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Friday, April 22, 2011

Ind. Courts - Still more on: Secretary of State appeals ruling sending Charlie White case back to recount commission

Updating yesterday's ILB entries, Mary Beth Schneider of the Indy Star reports today:

Under a bill the state Senate passed Thursday, the governor would appoint a replacement if embattled Secretary of State Charlie White is found ineligible to have been elected.

Also Thursday, attorneys for White appealed a judge's decision that a challenge to White's eligibility to serve was valid. * * *

The provision to let the governor pick the next secretary of state was put this week into House Bill 1242, which affects everything from where early ballots can be cast to when a candidate can withdraw.

All of those provisions, said Sen. Connie Lawson, R-Danville, caused her to vote for the bill, even though she was one of two Republicans to vote against the amendment involving White. It passed 33-17.

Four Republicans who had voted for that amendment, though, joined all 13 Democrats in opposing the bill. And two -- Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, and Sen. Scott Schneider, R-Indianapolis -- cited the amendment on White as the reason why.

Both said they'd had second thoughts about changing the law amid a legal fight.

"It treats the whole thing unfairly and after the fact," Schneider said. "And I just don't think that sends a good message."

Democrats said the bill amounts to changing the rules in the middle of the game because the legal system hasn't determined whether White can stay in office. * * *

Thursday, White's attorneys filed an appeal of Marion Circuit Judge Louis Rosenberg's April 7 ruling ordering the Indiana Recount Commission to consider the Democrats' challenge of White's eligibility to serve. The commission had dismissed the complaint in December, and the Democrats contested the dismissal in court.

White's attorney, James Bopp, argued that Rosenberg improperly directed the commission to consider issues that are already being decided in the criminal case:

"That is asking the Recount Commission to make the same determination the criminal court is being asked to make."

Attorney Karen Celestino-Horseman, who's representing the Democrats, said she isn't surprised that White is appealing but thinks the appeal will fail.

"Obviously, the Republicans realize there's a problem," she said. "And if we have an opportunity to have our hearing (before the commission), it will be found that he was not legally registered to vote."

A new hearing before the commission is on hold, in part because the state Republican chairman has yet to appoint a new member to the board, Commission Director Brad Skolnik said. He also said the board was waiting to see whether either side sought a stay during the appeal.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 22, 2011 10:31 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts