Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Election Board To Meet Thursday, Hear Complaint Against Brewer's Voter Registration

Republican mayoral candidate Jocelyn-Tandy Adande has notified Advance Indiana that the Marion Co. Election Board plans to hear a complaint she filed against her rival Indianapolis mayoral opponent, Chuck Brewer, this Thursday, February 19th, when it meets for its regular monthly meeting at 10:00 a.m. in Room 107 of the City-County Building. Adande says she has been told Brewer has hired David Brooks to represent him at the hearing, husband of U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks and the attorney to whom the Republican-controlled council paid a lot of money to redraw the council district boundaries.

Adande's complaint alleges that Brewer illegally registered at two separate voting addresses in Perry Township when he planned to run for an open seat on the Indianapolis City-County Council in District 23, even though he owns a luxury downtown condominium in the Athletic Club on which he has claimed a homestead exemption. According to Adande, the first Perry Township apartment address at which Brewer registered on Dakota Ridge after initially registering to vote at his downtown condominium when he moved here from Chicago in 2011, was located just outside District 23 in District 20. She says he later switched it to an apartment on Slate Drive within District 23 to satisfy the one-year residency requirement. Brewer changed his mind in early January and decided to run for mayor instead of the District 23 seat.

Brewer's campaign spokesman maintains that Brewer switched his voting address to Perry Township because he moved there. His campaign insists he no longer lives in the downtown condominium, which it says has been on the market for sale for the past year. His campaign insists he still owns it because he has been unable to find a buyer for it. His campaign mailed photos of the condominium to reporters showing the rooms empty as proof he no longer lives there, although the online real estate listing for the condominium included pictures of a fully-furnished unit.

UPDATE: Adande sent me an e-mail to point out that her complaint says Brewer didn't remove the homestead exemption as required by law when he says he moved out of the downtown condominium. She sent a form from the Marion Co. Assessor's office which states: "If you have property with a homestead deduction and it is no longer your primary residence, Indiana law requires that you file the following certified statement within 60 days of the change in use." Adande claims the Assessor's Office never received such a notice from Brewer within 60 days of the change in use.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it any surprise at all to any of us informed Marion County voters that the Republican insider-selected Chuck Brewer hires long-time establishment Republican operative attorney David Brooks?

David Brooks, who wrote the ROC lease that daily cheats Marion County taxpayers out of their hard earned tax money, David Brooks, who cavalierly used Dennis Fishburn to block Bart McAtee as GOP PC selection for Republican candidate for Sheriff (simply as DB bitterly swore at me to my face, "I f**king hate the McAtees!", David Brooks who got Ryan Vaughn to pay him over $200,000 of our taxpayer funds for a precinct reconciliation process a computer tool might have done for free, David Brooks- a man I've heard curse to filth and swear and threaten - and plot revenge- when he didn't get his way.

The MCRCC must be scared to death to bring in their Darth Vader-like guy to defend their smoke-filled room choice for the CCB 25th Floor.

Thank God we Marion County voters have a strong woman of faith and perseverance in Republican candidate for Mayor, Jocelyn-Tandy Adande. This fierce life-long city resident deserves all our support as she goes against what is in my opinion the Goliath of political evil of behind-the-scenes hatred and vindictiveness.

You go, Jocelyn. Knock down these sons of bitches.

Anonymous said...

THE ELECTION BOARD WILL VOTE ALONG PARTY LINES. BREWER WILL WIN. THE DEMS DO NOT WANT TO RUN AGAINST A QUALIFIED BLACK WOMAN.

Anonymous said...

follow the furniture, lol.

LamLawIndy said...

Gary, isn't the issue moot because Brewer no longer is running for District 23? Seems like everyone agrees that Brewer has lived in Marion County for the requisite time required to run for mayor.

Anonymous said...

If there truly is no furniture in the condo, I think they will have a hard time showing he still lives there. It's irrelevant that the RE listing shows furniture. Sellers routinely pay staging companies to stage furniture both for pictures and for sales.

I'm no advocate of Brewer and likely won't vote for him but it sure doesn't sound like he breaking election laws.

Gary R. Welsh said...

I don't know how many times I have to repeat this. Her complaint does not allege he is not a resident of the city for purposes of running for mayor; it alleges he was not legally registered to vote in the correct precinct, the same thing that tripped up Charlie White and Richard Lugar, the former facing criminal charges and the loss of his office and the latter getting off with a slap on the wrist.

Anonymous said...

Gary, you may have to continue being a broken record for the truth. The fact the some people cannot wrap their minds around the actual issue that Brewer was not legally registered to vote in the correct precinct may explain why we have the City incumbents we do... some voters just don't get it. Woe to good governance when the people have a lack of critical understanding of the actual crux of an issue.

I do fear that Anon 12:29 could be right- the political appointees on the Election Board will probably do as their masters bid. I pray they do the right thing but this is politics where "doing the right thing for the people" isn't always the course of action for the weak willed.

Most importantly, the Democrat Party is shaking in its boots about any possibility of running against a qualified and experience Black female candidate-and one who left their party at that- Jocelyn-Tandy Adande. The Democrats are fully aware Jocelyn will attract voters OF ALL COLORS... but the Dems will die on the vine running against the best qualified Black Female candidate this City has seen in years.

Anonymous said...

"although the online real estate listing for the condominium included pictures of a fully-furnished unit."

Quick! Let's make something out of nothing! It's called staging to sell a home. What a ridiculous accusation to prove your point that's (at best) loosely based on your own assumptions and no real factual evidence.

Anonymous said...

They've been doing some Irsay midnight moving on that place.

I suspect a Republican-connected property firm will buy the condo to remove it as an issue.

Anonymous said...

Gary isn't hard to find. Brewer could have invited him up to look at an empty flat, weeks ago.

Brewer could have arranged for the listing agent to show him an empty flat, weeks ago.

LamLawIndy said...

But then what sort of remedy is she seeking? Why else would a candidate for Mayor file a complaint with the Election Board?

Anonymous said...

This will all make for an interesting book.

Gary R. Welsh said...

What was the remedy for Richard Lugar? The election board found he was illegally registered and casting votes in the wrong precinct. He re-registered at the old farmhouse he owned for decades and the election board dismissed the matter.

What was the remedy for Charlie White? The election board never heard the complaint. The prosecutor who hated him because he didn't support her when she ran for judge appointed a special prosecutor to investigate him. He was charged with 7 felony charges, found guilty of 6 felony charges, lost his statewide office, appealed and got three counts thrown out and he's still appealing those remaining three convictions.

Anonymous said...

At a minimum, he has a lot of explaining to do to a lot of agencies and a mortgage company.

For a title company to have assisted him in filing a homestead deduction (most tell you exactly what to do), they would have known that the mortgage was for an owner occupant- not an owner investor.

If he actually does not live there, he most likely committed fraud in his mortgage application by stating that he does to get a cheaper rate. I looked and he does have the homestead exemption on the condo.

In the "agent to agent remarks on his listing", it says (until they read this) "Call owner to show or for info. Charles W. Brewer: 773-???-???." It is very unusual that a client asks to show their home themselves- that is why they hire a realtor in the first place- and we also do not recommend it. The "showings and feedback" numbers are his personal number- this would be a huge inconvenience to drive from Perry Township to there to show it every time you get the call. The 4% buyers agent commission is at least half a percent higher than most people pay so he is atypically motivated to dump this thing.

I am curious how a guy that (from my understanding) simply owns a sandwich shop owns several properties. He has a conventional mortgage on the condo for $380,000. which means he should be paying mortgage insurance on it in addition to the $658. monthly HOA fee...plus realtor commissions most likely around $27,000. His mortgage amount is greater than it's value- lenders stopped doing that years ago for those of us without political connections.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Thanks for sharing, anon. 6:59. Very insightful information.

Anonymous said...

You are welcome...he is closely guarding and personally approving everyone who can enter the condo...highly unusual seller behavior for a "vacant" home. 99.9% of the time, vacant homes are set to "go and show" status and agents/sellers use our cooperative showing service which simply records the agents showing...and vacant home Sellers typically do not want bothered until you have an offer for them.

Anonymous said...

Ahhh Grasshopper Anon 6:59 you speak of many truths. This veteran licensed real estate broker attests that you hit the correct nails on their heads. I note that not one local television or local radio station has bothered to ask the real issues you pose- although Amos has interviewed Jocelyn-Tandy Adande at least twice. It is because most of them are LAZY or too vacuous to understand the real issues. They sure look like complete fools having ignored the importance of Jocelyn-Tandy Adande's candidacy and what it means to a Marion County citizenry sick to death of the pay to play crony deals advanced by both current major political machines.

Let's see Mr. David Brooks deal with all the insights you express in your comments about Brewer and his property and many apartments. What laws or regulations has Chuck Brewer willingly broken and when did he break them? Did Mr. Brewer deceive title companies and loan companies and the Assessor's office? Why would David Brooks' hand picked successor to Tom John allow such a poor candidate to be foisted before the Indianapolis voters as a GOP candidate of honor???

Kyle Walker, his handsomely paid wife political "consultant" and "strategist" Jennifer Hallowell Walker, and the real powers behind the ostensible MCRCC figureheads- including IndyStar's Swarens and almost every TV station in town have egg on their face for ignoring this exploding story about political deception as our town moves to finally elect a leader who is not bought and owned by big business and deep pockets.

Oh, and that would NOT be Joe Hogsett....

LamLawIndy said...

Gary, the remedy that Richard Murdock supporters were seeking in 2012 - & I count myself among them - was to keep Sen. Lugar off the ballot. The argument was that Sen. Lugar was no longer an Indiana resident but instead had taken up residency in the Commonwealth of Virginia &, correspondingly, should be ineligible to run for US Senate here in Indiana.

That's why I don't get the current Election Board complaint against Brewer. A complainant typically is seeking a remedy, but here all parties agree that Brewer is eligible to run for Mayor because he meets the residency requirements.

Gary R. Welsh said...

Lugar proved himself to be a liar. He insisted Indianapolis had always been his home and the place he would return to live full-time when he finished his work in the Senate. He lost, and he stayed in the same home in suburban Virginia he's called his home for the past 39 years.