A former Johnson County Council candidate has been kicked out of a Democratic Party position for reportedly instigating division among the local party.
Charrie Stambaugh, who is the campaign director for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Valerie McCray, denies creating dissension in the party and engaging in a “course of conduct” that didn’t promote the party’s best interests. The complaints filed by those inside the party against Stambaugh, who is an appointed member of the Greenwood Plan Commission and owner of a local photography business, included allegations that she recorded people without their knowledge, lied about her background and spread rumors about people within the party, including candidates.
On Aug. 3, Stambaugh learned a Johnson County Democratic Party committee had found her guilty of engaging in a course of conduct contrary to the best interests of the party and acting in a manner that creates “dissension” within the party. The committee found her not guilty of disloyalty. They also forbid her from running for public office as a Democrat in Johnson County until after Dec. 31, 2026.
Stambaugh does not think she had a fair hearing. She called it a “witch hunt” and said the decision was based on “hearsay.”
Johnson County Democratic Party chair Amanda Stevenson-Holmes declined an interview about the hearing and allegations, but provided an emailed statement attributed to herself and Josh King, the local party’s vice chair.
“The Johnson County Democratic Party received complaints about a member in the local committee. In alignment with party rules, a hearing was held and a decision made. That decision was communicated to the parties involved. We hope this internal process brings those involved closure. Our county party remains focused on electing Democrats up and down the ballot this November,” the statement says.
Over the last few months, the Daily Journal has also received several messages, including some anonymously, about Stambaugh, a criminal case and a protective order violation. This included an anonymously mailed packet of information.
Complaints filed
Stambaugh had been a candidate for Johnson County Council at-large during the primary, and was originally one of three selected to continue to the fall election. However, in May, Stambaugh decided to step down as a candidate and as marketing director for the local party. At the time, she had just accepted a job as McCray’s campaign director and said she wanted to focus on her work with the campaign.
Stevenson-Holmes told the Daily Journal in May that Stambaugh would be “instrumental” in securing a win for McCray, but she would be missed by the county party.
However, Stambaugh now says the reason for her decision was because of alleged harassment she faced.
“I was willing, capable, able and ready to go to do both duties to run for my campaign and to run Dr. Val’s campaign,” Stambaugh said this month.
In mid-July, Stambaugh was informed by the party that the Precinct Review Committee received a petition to invoke Rule 19 of the Indiana Democratic Party, seeking to oust her from her position as a vice chair for her Pleasant Township precinct based on three complaints the party had received. Rule 19 governs the removal of party officers, specifying five criteria for removal and how the process works.
Stambaugh faced three charges in the hearing: disloyalty to the party, engaging in conduct that doesn’t promote the best interest of the party and acting in a manner that creates dissension within the party, according to a copy of the notice obtained by the Daily Journal. She also faced being ineligible to run for office for up to four years as a Democrat in Johnson County.
Attached to the notice were complaints from Stambaugh’s former campaign manager Marlene Julye, Indiana Senate District 36 Democratic candidate Suzanne Fortenberry and Johnson County Council at-large Democratic candidate Blythe Potter. The complaints had been sent the previous month, in June, to party leadership, who directed an evaluation to determine if any charges were warranted.
The complaints
Among the allegations Julye submitted, she alleges Stambaugh lied about past criminal history, according to a copy of the complaint provided to the Daily Journal.
In 2014, Stambaugh faced a charge of battery resulting in bodily injury in Morgan County after she was accused of assaulting a woman a year prior. Stambaugh and Julye, citing conversations she’s had with the woman reportedly assaulted, offer different and conflicting accounts of what had occurred and the woman’s role in Stambaugh’s life.
For the case, Stambaugh agreed to take part in pre-trial diversion, in exchange for a conviction not being entered against her. A pre-trial diversion agreement defers a conviction dependent upon the successful completion of the agreement terms.
No conviction was ever entered against Stambaugh.
A protective order was later filed against Stambaugh by the woman she assaulted. Stambaugh had believed she was allowed to contact the woman about her children, she said, but this wasn’t the case. She was found to have violated the order, receiving nine months of probation and being ordered to undergo a mental health assessment, court documents show.
Her past made Stambaugh hesitant when she was asked to run for Greenwood City Council in 2023, she said. When Stambaugh informed Stevenson-Holmes of the pretrial diversion and the protective order, there were no concerns about it at the time, Stambaugh said.
As for the other allegations, Fortenberry alleged Stambaugh had told her and others that she had been secretly recording conversations for six months, reportedly threatening to use them to “destroy” the Democratic Party. Fortenberry also said in the complaint she feared for the safety of other party members, alleging Stambaugh had a history of violence and had misled people about her past criminal charge and what occurred.
In Potter’s complaint, she said she was concerned about alleged unethical conversations and behavior by Stambaugh about other candidates which went against Democratic Party values, and Stambaugh’s current husband reportedly hearing and recording private conversations without consent.
While ultimately not considered in the final decision of the review committee, an anonymous complaint was also sent to party officials. The language, formatting and allegations in that complaint was similar to what had previously been anonymously sent to the Daily Journal.
Hearing denials
During the Aug. 29 hearing, Stambaugh denied recording conversations for the most part.
Stambaugh admitted to recording part of a conversation with Stevenson-Holmes. Stambaugh said she had recorded her half of the conversation explaining a situation involving alleged harassment before turning it off.
Her husband recorded a conversation he was also a part of with Fortenberry, but this was after alleged harassment against Stambaugh had already begun and was to protect Stambaugh, she said. Her husband testified to a similar effect during the party hearing, according to a prepared transcript of testimony.
She also denied slandering and spreading lies about other Democratic candidates. However, she did say she spoke about a situation involving a candidate with Julye, which Stambaugh maintains is truthful.
Two days after the hearing, on Aug. 31, Stambaugh resigned as vice chair of her precinct, effective immediately, in an email to party leaders obtained by the Daily Journal. Stambaugh said in an interview she didn’t need a title to canvas, walk around and promote Democratic candidates up and down the ballot.
The party committee ultimately voted to find her guilty of two charges and remove her from her position, informing Stambaugh in an Aug. 1 letter.
Lucy Bartley, a friend of Stambaugh and a witness at the hearing, was surprised to see a Rule 19 complaint filed against Stambaugh. Bartley didn’t think the situation warranted it, she said.
At one point, Bartley told those at the hearing people have the right to not like a candidate and not liking a candidate doesn’t mean someone is trying to “trash or ruin” their campaign.
This was in response to a claim that Stambaugh was trying to “destroy” a candidate’s campaign because she didn’t like them, Bartley told the Daily Journal.
“I don’t know how they can come up and say, ‘Oh, we’re thinking, we have decided, we have judged that you were going about trying, saying things against Candidate A and that’s against supporting a Democrat who’s running for office.’ That’s the biggest thing I had a problem with,” Bartley said.
Standing by their words
When contacted by the Daily Journal, Fortenberry, Potter and Julye all stood by their complaints.
Fortenberry said her complaint was based “solely in fact,” later declining to comment further due to pending litigation.
“The fact of the matter is that she claimed that she recorded multiple conversations with multiple people over a large period of time and in doing so created division in the party,” Fortenberry said. “While the recordings themselves may not be illegal, it is against the Code of Ethics for the Johnson County Democratic Party to intentionally create division in the party.”
The sole reason Potter initiated the complaint was because Stambaugh was “unable to hold herself accountable” for her actions and failed to act the way someone in her position should, Potter said. While no one is perfect, party members should be able to feel safe in the presence of their peers, she said.
“We, JoCo Democrats, have one mission which is to break the supermajority and create positive and productive change around the county and state. Her actions, rumors, and recordings created mistrust, were hindering that progress and involving the party in lies, deceit, and — in my opinion — drama/nonsense that was completely unnecessary,” Potter said.
Julye said she submitted her complaint after personal disagreements with Stambaugh and seeing her exhibit behavior that was contrary to party values, Julye said.
“People are not going to want to trust someone who does stuff like that,” Julye said, referring to the allegations against Stambaugh.
‘It sucks’
Stambaugh described the entire situation as “politics” and decried the way the process has unfolded.
“It sucks to be in this position to have given so much of yourself and to have your past exploited — the past that they all knew about and often joked about with me, to be used against me,” Stambaugh said.
The events, some of which occurred nearly 10 years ago, shouldn’t have been in consideration for removal as party leadership was already aware of it, Stambaugh alleged.
“It is not illegal to run for office with [a] blemished past,” she said.
As for how it will affect her work with the McCray campaign, Stambaugh said she will continue as campaign director. There are not any state rules preventing McCray from keeping Stambaugh on staff, despite the local party ruling. Though she is no longer a precinct vice chair, she’s still a Democrat.
“It’s not gonna affect our campaign because we’re just gonna keep full speed ahead. The campaign is too important for us to let it interfere too much,” McCray said.
McCray said she didn’t understand why Stambaugh’s “personal business” came up during the hearing. The hearing and its aftermath have bothered Stambaugh and caused her to worry about her reputation, McCray said.
Because of what she’s experienced, Stambaugh said she doesn’t plan on running for office again any time soon. Stambaugh had the option to appeal the committee’s decision within 15 days of the order, but has declined to do so.
“I am very hurt by the Democratic Party in Johnson County, and I cannot see myself entrusting a run on the Democratic ticket at this point. Things may change though,” she said.
