resign

Months ago during the Election Board's first hearing on Matt Kelty's campaign finance violations, board member David Wright informed all those in attendance that it would be his final hearing because he would be stepping down. Wright then went on to embarrass himself and the sully the board's credibility by not asking a single substantive question during the hearing. Readers might remember that I rightly chastised the board at that time.

It was a pathetic display all around. The two Republican board members (Therese Brown and David Wright) asked ONE question between the two of them and Bopp didn't directly answer a SINGLE QUESTION from Andy Downs' (D) list.

Now we find out that special prosecutor Dan Sigler feels the same way I do:

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.

The Election Board should certainly be embarrassed by their handling of the Kelty complaint. Andy Downs was the only member of the board that took that hearing seriously and actually tried to get answers out of the Kelty campaign. While his approach was ineffective, it should be noted that he was completely stonewalled by Jim Bopp with the help of the other two board members.

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.

Instead of owning up for abdicating his duties as Board Member David Wright continues to make excuses and they're simply unconvincing:

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.”

Well that's true I suppose - this board certainly didn't go out and investigate. But I have news for Wright, something he should obviously know as a member of the Election Board, he can investigate. In fact it's spelled out right there for him in the Indiana Code:

IC 3-9-4-13
Audits; investigations
Sec. 13. The election division and each county election board shall make audits and field investigations from time to time with respect to reports and statements filed under this article and with respect to an alleged failure to file a report or statement required under this article. The election division may request the state board of accounts to assist in the performance of audits the election division considers necessary, and the state board of accounts may perform the audits that are requested.

It's time for some changes...

Election Board Hearing Coverage

I won't be able to attend the Election Board hearing about the unreported contribution from Dan Turkette to the Kelty for Mayor campaign. It would be great if another blogger/citizen that was there would post their thoughts on what transpires. If you don't have your own blog then e-mail me your comments and I'll be happy to post them later tonight...

The meeting will take place at 3pm in the City-County Building in the Commissioner's Conference room. That's the meeting room directly atop the escalators. Here's the official meeting notice that describes what's going to take place.

New Kelty Charge? (Updated)

Rumor has it that Kelty may be facing a new charge with regards to his failure to file the proper paperwork related to a $1000 contribution from blogger Dan Turkette. Readers may remember that this violation was originally discovered and reported right here at FWL. I'll keep you posted...

UPDATE: There's no new charges but there will be an Election Board hearing on the matter this Friday according to a report from Indiana NewsCenter. Needless to say Election Board member Therese Brown did not sound very happy with the Kelty campaign. The report mentions that the board is going to determine whether it was a failure to file a report or a "late" filing. I've already weighed in on this before and I think calling this a late filing is a joke. He filed it five and a half months late and only after I reported it was missing.

UPDATE2: More from the JG. Lanka reports that the Election Board will at least try to define parameters that will distinguish a failure to file from a late filing. As Knuth mentioned in the comments the law doesn't do that, so the board is taking a step in the right direction by trying to clarify this for future filings...

News Summary

I was out of town all day today and so, as you can see, there wasn't much posting going on. However there were a few things I wanted to mention.

1. WBOI had a great two part story about the local blogosphere. When I was interviewed for the story I was unsure which direction they were going to go but I must say that I'm impressed. Anyone that was unfamiliar with blogs would have a much better sense of what they're all about after listening to this story. So a big thank you to Don Clemmer and Jeanette Dillon for doing this story.



2. Thanks to Steve Shine for plugging our New Media, New Rules upcoming panel discussion on WOWO this morning.



3. Special prosecutor Dan Sigler rightfully lashed out at Matt Kelty this morning and called him "completely untruthful". Of course this isn't news to me as I've been saying that for months. A nickel's worth of free advice to Kelty. Pissing off the special prosecutor by making personal attacks claiming he's "politically motivated" is probably not wise when you're facing multiple felonies. Is there anything this guy can't screw up? I was going to post Sigler's response but Dan Turkette already has the documents and they should go up sometime tomorrow



4. Sylvia Smith had several good articles about Senator Bayh's wife and her "career" as a full time corporate board member. It just shows that if you can't buy off a Senator you can always buy off their spouse.



5. I see councilman Tom Didier is considering the idea of not rolling back the smoking ban. I know Didier is ultimately against the ban but his rational is right on the money on this one.

Prosecutor Responds to Kelty Dismissal

According to the JG, special prosecutor Dan Sigler has filed a response to the Kelty legal team's motion to dismiss. Also, Sigler has requested that part of Kelty's grand jury testimony be released to the public. Sounds like he wants the public to see the context of Kelty's testimony related to the perjury charges.

If it's not available anywhere else by tomorrow (can't do it today) then I'll head down to the courthouse and post Sigler's response for anyone that wants to read it...

Fred Rost Helped Destroy the Kelty Campaign

I couldn't help but laugh at Fred Rost's guest column at FortWayneNews. The man passes blame around to everybody except himself. The "differences" he lists between Kelty and Henry are full of half-truths and outright lies, and it's not even worth my time to rebut them as they are that ridiculous. However, I will say that from day one Fred Rost has unintentionally undermined the Kelty campaign. At the end of the day Rost's insistence on secrecy will be the undoing of Matt Kelty.

First he didn't want to admit he commissioned the Harrison Square poll, then he didn't mention anything about Willis, then the loan he gives shows up as coming from Kelty instead of from him. So Matt Kelty should ask himself - "Where would I be if not for Fred Rost?" I'm not sure he would've won the primary but he wouldn't be facing 22 years in jail and he wouldn't have the tarnished reputation he has now.

Kelty is ultimately responsible for the decisions he made but Rost certainly didn't make it easy. It's easy to use people, to let others do your work while hiding in the shadows, but that's not what a friend does. A friend stands beside you as march into the fire. A friend stands beside you when you get burned. A friend never passes the buck when he deserves his fair share of the blame.

With friends like Rost, Kelty doesn't need enemies...

The Matt Kelty Timeline

I put together this chronology of the Kelty campaign as a service to the readers of this site. If any of you are still undecided on who to vote for then please just read this timeline. Also, I'm sure there's a few items I've missed so if you notice something then post it in the comments and I'll add it...

October 10, 2006 - Matt Kelty declares he will run for mayor

January 18 - Kelty outraises Nelson Peters in the first campaign finance reporting period. The majority of his $171k raised comes from a "personal" $148k loan. When asked about this Kelty responds "How can I ask others to support me if I haven’t invested in myself?"

February 7 - Kelty runs a newspaper ad using the Indianapolis Colts trademark without permission

February 22 - Election board chastises Kelty campaign for sending out illegal absentee ballot forms

April 7 - Matt Kelty says 9000 residents were polled in Harrison Square poll - turns out it was only 401.

April 13 - Kelty says he doesn't know who all is involved in the commissioning of the Harrison Square poll but says they aren't directly involved in any campaigns. Of course we later learn that Fred Rost commissioned the poll and then we learn that he also loaned Kelty $148k for his campaign. Most would call that direct involvement.

April 16 - Kelty campaign places illegal sign on downtown building with some in the campaign claiming it was a "banner" and not a sign

April 17 - Kelty unleashes his grand vision for Fort Wayne - the Kelty Dome. He wants to put a glass enclosure over downtown and claims he's producing renderings. No word of who in the private sector will fund such a venture

April 20 - Fred Rost admits he commissioned the Harrison Square poll but doesn't mention Don Willis' role

May 8 - Kelty wins Republican primary

May 14 - Kelty is asked by party members how he could afford to loan his campaign $148k. He attempts to bamboozle them saying "my wife and I live a very frugal lifestyle"

May 24 - Kelty files addendum to campaign finance report to show Rost as the source for the $148k loan

May 31 - Kelty hires Jim Bopp to save the day after receiving heavy scrutiny for his campaign finance report

June 19 - Election board holds a hearing to rule on Kelty's campaign finance reports where they rule in Kelty's favor on a 2-1 party line vote. The hearing is a complete whitewash as the Republicans on the board only ask a single softball question between the two of them.

July 3 - Allen County prosecutor Karen Richards appoints special prosecutor Dan Sigler to take over the Kelty campaign finance investigation. Sigler appoints a grand jury

July 9 - In a Fort Wayne Left exclusive, councilman Sam Talarico becomes the first elected official to bash Kelty

July 13 - Kelty reneges on his plan to cut property taxes by 10%

July 21 - Congressman Mark Souder becomes the only elected official to public endorse Kelty

August 14 - Kelty Indicted on 9 counts including 7 felonies. Two of the seven felony indictments are for perjury related to his grand jury testimony

August 21 - GOP executive committee holds an informal vote and the majority are against Kelty's candidacy

August 23 - Ken Neumeister, president of the executive committee,resigns because he can't support Kelty

August 23 - Shine disbands executive committee

August 23 - Kelty lies to Mark Mellinger when asked whether or not anyone in the GOP asked him to step down. This is such a blatant lie that Mellinger repeats the question 4 times but Kelty doesn't budge.

August 23 - Kelty claims he's just a poor kid from the old Catholic Ghetto. Of course he actually lived in Forest Park which is synonymous with money.

August 23 - Kelty lies about whether or not he knew who was involved in the HS poll in an interview with Mark Mellinger

August 24 - Former GOP Vice Chair Cathy Hawks publicly endorses Tom Henry

September 16 - Kelty bashes mayor Richard for not doing enough to support the FWCS facilities petition drive. Of course Kelty never signed either petition and stayed silent during the entire process; to this day it's unclear where he stands on the issue

September 19 - Kelty hires criminal attorneys to defend him against the 9 charges against him including 7 felonies.

September 27 - Tom Henry holds a Republicans for Henry rally. Kelty says he could've had one 4 times that size with Democrats despite no prominent Democrat voicing support for him.

October 7 - Matt Kelty's birthday cake attacks several local Republicans and shows the divisiveness of the campaign. The pictures only become public after the Kelty campaign posts them on their campaign website.

October 9 - Kelty tells Peters he doesn't know what he's talking about when asked about the cake

October 11 - Congressman Mark Souder bashes Kelty

October 15 - Congressman Souder says he hasn't made up his mind whether or not he'll vote for Kelty

October 16 - Congressman Souder publicly withdraws endorsement of Kelty citing his divisive campaign and points to Dan Turkette's blog, FortWayneNews.com, as an example

October 17 - Tom Henry releases campaign finance report early showing he has raised $730k and has over $300k cash on hand. FWL alerts readers to watch for Kelty's inevitable turn to negative campaigning in light of Henry's strong fundraising

October 18 - AFA runs negative ad against Tom Henry.

October 19 - Kelty campaign reports woeful campaign finance numbers. Henry outraises Kelty 2-1

October 19 - Kelty says he hasn't heard the AFA ad and knows nothing about it

October 20 - GOP Chairman Steve Shine rejects AFA ad in a letter drafted to Kelty

October 21 - Kelty is in default on Rost loan as he has only paid back $30k and not the $100k required by the promissory note.

October 22 - Kelty violates campaign finance laws again by not reporting Turkette's $1000 contribution before the primary. Every single contribution was reported except Turkette's.

October 23 - Councilman John Crawford denounces negative AFA ad and asks Kelty to do the same

October 23 - Kelty says he is only vaguely familiar with the Metro ordinance targeted in the AFA ad despite the fact that a poll he commissioned specifically asked a question about the ordinance

October 24 - Kelty says he still hasn't heard the ad because he doesn't listen to that particular radio station and because nobody has e-mailed it to him. Of course that is a lie as I personally e-mailed him the ad and I know his campaign received it as they contacted me within a couple of hours of receiving my e-mail

October 27 - Senator Lugar endorses Liz Brown for city council but stays silent on Kelty despite their history. Kelty's website touts his political experience working with Lugar and even has a photo of him with Lugar.

November 1 - Kelty releases a poll with all the information execpt the head-to-head results with Tom Henry where he was likely getting creamed

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?

Political Notebook Covers Kelty's Missing Campaign Finance Form

Today's Political Notebook section of the JG briefly discusses my letter to the election board regarding Matt Kelty's campaign finance violation:

The Allen County Election Board might meet again to talk about the campaign finances of Republican mayoral nominee Matt Kelty.

The board is investigating a complaint that Kelty failed to properly disclose a $1,000 donation before the primary election. Jeff Pruitt, an author of a local left-leaning blog, asked the board Monday to investigate Kelty for not reporting a $1,000 donation given by Dan Turkette, the author of a local right-leaning blog.

Kelty’s most recent campaign filing shows he received $1,000 from Turkette on May 3. State law requires candidates to report contributions $1,000 or larger received after the pre-primary deadline of April 13 and two days before the election of May 8. Kelty did report several other large donations before the primary. The reports are due within 48 hours of a candidate receiving it.

Kelty on Tuesday filed the proper form listing Turkette’s May contribution, although he dated it Oct. 4.

Andy Downs, Democratic election board member, said the matter will be investigated and could result in a fine of up to $100. The board previously agreed to more strictly enforce deadlines.

Readers could interpret this complaint as some blog-war between myself and Dan Turkette. That could not be further from the truth. While we don't agree on some issues we are respectful of one another and this complaint had nothing to do with Dan - it just so happened his contribution was the one that wasn't reported.

Let me just say that the election board should investigate the matter and not simply declare this a "late filing". This was not late - it was never filed at all. It would have never been filed had I not made this public. Let me try and break away from the current Kelty campaign finance issues and discuss the election board in general.

This board does a great disservice to all candidates when it refuses to adhere to state campaign finance laws. The board never fines candidates and thus nobody is ever held accountable. So when a major issue/complaint does come forward there is precedent for ignoring it and calling it business as usual. If you ignore the minor violations but try to clamp down on the major ones, someone will always claim they are the victim of a partisan witch hunt. My advice to the election board would be to enforce all laws and draft a set of written procedures that tell candidates when they will be fined and what that fine will be.

News Sentinel Covers Kelty's Missing Campaign Finance Report

Kathleen Quilligan has a story in today's NS about my letter to the election board regarding Matt Kelty's missing campaign finance report.

Jeff Pruitt, a contributor to the blog Fort Wayne Left, wrote the election board Monday, saying the Kelty for Mayor campaign did not file the appropriate paperwork after it received a $1,000 donation from Kelty supporter and fellow blogger Dan Turkette.

The donation was received by the campaign May 3, which was after the pre-primary finance report deadline, April 13. According to Indiana statute, candidates are required to file paperwork listing contributions of $1,000 or more after that deadline until 48 hours before the primary election.

"I hope that they apply the law as it's supposed to be applied, because I don't think they did last time,” said Pruitt, adding he wasn't sure if his reading of the law is correct.

Kelty said his campaign became aware there was a question that they filed the correct paperwork for the contribution after the Election Board closed Monday night. He said the campaign was looking through its files to make sure the donation was recorded properly, and if it discovered there was an oversight, it would talk with the Election Board this morning.

“In the closing days of the election, all kinds of checks come in,” Kelty said.

Readers might remember that although "all kinds of checks come in" right before the primary the only one that happened to not have a supplemental filing was Dan Turkette's. I hope to have more on this later today.

Quilligan's article states that the fine for a late filing can be up to $100. But let's not kid ourselves, this isn't a late filing, this is a failure of the Kelty campaign to file the required report. So what's the penalty for that?

IC 3-14-1-14
Failure to file required report
Sec. 14. A person who fails to file a report with the proper office as required by IC 3-9 commits a Class B misdemeanor.

IC 35-50-3-3
Class B misdemeanor
Sec. 3. A person who commits a Class B misdemeanor shall be imprisoned for a fixed term of not more than one hundred eighty (180) days; in addition, he may be fined not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

Letter to the Election Board Regarding Kelty Supplemental Filing

October 22, 2007

Election Board
1 Main St - Room 136
Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Members of the Election Board,

I write to request an inquiry into mayoral nominee Matt Kelty’s campaign finance report as it relates to Ind. Code Sec. 3-9-5-20.1.

Specifically, his latest CFA-4 Schedule A-1 report shows an individual contribution from Dan Turkette for $1000 on 5/3/2007 (page 12 of 133). However, there was no supplemental CFA-11 form filed for this contribution prior to the primary election on 5/8/2007. There was a large contribution from John Tippmann on the same day and that contribution did make its way into a CFA-11 before the election. It is my understanding that under state law any contribution of $1000 or more that comes after the CFA-4 deadline, but more than 48 hours before the election, must have a CFA-11 supplemental report.

I am writing to formally request that the election board investigate this matter and issue their opinion.

Sincerely,

Jeff Pruitt

Matt Kelty Violates Campaign Finance Laws AGAIN

My own investigation has found that Matt Kelty improperly reported a "large contribution" on his campaign finance report. This contribution came from none other than Dan Turkette - author of the Fort Wayne News blog.

This report clearly shows Turkette gave $1000 to the Kelty campaign on 5/3/2007 which was just before the primary election that was held on May 8. Under state law any contribution over $1000 given between the campaign finance reporting deadline and 48 hours before the primary election must have a supplemental filing - form CFA-11.

I went through all of Kelty's supplemental filings and Turkette's name did not show up anywhere. In fact, a contribution from John Tippmann that came in on the same day was reported properly in a supplemental. I even went a step further in thinking that maybe this was some sort of oversight and several contributions might not have made it into the supplemental due to some kind of paperwork error. So I made a list of every contribution that should have had a supplemental and compared that to the names on the actual supplementals that were filed. Coincidentally Dan Turkette's contribution was the only one that didn't have a supplemental.

I don't believe there is any doubt that Matt Kelty did not report Dan Turkette's contribution correctly - I've copied the relevant state statute below for those that are interested. The biggest question I would like to know is whether or not this was intentional? Could there be a reason that Kelty didn't want Turkette's contribution reported before the primary? Readers can give their own opinion on that but let's just say this does not look good for Kelty. And before everyone starts blaming Dan Turkette let's all remember that it is the responsibility of the Kelty campaign to report their contributions properly and not the one giving the contribution.

Alas, I am no expert in election law nor am I the final say so all I can do is pass my inquiry on, in writing, to the election board which I plan to do this afternoon...

IC 3-9-5-20.1
Supplemental large contribution report of candidates other than candidates for state office
Sec. 20.1. (a) This section:
(1) applies only to a large contribution that is received by a candidate, the candidate's committee, or the treasurer of the candidate's committee; and
(2) does not apply to a candidate for a state office, the candidate's committee, or the treasurer of the candidate's committee.
(b) As used in this section, "election" refers to any of the following:
(1) A primary election.
(2) A general election.
(3) A municipal election.
(4) A special election.
(5) For candidates nominated at a state convention, the state convention.
(c) As used in this section, "large contribution" means contributions:
(1) that total at least one thousand dollars ($1,000); and
(2) that are received:
(A) not more than twenty-five (25) days before an election;

and
(B) not less than forty-eight (48) hours before an election.
(d) The treasurer of a candidate's committee shall file a supplemental large contribution report with the election division or a county election board not later than forty-eight (48) hours after the contribution is received.

Kelty Indictments Continue to Tear the Republican Party Apart

Kevin Leininger of the News-Sentinel brings us an insider's report of disagreement and anger within the Republican Party's executive committee over Matt Kelty's candidacy:

At a meeting of the party’s executive committee Monday, several members expressed concerns that support for Kelty, indicted last week on nine counts of perjury and campaign-finance violations, may make it more difficult to elect other Republicans in the Nov. 6 election.

“I told them the party has got to stand for certain principles, including honesty and integrity,” said John McGauley, who was elected Allen County recorder last year. “But Kelty lied to us, he lied to the public and, apparently, he lied to the grand jury. We can run against (Democratic mayoral candidate) Tom Henry again in four years, but we can’t if we give up the core things we stand for.

“Would we do that if we support Kelty? Yes.”

Ouch. Those are extremely harsh words from an elected official of the Republican party. But it didn't stop there - looks like Chairman Steve Shine is a little irritated that McGauley is talking about discussions from the executive committee:

Other members of the 15-member committee said they believe the party should remain loyal to Kelty, but did not want to be identified.

That’s because what happens in executive committee meetings is supposed to remain confidential, Shine said.

“Anyone who said anything (about what happened in the meeting) should be man or woman enough to resign,” Shine said. “It’s a complete betrayal, as serious as the (Kelty) issues they’re speaking about. Shame on them.”

“I said what I said,” McGauley responded. “I’m free to state my own opinion. I’m not violating anyone’s confidence but my own.”

I think Steve Shine is all-in on this one and his position as chairman is likely in serious jeopardy if Kelty goes down in flames. McGauley wasn't the only Republican insider to voice his concern:

"There’s nothing (the committee) can do about Kelty running or not running,” said committee member Bill Bean, a local developer. “Our purpose was to discuss the effect this might have on other races. My biggest concern is political apathy, that people will just stay home.”

Great reporting by Leininger. And for those of you that continue to claim the Democratic party is the reason for Kelty's woes - well, read this story. The party is fractured and it will be interesting to see if Shine can keep it together until election night...

Kelty Indictments

AWB has posted the 9 indictments. Of particular interest are the two perjury counts. The first revolves around the following exchange:

Q: Don Willis, do you know him?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: Has he ever provided any support to your campaign other than what has been - what has been delineated in your reports?

A: Not that I know of.

It will be particularly interesting to see Don Willis' testimony as he must've directly contradicted Kelty's answers.

The second perjury count revolves around this exchange:

Q: So your story is that Fred Rost, your campaign chairman, lender to you of 150 grand [$150,000], commissions a poll for your benefit to determine the public's sentiments on an issue that's an issue in the campaign and he doesn't tell you about it?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: That's your testimony?

A: Yes, sir

Again, this must've been contradicted by Fred Rost's testimony. However, it's hard to draw any real conclusions without knowing what Rost and Willis' testimony were.

A new campaign finance violation was also included in the indictments (Count 6). This one is related to the way in which Kelty reported the Zogby poll:

fraudulently reporting upon form CFA-4 the source of an in-kind contribution, specifically reporting the in-kind contribution of a Zogby poll as contributed by Frederick Rost, knowing the contributors were, in fact Frederick Rost and Donald Willis.

This, too, could turn out to be very difficult for Kelty to explain away...

Matt Kelty and the Perjury Charges

I've been on the ground and on the phone talking with various people all evening long. One consistent topic that continued to come up was the 2 perjury charges. There were a lot of questions about this - in particular, did the perjury charge come from signing documents under the penalty of perjury or was it related to grand jury testimony?

I asked Matt Kelty this specific question and he told me that he didn't know. He indicated that he would have more information tomorrow and that he'd hold a press conference to answer questions at that time. Frankly, I was a little surprised that he wouldn't know the answer to this question this late in the evening - it was about 10pm - but I'm sure it has been an incredibly rough day for him and his family so I decided not to press the issue.

After returning home I reviewed the statements by the special prosecutor and there's absolutely no doubt it came from grand jury testimony:

Both (perjury charges) relate to testimony of Kelty regarding the Zogby poll. They came from his testimony in the grand jury and the allegation is those statements he made he knew to be false or not to be true.

This could be absolutely devastating to the Kelty campaign. The facts of this case had not been in doubt for quite some time; the arguments really boiled down to interpretation of the law. However, the news that Don Willis also paid for part of the Zogby Harrison Square poll was only released today. If Matt Kelty went before the grand jury and tried to bamboozle them about the funding of that poll then I think he's in serious trouble and frankly he should be.

It's one thing to mislead the press but it's a whole different ball game to try and do the same thing to the grand jury. I think you can make an argument about the campaign finance laws being ambiguous but there is absolutely no justification for misleading the grand jury. This was the #1 concern of just about every Kelty supporter I spoke to today. I don't want to be too critical on these specific indictments yet because there's too much information I just don't know.

Hopefully once the indictments are released I'll be able to get a better handle on this specific charge but it is certainly a devastating blow to the Kelty campaign...

I agree with the Special Prosecutor

Early on in this process I made a bold post entitled Matt Kelty Clearly Violated Campaign Finance Laws. I've stuck by that statement throughout this ordeal and today Special Prosecutor Dan Sigler agreed with that sentiment:

I don't think in regard to this case the law is vague at all. I think it's very clear what should've happened and it didn't happen and that's why these charges resulted.

I agree 100% although I think it's a shame the situation has gotten to where it is. I honestly feel much of the blame for that lies with the election board and James Bopp...

Kelty Indicted on 9 Counts

UPDATE (5:22pm): Evidently one of the counts is perjury. The grand jury investigation revealed that Don Willis and not Fred Rost was the source of the Harrison Square poll and they must've found that Kelty lied to the grand jury about that poll. (Hat tip to DFWB who saw the Indiana News Center live broadcast - this blogger missed it because I left 15 minutes before Kelty arrived - apparently in handcuffs). I've gotta run to the city council meeting. More later...

UPDATE: (11:03pm): Two of the counts were perjury and Don Willis AND Fred Rost evidently paid for the poll. I posed the perjury question to Matt Kelty himself tonight at the courthouse. I'll have more posts later...

It's official.

Indiana News Center has the story:

(Fort Wayne) -- A grand jury investigating whether Republican mayoral nominee Matt Kelty broke any campaign finance laws Tuesday returned a nine-count indictment against the candidate.

Word of the indictment was confirmed by Off. Steve Stone of the Allen County Sheriff's Department. Stone said late Tuesday afternoon that officers were in the process of arresting Kelty.

Kelty revealed after the May primary that some $160,000 he claimed he lent to his own campaign actually came from three of his key supporters.

The Allen County Election Board voted in June that Kelty did not violate campaign finance laws. But a complaint was filed with the Allen County prosecutor's office, keeping the case alive.

Dan Sigler from Whitley County was appointed as special prosecutor, and last month he asked that a grand jury be impaneled.

Six jurors and an alternate began meeting last week to determine whether Kelty violated state campaign finance laws.

Kelty Grand Jury Findings Are In

The News Sentinel reports that the Kelty Grand Jury has sent its findings to the judge and more info will be available in 24hrs:

Special Prosecutor Daniel Sigler said the grand jury investigating whether Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty broke campaign-finance law has taken action and sent its findings to Judge Fran Gull.

The order is currently sealed, Sigler said, but more information should be available within the next 24 hours.

He said, in the event of an indictment, there would be an arrest before the decision is made public.

The grand jury was sent home at 1 p.m. Tuesday, but Sigler said it could still be called back. Subpoenas are still out, and some loose ends remain, he added.

Between 12 and 20 witnesses were called after the grand jury began its work Aug. 6.

Source Indicates No Kelty Decision Today

Although many felt the grand jury decision was going to be announced today, one source indicated that it's not going to come to a conclusion today and will continue into next week.

I did not get this information from the prosecutor himself but I still wanted get it out there...