Lake County Election Board Dismisses Complaint Against McDermott

The Lake County Election Board yesterday dismissed a complaint Republican activist Eric Krieg filed against Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr. As I pointed out in a previous post, there is nothing in Indiana's campaign finance law that prohibits candidates from using campaign funds to pay family members for campaign-related work. Krieg's complaint challenged $334,000 in payments McDermott's campaign made to his wife to prepare his campaign finance reports. The payments, by any standard, were quite excessive. He probably could have found a CPA who would have prepared the reports for a fraction of the charge.

The election board also dismissed two other complaints Krieg included in his complaint. Krieg had questioned $6,000 McDermott's campaign had paid to David Woerpel to drive him to political events. A third complaint questioned the rent McDermott's campaign paid for office space. The campaign paid Pyramid Development $1,000 to rent office space in a building valued at between $500,000 and $1,000,000 and upon which annual property taxes of $23,000 are paid. Krieg believed that McDermott's campaign was receiving an unreported, in-kind contribution from the building's owner because the rent was too low. The Republican election board member, attorney William Fine, voted against dismissal of that complaint, which he believed had merit. "Mayor McDermott raises a lot of money,” Fine said. “I’m concerned there’s a lot of smoke there and may be fire. If we dismiss, that smoke will hang over this board for a long time."

McDermott shouldn't get too comfortable that he's in the clear. Krieg's questioning of his former political opponent's use of his county office for political purposes hit pay dirt after the FBI launched an investigation. Although Krieg lost his race to Lake County Surveyor George Van Til in the 2012 election, the FBI investigation culminated in criminal charges against him, which ended when Van Til recently agreed to plead guilty to charges of using government employees in his office to perform political work. Van Til also resigned from his office. He awaits sentencing by a federal judge.

McDermott should also be mindful of the fate of two prominent Illinois politicians just across the state line. Former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and his wife, Chicago Alderman Sandra Jackson, pleaded guilty earlier this year to federal charges of using their respective campaign funds for personal use. Both were forced to resign from office. Rep. Jackson was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to repay $750,000 as restitution. His wife was ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and pay restitution of $22,000.

UPDATE: Somebody's reading:

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Election Complaint: Hammond Mayor Funneled Over $300,000 To Wife For Campaign Consulting Work

It's just another example of how broke and corrupt the political system has become. Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, Jr. (D) has paid his wife, Marissa, over $300,000 over the past decade to perform work as a consultant for his campaign committee. An attorney for McDermott dismisses the allegations contained in a complaint filed with the Lake County Board of Elections by Republican activist Eric Krieg as "pure speculation and innuendo" and wants the complaint dismissed.

Unfortunately, there is probably nothing the elections board can do with Krieg's complaint since there's nothing in state law that prevents a candidate for public office from putting family member on the payroll of his campaign committee, although the state board of elections has recommended that candidates reduce the employment agreement to a written contract that describes the services being performed. "Brad King, co-director of the bipartisan Indiana Election Division, said last week the opinion in question was only offered by state election officials as a guideline to legislators for a potential law on this matter, but no such law was ever passed," reports Bill Dolan of the Northwest Indiana Times. This glaring loophole in the law essentially makes it legal for candidates to convert campaign contributions for personal use by putting their spouses on the campaign payroll.

Indiana Supreme Court Reinstates Hammond GOP Mayoral Candidate Illegally Removed From Ballot By Democratic-Controlled Election Board

In an outrageous act of partisan over-reaching, the Democratic-controlled Lake County Elections Board earlier this year removed from the May primary ballot Republican mayoral candidate George Janiec, who narrowly lost to Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott (D) by 500 votes four years ago. Without citing any statute to support their decision, the elections board claimed Janiec could not seek a partisan office while serving as a trustee for Hammond's public school system. An appointee of Mayor McDermott, Dawn Tomich, filed the complaint against Janiec seeking his removal from the ballot. The Indiana Supreme Court issued an order to reinstate Janiec to the ballot only a day after the elections board filed its brief in the case on Janiec's petition for transfer after the election board's decision was unbelievably upheld by a Lake County Superior Court Judge Jesse Villalpando, a former Democratic legislator. The Court's unanimous opinion reads, in part:

The Board and Lake Superior Court held that Janiec’s candidacy was inconsistent with the ethical policies applicable to members of the Hammond School Board. The Court finds no basis in statute or law for disqualifying Janiec on this basis. See Burke v. Bennett, 907 N.E.2d 529, 532 (Ind. 2009) (disqualification statute to be construed “consistent with the longstanding respect for the right of the people to free and equal elections”). Accordingly, the Court hereby GRANTS the Verified Petition for Emergency Transfer and REVERSES the Lake Superior Court’s “Judgment Order” issued on March 30, 2011. The Board and its members are ENJOINED from removing Janiec’s name from the ballot as a Republican candidate for Mayor of Hammond in the May 2011 primary election.

The May decision comes with a little more than two weeks left before the primary election. More than 3,200 absentee votes have already been cast, which cannot be undone according to the Court's order. The parties were ordered by the Court to come up with a mechanism to allow persons who have received absentee ballots but have not yet returned them, or who will be casting early votes in person at satellite voting sites, to cast a vote for Janiec no later than Monday. There were already five other candidates on the ballot in the Republican mayor's race. Mayor McDermott incredulously blamed Janiec for the ordeal he has endured at the hand of his political operatives according to the Northwest Indiana Times:

McDermott said Janiec showed a lack of respect for his opponents by glossing over the Republican primary and saying he would square off against him in November.


"Right now he's running against field of Republicans that want to beat him," McDermott said. "He obviously has no respect whatsoever for his opponents. That's not a good way to approach politics. You always respect your opponents, regardless of whether you think you can beat them or not."

The Lake County Election Board's actions were bad enough, but it is inexcusable for Judge Villalpando to uphold their actions knowing that there was absolutely no basis in law for removing Janiec from the ballot. Thankfully, the Supreme Court acted quickly enough to provide at least the possibility of Janiec winning the Republican nomination, who Mayor McDermott concedes is his strongest potential opponent for the November general election.

It's noteworthy that the Supreme Court cited the Burke v. Bennett decision in support of its construction of the disqualification statute as "consistent with the longstanding respect for the right of the people to free and equal elections." Secretary of State Charlie White's attorney, James Bopp, is relying on that decision in support of his contention that the Recount Commission could not disqualify him on the basis of an alleged criminal violation for which he had not been found guilty prior to the election contest petition being filed by the Indiana Democratic Party. Although Democrats knew of the alleged violation prior to the election, they waited until after the election to contest his eligibility to hold the office. Bopp's attorneys maintain the remedy post-election is removal through conviction for committing a felony. They are appealing an order by Marion Co. Circuit Court Judge Louis Rosenberg for the Recount Commission to hear the Democrat's petition, which it dismissed last December. If the Recount Commission ruled in favor of the Democrats, their candidate, Vop Osili, would assume the office even though voters overwhelmingly chose White over him. Republican-sponsored legislation is making its way through the legislature in its closing days that would allow Gov. Daniels to name White's successor if the Commission disqualifies him.