Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, June 22, 2011
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) - After seven months of legal battles, the Indiana Recount Commission will decide next Thursday whether Secretary of State Charlie White is eligible to hold the job.
The commission held a six-hour hearing Tuesday on Democratic party allegations that white was not legally registered to vote when he won the nomination at last year's republican convention.
White was registered at his ex-wife's address for 10 months after he signed a lease for the fishers condo where he now lives with his current wife.
The same accusations are at the core of a seven-count criminal indictment in Hamilton County.
Despite that approaching trial, and an unsuccessful request for "use immunity" for his testimony, White testified for three hours, and offered his fullest public account of his residential and registration history.
White told the three-member commission he ended his lease on a Fishers Apartment in June 2009 to clear the way to buy a condo with his then-fiancée.
He signed the lease in November, and closed on a mortgage three months later, listing the condo as his "current address" both times.
But White and his wife Michelle both testified they agreed he wouldn't move in until they were married.
The whites say he sometimes stayed overnight on the couch, mainly on the weekends, but Michelle white says she was adamant that her daughter not see her sharing a bedroom with someone who wasn't her husband.
White says he was on the road campaigning for Secretary of State during that period more than he was at any one address.
When he was in fishers and not at the condo, he says he stayed either with his mother or, more often, in his ex-wife's basement.
Ex-wife Nicole Mills acknowledges the couple's post-divorce relationship is "atypical."
She and White both testified white's name was still on that mortgage, and that he had 24-hour access to the premises.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.