Editor,
On March 21, an article in Current in Carmel describing a bribe situation involving a former (Fred) Glynn (mayoral) campaign manager and current (Mayor Jim) Brainard campaign employee named Dan Hennessey. In this article, former Brainard campaign manager Al Sutherlin claims that Dan Hennessy approached team Brainard and attempted to extract a bribe in the amount of $140,000. In that same article, Jim Brainard himself admits to hiring Dan Hennessey as an employee right after this happened. The article described how Mr. Hennessey is being paid $40,000 over a four-month period to do things like stuff envelopes, deliver yard signs and register voters. This situation raises a few questions.
If it is true that Mr. Hennessey attempted to extract a bribe, then why did they then hire him as an employee? What does this say about the Brainard campaign that they would hire someone to work for them that they allege is corrupt? Also suspect is the amount of money Dan Hennessey is being paid. Why would any campaign pay someone that much to do work such as putting out yard signs? This is totally unheard of in political campaigns where every dollar is supposed to count. We look forward to seeing these disbursements to Mr. Hennessey on Jim Brainard’s campaign finance reports as required by law.
Sue Lile, Carmel
