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.” Continue reading “9th District Dems: Monroe County chair ‘within his rights’ to preside over Saturday’s Bloomington city council vacancy caucus”
