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Thursday, October 28, 2004

Indiana Decisions - Latest stories on the District 46 dispute

There are a handful of new stories this morning, all centered upon the Sullivan County judge's ruling yesterday on the District 46 ballot dispute, a ruling in direct conflict with the Marion County judge's ruling last week. The Marion County judge's ruling was appealed to the Court of Appeals by the Democrats; the Court issued a ruling Monday. The Sullivan County judge's ruling has now been appealed to the Court of Appeals by the Republicans. (Links to both the Sullivan County and Court of Appeals rulings are available here; the Marion County ruling is linked to here.)

WTHI Action10News gives a brief recap of happenings to date here. The Louisville Courier-Journal (here), TheINDYChannel rtv6 (here), and another Courier-Journal story (here) all rehash the facts. A very brief Indianapolis Star entry is here.

When the Terre Haute paper posts its stories this morning (generally at 10 am) I'll post a link here.

[Update] Here is today's coverage from the Terre Haute Tribune-Star. Some quotes from the story:

[Sullivan County Judge Thomas] Johnson's decision conflicts with a Marion County Court order last week allowed Lee to be replaced on the ballot by incumbent Rep. Brooks LaPlante, a decision upheld Monday by the Indiana Court of Appeals.

The dueling rulings set up another hearing in the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Bill Groth, attorney for Indiana Democrats, hailed Johnson's decision as the correct one based on the evidence heard Tuesday in Vigo County. He said local election boards should comply with Johnson's decision because it was the proper venue to hear the case.

"It's our opinion that the judge in Marion County never had jurisdiction in the first place ... We pointed out [in our brief to the Indiana Court of Appeals] there was a risk of conflicting judgments. It appears that has become a reality," Groth said.

He contends that Lee's withdrawal has been orchestrated by Republicans because they knew he was going to lose, and will jump through any loophole to replace Lee on the ballot. Lee is the voter's choice for candidate, and should remain on the ballot.

Jim Bopp, attorney for Indiana Republicans, said he would ask the Indiana Court of Appeals to rule on Johnson's decision. He said he hoped to have that filed with the court late Wednesday.

Bopp said he doesn't understand how a judge can order parties to defy another court's order, one that at least some of the parties already have ignored.

"The Vigo County Election Board has since Thursday refused to comply with the Marion County Court order," Bopp said. "They have violated, in an outrageously contemptible manner, the Marion County order ... Waiting [for Johnson's decision] is not an excuse for failing to comply with a court order."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on October 28, 2004 09:03 AM
Posted to Indiana Decisions