Jerry Opperud paced back in forth in the courtroom at the Kosciusko County Justice Center early this morning in anticipation of his meeting with the Kosciusko County Election Board.
Opperud was sworn in and Chairman of the Board Mike Miner made a few comments before Opperud made his allegations public.
“We are here because Jerry Opperud wants to bring complaints to our attention,” Miner said. “We have an hour set aside for this and if we don’t finish in that time we will convene and meet later.”
Opperud began by taking the members of the board back to 2007 where he witnessed voter irregularities.
“I was at a polling center at the Center Lake Pavilion when I saw a family member from outside the city ask for some information from the polling sheets,” Opperud said. “He had no relevance to the election.”
Miner asked Opperud what kind of information the man received.
“I did not hear the dialogue between the polling worker and the person, but my witness did. If we need to corroborate that we can get that information,” Opperud said.
Miner told Opperud that their concern was not with past elections but with this year’s election and to make sure it is ran fairly.
“It sets my case and a pattern of behavior,” Opperud said.
Opperud continued to address the issues he had before the board.
“During the primary this year, Tony Miller claimed to live in the city, but his residence was outside the city. There was a general objection that he could not be on the ballot but no one brought it up,” Opperud said. “He did not end up winning and it was apparent because he wasn't qualified to.”
After bringing up the Miller issue, Opperud moved onto another issue that he wanted to bring before the board.
“There is evidence that during the primary a prominent figure of the family of the primary party in this town who voted lived outside the city. This is supported by a homestead exemption that he took on his property,” said Opperud.
Before Opperud could continue Miner began to question Opperud.
“Are you familiar with poll watchers and what they are?” Miner said. “You are entitled to have poll watchers and are legally able to challenge whether or not someone can or cannot vote.”
Once Miner was finished, Opperud asked if he could continue with his story and complete the picture he was making.
“I don’t view myself as anything other than a candidate and the election board is in charge of making the election fair,” Opperud said.
Opperud’s final allegation is that George Clemens, city council representative from district three, asked him not to run for mayor.
“George Clemens set up a meeting at his house and he sat down with me. There were no other people in the room. His wife was in the house and he sought to get me to not run. He expressed and outright bribed me, and I expressed no interest and I was offended that I was approached and was asked to withdraw from the election,” Opperud said. “He said we have put your significant other in a position to be elected, what else could you want from us?”
Clemens this morning said, “I am shocked and saddened Jerry would say such deceitful things. I simply met with him as a friend to discuss the pros and cons of running again for mayor.”
Clemens added, “He was also incorrect in saying I met with him after he announced. The meeting took place more than a week before he announced he would run for mayor. This is nothing more than sour grapes and dirty politics.”
Questioned after the meeting late this morning as to what, if anything, Clemens offered as a bribe, Opperud said there was no bribe and that if he said there was, he misspoke.
“If I said that, that is not the truth because I understand the nature of a bribe and the implications of it,” Opperud said. “But in fact it was a conversation that was headed in that direction but it didn’t get there. I stopped it before it got there. As quickly as I realized the intent I said, ‘maybe you should take it to your candidate and get him not to run,’” Opperud said.
Opperud finished his presentation to the election board by commenting on the atmosphere of voters in Warsaw.
“As you can see from this and the general culture, people are disenchanted and not wanting to vote,” Opperud said.
Miner quickly retorted.
“Let me focus you,” Miner said. “This is not a campaign speech. So far I haven’t heard anything that needs to be addressed. We are here to determine whether there is something that we need to fix before the election. We cannot fix anything that has happened in the past, that needs to be taken to the police. That is not our place.”
Miner informed Opperud that if they have fixed his concerns they have done something right.
Near the end of the meeting, County-Clerk Jason McSherry told Opperud that he needed to fill out a form in his office and the poll watcher will be given credentials to be at the polling center.
Opperud finished with a closing statement.
“I look forward to an election that is not unduly influenced by intimidation,” Opperud said.
Just as the meeting was about to conclude, Michael Alspaugh, Republican candidate for mayor in the primary, raised a few questions of his own.
“I brought it (Tony Miller’s candidacy) before the clerk’s office that we had a candidate for mayor that was not living in Warsaw and they told me it wasn’t their place to deal with it,” Alspaugh said. “There are rules for voting, and if you live outside the city limits you cannot vote and you cannot vote if you are a felon either. How do we keep felons from running for office?”
McSherry told Alspaugh that it is not the job of the clerk’s office to weed out candidates it is the job of the candidates to bring up issues with candidates.
Democrat representative Tony Garza then chimed in and informed the courtroom that the election board could not take action on mere rumors or hearsay.
Alspaugh said that “they wanted to go forward with integrity and they want to make sure things are legitimate from this day forward.”
In an interview after the meeting, Opperud said, “We haven’t lost anything. We gained something. We exposed what’s happened here.”
