Another few weeks have passed with no word from the Indiana Supreme Court as to whether it will hear an appeal from a Republican city councilman trying to keep his seat on the Columbus City Council even though the state Court of Appeals says he was never a valid candidate in the first place.
If there was ever any doubt that politics isn’t playing a role in this delay, each passing day the highest court in Indiana doesn’t make a decision, it becomes more obvious that some favoritism to the Republican Party is showing.
According to the Indiana Court of Appeals, Republican Columbus City Councilman Jay Foyst’s candidacy “never existed in the eyes of the law,” because the Bartholomew County Republican Party failed to “meet a statutory deadline for filling a vacancy on a general election ballot.” However, he is continuing to serve on the council since his 2023 election over Democratic challenger Bryan Muñoz, as Foyst’s appeal to the Indiana Supreme Court languishes in Indianapolis.
That means Foyst is allowed to vote with the Republican majority on the council on important issues such as tax abatements, rate increases for city residents for water and sewer bills and whether TIF money can be used for a controversial housing development downtown — even though the appeals court has ruled he’s was not a legitimate candidate in the election and Muñoz should be declared the winner.
Foyst filed his appeal with the Indiana Supreme Court, known as a petition to transfer, in August after the appellate judges sent the case back to a lower court with instructions to declare Muñoz the winner.
When the Republic asked when the Supreme Court was going to consider the case, or if it was not, Indiana Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathryn Dolan said, “There is no timeline for the Supreme Court to make that decision.”
She did confirm the court has received Foyst’s petition, briefs from the parties and court records.
Whatever decision the high court ultimately makes will determine which party holds a majority on the Columbus City Council through the end of 2027.
It is apparent the Supreme Court is indirectly assisting Foyst and Republicans at this point by not making a decision and allowing him to keep voting even though his current legal status as a city councilman remains questionable at best.
With Foyst on the city council, the Republicans have a 5-4 majority. Should Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chair Ross Thomas, the other party in the case, ultimately prevail in court, the Democrats would have a 5-4 majority.
Foyst has said he intends to represent the constituents of District 6 until he is no longer able to do so but will abstain from casting tie-breaking votes so that the city council does not have to hold new votes should he be removed from office.
However, we don’t think Foyst should be voting on any city council matter at all. In the eyes of the Court of Appeals, which is the current ruling, he’s not an elected city councilman. If the local GOP had paid attention to the state’s election laws they created, and had followed them in the first place, this would not be dragging on for months.
The Indiana Supreme Court should stop the delay game on this case and either make a decision or announce they aren’t going to hear the case. This should not be dragging on for months with important city decisions in the balance.
As American philosopher and psychologist William James said, “No decision is, in itself, a decision.”
