Published: August 09, 2007 11:39 am            

What now for GOP?: Voters will ‘separate’ candidates from Murphy’s problems, experts say

The criminal investigation into whether former Clark County Republican Chairman Glenn Murphy Jr. sexually assaulted another man on July 29 and his resignation from the post likely will have little effect on GOP candidates in November’s municipal elections, experts say.

“I think that’s a very difficult question to answer,” said Dr. Linda Gugin, a political science professor at IU Southeast and a faculty sponsor of the campus’ College Democrats. “It probably will not have a major impact.

“I think voters would certainly be able to separate those two things.”

IUS professor Dr. Joe Wert — a faculty sponsor of the university’s College Republicans — said any political fallout from the criminal investigation and Murphy’s resignation likely would come from disorganization within the GOP, rather than from voters associating Republican candidates with the investigation into Murphy.

“That was the biggest danger here, to leave the party in disarray before the November elections,” Wert said.

On Nov. 6, Republicans will be involved in key battles throughout Clark County. In Charlestown’s mayoral race, the GOP nominee is former Mayor Bob Hall, who is facing incumbent Mayor Mike Hall. In Jeffersonville, Clark County Councilman Monty Snelling is representing Republicans against former Mayor Tom Galligan and GOP members are seeking re-election to the City Council. In Sellersburg, the GOP holds all five Town Council seats and Republican Tom Lowe is seeking re-election as Town Court judge.

Murphy, 33, e-mailed a letter to media on Tuesday stating that he had resigned as party chairman and as president of the Young Republican National Federation because of an unexpected business opportunity that he had become aware of on Friday. Murphy, of Utica, owns December Media. Political Internet blogs around the country quickly picked up on the story and The Associated Press’ Indianapolis bureau published an article citing The Evening News and Tribune’s Wednesday report.

Murphy was elected president of the national organization last month, during a convention in Miami. He had been expected to resign as the GOP’s county chairman soon so he could focus on his national responsibilities, but he had never mentioned a time frame for his relinquishing of his local duties.

According to Clark County Sheriff’s Department reports, a 22-year-old man claimed that he and Murphy were among those who stayed in a Jeffersonville home following a GOP event there on July 28. The man told police that on the following morning, he awoke to find Murphy committing a sex act on him.

Clark County Prosecutor Steve Stewart has not discussed the investigation publicly and did not return a reporter’s phone calls to his office on Wednesday. Larry Wilder, Murphy’s attorney, has said that Murphy maintains the sex act was consensual. As of Wednesday afternoon, Murphy had not been arrested for or charged with any crime.

Wilder said conversations with Stewart have led him to believe that Stewart will decide whether or not to charge Murphy within 30 to 40 days.

Murphy was accused of a nearly identical illegal act in 1998, according to a police report filed in Clarksville. He was never charged with a crime following that allegation, which was made by a man who was 21 at the time.

Wilder said he represented Murphy following the 1998 accusation and that Murphy cooperated with investigators then. The attorney said Clarksville police investigated the complaint and that the matter was never forwarded to the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office, because of a lack of evidence.

“It was determined that charges were not warranted,” Wilder said.

Clark County Democratic Party Chairman Rod Pate said he does not believe Murphy’s legal troubles should be fodder for Democrats’ fall campaigns.

“It’s a sad thing,” Pate said. “I don’t think any Democrats in Clark County are gloating over this.

“I think [the alleged attack] is an unfortunate thing for the victim and for Glenn.”



Ulterior motives?

On Wednesday, several people questioned whether ulterior motives might have led to Murphy being “set up” for the allegations against him.

Jeremy Snelling — who lives in Jeffersonville and is the son of Republican mayoral candidate Monty Snelling — said the 31-year-old sister of Murphy’s accuser had been a member of the county’s Young Republicans, but stopped attending functions after she lost an election for an officer’s post in January.

“She ran for the secretary’s position,” Jeremy Snelling said. “She lost, actually, pretty handily, and she left that meeting irate and she has not attended a (Young Republican) event since then.”

Rumors swirled on Tuesday and Wednesday that the woman might have blamed Murphy for her loss, but Snelling said there would have been no factual basis for her to have such a belief.

“He definitely didn’t have anything to do with it,” Snelling said.

Another rumor on Wednesday involved the accuser waiting five days to approach police during an unsuccessful effort to reach a financial settlement with Murphy.

“It could have been up to six figures, I was told,” said one source who asked not to be identified.

Wilder met with Murphy’s accuser at least once between July 29 and the time the complaint was filed with police last Friday. Asked if Murphy’s accuser inquired about a financial settlement in lieu of contacting police, Wilder said: “I’m not in a position to comment on that right now.”

Wilder added that he did not contact the accuser with the intent of offering a financial settlement. According to a police report, the accuser’s sister said she attended a meeting between Wilder and her brother on July 31 and that “Mr. Wilder never mentioned money.”



The leaked report

State law gives law enforcement agencies the discretion to withhold from public view documents relating to pending criminal investigations. The report accusing Murphy appeared on a Web site Tuesday.

The site is run by Jennifer Wagner, the communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party, according to The Associated Press. Wagner told the AP that the opinions on the site are her own and are not sanctioned by the party. She did not say how she obtained the report, but said it wasn’t posted for political purposes.

The Evening News and The Tribune received a copy of the report several hours after it was posted on Wagner’s Web site.

On Tuesday, Wilder expressed concern that the report had been leaked from the Clark County Sheriff’s Department. Sheriff Dan Rodden expressed skepticism that he would be able to determine who released the report without authorization.

On Wednesday, Wilder said he believes Rodden is taking the matter seriously.

“I believe he will do everything in his power to determine what has happened,” Wilder said. “I know Danny Rodden. I know he’s a professional.”

Wilder said he believes the report’s release is related to the hard-charging style Murphy exhibited as the county’s GOP chairman, which frequently rankled Democrats.

“Do I think that has a basis in politics? Yeah, I do,” said Wilder, adding that Murphy and most other political leaders understand that they essentially make themselves targets for such things. “It reminds me of a line out of a famous movie, ‘This is the business we have chosen.’”

That line was delivered by actor Lee Strasberg, playing gangster Hyman Roth in “The Godfather: Part II.”

Murphy’s political future

Even his political critics admit that Murphy revitalized Clark County’s GOP since he became its chairman seven years ago, infusing the party with youth and gaining elected seats.

At the time Murphy assumed control of the local Republican Party, there were no elected officials from the GOP in Clark County. Now there are 23.

He used that success to vault his way to the top of the Young Republican National Federation, but held that post less than a month before resigning.

Political experts say he may be able to return to politics, but that his party might be less forgiving than the public.

During the past 20 years, public opinion seems to have changed regarding politicians and sex scandals.

In 1987, Colorado senator and Democratic presidential candidate Gary Hart responded to rumors that he was having an extramarital affair by telling The New York Times: “Follow me around. I don’t care. I’m serious. If anybody wants to put a tail on me, go ahead. They’ll be very bored.”

The Miami Herald took Hart’s challenge seriously, and ended up publishing photos of model Donna Rice sitting on Hart’s lap aboard the yacht “Monkey Business” while in Bimini.

The scandal ended Hart’s 1988 presidential run.

But more recently, the public has been forgiving of politicians’ sexual misdeeds, including those of Congressman Barney Frank, D-Mass., who had a sexual relationship with a male prostitute; political consultant Dick Morris, who had a relationship with a female prostitute; and former President Bill Clinton, who was implicated in extramarital affairs with women ranging from Gennifer Flowers to Monica Lewinsky.

Experts say that if Murphy avoids prosecution — or is charged and successfully defends himself — there might be a place for him in politics at some point.

“With time, I think he’d certainly have a future in politics,” Wert said. “It seems like the country is more accepting of that kind of thing than it was in Gary Hart’s day.”

Gugin said Murphy’s affiliation with Republicans could be problematic to a return to politics. Gugin said that while individual members of the GOP might be accepting of gays and lesbian lifestyles, the party, as an institution, is not.

“I would just speculate that it would be hard to him to be welcomed back into the party,” Gugin said.

Wilder said he is uncertain as to whether Murphy would want to return to political life, regardless of where the pending criminal investigation leads.

“I don’t know,” Wilder said. “I don’t know.”



Business details sketchy

Attorney Larry Wilder said that before the May 8 primary, he and Glenn Murphy Jr. had discussed a business opportunity that Murphy referenced in the e-mail he sent on Tuesday in which he resigned from two GOP leadership posts. Wilder said that Murphy, who is out of town until this weekend, never revealed the client’s name to him.

“He was working on a substantial, significant contract with a private entity,” Wilder said. “I don’t know who that entity was.”

Wilder expressed concern that the contract Murphy claimed to have signed on Monday could be voided because of the pending criminal investigation, if the document included a “good character” clause.

        

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