Nisly Says He Is Not A Secessionist As Claimed By Mailers
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
District 22 Republican state representative candidate Curt Nisly said he is not a secessionist as alleged by a political action committee linked to the Indiana Chamber. A postcard was sent to homes in District 22 Monday claiming that Nisly wants to “break-up America.” The postcard came from a group called Indiana Business for Responsive Government, a PAC of the Indiana Chamber. The postcard says Nisly “has called for Indiana to leave the United States, effectively seceding from the union and breaking up our beloved nation. It’s a shocking betrayal of our country, Constitution, and the men and women who have fought and died to protect it.” The card also states, “America has serious problems, but shouldn’t we be electing people who want to lead us to greatness – instead of giving up and walking away from America?” and urges, “Take a stand for America – vote ‘no’ on Curt Nisly.” On the reverse is a dictionary definition of “treason.” The IBRG’s secession claim comes from a post they allege is from Nisly’s Twitter account in 2012 , saying he wanted to “Peacefully grant the State of Indiana to withdraw from the United States of America and create its own new government.” The IBRG has sent other postcards since the initial mailing, one of which repeats the secession claim and asks if Nisly “can even take the oath of office honestly” because of it. Another claims that Nisly “has a special relationship with labor union bosses” because he “has taken $15,000 in contributions from organized labor unions,” citing campaign finance reports from the Indiana Elections Division. In a telephone interview Thursday Nisly said he is not a secessionist and that the alleged tweet was misrepresented. “I have always been affirmed that the federal government should do the 19 things that have been delegated to through the Constitution and the states have the responsibility to take care of everything else,” Nisly said. “No I don’t want Indiana to be its own country. I want the feds to do what they are supposed to do and do it well and leave everything else to the states.” Nisly said he was made aware of the flyer Tuesday when someone posted a photo of it on his Facebook page. He commented on the alleged tweet, which no longer appears on his Twitter account, @curtnisly, saying it was a reference to something he heard on the radio about residents of Texas starting a petition to withdraw from the union a week after Barack Obama was re-elected. He said the creators of the petition thought the union would fall apart because Obama was re-elected. “Other states picked up on the petition and eventually there was one for Indiana, and the petition was on the White House website where anyone could make any kind of petition they wanted to,” Nisly said. “I found the petition and remembering the petition was difficult to find, I copied the link to the petition and put it on Twitter so others could get to it more easily for future reference.” Nisly said he copied the title of the petition that was on the White House website and put it into the tweet. Rebecca Kubacki, who is seeking re-election to the District 22 seat, said she had no role in the flyers. “Every mail piece I have put out has been about issues I have championed or I care about. What Curt tweets out isn’t one of them,” Kubacki said. “I think he, like me, loves our country. It is unfortunate that his tweet was made public. I don't condone what was done and have great distaste for the way the campaign has been run.” Kubacki said she called Indiana Business For Responsive Government Thursday afternoon to demand that they stop sending out the negative campaign flyer attacking Nisly. However, Kubacki was unable to reach the organization’s officials and left them a voice mail to call her because she wants the negative mailings to stop.
