A lawsuit aims to push the Indiana Election Commission to meet and consider campaign contribution questions. Independent secretary of state candidate Greg Ballard wants the commission to convene before the November 3rd election.
In a letter to the four-member election commission, Ballard urges the group to “do its job and get to work on the behalf of Hoosiers.” The commission is not required to meet, but Ballard points to a series of financial complaints that he says need to be addressed.
“Hoosier voters deserve stronger accountability and transparency in the conduct of our elections,” Ballard said in a statement.
Ballard has called for a bipartisan commission and says its current make up, split between two parties, does not function for Indiana voters. One of Ballard’s campaign priorities has been to appoint nonpartisan judges on the commission instead of its current makeup.
Two of the contributions in question are two to Democrat Beau Bayh’s campaign and two to Republican Max Engling’s campaign. One involved a $60,000 campaign contribution that Engling returned. The other complaints revolve around events that Bayh attended or spoke at but did not disclose.
A spokesman for Bayh’s campaign responded saying they agreed the commission should meet, but mainly to address the complaints against Engling.
“Max Engling accepted an illegal campaign contribution from a dark money group. His response was to file frivolous complaints in an effort to make a mockery of the system,” Jack Tormoehlen responded in an email.
Engling’s campaign commented on the lawsuit in an email.
“It is somewhat ironic that the only candidate that has been fined this election as well as the only candidate who currently has a political party violating the disclaimer law on their own website, is trying to grandstand on campaign compliance law.” the statement said.
Ballard was fined this summer for failing to report two donation reports on time. His campaign did not contest the fine at the time. A Lincoln Party spokesperson said in a statement Thursday that their website is not breaking any state or federal law regarding disclaimers.
The Indiana Election Commission has not met since July.
Ballard says he will drop the lawsuit if they agree to meet before October 26.
Contact WFYI Managing Editor Jill Sheridan at jsheridan@wfyi.org
