Dems chief will step down
‘It’s time for someone else to take over,’ Chidester says
Porter County Democratic Party Chair Jeffrey Chidester announced at the end of Thursday’s election board meeting that he will not seek the post again when it opens up in March.
Chidester has held the post since 2007 when he was selected to replace Leon West, who moved out of the area. County party chairs serve four-year terms and are selected the March after a presidential election. That happens for both parties on March 6 this year.
Chidester, retired in July after serving as financial secretary and treasurer for Ironworkers Local 395.
“Now I think it’s time for someone else to take over,” he said, adding the role should go to someone younger and savvy with social media. “It just makes sense to move the party in the direction of someone who has that experience.”
Chidester, who appointed himself to the election board when it was newly reconfigured and ex
panded by state statute in July 2019, said he will continue to serve on the election board if the new party chair selects him to do so.
He would like to stay on the board. “I enjoy this. I have a lot of election experience,” he said.
Chidester is a Portage Township precinct committeeman and plans to continue in that role after stepping down as party chair. He ran unsuccessfully for North County Commissioner in 2016.
In other business, 2020 annual campaign finance reports for open committees were due Wednesday and 11 of them are not in yet, Clerk Jessica Bailey said, adding those candidate committees have been notified. All open committees received an email a week before the reports were due and notification also went up on social media, she added.
The good news, said Kenard Taylor, who helps candidates from both parties with their forms and also assists election officials in workshops for candidates on how to fill the forms out correctly, is that the majority of the forms turned in didn’t have any mistakes.
“Our efforts are paying off,” he said. “I reviewed 53 of them and 36, two-thirds, are correct with no errors.”
Taylor suggested fines for candidates who don’t file the forms on time because some of them are habitual offenders or file three or more reports at a time.
“The state has zero tolerance” for missing forms for state offices, Chidester said, and assess fines of $50 a day up to $1,000.
Starting next year, candidates will be able to file the forms online, Bailey said.
Additionally:
■ The board voted to retain Paul Rausch as its president and Ethan Lowe as its vice president. Neither was at Thursday’s meeting.
■ Since this is an off-year for elections, the board will meet quarterly. The board will meet as needed if schools or municipalities file to hold referendums.