FELON BACKERS FOR ENGLING: BRIBERY CONVICT DROPS $50K, FEC LIAR SAYS “HE PROBABLY LIED… WHO CARES!”

Indiana Republican Candidate for Secretary of State is backed by two Hoosier felons.

INDIANAPOLIS — The Republican nominee for Indiana Secretary of State is drawing some of his loudest support from two men who already know their way around a federal courtroom.

Noblesville developer Michael Steven Sherfick — who pleaded guilty in 2010 to federal bribery for selling law-enforcement badges, ID cards, and parking placards while working as a Perry Township deputy constable — just cut Max Engling a $50,000 check. Court records show he admitted taking more than $30,000 in bribes and later told buyers to lie to investigators and a grand jury. He did 14 months in federal prison and paid a hefty fine. Now his money is helping fund the guy who says he wants to clean up elections and business filings.

Then there’s Gabe Whitley, the former “Honest Gabe for Congress” candidate who pleaded guilty to lying to the Federal Election Commission. Prosecutors said he invented dozens of fake donors and fabricated hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions and a loan so his campaign would look flush. He also has a separate felony intimidation conviction after posting threats and photos of a political commentator’s house. Whitley has since endorsed Engling and offered this gem when reporters asked about the nominee’s own campaign-finance questions:

“The media needs to stop talking about Max Engling’s campaign finances. From my experience, Max probably lied on his campaign finances, but who cares. Democrats do it all the time. Lying to your government is a great thing. Our government has lied to us for decades. Jim Banks says we need to support Max Engling, and I’m all in.”

He called Engling “the savior of our Indiana elections.”

Engling, a former Jim Banks adviser who knocked out incumbent Diego Morales at the June GOP convention, has built his entire pitch around election integrity, non-citizen voting, and tougher screening of business filings. He’s now on the November ballot against Democrat Beau Bayh.

So the candidate running as the clean-elections adult in the room is taking a five-figure check from a man who once sold fake police credentials for cash, and an enthusiastic public endorsement from a man who already admitted he cooked the books on his own federal campaign reports. Whitley’s defense of the whole situation, in essence: everybody lies to the government, so stop asking questions.

Engling’s campaign has previously said Sherfick served his time years ago and now supports conservative causes, and that candidates don’t background-check every donor. They have not directly addressed Whitley’s “he probably lied, but who cares” line.

Voters will decide November 3 whether that package looks like a feature or a bug.