Reuter's candidacy denied by Tippecanoe Election Board; he claims 'electioneering'

LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Tippecanoe County Election Board held a hearing Wednesday to determine if the candidacy challenge against Lafayette City Council candidate Derek Reuter held any merit.

The challenge was brought forward by Tippecanoe County Democratic Party Chairwoman Jacque Chosnek, after discovering Reuter had been convicted of a Class D felony, possession of marijuana, in Allen County in 2005.

According to documents presented at the hearing, Reuter served nine days in jail and a year probation.

According to Indiana law, if an individual has a felony conviction, they are not eligible to run a candidate for office or hold public office.

Reuter tried to argue his case to the board, explaining that he would be able to expunge the conviction from his record before the primary and that the board should give him the opportunity to do so.

The board noted that Reuter should have had the conviction expunged by the original filing date if he wanted to be eligible for the position.

And since his conviction was still on his record as of the time of the meeting, the board ultimately denied Reuter’s candidacy.

“The election cannot wait for you to get an expungement. We have to certify our candidates and it’s something that is a rather involved process,” said Randall Vonderheide, Tippecanoe County Election Board member.

Reuter challenged the board’s decision, arguing that his ineligibility was the result of Chosnek electioneering the ballot on the behalf of the Tippecanoe County Democratic party.

He ultimately put the blame and responsibility for his ineligibility on the party and argued that he should have the opportunity to fix the situation.

“I emailed Jacque Chosnek about running for office and she had due diligence time of many months to inform me about this issue and before filing her challenge. So, that is electioneering on (her) part,” Reuter said.

Chosnek dismissed his allegations of electioneering, highlighting how she had filed the contest to his candidacy hours after being informed of his felony by someone she described as a “concerned citizen.”

“I would have filed a contest against any candidate that I discovered who is ineligible to be a candidate for office,” Chosnek said.

“This contest was not against Mr. Reuter," Chosnek added, "it was not a contest against the nature of his felony conviction. It was Indiana law prohibited him from being a candidate. And it was my duty as county chair to file the objection and the contest to protect the integrity of our election.”

Reuter continued to argue his point, but ultimately the board ruled to deny his candidacy.

“The reality of it is, said Kent Moore, Tippecanoe County Election Board member, "I think it's black and white. As you stand here today, you are or are not a convicted felon. What you are tomorrow won’t make any difference.”

After the board made its decision, Reuter walked past Chosnek and said to her, “You made an enemy today.”

Before he left the building, reporters asked Reuter how he felt about the decision and what he planned to do next.

“I did not think a felony disbarred (someone) from running for city council,” Reuter said.

“I knew there was some positions in state government and local government that are barred from a felony conviction and a lot of federal offices are not.

“When I was corrected was when the challenge occurred. Jacque could have filed and helped and called or emailed, responded to my calls and emails instead of filing a challenge.”

Reuter doesn’t plan on giving up his ambition to run for the Lafayette City Council At-Large seat this election cycle.

He plans on filing as an independent candidate and filing for an expungement of his felony conviction in Allen County.

“If I ever thought an employer used a felony marijuana conviction for two grams of marijuana from a Native American reservation and a ritual smoking device," Reuter said, "if I thought that was going to hold me back from employment, I held that against the employer."

Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on Twitter at 1NoePadilla.

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Reuter claims 'electioneering' after election board denies candidacy