Win Moses Explains Why His Form Of Vote Fraud Is Acceptable

State Rep. Win Moses has lived in an upscale home on Indianapolis' northside for more than a decade while he casts votes from a Fort Wayne precinct that he represents in the state legislature. He even claimed a homestead exemption on his Indianapolis home until someone in the media asked him about it and he claimed it was just a mistake and stopped claiming the exemption. Nonetheless, Moses thinks Secretary of State Charlie White is a felon for casting votes within the same county he has always lived while running for statewide office and serving on the Fishers town council. From the Ft. Wayne Journal-Gazette's "Political Notebook":

Rep. Win Moses recently was dragged into the Charlie White saga as the embattled secretary of state sent a letter to prosecutors vaguely alleging wrongdoing by the Fort Wayne Democrat.

At the end of a complaint about one of the special prosecutors on his criminal case – White is accused of felony voter fraud – he said this: “Next, I intend to send information delving into the mystery of Win Moses ‘home’ in Fort Wayne (potential homestead fraud and voter fraud) while he resides in Indianapolis.”

Moses has owned a home in Indianapolis for more than a decade, while living in an upscale Fort Wayne apartment. He has been open about the home in Indianapolis, including when he mistakenly claimed a homestead property tax deduction on it back in 1998.

He said he uses it as a second home – staying there during the legislative session and often on weekends during the summer because it has lake access.

The three-bedroom home has 3,200 square feet and has been up for sale for months at $699,900. The house includes a designer kitchen, sauna, fireplace in the master bedroom and more. The tax bill – without a homestead – is nearly $10,000 a year.

Moses said his wife stays there more than he does and that he absolutely lives and works in Fort Wayne.

“I am a lifelong vigorous, happy Fort Wayne voter,” said the former city mayor. “Charlie White is an indicted, thrashing politician who would accuse the pope of blasphemy if he thought it would help him.”

If a wealthy man like Moses actually lived in Ft. Wayne, he would own an upscale home there instead of Indianapolis. His Indianapolis neighbors know where he and his wife live. The voters of his state legislative district are apparently the only persons who are fooled. Moses' private sector employment can't compete with the 4 to 1 retirement match the state offers him for his retirement fund and the generous health insurance benefits he and his wife receive as part of his annual lawmakers' pay package.

Ironically, Moses was forced to resign as Ft. Wayne mayor many years ago because of reckless campaign finance violations. The same prosecutor who brought criminal charges against White, Dan Sigler, investigated Moses in 1985. Moses pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in a plea deal where Sigler agreed to drop felony charges against him if he resigned as mayor. Moses made a fool of Sigler when he reclaimed the mayor's office his controller had assumed 11 days earlier when he asked Democratic committeemen to elect him at a caucus election. In 2008, Sigler prosecuted Republican Ft. Wayne mayoral candidate Matt Kelty, who Moses narrowly defeated in his 2002 re-election race for state representative, for felony campaign finance violations without similar mercy.