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Friday, November 07, 2008

Ind. Law - Non-code "Legislative changes affect several county term times"

Part II of my October Res Gestae article, "Can You Rely on the Indiana Code?" set out a number of Indiana statutory provisions that are not found in the Indiana Code and that may therefore catch you unaware. One of the examples, Example 6, found beginning on p. 6 of the PDF version of the article (p. 17, if you are looking in the version printed in Res Gestae), relates that:

In 2005 the General Assembly passed PL 88 (SEA 308) to implement Article 6, Section 2(b) of the Constitution of the state of Indiana to provide for a uniform date for beginning the terms of county offices. The noncode language begins on page 13. It was drafted to expire after 13 years, on Jan. 1, 2018. * * *

[See the introductory provision, SECTION 19, on p. 13 of the 47-page, 93-SECTION bill, followed by the remaining 73 SECTIONS that cover offices of the individual affected counties.]

This 2005 noncode law actually tripped me up a while back. I had been writing in The Indiana Law Blog (ILB) about a long-running dispute between the judge and the county clerk in Martin County, a county with only one judge. The previous clerk had resigned; a new one had been appointed to take the clerk’s place; and the judge felt, according to reports in the Washington Times-Herald, that “the clerk’s office was making it impossible for the court to func- tion.” According to an ILB entry from Sept. 27, 2006, “the current, appointed clerk was beaten in the May primary, but because of the timetable will serve all [of] 2007. It won’t be until January 2008, when the new clerk, a former deputy, will take over.”

I looked in the Indiana Code at the time and did not see how this could be so, and said so. A reader in Martin County wrote in explanation:

The position of Clerk of the Martin Circuit Court has been a “hold over” office for many, many years. As a result, although elected in November, 2002, Mrs, Christmas’ term actually ran from Jan. 1, 2004, through Dec. 31, 2007.

Mr. Hunt was appointed as Clerk Pro Tempore and will serve the remainder of the term to which Debra Christmas was elected during the November 2002 general election. The General Assembly recently passed a law to put this election back on track, as a result the person who is elected Clerk this November will serve a three-year term. The term will run from Jan. 1, 2008, through Dec. 31, 2010.

It was this 2005 law, that continues in effect until 2016, but is not in the Indiana Code, that “put the election back on track.”
All this is by way of explanation for this story today in the Gary Post-Tribune, reported by John Byrne:
CROWN POINT -- Lake County's murky politics will get more confusing over the next year or two as legislation aimed at standardizing the state's election schedule takes effect.

The Lake County Clerk's Office and the Lake County Coroner's Office were among 80-odd elected positions in the state which, for some reason, had a one-year lag between a candidate's election and when that candidate took office.

A few years ago, the General Assembly fixed the situation by setting a series of three-year terms in the offices so they will eventually come in line with other offices, which have two or four-year terms and only a two-month separation between getting elected and taking office.

Lake County Clerk Thomas Philpot -- elected Lake County coroner on Tuesday -- will continue clerking through the end of 2009. He then will step down to become coroner Jan. 1, 2010.

But a single year will remain on Philpot's three-year term as clerk, so the Lake County Democratic precinct organization will need to caucus to replace him for 2010.

Philpot will take over a three-year term as coroner, through 2012, at which time the office will again be on the ballot.

If that's not complicated enough, things will get messy if Philpot, as he has hinted he might, opts to run for Lake County Sheriff in 2010.

He would have to declare his candidacy for that office just a few weeks after taking office as coroner, though there's nothing stopping him from holding one post while campaigning for the other.

The non-code SECTION 59, found on p. 31 of SEA 308, deals with the term of the clerk of the circuit court of Lake County. SEA 308, however, does not address the term of the coroner of Lake County.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on November 7, 2008 01:28 PM
Posted to Indiana Law