Mike Beeles, who has filed to run against State Sen. Brent Waltz in the May primary, has gathered plenty of evidence to prove that Waltz doesn't live in the condominium he claims as his voting address. Beeles says Waltz lives with his parents, which is outside the district. Waltz is striking back with an allegation that Beeles has been stalking him and is seeking a restraining order against him. Beeles admits erecting a ladder about 10 feet away from a window of his condominium and taking photos to prove that the condominium is baren of any furniture other than a couple of chairs. WISH-TV explains:
Residency challenges have proven very hard to win in Indiana. Nonetheless, it doesn't look good when the supposed neighbors of a state senator don't see him coming and going on a day-to-day basis. I wonder if it isn't a mistake for Waltz to raise the stalking claim. Won't it just draw more attention to the story just as it has obviously done with this news report?
Mike Beeles is a republican candidate for state senator. He says he has evidence the incumbent, Brent Waltz, doesn't live in the district he serves.
Waltz says the evidence was gathered illegally by stalking.
Mike Beeles says State Senator Brent Waltz's condominium in Greenwood is vacant.
"You can actually see through the back porch, when the sun is hitting it. That it is empty. There were two, what looked like two office chairs in what looked like the dining room. The rest of the place was pretty much empty," Beeles said.
He's even gathered his own evidence to present to the Indiana Election Commission.
He says he's known for years the Senator did not live in the condo.
"I used a ladder, we were maybe 10 feet back from the apartment complex and I just basically held up a camera and took a couple shots," Beeles said.
That method bothers Waltz and he plans to file a restraining order against Beeles
"This is a very stressful time of year anyways to be able to have this additional pressure of always having to look over your shoulder or look out your window to see who may be peering in it is a distraction," Waltz said.
24-Hour News 8 asked Beeles if he thought it was weird at all to go up a ladder to look into a window with a camera.
"Look into a vacant building that you know and it's been confirmed it's vacant for evidence. It's the same as a private investigator would do," Beeles answered.
The Indiana Election Commission will listen to the allegations in a couple weeks.
Beeles says he will present concrete evidence that Waltz can not disregard.
"He states that he has documentation. I can get documentation with that address. I mean documentation is nothing," Beeles said.
"I lead a fairly erratic lifestyle in terms of my timing it's not uncommon for me to come home very late at night and leave very early in the morning," Waltz said.
Beeles plans to file for candidacy on Tuesday.
Residency challenges have proven very hard to win in Indiana. Nonetheless, it doesn't look good when the supposed neighbors of a state senator don't see him coming and going on a day-to-day basis. I wonder if it isn't a mistake for Waltz to raise the stalking claim. Won't it just draw more attention to the story just as it has obviously done with this news report?
UPDATE: An online Star update by Jason Thomas reports that Waltz formerly filed a complaint against Beeles with the Greenwood police department on Saturday, claiming he engaged in stalking, trespass and voyeurism. This puts Waltz' uncle, Charlie Henderson, in an awkward position because he's Greewood's mayor and the police department reports to him. I think Waltz has just made this matter a whole lot worse than it had to be for him. A 90-year-old neighbor tells Thomas she's only seen Waltz a few times over the several year period he claims to have lived there.
35 comments:
Seems like there may be a few other legislators who don't actually live in their districts-evidence that they do believe that they are Parliament instead of being subject to a written constitution.
I know how republicans operate so Waltz better be prepared for attacks from his own party.
First, they will accuse him of getting the job through the family name.
Then they will look for a radical sect of his religion and claim he is secretly a member of that sect and is endorsed by the leader.
Then they will question his educational qualifications.
Then they will have important republicans pronounce him "unqualified"
Waltz better start campaigning on the senate floor . He can write, sign, and seal letters on the floor while business is going on and use state employees to mail his letters for him.
Waltz has an apartment and lives with his parents? What's up with that...perhaps that is the real story...the guy is single and ought to be doing some serious entertaining at his bachelor pad. Does he still sleep with his favorite blanket and teddy...when I was single, my favorite blanket and teddy usually had a bonnie lass wrapped up in them. Beyond that, the guy is creepy. Go Beeles!
anon 8:12, You are confused with the Clinton campaign. They've now managed to get into print some unbelievable claim by a guy that he did cocaine with Obama and had sex with him. Typical sleaze the Clinton campaign dish out to destroy their opponents. Here's the link to the news story: http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=56626
I regularly see a neighbor of Waltz' parents who tells me that Brent's car is pretty much there all the time--it's not hard to spot as it is the red Jag that Waltz inherited from a wealthy male "friend" when he was only 19 (this is not hearsay or gossip, it was all published in the Indy Star when he was a candidate and is available in the archives).
Also, for what it's worth, I was curious about where his company was located back when he was running for the Senate so I looked it up on the Sec. of State website. The address is a Greenwood residence that is outside of his district (presumably mommy and daddy's house).
I am no fan of the senator. How he got his money is a subject for serious discussion and speculation.
Oldermmale friend, friend dies, senator is left with substantial cash...
But honestly, Gary...getting a ladder and taking inside pictures of someone's apartment?
Isn't that just a little bit creepy?
I'd get a restraining order too.
If I lived in the condominium, yes I probably would, although this is no different than what the papparazis put celebrities through on a daily basis.
It doesn't matter how much evidence Beeles presents, the election commission will reject his claim to protect the many other current officeholders who they know are flaunting the residency requirement.
Someone on here is actually complaining about a ladder being used from a public area when NO ONE complains about Wilson and his infamous dumpster diving?!?!?! Incredible!!
Did he borrow David McIntosh's lipstick the day that photo was taken?
OK, snark aside, I have to agree. Why does an adult gainfully employed (at least "part time") man live with his parents? I'd care less about the residency issue were I his constituent than the fact that this makes me think he's a bit of a weirdo.
Brent Waltz had certainly better hope the doors of his closets were firmly closed shut if photographs were being taken...
The Waltz story is kind of an interesting one.
He basically bought his way into the Senate to the tune of $120,000 of his own money, along with the help of people like Rex Early, who was pissed at the veteran incumbent Lawrence Borst over his opposition to pull-tab machines at horse tracks.
He was also helped by his uncle Charles Henderson, who is mayor of Greenwood and who I understand basically oversees the Johnson County Republican political machine (if you can believe there is such a thing).
Waltz also solicited the support of the far-right wing (Eric Miller et. al.) and has not disappointed them with his record despite whispers and accusations of hypocrisy that have appeared on Advance Indiana and elsewhere.
He went after Borst in the low-turnout primary in an overwhelmingly Republican district in which the outcome in the general election is a given. Waltz won (the primary) by only 38 votes.
One of the most striking things to me was how the story of the sugar daddy was published in the Indy Star but receive almost no attention as far as I know. One would think that an old man leaving a fortune to a 19 year old boy to whom he was not related would raise a few eyebrows.
well the older guy gave him a car? hum is there more not being said in view of his support for the conservative anti-gay agenda? I have heard rumors, but them I don't put stock in rumors. Being gay I do put stock in my own gay-dar and that goes wacky when seeing his picture... and from the one time I have met him.
If he is only looking into the windows of an empty condo, what is the harm......I am sure most of us have done the same to see what a house or condo was like........
9:58, he didn't know whether there was someone inside or not, when he put that ladder up.
Come on now, this is just creepy.
I don't like the senator at all. He took out a dinosaur who needed to be defeated, but Waltz has been a mediocre senator. He's wrongon all the issues. Eric Miller loves him (not in the man way). That ought to be all the signal you need.
If someone is putting ladders up to my home, they'd better have a damned good reason. And looking inside for signs of "residency," does not pass the creepy test.
How about taking pictures of his car outside his parents house, say, 30 days in a row? At different times? The same car that sits in his assigned Senate parking space, for instance? With a date/time meter?
Or getting neighbors to answer questions under oath?
Sorry. The ladder thing just wierds me out. I don't live in that district, but it looks like, if the challenger wins, they're exchanging one nutball for another one.
I was told that he used a ten foot ladder but did not lean it on the fake address of Waltz and did not have it at any time on his property.........that might make a difference. If I take a picture from my property of your property without ever stepping foot on your property then I am not sure anything wrong was done. Of course, a furnished condo where someone was living might have shades or curtains which would have prevented this.
11:12 a.m. Yes, you are correct that it does seem that they are exchanging one nutball for another if Waltz loses the residency challenge, but we can't forget that THERE IS A DEMOCRAT IN THAT RACE! Terry Rice is running on the Dem side and is an incredible candidate. He would make a great Senator and I hate it when people forget that there are two parties on the ticket.
Wake up SD 36, vote for the Democrat!
Either way, Waltz is an enourmous creep... Look at him... I hope this proves true so this opportunistic weasel is thrown out. In my personal dealings with him, he has been less than honest to myself and a close friend.
12:31, you're just not getting it.
Whoever owns the adjacent property, even the election opponent, the act of using a ladder to photograph a home's interior, is odd, at the very least.
There exists in normal polite society a certain zone of neutrality, which includes the home. If he were, say, having sex with someone inside, and that had been viewed by the ladder person, would that have been reported?
Closed curtains...hmmm...now, there's a point.
There are multiple ways to determine this little droid's true home address. The one favored by his primary opponent is indeed creepy.
But then Waltz is creepy, so maybe...
Actually, my favorite Brent Waltz story is that about the time the info came out of about his inheritance from the guy, that he either:
a. fathered a child out of wedlock with a woman who was a lounge piano player at the Columbia Club, or,
b. spread the rumor that he had fathered the child out of wedlock with said woman, to deflect gay suspicions.
I don't know if either a or b is true, or if the conclusion drawn by many from the inheritance that Waltz is gay is true, nor do I really care. But what I find amusing re: version "b" - whether startd by Waltz or not- is that in this day and age fathering an illegitimate child is a saving grace from allegations of, horrors! being gay.
My favorite Waltz story is the one where he supposedly rented a room at the Columbia Club, invited a bunch of his male friends and hired female strippers to perform a private show for them.
I guess as long as Waltz keeps talking and voting eric Miller's anti gay agenda that he can quietly do what he wants.......I dont care if he is gay but to be gay and talk anti gay and vote anti gay is intolerable. Self hate is a bitch.
4:21, I mentioned something a while back to the Waltz' neighbor lady about the out-of-wedlock child rumor and she busted out laughing. She said "that boy's never seen a p---y in his life!" LOL
On WTHR's report this evening, Waltz very confidently stated that what his opponent did was a felony and he expects him to be charged. Waltz also told the reporter he thought Beeles was unstable and that's why he was seeking a restraining order against him.
I'm curious.
Isn't this the kind of thing private investigators do all the time? What's the diff? That it was specifically the opponent?
And what felony exactly?
Of course he is going to claim felony and any thing else applicable to hide the truth about his personal life. I know that when I was living a closeted political life in Missouri, driving a state auto with a low number license plate and fearing just parking it two blocks from a gay bar was an idea totally scarey to me. I dated women, did everything I could to hide my true feelings, and then only when the Democrats lost (to Ashcroft no less) did I finally decide to come out. Even then I moved to Dallas, Texas to come out, fearing that any future activity in politics would be tainted by my lifestyle. And, it did. In 1991 the House District where I maintained a residence came open and I entered the fray, sending out impassioned letters to the Democratic Committee only to be told privately by the then State Senator's wife who headed the Democratic Womens Club, "They are saying you're gay!" Needless to say, my days in the election were over. All the best speeches in the world down in southern conservative Missouri didn't make a difference to those Democrats.
Gary,
Waltz's uncle, Charlie Henderson, is Greenwood's mayor. Henderson was previously Chief of Police in Greenwood. I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see this opponent arrested, even if charges are ultimately not filed or dismissed.
What shade of red lipstick is that????
Isn't this the kind of thing private investigators do all the time? What's the diff? That it was specifically the opponent?
And what felony exactly?
There is no difference. Look up IC 35-45-10 and read the definitions. Sorry, but just because a political opponent follows you around and takes photos from the public right-of-way does not mean you are now in a "terrorized, frightened, intimidated, or threatened" state. Now if this guy trespassed, that is one thing. Still, I don't think it rises to the level of IC 35-45-10.
The problem Waltz has is that you can't just run out and get a restraining order on just anyone. You have to meet certain criteria, one being the victim of stalking as defined by IC 35-45-10. I am not sure on this, but I think most courts force the "victim" to make a police report and be available to testify before they issue the order. Sorry, but I don't see any criminal charges being filed and I see the order being tossed out. That being said, Waltz can have his apartment complex issue a trespass warning, banning Beeles from the property.
jeff newman wrote,"One of the most striking things to me was how the story of the sugar daddy was published in the Indy Star but receive almost no attention as far as I know."
Who is reading the Rag, I mean the Star??? Lame of an excuse for a newspaper. IBJ it worth the money. The quality of investigative reporting put it in leagues beyond the Rag.
Larry Borst brought up the issue of Waltz's residency, but he didn't take it very far.
From the Indianapolis Star, May 9, 2004, by Andy Gammill:
Waltz decided to run 18 months ago, moving from his parents' home just outside the 36th Senate District into downtown Greenwood, solidly within the district. He then started the process to purchase a condominium.
Although Borst and his supporters have questioned the legitimacy of his residency, Waltz said he planned carefully to ensure he was playing strictly within the rules.
If you're a legitimate resident, there is no need to "plan carefully to ensure you're playing strictly within the rules." This crap is left for the Evan Bayhs and Brent Waltzes of the state.
"It's the sign of a very strange and unbalanced individual," said Waltz."
That statement will come back to haunt Mr. Waltz. We'll see who is the strange and unbalanced one in this race.
Live by the sworn die by the sworn. Waltz took out Borst with questionable campaigning. Now he is on the receiving end of things.
Gary, thanks for bringing this to light on the state level, like you did with Abdullah. Waltz and his crew like to think they are holier than thou. This is just the frayed end of the string to unravel the whole cabal.
1. Brent purchased the Jag used for $37k - he did not inherit it. I even know he had the 12 cylinder engine replaced with a v8 as it didn't require premium and was less of a $$$ maintenance hassle (and had more power than the 255hp of the stock powerplant).
2. Brent had money long before the alleged handouts from others. From my understanding the bulk of it resulted from careful investing $$$ from a trust fund. I've heard nearly unceasing arbitrary speculation about the root of his wealth. He had a net worth of approx 2.1 million when he was 21 from an investment business. The truth is available, how about actually researching it instead of epitomizing bottom-feeding political stereotypes and cliche mud-slinging. If you really want to know, public records are easily obtainable for nominal fees.
3. I assure you that when Brent does his share of bachelor entertaining, however such is usually at the Colombia Club and such places. What rational being would choose to use their own place when they have access to a superior venue for entertaining.
4. When Brent cohab'd with his folks - in the past, it was due to among other things, it being more convenient for him (note I say for him, not for others and their out-of-context conclusion jumping) - and it also saved substantial $$$. It served his needs. When it no longer did, he obtained another residence per the whole free-will thing.
He is close with his family and does visit them often. If you knew he & them, you would understand (assuming cognitive-dissonance avoiding ego issues don't prevent such a revelation).
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