Chaos at the Election Commission
by Steve Walsh Feb 4, 2004

Rep. LaPlante case turns focus on gridlocked system
I was at the meeting of the state Election Commission the other day. While I was interviewing Lake County Democratic Party Chair Steven Stiglich, we heard the four members of the Election Commission yelling at one another. The ranking Democratic member on the board was telling the junior Republican about how he had never been indicted and how he sued the last guy who said it and won. And then the GOP member snapped back that there wasn’t anything wrong with having a lobbyist on the Election Commission.
Party deadlocks on the state Election Commission means the body either does nothing or only works when one hand is prepared to wash the other.
It was enough to pique my curiosity to find out what is happening. If you don’t know the commission, it is evenly divided — two Democrats and two Republicans — with the task of enforcing election and campaign finance laws. There used to be a tie-breaking vote but in 1995, a GOP-controlled General Assembly decided to remove the fifth member. Why? Apparently divided government had worked so well for the Legislature back in the mid-1990s that they decided to make it a movement. The result is a board that either does nothing or only works when one hand is prepared to wash the other. The rare exception, a real high point for bipartisan politics, was the case of Rep. Brooks LaPlante. LaPlante is a nice enough guy, whose family makes bakeware in Terre Haute. In 2002, the Republican LaPlante decided to run against the incumbent state representative, Vern Tincher, a Democrat. He beat Tincher in a close race. LaPlante said he spent about $120,000 on the race, most of it his own money, including $35,000 that came within the last two weeks of the campaign. That was the problem. Even though you can drive a truck through the openings in Indiana election law, one thing you can’t do is dump $35,000 into a campaign in the last two weeks without reporting it. In those last two weeks, any donation over $1,000 must be revealed before the election. LaPlante didn’t. Tincher didn’t know what hit him, and he lost.
Even bothering the winners
LaPlante, the CEO of his own manufacturing firm, pleaded ignorance, being a first-time candidate. In June, the commission, in a show of strength thought statutorily impossible, voted — unanimously — to fine him the maximum $10,000 fine. It was unheard of, but it didn’t last. The ruling came as the two Republican board members were getting ready to step down for unrelated reasons. They left and the state Republican Party sent four GOP names to Gov. Frank O’Bannon’s office and allowed him to pick two. The governor then died in office. Someone at the Election Commission didn’t get the signatures on LaPlante’s fine order before the old members left. When two new Republicans finally came on board, they wouldn’t sign. In November, the new GOP members listened to the case and voted to fine LaPlante — $200. Now the Democrats wouldn’t sign and LaPlante went unfined. All that had passed by the time I got to listen to the screaming match. I found out later that the fight at the Election Commission meeting stemmed from a bill carried by House Democrat Majority Leader Russ Stillwell that is now passing through the House. It would have barred people who lobby the General Assembly from serving on the commission. Rep. Ed Mahern, D-Indianapolis, the chairman of the House Election Committee, offered a compromise. Instead of zeroing in on the lobbyists, he recommended adding a tie-breaking vote to the commission. Common Cause/Indiana would select a fifth member, who would only vote to break ties. Common Cause is a non-partisan group that deals mainly with election law and campaign finance reform. In legislative circles that usually gets you labeled crazy as a bed bug. Which is why Mahern’s proposal won’t go anywhere. It may squeak though the House, but the GOP-dominated Senate probably won’t even hear the bill. There is another way. Kansas has a nine-member election commission with a healthy list of people who aren’t allowed to serve, like lobbyists and party chairmen, which would cover at least one Democrat on the current commission. The appointments are spread throughout the elected offices to make it less likely that the commission would be forever dominated by a single party. Common Cause would love to see Indiana adopt a similar system. In the meantime, Brooks LaPlante has given up on politics. Last week he announced he won’t run for re-election. LaPlante told me he needs to spend more time with his family business. He also cited the fallout from the election commission and what it would mean for his campaign. Though LaPlante believes the board treated him unfairly the first time out, even he believes the commission is probably in need of some reform. Apparently, the system is so broken, it is even beginning to bother the winners. Steve Walsh is a Statehouse reporter for the Gary Post-Tribune.
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