HANCOCK COUNTY — The Hancock County Election Board no longer has jurisdiction over the issue, officials said. However, it doesn’t mean questions surrounding the validity of a clerk-treasurer’s election are resolved.
New Palestine Town Council members asked the county’s election board to investigate allegations that Clerk-Treasurer Tonii Pyle illegally obtained signatures on her nomination petition when she was trying to get her name on the ballot in 2019. The accusation is the latest conflict to erupt between the council and Pyle, who have feuded virtually since her first day in office in January.
Pyle, who ran unopposed last fall, obtained some of her 58 signatures at town hall during work hours and during council meetings, both violations of state election laws. Pyle was a deputy clerk-treasurer at the time.
Council member Angie Fahrnow said she alerted the election office to the issue at the time, but no one ever got back with her, and she did not follow up.
At a meeting on Thursday, July 16, the election board determined deadlines for challenging Pyle’s candidacy were well past. Challenges of petitions were due in September 2019, board president John Apple said. Election results were certified two weeks after the November election.
Apple and fellow election board members Bob Bogigian and Lisa Lofgreen, the county clerk, said the first they heard of any issue surrounding Pyle and the 2019 election was this month.
The board recommended council members take their concerns to the county prosecutor. After the meeting, council members Bill Niemier, who is also an attorney, and Fahrnow walked to the sheriff’s department to file a report.
“I do believe there are clear violations of Indiana code for ghost employment,” Niemier said. “She performed activity on a government property during working hours that was not work-related, and that’s a Level 6 felony.”
Conviction would result in removal from office, according to Indiana law.
Filing of charges would be up to the county prosecutor.
In an interview after the election board meeting, Pyle acknowledged she did bring a sign-up sheet to town hall during work hours and that her father-in-law, then-town manager Dave Book, did ask people to sign the sheet for Pyle before and after council meetings.
“We did do a sign-up sheet at town hall,” said Pyle, who was running for office for the first time. “I didn’t know any better. I wasn’t trying to be malicious or anything.”
Pyle, who acknowledged being exhausted by ongoing conflicts with the council, said she’s tired of looking back and just wants to try and move forward and work with the council.
“Really, I do,” Pyle said. “I just want to move forward.”
