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Showing posts with label Julia Vaughan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Julia Vaughan. Show all posts

Sunday, October 29, 2017

Lawsuit alleges Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson is violating Federal Election Laws

Connie "Freeloader" Lawson


Back in May IR wrote about Vice President Mike Pence and Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson's appointment's to a Commission on Voter Fraud by President Trump. On Friday October 27th, 2017 Fatima Hussein at INDYSTAR.COM reported that Secretary Lawson was being sued by Common Cause Indiana and other parties for violating federal election laws.

Ms. Hussein writes:

Common Cause Indiana in a federal lawsuit filed Friday calls for an injunction to be issued against Lawson, whom the political watchdog group accuses of unlawfully purging voters from state rolls.

Specifically, Common Cause challenges the new "Interstate Voter Registration Crosscheck" system that allows election officials to immediately remove voters identified as having registered to vote in another state. The process finds a match based on first name, last name and date of birth.

Common Cause alleges that the crosscheck system contradicts the protections in the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, resulting in "nonuniform, discriminatory and illegal cancellations of Indiana voter registrations."

For example, one requirement of federal law says a state “shall not remove” a voter from its list of eligible voters due to change in residence unless the voter confirms a change in residence in writing or fails to respond to a notice sent by the state.

The ACLU of Indiana, national ACLU and voting rights group Demos are representing Common Cause in the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

Common Cause's latest action is similar to a lawsuit filed by the Indiana NAACP and League of Women Voters in August.

The Indiana NAACP and League of Women Voters also allege that the state's crosscheck system on voter rolls violates federal law and is discriminatory.

In noting the similarity of the separate lawsuits, Common Cause Indiana's policy director says the issue warrants increased attention.

"There seems to be a move to restrict the right to vote rather than expand it," Julia Vaughn told IndyStar.

"We are disturbed by attempts to restrict access to vote, and we feel an obligation to the voters and state to say, 'No, you have to follow federal law.'"

Named defendants in the lawsuit are Lawson, J. Bradley King and Angela M. Nussmeyer, who are co-directors of the Indiana Election Division.

The secretary of state's office declined to speak with IndyStar regarding the lawsuit, citing a policy not to comment on pending litigation. A spokesman for the Indiana Election Division did not respond to IndyStar requests for comment.

IR has the utmost respect for Julia Vaughan of Common Cause Indiana. We here disagree with her on many issues. But fairly often side with her on issues of government transparency. INDY REPUBLICAN is not sure of what to make of this lawsuit yet. We do not have enough information to form an opinion. But due to our reservations about Connie Lawson, and our respect for Julia Vaughan we will do our best to keep an eye on this case.

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Ex-BMV Offical's Ethics Wrist Slap or More Reasons why Indy Republican will not endorse Mike Pence!

In a story reported in today's Propaganda Rag Indianapolis Star by Tony Cook one of the only real reporters left at the Star. It is reported how former Bureau of Motor Vehicles Chief of Staff Shawn Walters and the Indiana State Ethics Commission have reached and agreement for Walters to pay a $500 fine for having violated state ethics law requiring a one year cooling off period for state employees who wish to leave state employment and go to work for a company that does business with the state. Yesterday the Star reported that Shawn Walters had come to a settlement between himself and Indiana Inspector General Cynthia Carrasco. And that the terms of the settlement would be revealed today. This whole sordid tale revolves around Walters having taken a position with Express MVA a company that had a contract with the state to charge "convenience fees" at BMV Express workstations that were double the costs of services usually charged at BMV branches. A class action lawsuit was settled last year for $30 Million after it was discovered that the BMV had been overcharging customers for several years. A news report in the Indianapolis Star back in May  2015 and a posting by Gary Welsh at the same time argued that political patronage was to blame for much of the overcharges.  Many top executives at the BMV were aware of these problems but chose to not do anything about them. Rumors have said that it was because the BMV did not wish to suffer any budget shortfalls. Governor Mike Pence had the state's contract with Express MVA cancelled in August 2015. Inspector General Cynthia Carrasco was asked by Governor Pence to investigate the matter. Today it the $500 settlement was revealed to the public. The staff here at Indy Republican cannot figure out why any fine was levied at all if the only thing Walters is going to get is a $500 wrist slap!


Julia Vaughan with Common Cause Indiana is quoted as saying the fine "amounts to a slap on the wrist. Five Hundred Dollars is not going to put fear into anybody. It's not significant enough punishment to get anybody's attention or to make them take these laws seriously."


It's interesting that the article points out that the ethics case in question did not address Walters part in the multi million dollar overcharges to Hoosier motorists. Neither Shawn Walters or his attorney Debra Minott (who strangely was Walters employer when she was in charge of FSSA) were present at the hearing today. Some readers may recall that Debra Minott was appointed by Governor Pence to run FSSA shortly after he took office and was then mysteriously removed from her position at FSSA for reasons that are still not clear. Before her 18 month tenure as head of FSSA Minott was in charge of the State Personnel Department (SPD) during the first term of former Governor Mitch Daniels and also left that position for unspecified reasons. Minott's appointment as FSSA Secretary was a move that angered many Indiana Republicans who were left asking ourselves Why in the world is Mike Pence stupid enough to appoint a Mitch Daniels crony to run FSSA after the mess she caused at SPD? Gary Welsh pointed out that Mike Pence did not cause the overcharging problems at the BMV that occurred under the administration of Mitch Daniels. But apparently neither the Indianapolis Star or Matt Tully's Circle Jerk Club as Gary Welsh so affectionately refereed to him and his clique as. Would trouble themselves enough to hold Daniels feet to the fire! They all were probably admiring themselves too much in the mirror or social climbing!


But for all the trouble that "Napoleon Mitch" Daniels caused at the BMV. Mike Pence deserves as much blame for his refusal to fire every Daniels holdover and heed the advice of Real Republicans Gary Welsh, Paul Ogden, and Charlie White. Men who tried to do the right thing and try to root out corruption, sin and vice. But the Uber-Christian Mike Pence seems to be so convinced of his own moral righteousness that he cannot or will not see the corruption going on in front of his face or do anything to root it out! No doubt the scandals at the BMV have been archived away by Indiana Democrats for use against Pence in the upcoming Governor's race where he is being challenged by former Indiana State House Speaker John Gregg. For the simple reason that Mike Pence has repeatedly kept Mitch Daniels hacks and parasites in his administration is enough cause for all of us at Indy Republican to refuse to endorse him for reelection as Governor of for election to any other office whatsoever! The staff will not vote for Pence or Gregg and at this point are probably just going to refuse to vote for any candidate running for Governor! To Governor Mike Pence if there is any awareness left in your brain at all could you please for your own sake and what remains of your reputation start actually doing your job! For those of you who wish to peruse the story that most of the Indianapolis Press will not tell you about the BMV the staff refers you to the following articles, post's and podcasts for the truth! Strangely some of these articles are from the Indianapolis Star and are mostly if not all written by Tony Cook!


Gary Welsh's Postings:


Debra Minott gets the Heave Ho from Pence!:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2014/06/pence-fires-fssa-secretary.html




Pence appoints Mitch Daniels Holdover to run the BMV:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/02/yet-more-bmv-overcharges-brings-new.html




Surprise, Surprise, Surprise! Patronage Alive and Well at the BMV!:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/05/star-bmv-fee-overcharging-problem-may.html




Shawn Walters, BMV, and Shady Deals:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/07/more-bmv-shady-dealings.html




Pence Does Something Right Cancels Bad BMV Contract:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/08/pence-cancels-sweetheart-bmv-contract.html




Former BMV Chief of Staff on Unpaid Leave from New Employer Pending Ethics Investigation:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/08/express-mva-places-former-bmv-employees.html


BMV CFO Demoted:
http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2015/08/bmvs-unqualified-political-hack-cfo.html




Indystar articles:


Ex BMV Officals fine:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2016/06/09/former-top-bmv-official-fined-500-ethics-violation/85641756/




Former BMV Offical to face ethics complaint:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2016/06/07/former-top-bmv-official-faces-ethics-complaint-thursday/85557192/




BMV Offical took Job with Express MVA:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2015/07/24/bmv-boss-pushed-fee-took-job-company-benefited/30632873/




Overcharges ignored by BMV:
http://www.indystar.com/story/money/2015/03/22/bmv-officials-knew-overcharges-let-ride/25177557/


BMV and Patronage:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2015/05/23/patronage-lead-bmv-overcharges/27797473/




FSSA Chief's Ouster:
http://www.indystar.com/story/news/politics/2014/06/19/concerns-pences-obamacare-alternative-preceded-fssa-chiefs-ouster/11006829/


Paul Ogden's posts:


Pence Cancels BMV Contract:
http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2015/08/governor-pence-end-questionable-bmv.html



Charlie White's Podcast:



Charlie White's Discussion of BMV Troubles:

http://indianatalks.com/site/2015/05/the-charlie-white-show-5-26-15-podcast/