9th District GOP votes to censure Konkle, reprimand Freiberger

Feb. 15—FLOYD COUNTY — The Indiana 9th District GOP Committee voted Wednesday to censure Floyd County Council President Denise Konkle and reprimand Floyd County Councilman Jim Freiberger due to bipartisan votes for leadership on the council.

The committee's action will prevent Konkle from running in a Republican primary for the next five years.

The party committee presented hearings Wednesday to consider the action against the two Republican council members. The hearing included complaints about the elected officials' recent vote for Democrat Brad Striegel as the vice president of the Floyd County Council.

Floyd County GOP Chair Heather Archibald-Peters filed the complaints against both Konkle and Freiberger.

Jamey Noel, chair of the 9th District GOP Committee, sent affidavits to Konkle and Freiberger on Jan. 26 outlining the complaints. In her complaints, Archibald-Peters cited the council members' vote at its Jan. 10 meeting in favor of Striegel to serve as the council's vice president instead of Republican nominee Danny Short.

The 9th District GOP Committee includes four members — three members voted in favor of the actions, and Noel recused himself from both votes. The 9th District GOP committee members who voted include Scott Fluhr, Amanda Lowery and Larry Shickles.

The committee decided that Konkle was not a "Republican in Good Standing" or a "Qualified Primary Republican." Archibald-Peters said the council member will not be able to run in the Republican primary until the censure expires on Dec. 31, 2028, but there is a stipulation that the committee could consider ending the censure earlier if the Floyd County Republican chair issues a request in writing.

Konkle emphasizes that the action by the party committee means she will not be running as a Republican in the next election, and if she decides to run again, it will not be as a Republican due to the censure.

"I'll have to decide when that time comes whether I want to run again and if I'll run on a different ticket," she said. "If I decided to run that's what I would have to do."

She said it makes her "uncomfortable that we're going through all this as a Republican Party."

"I wish we could work together better," Konkle said. "But there are just some ill feelings that we need to repair on the council. I'm going to continue to do my job for the county the same way I have always been doing with the utmost respect and doing the right thing. And so it's not going to affect the way I am doing my job at all."

In 2022, Konkle won her re-election to the Floyd County Council in an uncontested race. Freiberger took office on the council in January, replacing Republican council member Adam Roberts.

The complaint against Freiberger also called for him to be censured by the district committee, but the committee voted instead to reprimand the council member for his bipartisan vote.

The complaint against Konkle cited other years she voted for Striegel for board president instead of a Republican nominee in 2020 and 2021, and Archibald-Peters noted that Konkle's support for Striegel also extended to placing him on boards instead of other Republicans on the council.

Archibald-Peters said she issued the complaint "because the people of Floyd County voted for a 5-2 majority on the Floyd County Council, and they voted for Republicans."

"Leadership and our rules say that you can't vote for somebody of another party over a Republican nominee, and that is what Mr. Freiberger and Ms. Konkle did, creating basically a 4-3 voting bloc with two Democrats and leaving out the other three Republicans," she said. "I don't believe that's the representation that the Republicans who voted for those people wanted."

Konkle said she still stands by her decision to vote for Striegel for council vice president.

"We need to have bipartisanship," she said. "We need to be voting for the people who have the right skill sets and the right experience to do the job. And there are some ill feelings going on both ways between people who are on the council.

"[There are] just ill feelings, and they need to be repaired, but I'm just not quite sure how to repair them because some of the Republicans on the council are completely unwilling to work with a Democrat. And it makes it very difficult for us all to get on the same page when we see things so differently."

Freiberger said the committee gave him a warning that "this should not occur again," or he would be at risk of at least another reprimand.

"Unfortunately, it is going to affect how I move forward if I decide to stay in politics," he said.

He expressed disappointment that Archibald-Peters brought the complaint to the party committee, but he is surprised and relieved that the committee opted not to censure him.

"I guess that they just looked at my background being active in Republican Party that they felt that was the best avenue to take," he said. "A couple other council members talked against me, and [the committee] looked at the whole party and said, you guys have got to learn to work together better. And I think they were surprised to how divided we were in Floyd, and hopefully, we can work to overcome that somehow in the next few years."

One of Archibald-Peters' complaints included in the affidavit was Konkle's temporary residence at her sister's home in Harrison County. The council member had moved out of her home in Greenville while pursuing the purchase of a home in Georgetown.

Konkle resigned from her position as a Republican precinct committee member in Greenville in January after the complaint was filed, making this a "moot point," Archibald-Peters said.

"So we didn't even discuss that [at the hearing]," she said.

Freiberger does not feel that is a "good look for the Republican Party to be that stringent" regarding his vote for a council officer of a different party.

"I never supported a Democrat in the primaries or the general elections, and that's pretty much how the bylaws state, but yet they're getting picky and even though they say they're not, they're trying to control the party. That's what they are trying to do."