It Certainly Smells Wrong

His attorney tells the press, "He's entitled to the presumption of innocence just like every other person."

I suppose he is, but after eight years of the delightful Todd Rokita as Secretary of State, a man who, as far as I know, only put his foot in his mouth once (and apologized immediately) and was otherwise in favor of things like redistricting in a non-partisan manner that would result in districts that didn't resemble a pile of mating gerrymanders (yeah, that got shot right down), the guy who replaced him, Charlie White, is way worse than disappointing. Charlie's been charged with voter fraud, perjury and theft (and more!), with excellent evidence in support of the charges. (Voter fraud? And just what state official, do you suppose, serves as Indiana's Chief Election Officer?)

You can blame me a little, I guess about half a vote's worth; thanks to a peculiarity of Indiana's ballot access laws, I vote for the Libertarian Candidate for Secretary of State. It was Mike Wherry in the last go-round and he did better than many LP candidates. Nowhere near winning, alas.

I don't know the Democrat who stood for that election late November and I probably wouldn't agree with many of his positions, but Vop Osili appears to be an honest man and a guy who does his homework; he's held a number of actual-work jobs in government* and at this point, it is just about certain that the state of Indiana would have been better served with him in the Secretary of State's office.

As it stands, we've got a guy with press coverage that I'm sure is making GOP leadership squirm -- and it ought to. But Charlie's not steppin' down, oh no, no, no. Not 'til he has had his day in court.

He's no Todd Rokita. He's not Mike Wherry or Vop Osili, either. We'd probably have done better hiring the first urban outdoorsman to show up on the steps the State Capitol building the day after elections than the clown we elected.
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* To the extent that any of 'em are actually needed, which I'd differ with; but if you're stuck with zoning, you need a zoning appeals board to figure out when the law's being stupid, and Vop was one of the men and women sitting though interminable hearings and trying to figure out workable solutions. Likewise, when a Republican Democrat Governor needed someone who actually knew something about designing and constructing buildings for the Indiana Fire and Building Services Commission, Mr. Osili stepped up. Politics is one thing; work ethic is another.