Saturday, March 17, 2012

Not One of Gary Varvel's Finest Hours

The Star's Gary Varvel depicts Richard Mourdock as being like Brutus stabbing Caesar in the back on the Ides of March as if he's responsible for the decision of the Marion County Election Board to make the legal determination on March 15, 2012 to declare Sen. Richard Lugar and his wife, Charlene, illegally registered to vote at the home of Elizabeth Hughes, a home in Wayne Township the couple haven't owned since 1977. Mourdock had nothing to do with the petition before this week's election board meeting, and Varvel and the Star owe his campaign an apology for saying otherwise. I won't hold my breath waiting for that to happen. If Varvel feels so strongly about Lugar being allowed to falsely represent his residence for voting registration purposes, perhaps he should give Lugar permission to use his home as his residence and use that address on his driver's license. Elizabeth Hughes would appreciate it if Sen. Lugar used someone else's home as his fictional residence. He includes this comment  on his blog:

Sen. Lugar, who has been serving Indiana in Washington, D.C. since Noah got off the ark, was told by the Marion County Election Board today that he is ineligible to vote in Indiana because he doesn’t have a residence in the county. The vote was along party lines. This will probably be overturned in the courts but for the time being, it makes for amusing political theater.
If a court were to overturn the Marion Co. Election Board, the people just might rise up in revolt against their own government, particularly after the ordeal Secretary of State Charlie White has endured with the blessing of the Indianapolis Star for voting at his ex-wife's home for a several month period while he was in between homes prior to this second marriage, a home he actually slept at night, received mail and where his son lives. Apparently even Varvel thinks Lugar is above the law, pretty much destroying his reputation among his strong conservative following. He should be ashamed of himself, but it's probably the kind of work product he has to put out under the Ryerson regime if he wants to keep his job and not be replaced by a younger, more liberal-minded journalist. Like his colleagues, Varvel has been silent on the Lugar ads blanketing the airwaves that falsely accuse Mourdock of not showing up for work. Yet it's perfectly fine for Lugar to argue that he has been absent from Indiana for 35 years as a legal excuse for registering to vote at Elizabeth Hughes' home. It's his constiutional right so says the Star. Go figure.

2 comments:

Paul K. Ogden said...

You're not kidding about Gary Varvel. His insinuation that this was some sort of political decision ignores the fact, this is one of the few times where we had a body applied the law fairly and accurately despite the popularity of the person who it was applied to.

There is one person to blame for this and that is Sen. Richard Lugar. He darn well knew that voting using a house he sold 35 years ago was wrong but yet he kept doing it.

patriot paul said...

Looking at this cartoon, I'm trying to be fairminded about it, taking into account satire and trying to rationalize it, but it can't be done because of the total lack of the facts. A cartoon reflects an opinion of its author, and I'm sad to say, I don't look at Varvel with the high standards I'm come to expect from him.