MAX ENGLING "A CROOK?"

Max Engling

OPINION — KELLY ROBERTS

Max Engling is a crook.

Not in the polite, both-sides, “questions have been raised” way. In the way that matters when a man wants to run Indiana’s elections: he treats other people’s rules like a suggestion and other people’s money like a wallet.

He lied on his campaign finances. That is the starting point. The filings are supposed to tell Hoosiers where the cash came from and where it went. Engling’s operation took money it should not have taken, papered over what it did not want seen, and then asked the public to call it compliance. A man who cannot tell the truth on a campaign-finance form has no business standing over anyone else’s paperwork.

He is still registered in Virginia as a voter. He wants to lecture Indiana about clean rolls while his own name sits on another state’s list. You do not get to sell “election integrity” out of Cicero and keep a Virginia registration in your back pocket. That is not a paperwork mix-up. That is a man who will not pick a home unless a camera is on.

He broke city property. In Carmel he was charged with vandalism for throwing eggs at a moving city vehicle. An egg at a moving car is not a joke. It is a projectile aimed at public property and at whoever is behind the wheel. Then he opened his mouth and called it a “dumb move.” That is the confession of a man who got caught and wanted a shrug instead of a consequence.

He misused campaign money for personal use at a hotel. Campaign cash is not a travel stipend for Max Engling. Donors did not write checks so he could put a roof over his own head and call it politics. That is personal spending dressed up as a campaign expense. That is the same old grift with a vest on it.

This is the candidate who wants the secretary of state’s office. The office that watches the money. The office that watches the rolls. The office that tells every other candidate in Indiana to follow the law.

Follow his law.

Lied on the finances.

Registered in Virginia.

Egged a city vehicle in Carmel and waved it off.

Parked campaign money in a hotel for himself.

That is not a résumé. That is a rap sheet in slow motion.

Hoosiers do not owe Max Engling the benefit of the doubt. They owe themselves a secretary of state who is not a crook. Engling has already shown them which one he is.