Wright out of race for Putnam County Council

Thursday, March 17, 2016
Jim Wright

The race for GOP nominations for three Putnam County Council at-large seats is again a three-man affair.

Former Greencastle street commissioner Jim Wright is now off the May 3 primary ballot following a recent decision by the Putnam County Election Board.

The board, composed of Putnam County Clerk Heather Gilbert, Democrat Gerald "Bud" Sharp and Republican Jack Sutton, voted unanimously on Feb. 29 to remove Wright's name from the Republican ballot after a challenge from Jerry Ensor.

Ensor challenged Wright's candidacy based on the fact that Wright called for a Democrat ballot in the May 2015 Greencastle municipal primary.

This is a curious development considering that Wright was candidate for the Republican mayoral nomination in that election.

Although all involved parties were notified of the hearing before the Election Board, Wright did not attend.

After a review of the case, the board found that Wright did indeed cast a Democratic ballot in the 2015 election. This makes Wright a Democrat by default unless he has approval of the Republican party chairman.

Wright clearly does not have such approval considering that Ensor is the current chairman.

The board's decision leaves the three Republican incumbents to the at-large seats -- Gene Beck, Phil Gick and Larry Parker -- as the only candidates for the nomination.

The only county-wide race to appear on either ballot is now the GOP nod for District 1 county commissioner. That race pits incumbent Commissioner Don Walton against Mike Clark, who serves as Cloverdale town marshal.

No Democrats are currently seeking any county positions.

Although he is now off the GOP ballot for May, Wright is eligible to run as an independent in November.

To do so, he will have to collect a minimum of 129 signatures of Putnam County registered voters. This seemingly strange number is arrived at by calculating two percent of the total number of people who voted in the Indiana Secretary of State race in the most recent election.

Putnam County Election Clerk Stacia Hathaway reported that Wright has picked up the necessary paperwork for the petition from her office.

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  • So wrecking his car while intoxicated is fine....as long as he doesn't switch parties????

    -- Posted by hometowngirl626 on Thu, Mar 17, 2016, at 10:43 PM
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