In the latest on the Terre Haute mayoral dispute, Mayor Duke Bennett rejects Kevin Burke's offer for a special election to avoid an appeal of Indiana's Appeals Court ruling.

Bennett feels he should have a chance to appeal to Indiana's Supreme Court because Burke appealed the original Vigo County ruling.  Bennett insists he never violated the Hatch Act as a Hamilton Center employee and says Burke's claim that the city could lose federal funding is false.  Bennett also says Burke's estimation of $50,000 for a special election is inaccurate. 

Terre Haute Mayor Duke Bennett says, "We paid this bill this year in 2008, of how much the election cost last year in 2007, and it's $582,000 and that's just what it is.  That's how much it costs to do two elections, a primary and a general.  And so what I've been saying since last Thursday is it cost us $582,000 to run '07 election, my guess is let's say half.  It's going to be somewhere in that range, you know, $275,000 to $300,000."

"We really don't know who's going to be on the ballot.  We know what the attorneys think that are involved.  Obviously the court did not get very specific and say it's only Burke and Bennett or it's this way or that way.  There's a lot of different ideas and things floating around out there of interpretation.  Right now we don't know exactly for sure because that ruling has not come from the court.  They said have a specific election and look at this code."

"Hamilton Center faces no sanctions, the city of Terre Haute obviously doesn't face any sanctions because sanctions are put on the organization where the employee works during the candidacy.  It doesn't follow you around, so that just is not going to happen.  That's just political rhetoric."

Mayor Bennett also asks for city residents to remain patient as this legal process winds to an apparent close.  He says whatever the Indiana Supreme Court decides, whether that be keep him in office, throw him from office, or hold a special election, he will honor that decision.