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 Night Interview with Dan Turkette

We met up with Dan and a few other Republicans at Columbia Street West. In the interview he talks about the Kelty loss, Steve Shine and the future of the Republican party, John Crawford and a possible Matt Kelty challenge of Mark Souder.


Dan Turkette from FWL on Vimeo.

Mayor Richard & Mayor Elect Henry Share a Moment Together

We got this short video right after Tom Henry's victory speech.


Mayor Richard & Mayor Elect Tom Henry from FWL on Vimeo.

Election Night Interview with Joe Fox

Joe Fox was the Henry for Mayor campaign manager. In my opinion Joe did an outstanding and professional job. I think he did exactly what the Henry campaign needed to do every step of the way. Joe and everyone else involved with the campaign deserve a lot credit for last night's victory. We caught up with Joe just seconds after Henry's victory speech and asked him to tell us how he felt


Joe Fox - Tom Henry's Campaign Manager from FWL on Vimeo.

Kelty Concedes!

Meet the new boss

DEMOCRAT Tom Henry

Henry Projected As Winner

Indiana News Center has projected Tom Henry as the winner of the Fort Wayne mayoral race!

Outgoing President of the Downtown Improvement District

I asked Dan Carmody his thoughts about the latest mayoral results. His response:

It looks like cooler heads are prevailing

Democratic Party Setup at the Grand Wayne Center

Absentee Ballot Results

Henry - 63%
Kelty - 37%

At large city council top 3 after absentee

Shoaff
Bender
Crawford

Election Day - Working the Phones

I was at the phone banks at HQ for a couple of hours and they were fully staffed the whole time. In fact while I was there we actually had more people than we had phones - and there were a lot of phones. I will be surprised if voter turnout is low as it definitely won't be from lack of effort.

After that I did some other GOTV work for about two hours and then I spoke with Tom one-on-one for a couple of minutes. He has been working tirelessly and he's still energized. He told me there's going to be a live at 5 television interview at the Grand Wane Center for those that are interested.

If you haven't voted then get going and I'll see you all at the GWC...

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I drove by Republican HQ and looked inside. The place looked empty and nothing like Democratic HQ where people were everywhere...

Election Day - Working the Polls

I just returned from working a poll on the North side of town for Councilman Shoaff. We had a steady stream of people from 6-9am and the weather wasn't terribly bad although the wind didn't help. I couldn't get a read on the number of Henry vs Kelty supporters - of course the guy working the poll for Kelty was sure that there were more Kelty voters. Nothing out of the ordinary to report; a pretty uneventful morning.

Now I'm off to work the phone banks for Tom Henry - see everyone tonight at the Grand Wayne Center...

UPDATE: I almost forgot. The guy working the poll for Kelty wouldn't say anything to any African Americans. He told me "most blacks are Democrats because they like the government handouts" - unbelievable. Vote Tom Henry, a mayor for ALL the people...

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

Sen. Evan Bayh Endorses Tom Henry for Mayor

Video of Evan Bayh's endorsement of Tom Henry from our own Robert Rouse:

Matt Kelty on Parking

Once again Matt Kelty touts his grand idea to overhaul downtown parking.

Kelty, however, said parking fines should not be changed. Instead, he favored ripping out all the downtown meters and offering free parking for one hour. He said parking enforcement officers could chalk tires to ensure people don’t abuse the spots.

So let me get this straight. We're going to pay to rip out all the parking meters and then we're going to have people chalk every car's tire so they don't have to pay a quarter. Brilliant!

And what if they want to stay in their spot longer than one hour? Are they going to have move their car or will the city contract out some private company to sell "Kelty's magic parking chalk eraser"? Do we really need to roll back to pre-20th century parking technology? Parking meters do their job and it makes parking enforcement efficient. We don't need to completely overhaul parking so that people that come downtown for an hour don't have to pay 25 cents. Some ideas have pros and cons - this one is just a bad idea.

Speaking of bad ideas, will this new parking plan be rolled out in conjunction with the glass covered downtown that Kelty envisioned? You know, the Kelty Dome:

For example, I would love to see a development -- and I'm producing renderings to demonstrate this -- where you take Columbia Street and build a superstructure attached to the facades on both sides of Columbia Street and put the whole thing under a glass enclosure.

I'm sure private developers will be crawling out of the woodwork to fund the Kelty dome. Vote Tom Henry this Tuesday...

Barry Welsh Endorses Tom Henry

Sixth Congressional district candidate Barry Welsh has endorsed Tom Henry while simultaneously slamming Congressman Mike Pence for his support of Matt Kelty. Pence has become a caricature and his support for Kelty should not surprise anyone considering he has a history of interacting with individuals of questionable character.

October 31, 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Andrea Simon
andrea@levelsixpr.com
(317) 863-2550

Welsh Endorses Henry in Ft. Wayne Race/Pence Support of Kelty Raises Character Questions

CONNERSVILLE, IN - The contentious Fort Wayne, IN mayor's race has been a political flashpoint for Indiana Republicans in this year's municipal election season, with indicted Republican candidate for mayor Matt Kelty faced with wholesale defections from his campaign, lackluster support from his own party members and in a particularly embarrassing moment, withdrawal of the support of Indiana 3rd Congressional District Representative Mark Souder's endorsement.

In contrast to Souder's retracted endorsement, Representative Mike Pence, as he does with President Bush, stands in lock step with Matt Kelty, once again bringing Pence's alignment with politicians of questionable character into the public eye.

Democratic challenger Barry Welsh, the nephew of former Indiana Governor Matt Welsh and a United Methodist Minister on sabbatical to campaign full time in the rematch with Congressman Pence, has dogged Mr. Pence in recent years by raising questions about his choices; from Mr. Pence accepting contributions from and support of disgraced former Speaker of the House Tom Delay, for his fundraising dinners at convicted felon Jack Abramoff's exclusive restaurant Signatures in 2003, and also for his support of such recent scandalous luminaries as Idaho Senator Larry Craig, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, child predator ex-Congressman Mark Foley, and now the indicted Fort Wayne GOP mayoral candidate Matt Kelty who's November trial on felony campaign finance irregularities will soon begin.

At a GOP fundraiser held in Fort Wayne on Monday night, according to a story in the October 30th Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette, Pence was the only speaker at the event to publicly embrace Kelty after several speakers rose to speak while avoiding mention of the mayoral election. Pence praised Kelty for "persevering in his campaign with grace under fire" [1] according to the Journal-Gazette.

Barry Welsh said in response, "Congressman Mike Pence's support for Matt Kelty is merely the latest in a series of bad judgments and questionable associations. He tells us Iraq is like Indiana, and then on the heels of his support of President Bush's veto of the SCHIP children's health program Mr. Pence further displays his blind party loyalty and all but total disregard for his constituents by supporting a candidate in Matt Kelty that has already violated citizen trust by questionable campaign activities. When Hillary Clinton learned of illegal campaign funds, she returned them. Congressman Pence refused to return the tainted funds from Tom Delay, and now stands alone in support of Matt Kelty, and the citizens of this district can clearly see the difference in the two political parties and they also see the constant mistakes Congressman Pence is making. "

Congressman Pence apparently is still supportive of the embattled Kelty campaign and continues to endorse and praise him at every opportunity. His letter of encouragement continues to be displayed on the Kelty campaign website [2] and this most recent statement in public raises concerns that Pence lacks the judgment necessary to serve as the 6th District's representative to Congress. Questionable judgment, a record of ignoring his constituents, and associations with morally repugnant and unsavory personalities clearly show that Pence's

judgment is flawed and will force voters to question if he is the kind of person who should be entrusted with power.


Voters have a moral alternative on the ballot in Fort Wayne's mayor's race this year in Democratic candidate Tom Henry and will have Barry Welsh on the ballot in November 2008 to make the right decisions. Barry Welsh endorses Tom Henry for mayor of Fort Wayne and is in complete support of his candidacy. "I am proud to support the honorable Democratic candidate Tom Henry and endorse his candidacy for mayor of the Summit City of Fort Wayne" Welsh said.

For more information please contact Andrea Simon at (317) 863-2550 by telephone or via email at andrea@levelsixpr.com. You may also learn more about Barry Welsh at his website at http://barrywelsh.org [3], on his blog at http://blog.barrywelsh.org [4] or via his various social network profiles accessible from the front page of BarryWelsh.org.

[1] http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071030/LOCAL/710300305
[2] http://www.mattkelty.com/mattkelty/endorsements.cfm
[3] http://barrywelsh.org
[4] http://blog.barrywelsh.org

Henry Ahead in News Sentinel Poll

I Don't have much time today but you can read the results here

The breakdown

Henry - 51%
Kelty - 37%

That's 58% of decided voters for Henry at this point. No big surprise here - the breakdowns that the NS will publish over the next few days will be more interesting...

Senator Lugar Endorses Liz Brown & Ignores Matt Kelty

I previously wrote that I was little surprised that Senator Lugar had not done a fundraiser or offered Matt Kelty any kind of public endorsement. This is strange because Kelty highlights the work he's done for Lugar and even has a picture with him on his website. But now one must really wonder what's going on between Lugar and Kelty because Lugar has publicly endorsed Liz Brown in a recent mailer (shown below).

What does it say about Matt Kelty that Senator Lugar won't do a mailer for him but will for Liz Brown? I think it says Lugar agrees that Kelty should not be our next mayor...

What Are You Doing to Help Henry Win?

As a political junky you have likely already made up your mind in this year's mayoral race. If you support Tom Henry then you also know how scary the thought of Matt Kelty as mayor actually is. All of you understand what is at stake but more importantly - what are you doing to help Tom Henry win?

It is not enough to show up on election day like everybody else. People like yourselves that are this engaged in local politics need to go the extra mile. We can all sit around and discuss things on the internet but at the end of the day we need to get people to the polls. Don't sit back and think you've done your part - you can do more. We're coming down to the final push towards election day and I am certain the Henry campaign would welcome your help.

This Saturday there will be a major grassroots effort to help spread the word about why Tom Henry needs to be our next mayor. Why not call Democratic headquarters and ask to volunteer for the Henry for Mayor campaign? Take part in the nuts and bolts of campaigning - it's actually quite fun. Don't sit back 2 years from now and regret the fact that you didn't do enough to get Tom elected.

If you want to find out what you can do then call the Henry campaign and ask - 478-8239

Or if you have general questions just shoot me an e-mail - jpksu@hotmail.com

Just do something - this is too important not to...

Why Isn't Senator Lugar Supporting Kelty?

Matt Kelty touts his previous work for Senator Lugar as part of his political experience and he even has a photo of him and Lugar together on his campaign website:

In 1994 he worked for Senator Dick Lugar's successful re-election campaign, and later worked in Dick Lugar's grass roots organizing campaign in Iowa during Lugar's presidential bid in 1995.

Considering Lugar is an extremely popular Senator and his appeal crosses party lines, why hasn't the Kelty campaign brought Lugar in to do a fundraiser? I can only imagine how much money that would generate. And let us not forget that Lugar has done fundraisers for previous Republican mayoral candidates so this wouldn't be out of the ordinary. So, given his previous fundraisers and his ties to Kelty, why has there been nothing of support from Senator Lugar?

When I think over my own work history I imagine that I could ask any of my previous bosses for a letter of recommendation and they would all oblige. Is a fundraiser not the political equivalent of a letter of recommendation? It's not as if Lugar has anything to worry about politically - he's not up for re-election until 2012 and last time he was the only Congressman/Senator that didn't have a Democratic challenger. I think it says something about Kelty's candidacy that Lugar is nowhere to be found...