BLOOMINGTON – Police in Bloomington say they have contacted authorities in Louisiana about their search for a college student whose disappearance has similarities to that of an Indiana University student who has been missingINDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mitch Daniels said Wednesday he will not require the Indiana Election Commission to investigate whether Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., is voting illegally in Indiana.
Hoosiers for Conservative Senate, a tea party coalition that supports Lugar’s challenger in the Republican primary election, called on Daniels to take action on a complaint against Lugar in November by an Indianapolis resident.
“No, we’re not doing that,” said Daniels, who backs Lugar’s re-election bid. “I’ve talked to lawyers and both the Constitution and statute are clear. He’s qualified as he has been for all his previous elections.
“We’ve got to have a good competitive election, but (Lugar’s opponents) shouldn’t try to end it on a technicality that really isn’t legally valid.”
Lugar lives in McLean, Va., but lists an Indianapolis house he formerly owned as his address for voting in Indiana elections.
State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who is running against Lugar in the May 8 primary, had a news conference Wednesday morning outside Lugar’s former home. There and during an afternoon visit to Fort Wayne, Mourdock said Lugar is violating the U.S. Constitution by not being an inhabitant of the state that elects him.
“We’re asking him to declare if he should win the primary, he will come back and take up residence to become an inhabitant” for the November general election, Mourdock said in an interview at IPFW.
“The Democrats are going to have a heck of an argument if he doesn’t formally demonstrate that he is an inhabitant,” Mourdock said.
Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-2nd, is unopposed in the Democrats’ primary election. The state Democratic Party criticized Lugar last week for using public funds to pay for hotels when he visits Indiana.
Lugar’s residency and absentee voting address have been “addressed by two (Indiana) Attorneys General and upheld by a third,” David Willkie, political director for Lugar’s campaign, said Wednesday in an email.
Willkie said Lugar pays Indiana taxes and has an Indiana’s driver’s license.
For more on this story see Thursday’s print edition of The Journal Gazette or return to www.journalgazette.net after 3 a.m. Thursday.
