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Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Ind. Courts - More on "Judicial candidate's registration in question"

Updating this ILB entry from yesterday, quoting a story from the Louisville Courier Journal that began:

Questions have been raised about whether Clark County Democratic Party Chairman Rod Pate properly registered Dan Moore as the party's nominee in November's race for Clark Circuit Court judge.
reporter Ben Hershberg writes today in a story that begins:
Facing the possibility of having no valid candidate for circuit court judge, the Clark County Democratic Party will ask state election officials for a new deadline allowing both major parties to file nominating papers.

But county GOP Chairman David Buskill said yesterday the Democrats are trying to change the rules because they failed to meet state requirements and he's confident the Republican nominee is legally a candidate.

County Democratic Chairman Rod Pate has acknowledged his party failed to file notice of its June 17 nominating caucus with the Indiana Election Commission by the deadline of at least 10 days before the event.

Pate said he learned of the omission only after the documents he understood were required to nominate Dan Moore, the Clark County attorney, for the Nov. 4 election were filed Thursday in Indianapolis.

But Pate said, "They also have problems," referring to county Republicans, who nominated Judge Abe Navarro for the position.

Navarro was appointed to the bench by Gov. Mitch Daniels after Judge Daniel Donahue retired at the end of May. Buskill then nominated Navarro for the fall election under the authority given him by the county GOP central committee.

Based on consultations with Moore and others, Pate said he believes the Republicans were required to file a notice of Navarro's nomination with the Indiana secretary of state by June 26, within three days after Navarro was nominated by Buskill.

Today's story concludes:
Moore said he believes the state's guidelines for certifying circuit court nominees are confusing, and he understands why party leaders may have made mistakes in the process.

An appeals court decision in a 2007 lawsuit says state law is intended to ensure a fair nominating process, not put technical objections in the way, Moore said. So he hopes the election commission will set a new deadline.

The "2007 lawsuit" would be the case involving Leo Burns, cited by the ILB in its entry yesterday.

[More] Melissa Moody of the Jeffersonville Evening News & Tribune reported yesterday evening in a story that began:

Newly appointed Clark County Circuit Court Judge Abe Navarro will run unopposed this fall, unless the Indiana Election Commission rules that an Indiana Secretary of State Election Office’s decision regarding the nomination of Democratic Party candidate Dan Moore was incorrect.

The election office threw out the county Democratic Party’s request to nominate attorney Dan Moore because county Democratic Party Chairman Rod Pate filed caucus paperwork late, or not at all, according to Dale Simmons, the co-general counsel for the election division office.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 8, 2008 08:10 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts