Fort Wayne mayoral race a GOP mess (10/20/07)

The train wreck continues.

For Allen County Republicans, the Fort Wayne race for mayor has been one nightmare after another.

First, it was a surprise victory in the May primary by a candidate not backed by the party's leadership. Voter turnout was low, and the candidate - Matt Kelty - ran a vigorous campaign, exceeding all expectations.

Then, it was the revelation that Kelty had fudged his campaign finance reports, not coming clean about a six-figure loan he had received from a campaign backer, a loan that was clearly intended to circumvent state law.

When that mess landed in the lap of the Republican prosecutor, she handed it off to a special prosecutor from out-of-town. That special prosecutor, widely-respected former Adams County attorney Dan Sigler, took the matter to a grand jury for investigation and consideration.

Its result was a 9-count indictment against Kelty for charges that include felony perjury.

Still, faced with all that, the GOP faithful in the Summit City seemed determined to make the best of the situation. A few Republican office-holders distanced themselves from the Kelty campaign, but that's to be expected whenever the words "indictment" and "election" are uttered in the same sentence.

Then came the cake.

At a birthday gathering, some of Kelty's supporters provided a cake that was intended to be humorous but ended up coming across as nasty or mean-spirited in its gibes at the county GOP chairman and a number of Republicans in leadership roles.

Among those was Mark Souder, whose Congressional district used to include Jay County. Souder had initially given Kelty his endorsement, then turned lukewarm about the campaign.

And finally, this week, after numerous reports from Kelty campaign defectors that the congressman and many of his GOP friends were being routinely bad-mouthed, Souder took the remarkable step of publicly rescinding his endorsement.

He won't go so far as to say that he'd vote for the Democratic candidate; that would be too much for any Republican. But it's easy to leave that spot blank on the ballot, and there's increasing evidence that many voters will do just that come November.

Our guess is that Kelty's campaign will sink out of sight next month, but we'd also guess that the wounds opened during the past several months in Allen County politics are going to fester for a long time to come.

How much of an impact will all this have? That won't really be clear until next year, when Souder himself faces re-election. - J.R.[[In-content Ad]]