(La Porte County, IN) - LaPorte County Commissioner Rich Mronzinski is appealing a decision to remove his name from the Republican Party ballot in the May 7th primary.
His attorney, Alan Sirinek, said the appeal will be filed in LaPorte Circuit Court once he and his client review the final language in the written appeal.
“I’ll make changes as necessary, then he’ll sign it and get it back to me, then we’ll file it with the court either late today or first thing tomorrow morning,” he said.
On February 23rd, The LaPorte County Election Board voted not to allow Rich Mrozinski to run as a Republican for a third consecutive term.
The board granted the request of LaPorte County Republican Party Chairman Allen Stevens on grounds that Mrozinski failed to place his initials on three spots of his candidacy filing documents as required by state law. They also agreed that Mrozinski is disqualified because of his not being in good standing with the LaPorte County Republican Party central committee.
In September of 2022, Republican precinct committeepersons voted unanimously to remove Mrozinski as an official member of the party following disputes with other Republicans and his going back on the promise to not support the hiring of Shaw Friedman as county government attorney.
In the appeal, Sirinek said a person is basically only required under state law to have cast a ballot of the party he or she wants to represent as a candidate in at least two consecutive primaries. Since Mrozinski has done that, “he’s automatically eligible." He also pointed out Mrozinski is not a convicted felon, which is pretty much the only thing that would make him ineligible to appear on a ballot.
Sirinek said state election law, historically, has been interpreted with some flexibility to keep candidates from being taken off ballots over technicalities like missing initials that can be easily fixed. He went further, saying that nowhere is it mentioned in state election laws that someone not in good standing with the party cannot run in that party’s primary.
When he went before the election board, Stevens cited a law upheld in federal courts that guarantees political parties freedom from associating with candidates not in good standing with their parties and ability to protect themselves “from intrusion by those with adverse political principles.”
However, Sirinek said political parties are allowed to discipline members within their own ranks, but their authority does not extend to keeping them off ballots.
“If they want to bar Rich from the Republican Party, good for them. If they want to bar him from going to the state convention. Good for them. They can do that. I don’t disagree, but freedom of association is a far different world than disenfranchising the voters of LaPorte County from the ability to vote for Rich,” he said.
Stevens said the District 1 Republican Central Committee, at its office in Valparaiso, has scheduled a hearing for March 11th to decide his request to ban Mrozinski from running as a Republican for 10 years. The committee reportedly scheduled the hearing after finding probable cause was sufficient enough to formally consider the matter.
Stevens cited a $100 campaign donation by Mrozinski to Democrat Sheila Matias when she was seeking a second term as commissioner in 2022 as another reason, besides the political clashing, for seeking the short and long-term bans.
“That is a clear violation of the Republican state party rules,” he said.
Sirinek said the donation was from Mrozinski’s wife but, regardless, he’s eligible for a place on the republican ballot.
“If they want to have their little private club, good for them. That has nothing to do with what the election is about. The election is about whether Rich Mrozinski should continue on as a county commissioner. It’s a decision best left and solely left with the voters and not the biased attitudes of the Republican Party,” he said.
