Thursday, February 19, 2015

Elwood Mayor Resigns Over Misspent Campaign Funds

Ron Arnold
Mayor Ron Arnold (Herald-Bulletin/John P. Cleary Photo)
An Indiana State Police investigation recommended criminal charges last October against Elwood Mayor Ron Arnold (R) over findings he used campaign funds for personal uses. The State Police investigation found he had spent about $7,000 in campaign funds on out-of-state trips, and to pay cell phone and cable TV bills, which probably puts him in company with, well, a lot of Indiana politicians. Mayor Arnold announced he is resigning as mayor effective March 27. Madison County Prosecutor Rodney Cummings had not yet filed any charges against Arnold and apparently will not be filing charges against him according to the Anderson Herald Bulletin since he agreed to resign. Mayor Arnold had irked Republican Party officials when he voted in the Democratic Party primary. The State Police investigation began about a year ago. Republican precinct committee members will be allowed to caucus and select Arnold's interim replacement.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is what pisses me off so much about Indiana. These bit players get taken down over the most trivial of matters while the most corrupt politicians skate on far more serious crimes. The investigative practices of the ISP on public corruption matters is indeed very peculiar.

Nick said...

I met this idiot back in 2001 when he worked for Mike Pence's congressional campaign. I think he might've also worked on his congressional staff.

He talked to me about coming to work on the Pence re-election campaign and described himself as a "good Christian," and he asked me what church I attended (none, I replied). He added that campaign staffers wouldn't be required work on Sunday because that's when everyone should be in church "singing to the Lord."

Paul K. Ogden said...

Nick,

Just because someone is religious doesn't make him an "idiot." It is clear to me that this man is being targeted for exceedingly minor violations while politicians across the state have been involved in much worse violations and nothing happens to them.

Unknown said...

Our Mayor in Martinsville, Phil Deckard, signed his a city contract to hire his own Auction Company to auction off over $80K worth of tax payer property and paid himself a commission of near $3K. Why isn't this a crime? Its Indiana.