Statement from GOP Party Chairman Steve Shine on Deputy Clerk Angie Davis:
(October 29, 2015) – Distractions and diversion. Excuses and finger pointing. That’s all we’ve received from Fort Wayne’s Democrat administration.
In the two weeks since we,found out that the Democrats in City Hall have been politicking and shaking down employees for political contributions on the job, all we have heard from them are excuses.
Not a single apology. Not a single believable explanation. Not so much as a pledge that they won’t do it again. Is this the best the Democrats can do in offering a candidate for City Clerk, the second highest office in the City of Fort Wayne?
Angie Davis has truly fallen down the rabbit hole into Alice’s Wonderland. In the harsh glare of citizen outrage, she now has the audacity to propose an ethics code for the City Clerk’s Office when, had one been in effect, she would have been one of its main violators.
Clerk Kennedy did the right thing and resigned for what she was caught on video doing. But the candidate herself, Angie Davis, has yet to answer for any of what happened, on her behalf and frequently in her presence.
Angie Davis allowed her campaign fund raisers to be organized in the Clerk’s Office during work hours using city employees. Those city employees were coerced to help, under threat of termination. Her campaign Treasurer is shown on video accepting money for her campaign.
But never once is Angie Davis heard saying, “Stop.” I believe there will be equally as serious revelations forthcoming in the next few days that will further demonstrate the abuse of the office by Angie Davis in her position as Deputy City Clerk.
Everyone else knows it was wrong, except for Angie Davis. I said it two weeks ago and it bears repeating – she owes it to the citizens of this community to suspend her campaign and pledge to resign if elected.
Poor judgment and an even poorer understanding of the standards of ethical conduct in 2015 make it impossible for her to serve.
But even more baffling than the lack of action on Angie Davis’ part is the continued silence of Mayor Torn Henry. The Mayor is tasked under Indiana statute to “enforce the ordinances of the city and the statutes of the state.” The same statute requires the Mayor to supervise subordinate officers. He has done neither.
Is this where 16 years of Democrat administrations has gotten us? An absolute tone-deafness to the citizens’ right to government that follows the rules -and then enforces the penalties when those rules are broken.
Mayor Henry tells us that it’s a “personnel matter.” He hides behind this instead of answering the difficult questions at hand. Why, even after being informed of what was going on in the Clerk’s Office, did he do nothing?
Why did he allow wildly improper – and possibly illegal – electioneering to go on under his nose without raising a finger to stop it? Was it merely to protect his fellow office holders in the Democrat Party?We deserve better. Your silence, Mayor Henry, does not earn you a pass.
The Mayor claims he is powerless to do anything about the actions of another elected official. But there is a clear and unequivocal state statute that not only says he CAN, but also that he MUST.
It is the Mayor’s absolute statutory duty to enforce the codes of the City of Fort Wayne and the laws of the State of Indiana. He had a duty to refer this matter to the Allen County Prosecutor and to the ethics body of the City of Fort Wayne. He ignored those duties.
When times are hard, and difficult decisions need to be made, we should be able to have faith that our leaders will make them. But Tom Henry did not. He chose politics and patronage instead. He made his choice.
Sixteen years of single party-rule in the Mayor’s Office breeds this kind of conduct, this kind of contempt for the rules. It breeds crony capitalism and a pay-to-play system that divvies up YOUR tax dollars to the out-of-state vendors willing to write the biggest campaign checks.
There are important questions still unanswered about the Mayor’s role in the Clerk’s Office scandal. With less than a week to go before Election Day, the citizens of Fort Wayne deserve answers NOW.
So far, the Mayor’s silence has spoken volumes.
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