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Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Ind. Courts - More on: Muncie and Terre Haute mayoral election contests continue

Yesterday Arthur E. Foulkes of the Terre Haute Trib-Star reported in a story that begins:

Lawyers for former Terre Haute Mayor Kevin Burke have filed what could be the final brief in the legal battle for Terre Haute City Hall.

Burke’s attorneys, Ed DeLaney and Amanda Couture of Indianapolis, filed papers Monday with the Indiana Court of Appeals in response to papers filed by Bennett at the end of March.

Burke lost the Nov. 6 election to Bennett by 110 votes.

Burke later appealed that result in Vigo County Circuit Court claiming Bennett should not be named mayor because he was in violation of the federal Hatch Act while running for office.

Today Nick Werner of the Muncie Star-Press reports in a story that begins:
Democrat James Mansfield is not giving up in the battle for mayor.

Mansfield announced Tuesday that he would ask the Indiana Court of Appeals to review an election deadline he believed was unconstitutional.

A favorable ruling by the appeals court could help Mansfield win a special election in Precinct 46, where a problem with absentee ballots cost him the election.
"I don't think it would be fair for the 6,000-plus individuals who supported me in this campaign to drop anchor and not do anything," Mansfield said during a press conference Tuesday at Delaware County Democratic Party Headquarters.

Efforts by Mansfield earlier this year to win a special election in Precinct 46 failed after a judge dismissed two lawsuits.

In dismissing at least one of the lawsuits, special Judge Joel Roberts ruled that Mansfield missed a statutory deadline to file the lawsuit.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 23, 2008 08:44 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts