Democratic Dirty Tricks
Previously we were the first to report the un-democratic Democratic Party’s attempts remove Sue Ellspermann from the ballot in Indiana’s 74th House District on a petty technicality. As the Courier & Press later reported, challenges to Ellspermann’s candidacy were brought by Charles R. Wyatt, a long-time Democrat donor. Although “[a]rea Democratic officials said the challenge did not come at their behest,” their fingerprints are all over this ridiculous affront to democracy. Now fresh evidence indicates involvement by at least one party boss is enough to warrant serious ethical questions.
Anthony Long, 8th district chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party and Vice-Chair of the Indiana Election Commission, is an entrenched Democratic Party operative in the very same district where Sue is running for office. When Sue goes before the Election Commission on Friday to plead her case, it is Anthony Long who will sit as both judge and jury.
Long’s involvement as a Democratic Party operative is mildly troublesome, but what really raises questions are his connections to Sue’s Republican primary opponent, Angela Sowers. Sowers has no history of voting in previous primaries, but numerous reports indicate she is actually a Democrat running in the Republican primary for ignoble purposes. Moreover, Sowers has numerous legal troubles and a husband, Charles Sowers, on home detention.
Sowers’s personal legal troubles wouldn’t normally be noteworthy, except that her family’s attorney is none other than Anthony Long (see Cause No. 87D01-0805-FC-077), the very same Democratic Party operative who will now be hearing Sue’s case before the Election Commission. Democrats recruited Sowers to run (she filed on the last day of the deadline) with the full intention of contesting Sue’s Declaration of Candidacy (Form 46439). Moreover Charles Wyatt, the man who officially challenged Sue’s candidacy, is a union associate of Sue’s eventual Democratic opponent, Russ Stilwell.
How can Anthony Long profess to hear Sue’s case fairly when it now appears he had a heavy hand in bringing the allegations in the first place? What did Russ Stilwell know about these dirty tricks brought by his union buddy, and what did he do (or not do) to stop them? We think voters in Indiana’s 74th house district deserve to know.
If their efforts to remove Sue on a technicality succeed, Russ Stilwell will face friendly opposition in the form of a Democrat running as a Republican. Dirty games threaten to undermine a true democratic process in the 74th district. We hope the other three members of the Election Commission render an unbiased opinion where Anthony Long cannot. Sue Ellspermann deserves to be on the Republican ballot this May, and Anthony Long and Russ Stilwell deserve their just punishment for playing petty games with the democratic process.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:34 am
[...] to use deadlines and fake candidates in races was also employed in state house district 74, as we first reported here. Now Vanderburgh Democrats are hoping to employ a similar tactic with County Council. It’s [...]
March 6th, 2010 at 11:33 am
[...] Democratic Dirty Tricks: March 3, 2010 [...]