Hamilton County Councilman Jeff Hern pleaded guilty to a charge of Criminal Mischief Wednesday, according to a story written by Chris Sikich of the Indianapolis Star, which you can read at this link.  This was part of  a plea agreement reached between Hern’s atttorney and special prosecutor Brian Eaton.    Now, Chairman of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, Joe Weingarten, is calling for Hern to resign from his council seat.

“The holding of public office brings with it public trust and by his (Hern’s) action he has shown a lack of ethical behavior and has lost the public’s trust,” Weingarten said in a statement printed in the Hamilton County Reporter newspaper.  “While some of these instances have been brought to our attention by the news media and/or the businesses themselves, I can’t help but wonder about what don’t we know about.”

Per the reporting of Sikich, Hern must also pay $891 in restitution and issue a letter of apology to Rick McKinney, whose campaign signs were involved in the incident, just before the 2016 May primary election.

Democrats are not alone in calling for Hern’s resignation.  According to the Star story, Mickinney is calling for Hern to resign his council seat.  If he does not, McKinney is urging state or county Republican officials to remove Hern from the party so he cannot seek re-election in 2020 under the GOP banner.