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Monday, July 07, 2008

Ind. Courts - "Judicial candidate's registration in question"

Ben Hershberg reports today in the Louisville Courier Journal:

Questions have been raised about whether Clark County Democratic Party Chairman Rod Pate properly registered Dan Moore as the party's nominee in November's race for Clark Circuit Court judge.

Pate said last night that the party's caucus at which Moore was nominated was not reported to the secretary of state as required.

He said he learned of the problem Thursday, the deadline for registering candidates in the race.

Pate said he's had no experience with such circumstances, which are the result of former Circuit Court Judge Daniel Donahue's resignation in May. Donahue's term expires Dec. 31. "How often does a judge resign?" Pate said in a phone interview last night.

Gov. Mitch Daniels named Republican Abe Navarro, a former Floyd County deputy prosecutor, to fill the vacancy; David Buskill, the Clark County Republican chairman, has nominated Navarro to run this fall.

Pate said he believed he could register Moore as the Democratic nominee with the Clark County clerk of court. But at a farewell party Wednesday for the county's retiring judges -- including Clark Superior Court judges Ciel Blau and Steve Fleece -- Pate learned he was required to register Moore with the secretary of state's office in Indianapolis as well.

This is reminiscent of the case of Leo Burns. See the ILB entry here on the Feb. 1, 2007 Court of Appeals decision in the case of J. Bradley King and Krisi Robertson in their official Governmental capacities as Co-directors of the Indiana Election Division, et al. v. Leo T. Burns, et al. (See all "Leo Burns" ILB entries here).

Here is a quote from a Sept. 10, 2006 entry on Burns:

Democrat Leo Burns is awaiting word from state election officials today on his candidacy. Although Burns was chosen by precinct committeemen in a caucus to be slated as the party candidate in November, a notice of the caucus was not filed by Burns or County Chairman Matt Meagher with the state.
(Quote from Dave Kitchell of the Logansport Pharos-Tribune.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 7, 2008 08:49 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts