Charlie White Loses Case, Office

Former Secretary of State Charlie White

Charlie White was found guilty on six of seven felony charges and has, at least temporarily, lost his job as Indiana's Secretary of State.  Governor Mitch Daniels temporarily has appointed Jerry Bonnet as Interim Secretary of State pending sentencing.

So, Indiana's temporarily former Secretary of State was found guilty of six Class D felonies.  All of these could be reduced to misdemeanors which might allow him to reclaim his job.

Attorney Carl Brizzi put up no defense to the Prosecution's charges.  White was acquitted of the only class C felony he was accused of in the seven charges.

The six class D charges he was found guilty on by a jury of his peers include:

Submitting a false voter registration

Perjury (Times Two)

Voting in another precinct than the one residing in

Procuring, casting or tabulating a false ballot

Theft

City-County Councillor
Vop Osili

While White will face sentencing that could give him prison time or reduce the charges to misdemeanors, the civil case moves on to see if Vop Osili will be installed as Secretary of State.  White was clearly never eligible to be a candidate in the first place, so Osili would seem to have an even better case now.

Daniels said that if one of the felony charges sticks; he will make an appointment of a permanent Secretary of State to replace White...of course that also depends on the civil trial that could make Osili the SOS.

I think it would be a joke if White returns to the job in any capacity.  While some have called this a witch hunt against White, it's clear that he brought this on all himself.  It was, at minimum, his own inattentiveness to election law that put himself in this position.  Not really the guy you want as Indiana's Chief Election Officer.

This is a sad day for Indiana when one of our elected officials is convicted of felonies...and while the Super Bowl is in town, too.  More of a reason for our state to be a political laughingstock.  We have the Republicans and Charlie White to thank for this.

As my friend Zach Adamson posted on Facebook this morning, the Republicans now have a case of voter fraud to cite...and they're responsible.