Hey! One of this guy’s fellow Young Republicans turned him in! Bad Young Republican! Didn’t you learn anything from the example of Scooter Libby? Take one for the team, man. Take one for the team! By the way, as AMERICAblog is reporting, this sort of activity isn’t the first on the record of Clark County Republican Chairman Glenn Murphy Jr.
GOP official in Clark investigated
Murphy accused of deviate conduct
By Ben Zion Hershberg
The Clark County Sheriff’s Department investigated an allegation of criminal deviate conduct last month against county Republican Chairman Glenn Murphy Jr., but no charges have been filed, Sheriff Danny Rodden said yesterday.
Murphy announced yesterday that he had stepped down from the party post as well as chairman of the Young Republican National Federation, the same day a report by the sheriff’s office on the investigation was posted on a blog listed on the Indiana Democratic Party Web site.
Rodden confirmed that the report came from his office but added, “I don’t know how it got to where it did.” He referred questions to the county prosecutor’s office.
Chief Deputy Prosecutor Bill Grimes declined to comment.
Murphy could not be reached for comment on the blog posting.
But Larry Wilder, Murphy’s lawyer, said he had discussed the report with Rodden and the prosecutor’s office.
“It is Mr. Murphy’s position that no crime occurred,” Wilder said. “It is his position that what occurred, occurred between two consenting adults.”
Wilder also said such reports are supposed to be kept confidential by police until a decision has been made by prosecutors about whether to file charges. He said he was disappointed that something of such a sensitive nature had been leaked in “a vindictive political process.”
Jennifer Wagner, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party, said that she operates the blog during her free time and that its content is independent of the party.
Wagner declined to say how she obtained the report but said that as a well-known Democratic blogger, “I get all kinds of documents.”
Wagner said she did not post it for political purposes.
“It is up to law enforcement and judicial officials in Clark County to decide” if a crime was committed, Wagner said.
Wilder said Murphy’s resignation announcement from the GOP positions was unrelated to the blog posting. He said Murphy had been pursuing a major client for his advertising agency for months and recently won the contract, but the client won’t allow Murphy to engage in partisan politics.
Murphy, who lives in Utica, said earlier this summer when he was elected chairman of the Young Republicans national group that he would soon step down as county Republican chairman.
According to the sheriff’s report, the incident occurred July 29 after a Young Republicans party at a home in Jeffersonville. Several people, including Murphy and the alleged male victim, had been drinking and had been advised to sleep at the home, the report said.
It also said that the alleged victim told an investigator that he was contacted later by Wilder and was asked “what he wanted in order to resolve this situation.”
Wilder said he was not making a monetary offer.
Wilder said Murphy is cooperating with the sheriff and prosecutor’s office in the investigation.
