9th District Dems: Monroe County chair ‘within his rights’ to preside over Saturday’s Bloomington city council vacancy caucus
Still set to preside over Saturday’s (March 2) three-way contested caucus to fill the vacancy in the District 5 Bloomington city council seat is Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry.
The vacancy was left when Shruti Rana announced her resignation from the seat in mid-January, effective Feb. 7. Vying to be selected at the caucus to fill in for Rana for the better part of the next four years are: Courtney Daily, Jason Moore, and Jenny Stevens.
Indiana state election law says that the county chair or someone they designate is the “chairman of caucus.”
After questions were raised about “conflicts of interest” for Henry, a review of that and several related issues was done by the 9th District Democratic Party. The review was summarized in a report dated Feb. 21, 2024.
The procedural review concluded that “[We] can find no substantial relationship (Ex: Familial relationship, professional relationship, etc) between [David Henry] and the caucus candidates, as currently known, and find no pecuniary interest that he might have in the caucus results.”
The report continues: “Without such conflict, Mr. Henry is within his rights as party chair to preside over the caucuses.”
For the Dems, the District 5 city council caucus is one of four vacancy caucuses since the start of the year, which were all subject of the 9th District review.
In addition to the question about whether Henry can preside over the caucuses, the 9th District report considers an eligibility question about one of the city council District 5 precinct chairs, who moved away from the district.
The 9th District report concludes that the vacation of the Perry 21 precinct chairship, to which Allyson McBride had been elected, was not forced, but rather was a “consenting resignation.”
Reached by email, McBride wrote to The B Square about the pertinent part of the 9th District report: “That is all correct! I have moved every single year I’ve been in Bloomington, and this year I moved out of district.” McBride added, “It was not a forced removal in any sense of the term.”
Because McBride won’t be participating in the March 2 vacancy caucus, it will be just the other eight precinct chairs who will cast votes.
The names of those who conducted and submitted the 9th District review include two 9th District Democratic Party officers and two Monroe County Democratic Party Officers: Adam Dickey (9th District chair); Josh Stigdon (9th District legal counsel); Ashley Pirani (MCCP secretary); and Karen Wrenbeck (MCDP treasurer).
Reached by phone, Dickey told the B Square that the procedural review had been requested by Henry.
Galvan’s statement at Feb. 10 auditor’s caucus
The 9th District procedural review came in the wake of a statement read aloud by Natalia Galvan at end of the Feb. 10 county auditor’s caucus, at which Henry presided. Galvan is precinct chair for the Bloomington 06 precinct. That’s not in Bloomington’s city council District 5—but the auditor’s vacancy caucus included as participants precinct chairs from across Monroe County.
In Galvan’s statement she said, “Due to the multiple conflicts of interest the Chair [David Henry] has stemming from his current candidacy in a contested Democratic primary, the Chair [David Henry] is unable to maintain the neutrality required to preside over a contested caucus.”
Henry is one of four candidates competing to be one of the Democratic Party’s three nominees for the at-large Monroe County council seats. That line-up includes: Matt Caldie, Trent Deckard, David Henry and Cheryl Munson.
The 9th District report gives several examples of party chairs, including some at the state level, who have at the same time been candidates for elected office. The report concludes that even while a candidate for office, “a party chair is well within their power to continue to appoint vacancies to party positions, nominate poll workers, supervise coordinated campaign activities, and manage operations for the party, including by presiding over meetings or caucuses of the body. ”
Adam Dickey, the 9th District chair, confirmed to The B Square that Galvan’s statement was included among other materials considered by the procedural review team that produced the Feb. 21 report.
Galvan’s Feb. 10 statement continues, “Therefore, the chair must recuse himself from any such caucus. If the chair fails to do so, I call upon the qualified voters of all future contested caucuses to disqualify the chair from presiding over those caucuses.”
After Galvan read the statement aloud, Henry asked her: “Is that a statement or a motion? Galvan answered: “That is a point of order.”
After a caucus attendee asked for the statement to be repeated, Galvan read it aloud a second time.
After the second reading, Henry said, “The chair takes your point, and rules it dilatory, as under Indiana code, when it comes to caucuses of a party, regardless of the perceived conflicts of interest that you’ve stated, Indiana code is abundantly clear—the chair, as the presiding officer is appointed, and conducts the caucuses of the party.”
Henry added, “So I would encourage you to perhaps review the code and if you have a complaint, I believe it is to be made in writing to the officers.” Henry wrapped up by saying, “Thank you for your statement.”
A few minutes later, when the caucus adjourned, Galvan exited the Nat U. Hill meeting room of the Monroe County courthouse, followed by The B Square. The question that this reporter wanted to ask was about which “the multiple conflicts” Galvan perceived for Henry besides the fact of his candidacy for county council.
As Galvan and The B Square neared the steps on the south side of the building, Henry had closed enough distance to call out to Galvan, asking that she give him a written copy of her statement. Galvan responded by saying that she had sent a copy to Ashley Pirani, who is the county party’s secretary.
The B Square and Galvan then descended the second set of steps, which meant they were facing north looking up at Henry, who spoke from the third-floor level, saying, “You may want to talk to [Matthew] Kochevar about this item in Indiana code—I think you’re going to find you’re incorrect. Have fun!” Matthew Kochevar is co-counsel for the Indiana Election Division.
In a Feb. 29 phone interview with The B Square, Kochevar confirmed that IC 3-13-11-6 says the county party chair or their designee is the chair of the caucus. There’s no other provision in state law for the idea that the caucus voters could disqualify the county chair from that role as a part of adopting their rules of procedure for the caucus, Kochevar said.
Galvan declined on Feb. 10, to speak on the record to The B Square about specific “multiple conflicts of interest” for Henry, which she mentioned in her statement made at the auditor’s vacancy caucus that day.
Allegations after release of 9th District procedural review
On Feb. 28, Galvan texted the following statement to The B Square:
I am very distressed that the current Monroe County Party Chair aggressively chased and yelled at me, in the presence of Mr. Askins [the writer of this article], outside the Nat U. Hill room in the Monroe County Courthouse after I made my statement and the meeting adjourned at the Monroe County Auditor caucus on February 10th.
The point of order made that day was not only on my behalf as an elected precinct chair, but on behalf of many precinct chairs who feared retaliation based on the chair’s past actions and behavior towards opponents and candidates for the District 5 race.
Precinct committee members comprise the Monroe County Democratic Party County Central Committee. Our precinct roles serve as a direct link between our Democratic party and the Democratic voters in our precinct, and we want to ensure impartial and fair future contested caucus elections.”
The B Square has not been provided with any facts about the alleged “past actions and behavior” mentioned in Galavan’s statement.
More correspondence since release of the Feb. 21 9th District review
The 9th District procedural review did not settle the concerns of some local Dems about the upcoming District 5 vacancy caucus.
An 800-word letter, contending that due process was not followed for the removal of the Perry 21 precinct chair (Allyson McBride), was forwarded The B Square Bulletin on Feb. 27, 2024. It was an attachment to an email from an anonymous source. The document was conveyed as a .pdf file, with no date, salutation, or signature. According to the source, the document was drafted in consultation with Bill Groth, an attorney.
Responding to a question from The B Square, Groth confirmed in an email sent on Feb. 28, 2024 that he “was consulted and helped draft the letter you referenced in your email to my office today.”
There is a Indiana Democratic State Party rule [Rule 11(l)] that says if a county chair learns that a precinct chair has moved out of the precinct, then the county chair has to take a procedural step to remove the precinct chair by notifying the precinct chair using certified mail that they have been “retired in absentia.”
The document that Groth helped craft contends that state party rules prohibit the party’s county chair from removing a precinct chair within 30 days of a vacancy caucus. But the wording in party rules to which the document cites in support of that prohibition looks like it relates to limitations on the timing for appointments, not limitations on the timing of removals.
From the point of view of the 9th District procedural review, it is a moot question whether the citations in the document that Groth helped to write, support the idea of limiting the timing of removals. That’s because the 9th District procedural review analyzed McBride’s now-empty precinct chairship as stemming from a voluntary resignation, not from a forced removal.
9th District chair Adam Dickey confirmed to The B Square on Feb. 29 that the document that Groth helped to draft had previously been given by Galvan to the 9th District, and already considered as a part of the 9th District procedural review.
According to Dickey, the fact that McBride is no longer the precinct chair for Perry 21 was not due to a forced removal, but rather due to her voluntary resignation.
Reacting to the letter that Groth helped to draft, Dickey wrote: “As confirmed by the review committee, Allyson McBride willingly left her position after moving from the district. A precinct committee person can resign (or pass away) creating a vacancy in the position at any time, regardless of a pending caucus or other business before the committee.”
Dickey added, “It should also be noted that if there was a question regarding the removal, the person with standing to challenge that action would be Ms. McBride.”
Speaking by phone to the B Square, Henry said it was McBride who notified him—in response to the party’s call to caucus—that she had moved out of the district. Henry said that he had a verbal agreement with McBride to resign.
Why did he send a certified letter under the party rule? In a text message, Henry wrote: “We sent the letter to fully note the resignation in absentia as required by rules. This resignation was never acrimonious. The letter in this case simply met the rules and formality. I appreciate her honesty in letting us know she in fact had moved from her precinct.”
Henry also said that on March 1, he had received an email from McBride “indicating that she has formally resigned this seat—on top of…everything else.”
Awareness of applicable rules?
On Feb. 29, Chris Ravenna, who is vice chair of the Perry 03 precinct, sent an email to Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry, which made a record of several claims, in the event that an appeal of the outcome of the District 5 city council caucus might be undertaken.
Ravenna forwarded his email to The B Square on the same day.
One of the contentions made by Ravenna’s Feb. 29 email is that Henry did not give McBride the correct interpretation of the applicable rules on the removal of a precinct chair, if they move out of a precinct.
It is not spelled out in Raveena’s email in this way, but based on information from other sources, one theory of the correct interpretation of the applicable rules goes like this: Even if a precinct chair in fact moves out of the precinct, and the party chair uses certified mail to notify the precinct chair of their “retirement in absentia,” then, if appealed, the outcome could turn out in favor of the precinct chair.
The appeal could be granted, on this theory, depending on the status of the most recent list of precinct chairs that the county chair had submitted to the state party chair. Under state party rules, the most recent list submitted to the state party chair is the “authoritative list of committeepersons and vice-committeepersons.” (A “committeeperson” is synonymous with “precinct chair.”)
The appeals procedure under state party Rule 11(l) says that the committee that hears the appeal has two choices: “Following this review, the committee shall vote to uphold the chair’s action or find that the committeeperson [precinct chair] is still duly qualified.”
On this theory, the fact that the wording of that sentence says “is still duly qualified” and not, for example, “still lives in the precinct,” gets analyzed as meaning that the authoritative list of precinct chairs and vice chairs defines who is still duly qualified.
In Monroe County’s case, Henry told The B Square he believed after a cursory check, that the most recent list of precinct chairs that he submitted to the state party chair was dated Dec. 18. That list included McBride as precinct chair for Perry 21.
Henry’s position is that there’s no standing for anyone but McBride to object, and she is not objecting.
The Blooomington city council District 5 vacancy caucus is set to start at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 2, in city council chambers at city hall on Morton Street.
