State Official Finds Miner Endorsement Video Broke No Laws
April 15, 2020 at 12:54 a.m.
By Amanda [email protected]
Miner is running against three other candidates for judge of Kosciusko Superior Court III. Current Judge Joe Sutton is retiring after decades on the bench.
In early April, Miner posted a video endorsement to his campaign website that showed McGlennen sitting in full uniform at a Silver Lake town building. Miner is the president of the three-person Silver Lake town council, essentially meaning he and the two other “executives” of the town have the power to fire and hire McGlennen and they’re the ones who basically sign his checks.
A handful of politically-involved community members reached out to the Times-Union, questioning whether or not the video endorsement broke any laws.
According to Indiana Secretary of State Deputy Communications Director and Deputy General Counsel Andrew Lang, it did not.
Lang said if Miner was elected as judge, Miner would have to resign from the town council.
“A judge cannot also serve as a town council member, because it would be considered being two lucrative offices and Indiana statute bars an individual from holding two lucrative offices, so that individual would have to either be a judge or on the town council, they could not do both,” Lang said.
Lang also said it’s not necessarily a conflict of interest for McGlennen to endorse Miner.
Miner, when asked about it, said McGlennen was “not on duty” during the time of the video. However, Miner also said he didn’t “specifically speak with him about it, but he clearly was not on duty at that time.”
“I asked Jason if he would be willing to do it,” Miner said of how the endorsement came about.
“Jason and I?are friends, and we’ve worked together for many years at this point, and certainly I was honored to have him endorse me,” Miner said. “I think when you get into those kind of things, you know, it’s just a matter of making sure everybody’s comfortable with what’s going on and nobody’s pressured, and I always say hey, you know, if you want to give me an endorsement, I would be honored by that, but there’s no pressure.”
Miner also said that since McGlennen is not paid with federal money, the Hatch Act doesn’t apply, and that there is a state statute for police officers to appear in endorsements in uniform and in a visual depiction.
Miner said his campaign spoke with the Indiana Election Division before the video to make sure it was OK, and they were told it was.
And according to Lang, it is.
Other Republican candidates looking to fill Sutton’s seat at the bench are Karin McGrath, Rob Bishop and Lindsey Grossnickle.
Miner is running against three other candidates for judge of Kosciusko Superior Court III. Current Judge Joe Sutton is retiring after decades on the bench.
In early April, Miner posted a video endorsement to his campaign website that showed McGlennen sitting in full uniform at a Silver Lake town building. Miner is the president of the three-person Silver Lake town council, essentially meaning he and the two other “executives” of the town have the power to fire and hire McGlennen and they’re the ones who basically sign his checks.
A handful of politically-involved community members reached out to the Times-Union, questioning whether or not the video endorsement broke any laws.
According to Indiana Secretary of State Deputy Communications Director and Deputy General Counsel Andrew Lang, it did not.
Lang said if Miner was elected as judge, Miner would have to resign from the town council.
“A judge cannot also serve as a town council member, because it would be considered being two lucrative offices and Indiana statute bars an individual from holding two lucrative offices, so that individual would have to either be a judge or on the town council, they could not do both,” Lang said.
Lang also said it’s not necessarily a conflict of interest for McGlennen to endorse Miner.
Miner, when asked about it, said McGlennen was “not on duty” during the time of the video. However, Miner also said he didn’t “specifically speak with him about it, but he clearly was not on duty at that time.”
“I asked Jason if he would be willing to do it,” Miner said of how the endorsement came about.
“Jason and I?are friends, and we’ve worked together for many years at this point, and certainly I was honored to have him endorse me,” Miner said. “I think when you get into those kind of things, you know, it’s just a matter of making sure everybody’s comfortable with what’s going on and nobody’s pressured, and I always say hey, you know, if you want to give me an endorsement, I would be honored by that, but there’s no pressure.”
Miner also said that since McGlennen is not paid with federal money, the Hatch Act doesn’t apply, and that there is a state statute for police officers to appear in endorsements in uniform and in a visual depiction.
Miner said his campaign spoke with the Indiana Election Division before the video to make sure it was OK, and they were told it was.
And according to Lang, it is.
Other Republican candidates looking to fill Sutton’s seat at the bench are Karin McGrath, Rob Bishop and Lindsey Grossnickle.
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