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Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Election Complaint Against Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Dismissed
An election complaint filed against Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr., was dismissed on a unanimous 4-0 vote yesterday by the Lake Co. Elections Board according to the Northwest Indiana Times. The complaint filed by John Nauracy, Sr. questioned more than $300,000 in payments to McDermott's wife for consulting services, RV rental expenses and non-itemized reimbursements to McDermott exceeding $100. McDermott was present for the meeting, but he was not required to answer any questions. His lawyer spoke for him, who claimed the allegations in Nauracy's complaint were baseless. McDermott has admitted his campaign finance statements incorrectly identified an RV company in Albany, Indiana instead of one in Frankfort, Illinois as the business from which he rented RVs for campaign purposes after the business' owner said he had never rented an RV to McDermott. He also denied Nauracy's allegation he used the RVs for personal purposes.
The plaintiff, with out any legal training, lacked the skills to address McDermott's attorney's motion to dismiss.
ReplyDeleteThere was convincing evidence the billing dates did not match, the time frames between when the vehicle was leased and billed do not match.
The majority of the appointee's on this board do business in Lake County, with some of them doing business, at one time or another, for various Hammond government entities.
Someone video taped a previous McDermott complaint brought before the same Lake County Election Board.
It was obvious McDermott violated Election laws. Many believe by controlling contracts disbursed to the board members, along with long standing personal relationships, McDermott controls the outcome.
The plaintiff, Nauracy didn't have a chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xa0n_W6MIwA
Local election boards, for a variety of reasons, are ill-equipped to address campaign finance law violations. About the only thing they can do with any consistency is hand out fines to candidate committees which fail to file reports or file them late.
ReplyDeleteVideo of Hammond's Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr's previous complaint brought before the same Election Board:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8EoYdXGbKo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAVvyrZlIK4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nmEbYVE29M