Yesterday, Matt Kelty plead guilty to 2 felonies and a misdemeanor. Kelty will serve no jail time, and pay only $750 in fines.
The prosecution can claim victory. Matt Kelty’s reputation is soiled, and he can no longer run for office or own guns.
LESSON LEARNED
DON’T BUCK THE SYSTEM
Matt Kelty Challenged the establishment, by running against the chosen GOP candidate in the primary and winning. He opposed government financing of the Harrison square project that the establishment supported. Matt Kelty made enemies. Powerful enemies that saw to his general election defeat and his punishment.
In the interest of full disclosure, I do not know Matt Kelty, or his enemies. I state here my opinions which are derrived from observations, analysis, intuition, instincts, speculation, and my own bias.
I don’t know Matt Kelty’s heart, or his intent in these matters. Mr. Kelty could have intended to violate election laws, but were that the case I would have expected the prosecution to have sought a much tougher penalty. Based on the plea agreement, the prosecutor seems to have only been interested in the conviction. If it weren’t about securing the conviction, based on the penalty, this case would have been dropped, or dismissed without objection.
Matt Kelty and this case are not the point. To see the big picture one must spend some time digesting Indiana Code Title 3 Articles 8 and 9 http://www.in.gov/legislative/ic/code/title3/. When you are done, try to get answers to your questions. Call up the Indiana Secretary of State, get the elections division on the phone (317.232.3939), and try to get them to answer questions about what this word means, or that paragraph.
They will tell you to seek legal council. You should know once spending money on legal advice, that advice is merely a legal opinion, and does not protect you from criminal prosecution.
For the most part candidates don’t have to worry about it. They won’t be prosecuted for misunderstanding or a wrong interpretation. Unless…they poked a finger in someone’s eye. Upset someone who already holds political power without any of your own, and you might find yourself a felon stripped of your basic freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.
Just stay at home…watch TV…and let those that know best run the country.
The problem is that “those that know best” have run this country into the ground. Corruption has morphed our republic into unbridled capitalism merged with unabashed socialism. The recent forced government investment into our financial system brings the scary total to something close to fascism. Sound familiar Matt?
Schools, media, and government seem to feel no responsibility to educate the electorate on what our government is supposed to be, what issues are really compelling, or what the candidates stand for. They do, however, seem compelled to educate on what they want the government to be, what non-issues we should be concerned about, and which candidate they prefer. The constitution is too archaic to matter to many in these institutions.
These institutions wish to convince us that the government is the answer to our ills, or at least, it is the conduit to curing our ills. We expect pandering, and reward it. Government, business, and the people of this country need to quit focusing on ourselves as individuals and start focusing on the limited government spelled out in the constitution, the freedoms guaranteed by the bill of rights, and the liberty and justice for all the United States of America ideally stands for.
Tags: corruption, elections, government, Politics
