Letters to the Editor from the JG
Kelty’s actions questionable

Regarding the move by Matt Kelty to take out ads declaring his innocence, he protesteth too much.

If the loan was “personal” as he claims, why were the repayment terms contingent upon his being the candidate for mayor?

He argues that the situation should have been dropped after the board of elections did not take action. He claims that the one vote against the action was “politically motivated” at the same time that Steve Shine was calling for Republicans to stick together. Under the circumstances, the votes to drop the case sound more politically motivated to me.

Finally, that he accepted the results of a poll and used them for his campaign without knowing the source of the poll is either not true or so ignorant that I would question his qualifications to serve as mayor.

Kelty has many supporters who keep touting his ethics, values and his ideas for the mayor’s office. However, many of the ideas do not fall under the jurisdiction of the mayor’s office.

The situation reminds me of a politician a number of years ago who stood before the American people, arms raised, claiming “I am not a crook.” History gives us the rest of that story.

MARLENE A. PURDY Fort Wayne

Between the spin of the Prosecutor, the Demoncrats, and the papers, it appears as though the facts of the Kelty matter have reverted to folklore. Perhaps people should stop relying on Kevin Knuth and the papers for the hand up their back to spout misinformation, innuendo, and half-truths, and begin to think and speak for themselves. Kelty is correct in that only one side of the story has been argued and presented in court, that is the nature of the Grand Jury process.

First, I am certain before he was ever a candidate Kelty “personally” made a decision to run for Mayor, likewise to do so he “personally” secured a loan from a friend to compete. Like any loan agreement, terms and conditions are mutually agreed to between the parties. In this case the, the principal repayment terms mutually agreed to were, “Notwithstanding any other provision in this Note to the contrary, this Note, including but not limited to any expenses and accrued interest, shall be immediately due and owing if, for any reason, Borrower shall cease to be a Republican Party candidate for the 2007 mayoral election for the City of Fort Wayne, Indiana”, at least according to the documents splashed around the media, so Marlene, get your facts straight

If you are weren’t a lazy and uninformed Knuth/Henry automaton that someone has pulled your string to speak on this issue, you might have noted that the above repayment provision is the last of seven (7) such provisions in the agreement listed under Miscellaneous and after Payment Obligation, Non-Payment Obligations, Other, Voluntary Bankruptcy, Involuntary Bankruptcy, and Cross-Default, all of which appear in the loan agreement as very standard terms that would trigger repayment of the loan, but then you’d actually have to do some research to know that, which is a lot harder than putting your name on a piece written for you by Kevin Knuth.

The election board, except for Therese Brown, is all appointed positions, and inherently political, if what you are saying is, that condition invalidates all conclusions of the Board, then in all cases the election board’s rulings are, and have been invalid. This fallacy is based on your own obvious condition, that people appointed by political parties, or influenced by them like you, only do the bidding of the Party Chair and, like you, do not think for themselves, do not fairly assess the evidence, and do not come to rational and unbiased decisions based on the facts, guess what, you’re wrong, they do and they did, including Andy Downs.

With regard to your discounting the charge of “political motivation”, I think the average citizen can make a pretty good assessment of whether or not this is true by simply reviewing the sequence of events. I think a recent post broke it down best where it said (and I paraphrase),

“I do not think it was a coincidence that Democrat Andy Downs after being voted down on the election board on the Kelty matter, resigns as a member of the Governing Board of Common Cause of Indiana the DAY BEFORE they file a complaint against Kelty with the Allen County Prosecutor. And certainly anyone can’t honestly think that the time between the filing of the complaint, the passing on it by the County Prosecutor (who campaigned BTW on “Not hiding behind grand juries.”), the request for a Special Prosecutor, the approval by Judge Fran Gull, the identification of Prosecutor Dan Sigler and his acceptance of the case, all within hours is the normal speed at which justice is served in Allen County.”

I think most Fort Wayne voters believe, there are no coincidences, and certainly they can connect the dots and make an informed judgment, and determination of the truth based on the facts. Can’t you?

The privately funded and publicly released poll on Harrison Square may have benefited Kelty only because he was the only candidate opposing it and representing the majority of Fort Wayne voters on the issue, unlike the majority of City Council members who have apparently voted their own interests (Tim Pape and his firm receiving over $50,000 in Harrison Square fees), or they just think the voters are too stupid to know what’s best for them. That poll was released on the internet and provided to every paper, radio and TV station in Fort Wayne, as well as Nelson Peters who quoted from it in the newspapers. Again Marlene, assuming the facts matter and you can put down the Kool-Aid long enough to do some research for yourself, you’d do well to refer to the piece printed in the JG on April 13th titled, The Substance of the Zogby Poll Results Is What Matters, by Kelty campaign manager Glenna Jehl. The fact the campaign claimed the cost of the poll as an in-kind contribution later when they did not have to I think demonstrates Kelty’s desire to be forthright and go beyond what he was required to do, as indeed he has done with his campaign finance reporting. Frankly, when I hear constitutional attorney Jim Bopp say, “He [Kelty] has been, in my opinion, quite forthcoming” , I will give that more weight coming from a nationally renown lawyer who has successfully argued these cases before the Supreme Court of the United States, over a whining wannabe living off his Father’s name and teaching while others are doing. I often wonder were it not for the Downs Center, would Andy Downs even have his job at IPFW (certainly that’s not political is it Marlene?) When Andy Downs has argued cases like these before the highest court in the land and prevailed, I will be compelled to consider the result and reassess my position on the merits.

Finally Marlene, I’m not sure what you are referring to when you state, “…many of the [Kelty] ideas do not fall under the jurisdiction of the mayor’s office”. Again thinking for myself and doing a little research, Kelty has come out recently with some very substantive plans and initiatives on issues such as fiscal responsibility and accountability, improving education, and delivering more efficient (cost saving) and more effective (life saving) public safety services to the citizens and taxpayers of Fort Wayne. All are very detailed and some say very controversial in that they require new thinking about the problems, require new and innovative solutions well within the purview of local government to deliver, require leadership and the political will to step up and do what is right for citizens. I suppose to the Knuth/Henry/Richard Kool-Aid drinkers, the prospect of the world not being flat is perhaps very frightening, and navigating beyond the “edge” is just scary enough for you to continue drinking and putting your name on letters written for you to send into the papers. So if resurrecting McGruff the Crime Dog, signs for safe houses from the 1970’s, and a warmed over buying scheme from a failed business venture is enough for you, then let Kevin put his hand on yours as you pull the lever for Henry, you deserve each other. But I want more, and I think the rest of the people in Fort Wayne do too.

As far as crooks go Marlene, I think you again need to do a little research and look only as far as the 9th floor of the City-County Building. According to the State Board of Accounts report (link to PDF of report) released this week, the current administration, in its zeal to line the pockets of campaign contributors and leave a gaping wound in the City (just look downtown off Jefferson Street) and the City-County Budgets, appeared to have thwarted the Indiana Statutes governing the expenditure of taxpayer dollars, by misappropriating over $5M for Harrison Square from the TIF district established for Jefferson Pointe. Further, through a shell corporation, formed by the current administration, they appear to have illegally acquired property with the misappropriated tax money (while apparently handing a $1/2M commission to a significant campaign contributor, BTW was that competitively bid?), and again obligated taxpayer money without the Statute approval of City Council.

I don’t need the paper or anyone else to interpret the report from the State Board of Accounts, I can read it myself. It occurs to me that if the weight of the government can come down on a candidate based on a dispute over the interpretation of the Code for filing a campaign finance form, surely it will, with the same zeal, investigate the wrong doing identified by the State regarding the alleged misappropriation of millions of taxpayer dollars, illegal acquisition of property with misappropriated taxpayer money, and the skirting of authorization of these transactions by City Council as required by Statute.

Let there be no mistake, Harrison Square is a done deal. I don’t know for sure, but I imagine the termination liability associated with stopping at this time may be greater than the cost of moving forward. But that doesn’t make it right. It’s not the what, but the how Harrison Square happened. There has to be some accountability. The fact that the people’s interests and will were trumped by individual interests (Richard, Becker, Leatherman, Pape, Crawford, Didier, Hines, Talarico, and Hayhurst), and the laws governing the transactions were thwarted by government and its appointed officials does not make it right. The ends do not justify the means. If it did there would be no Jews and we’d all be speaking German. Either the law applies to everyone and it is applied with equal duty and interest, or the law doesn’t mean a thing. Thinking for myself, I think the law does matter and the whole rotten deal needs a Grand Jury to shine the light of day on every deal, every dollar, every contract, every Government appointed and elected official, every meeting, every decision made, every property owner, and every vendor involved. Brandeis was right, sunlight is the best disinfectant.

Marlene, the information is out there, and I have to guess you want to do the right thing too, so start by thinking for yourself. It can be refreshing!

AWB

Last 5 posts by AWB

• Okay, I stink and you can't reproduce... - November 28th, 2008
• Yes Elizabeth, there is no Santa Claus - November 28th, 2008
• Bill Gates will make you a millionaire - November 28th, 2008
• Think about it.. - November 28th, 2008
• Who's flying where from Fort Wayne? - November 27th, 2008

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Kelty / Henry Race. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.