Bad press day for Allen County GOP

The two lead stories over at the WPTA-TV, WISE-TV website are about the local GOP.

The first story discusses the arrest warrant issued for Doug Foy. Doug Foy was the executive Director for the Allen County GOP until he was caught committing forgery on official election forms. The Allen County GOP handled the situation in the correct manner by immediately releasing Doug Foy. The only disturbing thing about this event is the fact that several GOP candidates refused to cooperate with the Allen County Election Board in their initial investigation. Now that it is a police matter I am sure those GOP candidates and office holders will cooperate. The full story is here:
<http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/Story.aspx?type=ln&NStoryID=4499>

The second story is another story about Steve Shine. I have no idea what is going on in Steve Shine's personal life and I tend to think that these issues should be resolved between Steve Shine and his wife.

Once someone at the residence dialed 911 this domestic situation became a police matter. When you dial 911 and report an emergency the police have no choice but to respond to the call and investigate.

Unfortunately both Steve Shine and now his wife have gone to the media and now they are headed towards court. Last week Steve Shine issued a statement saying that his wife had "recanted" her Domestic battery allegations. That has turned out to be COMPLETELY untrue. Beth Shine issued a statement today saying that she did NOT recant her Domestic battery allegations.

Last week Steve Shine filed a protective order against his wife that evicted her from the couples home. Today Beth Shine filed for divorce. The full story is here:
<http://www.indianasnewscenter.com/Story.aspx?type=ln&NStoryID=4499>
<http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/16148792.htm>
<http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/16121147.htm>
<http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/fortwayne/16141128.htm>

I am afraid that we are going to here a lot more about this case over the next few months...

Last week when Steve Shine went to the media and was quoted as saying that the 911 phone call his wife made was due to a case of "frayed nerves" I had a feeling that this would upset his wife of 24 years. I do not know very many people who would take kindly to their spouse being quoted by the local press saying something along those lines...

The really interesting item is that Beth Shine chose Mr. Loomis to represent her. Mr. Loomis and Steve Shine have some "bad blood" between them over the 2002 race for County Prosecutor which Mr. Loomis lost...

Lets hope that this case does not get undue attention from the local media. I think that Steve Shine may well regret his decision to talk to the media that way he did last week about the issues between he and his wife.

Mike Sylvester