Yes folks, I am not making this up. The Indiana Supreme Court decided today in a split decision that Terre Haute's Mayor, Duke Bennett, is not qualified to be the city's mayor. This is because of his employment at an institution that was partially funded by the federal government. The Hatch act prevents such people from running for public office. (No, he did not work on Wall Street.) His opponent in the November 2007 election, incumbent Kevin Burke, went law-suit-happy after his surprise defeat by a mere 103 votes. The Indiana Supreme Court said that Burke should not get to sit in the mayor's chair because he only complained about Bennett's eligibility after the election. It should be noted that Burke did not mention this 4 years prior when he defeated Bennett.
Sooooo, who's mayor? We aren't sure. Terre Haute doesn't have a deputy mayor. We do have a City Council! The law, as I understand it, says that the City Comptroller, appointed by the mayor who is no longer mayor and legally never should have been mayor, not the City Council President, gets to be mayor. A special election may happen. They say it'll cost $500,000 for the election. In the last mayor's election, 10,000 people voted. Assuming the same numbers repeat, it'll cost roughly $50 per vote. Thank God Terre Haute is a wealthy community! If you are reading this in a third world country, please don't hate us Americans for the way we disrespect money. It's an acquired weakness. We've been perfecting it for generations!
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