Campaign Ad Heats Up Sheriff's Race

INDIANAPOLIS -- Harsh words were exchanged Tuesday from the camps of two candidates for Marion County sheriff.

The impetus for the dispute was a campaign commercial that Republican candidate Tom Schneider began running on area television stations Tuesday.

It claimed that Democratic candidate Frank Anderson had a financial interest in a family restaurant turned bar that was sued for not paying its bills, RTV6's Jack Rinehart reported.

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"He was the resident agent, was on the board of directors, he was the incorporator, he prepared the documents and he was the president of the company that took out the loans," Schneider campaign strategist David Brooks said.

In June 1979, Anderson cosigned a $5,000 loan that allowed his mother, two brothers, and a sister to open a restaurant in the 1200 block of West 30th Street, Rinehart reported. Less than two months later, Anderson got out of the deal, filing a notice of dissolution with the Indiana secretary of state stating that the business had not yet open, and that it had no debt.

"After he took out the mortgage, as president, he said under oath that no debts of the corporation remain unpaid. That is a blatant fabrication under oath when Frank Anderson was the U.S. marshall," Brooks said.

Four years later, the bank sued Anderson for the balance of the unpaid mortgage, Rinehart reported. But Anderson campaign officials claim that the family, and not Anderson, had failed to pay the debt.

"The debt was not Frank Anderson's," Anderson campaign chairwoman Linda Pence said. "He did not receive the loan. It was the Anderson restaurant that got the loan. The Anderson restaurant had a loan with the bank. Frank simply signed a guarantee."

The Anderson campaign accuses the Schneider campaign of misrepresenting the facts by trying to imply that Frank Anderson, while a U.S. marshall, was in the tavern business, Rinehart reported.

"They can say it over again. They can say it a lot of different ways. It's not true. And they don't have a single shred of evidence to show that it's true. It's a false statement," Pence said.

Anderson campaign officials said the family obtained a liquor license long after he had dissolved his interest in the restaurant.