NEW ALBANY — Ed Clere, the Republican candidate running for the New Albany mayoral seat, described a recent mailer from the Indiana Democratic Party as a “combination of distortion and outright lies.”
The Indiana Democratic Party paid for political mailers in opposition to Clere, which were sent out this week to New Albany residents. The mailers refer to past tax warrants issued to Clere pertaining to late payments.
Clere, a state representative, is challenging Democratic incumbent Jeff Gahan in the city’s mayoral race.
The News and Tribune obtained copies of multiple tax warrants issued to Clere by the State of Indiana Department of Revenue showing that he had late payments.
The political mailers state that “Clere refuses to pay his own taxes on time, causing the State of Indiana to issue multiple warrants.”
The warrants are not criminal warrants, and they establish liens against property to collect unpaid taxes. The warrants notify the county clerk’s office that the taxpayer owes the tax debt.
The tax warrants for Clere are marked as satisfied and released, meaning the tax debt has been paid.
“I can say that I pay my taxes,” Clere said. “I have certainly filed late and in some cases owed money, but if I have, I’ve paid it off.”
Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Mike Schmuhl provided a statement to the News and Tribune regarding the matters described in the mailer, saying “Clere doesn’t seem to care about transparency or fiscal responsibility.”
“Ed Clere can’t pay his taxes consistently and yet he wants to manage the multi-million-dollar budget for the City of New Albany,” Schmuhl said.
Clere described the framing of the mailer’s reference to the tax warrants as “misleading and intentionally inflammatory.”
“The mailer is trying to make it appear as if I were wanted on a criminal warrant,” he said. “This is simply a civil matter that I resolved in full. We’re talking about notices that relate to tax periods over a decade ago. It’s completely misleading.”
The mailers state that they were paid for by the Indiana Democratic State Central Committee and were “not authorized by any candidate’s committee.”
TAX WARRANTS
One of the tax warrants issued to Clere was for the liability period of Dec. 21, 2010. The document shows that the warrant was issued on Dec. 30, 2014, and it shows a debt of $1,050. It shows that this warrant was satisfied and released on June 1, 2016.
Another tax warrant for the liability period of Dec. 31, 2012, was issued on Dec. 22, 2015, and shows a debt of $2,586. This was satisfied and released on June 1, 2016.
A tax warrant for the same liability period in 2012 was issued on March 1, 2016. It shows a debt of $167.67, and it was satisfied and released on June 1, 2016.
Another tax warrant for the same period in 2012 was issued on May 24, 2016, with a debt of $164.66. It was satisfied and released on May 26, 2016.
The last tax warrant for the liability period of Dec. 31, 2015, was issued on Oct. 2, 2018. It shows a debt of $188.25, and it was satisfied and released on Feb. 24, 2022.
Clere noted that the newest warrant is for a tax period from eight years ago, and he had disputed the amount of tax he was liable for. He said he does not remember the details of the older warrants.
He emphasizes that he “paid every cent that was owed.”
“The timing of those — that was when we were still coming out of the Great Recession,” Clere said. “I was struggling financially, as were many other Hoosiers. In addition to being a legislator, I’m a real estate broker and small business person and suffice it to say, it was a tough time to be a real estate broker.”
Clere said he feels the focus on the tax warrants is “smoke and mirrors.”
The Republican candidate described the mailers as an attempt to distract from a recent noncompliance issue in the City of New Albany involving the city attorney’s late sewer payments. He called it an example of “mismanagement” by the administration.
LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
Clere said the wording in the mailers is misleading and lacks the proper context.
The Indiana Democratic Party describes Clere as supporting higher gas taxes, saying that “[w]e can’t trust Ed Clere with taxpayer money.”
However, Clere emphasizes that he was “one of fewer than 10 Republicans who voted against the gas tax increase in 2017.” He described the mailer’s wording as a “distortion.”
He said he has maintained his position, noting that he also voted against an amendment that would allow for a 1-cent increase to continue into 2025. He did vote for the overall budget.
“If my opponent thinks I should have voted against it, he also thinks I should have voted against funding for schools and police and parks and everything else,” Clere said.
“There are always things I would do differently in the budget but at the end of the process, each legislator has to decide whether to vote for or against the budget based on its overall merit.”
The Indiana Democratic Party’s mailer also describes Clere as “increasing his own pay at taxpayer expense,” saying that “while Clere was ducking paying his own taxes, he voted to increase his own pay by 18% in 2025.”
Clere described this statement as “simply not true.” He noted that before he was in office, legislation was adopted in 2007 to set pay for state lawmakers at 18% of the annual salary.
“The formula for legislative pay hasn’t changed since 2007 when I was elected,” he said.
