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GOSHEN, Ind. — An interview by a REAL News Michiana reporter of Goshen School Board President Roger Nafziger shows he and two other board members plan to take part in filling a vacancy on the board, despite all three of them recently being charged with election crimes related to the 2022 school board race. The vacancy was announced at the Goshen School Board meeting last night after Member Allan Kauffman submitted his resignation. Kauffman is also facing criminal charges in the election crime scandal.
“Do you think it’s appropriate for you and the rest of the three involved to recuse yourselves from electing some other replacement for the board?” RNM’s reporter ask Nafziger following Monday night’s meeting.
Nafziger simply shook his head signalling “no” following the question.
“If not, do you think that’s an indication of some kind of corruption?” RNM’s reporter continued.
“We’re still on the board.” Nafziger said as he walked away.
During the meeting, the Board voted to start accepting applications and resumes to fill the vacancy, which will be decided by the board members. They also announced that they plan to fill the vacancy before their next meeting scheduled for March 25th.
Despite Kauffman’s resignation last night, board members Roger Nafziger, Jose Elizalde and Mario Garber all attended the board meeting. All of them were charged with a felony election crime last week. At Monday’s meeting, all of them ignored the criminal charges they’re all facing and none of them announced plans to resign.
A fifth person is also being charged in the scandal. That person is Andrea Johnson, who unsuccessfully ran for a school board position in 2022.
Johnson, Elizalde, Garber and Nafziger were all arrested and booked into the Elkhart County Jail last week. Their mugshots can be seen below.
THE CRIMES
The criminal charges come more than a year after a REAL News Michiana investigation highlighted several election crimes committed by multiple members of the Goshen School Board. All of the suspects are Democrats who viciously attacked their conservative opponents, and appeared to use illegal tactics in the process.
According to charging documents, Kauffman is facing one felony charge for Filing Fraudulent Report and five misdemeanor charges for Accepting a Contribution Made in Another’s Name.
Jose Elizalde, Mario Garber, Roger Nafziger, Andrea Johnson all also face a felony for Filing Fraudulent Report and one misdemeanor for Accepting a Contribution Made in Another’s Name.
The court documents giving a narrative of the events and the charges can be seen below.
In December of 2022, REAL News Michiana outlined the complaint and beginning of the investigation into Kauffman and others. The story was ignored by all of the legacy outlets.
The issue revolves around essentially a money laundering scheme in which Kauffman was given money raised by a third party for a campaign from several donors. Kauffman then made a lump sum donation in his name to multiple school board candidates he was supporting, making it appear as if it were a private, personal donation made only by him. The alleged reason for the actions was to hide the names of the people making the donations.
According to Indiana election law, a third party that raises money in this fashion must be registered as a Political Action Committee (PAC). The PAC must file public reports with the names of donors that include the amounts of their donations. Making donations in the name of another person is a crime.
Indiana Code 3-14-1-11 states the following:
Sec. 11. A person who:
(1) recklessly makes a contribution in the name of another person; or
(2) knowingly accepts a contribution made by one person in the name of another
person; commits a Class B misdemeanor.
RNM discovered a complaint had been filed with the Elkhart County Election Board shortly after the 2022 Election. Included in the complaint are social media posts made by Kauffman admitting to the scheme. In one post Kauffman says, “The donations were combined and given to me to apportion to the candidates…”
Also included in the complaint is a Facebook message sent from school board candidate Mario Garber in which he confirms the potential campaign finance crimes.
“My understanding is that a large number of retired teachers and others donated to the cause. Someone collected the donations and gave them to Allan (Kauffman) and he distributed among the candidates.” Garber wrote.
According to campaign finance forms filed with the Elkhart County Clerk’s Office, Kauffman made two large donations to school board candidate Roger Nafziger’s campaign totalling nearly $6,000.
According to the original complaint, Kauffman was accused of making similar donations to other school board candidates as well. At the time, those campaign finance documents were not immediately available for RNM to review. However, the recent charging documents confirm those donations were made.
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Excellent, accurate, and well documented reporting once again. Thank you, RNM.
The board members who were served a warrant for their arrest should RECUSE THEMSELVES from filling the board vacancy of a fellow warrant recipient.
Folks could start with an email informing Goshen Schools that they expect a recusal from those who were issued warrants for their arrest. The general email for GCS is:
contact@goshenschools.org
GCS needs to reply to every email to ensure that community member’s voices are being heard and to avoid a barrage of phone calls from their employers (i.e. taxpayers).
These guys are just charged for now, but convicted felons cannot serve a government position. Am I right?
Nonetheless, what do the taxpayers of Goshen Community Schools think of a sizeable number of their board members charged with felony actions?
[…] Tom Davies (@TomDaviesIND) February 27, 2024 Allan Kauffman resigns from Goshen School Board WATCH: Board members facing election felonies planning to VOTE on filling board vacancy Polls are open in Michigan. Primary day for both parties. Trump leads Biden 46-44 in new […]