Terre Haute’s sitting mayor calls for recount, mayor-elect protests claim

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – The city’s mayor-elect says a challenge by the current mayor to his election should be dismissed on a technicality: It does not include his middle initial on the paperwork.\nMayor-elect Duke Bennett’s attorney, James Bopp Jr., filed motions Monday to dismiss the legal challenge and a recount request – both filed by current Democratic Mayor Kevin Burke – because the paperwork did not include Bennett’s middle initial and did not match the name that appeared on the ballot.\nBennett, a Republican, appeared on the election’s sample ballot as “Duke A. Bennett.”\nBennett defeated Burke by 107 votes among some 12,000 cast in the Nov. 6 election.\nBurke filed for a recount and also challenged the election results under the Hatch Act, a federal law that limits the political activity of some not-for-profits that receive federal money.\nBennett is the director of operations at Hamilton Center Inc., which receives federal funding for programs such as the Head Start preschool classes.\nAttorney Fred Bauer, who represents Burke in his recount petition, said he thought the effort was “grasping at straws.”\n“If the court is persuaded by that, I’d be surprised,” Bauer said.\nBopp said the Hatch Act does not apply to the mayor-elect.\n“Duke Bennett does not have the responsibilities that would trigger Hatch Act limitations on his political activities,” Bopp said.