By DAVE SCHULTZ
and MARK MILLER
Wells County Commissioner Mike Vanover released a statement Tuesday explaining his connection to the Oath Keepers group, saying his application for membership and the acceptance of his application more than 12 years ago “was the extent of my participation and involvement.”
He said the current revelation of his involvement with the group more than a dozen years ago “is nothing but a coordinated and strategically-timed political attack.”
Vanover is one of six elected officials in Indiana whose name was on a leaked membership list of the organization. He said he wrote his statement Tuesday because “I cannot be silent any longer.”
Vanover was asked Tuesday night if he had thought his involvement with Oath Keepers in the early 2000s was something he felt necessary to explain, especially as the group was tied to such matters as the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Reports say as many as 26 of the people arrested in connection with the attack on the Capitol are associated with the Oath Keepers.
“I have done absolutely nothing illegal,” Vanover said in his statement. “I had nothing at all to do with any attacks at our Capitol and I completely denounce these actions.”
Vanover told a News-Banner reporter Tuesday night that he was unaware of the extent of the negative attention that the Oath Keepers were receiving .
“I didn’t pay that much attention. I didn’t see any of that coverage,” he said, adding that he’s not a consumer of national news. “I’ve been busy with my business and with county business and just didn’t follow the news.
“If I would have become aware, I certainly would have talked about it with people, especially if they were thinking about joining, but I really don’t know what else to say or what I could have done because I just wasn’t involved in the organization.”
In his statement, he said that more than a dozen years ago he applied for membership in the Oath Keepers, “a group which asked for military members, law enforcement officials, and anyone who would take an oath to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and always adhere to that oath.”
“I applied because, both then and now, adherence to our country’s founding documents is important to me,” he said.
And that, he said, fueled his original interest in the group — the desire to stand with those who have defended the nation in military service and those who protect communities across the state in law enforcement. He said he has taken an oath of office “to defend my country and community.”
“I stand by that oath of office and always will, despite any opposition,” he said. “I believe in the rule of law and those who serve us to enforce it in our communities.”
Vanover has been criticized on social media where, he said, people have been connecting him with “traitors, terrorists, white supremacists, racists, and insurrectionists.” He takes offense at that.
He also feels he’s been unfairly targeted — and wonders what it means to the nation as a whole.
“I am completely taken aback that we have come to this as a nation — where promising to keep your word before God is all it takes to be labeled as an extremist, a terrorist even,” he said. “These concerted efforts should stand as a clear warning to everyone: If I can live a life dedicated to helping and serving others, yet be publicly admonished and raked over the coals for doing nothing more than showing up on a list that’s over 12 years old, who are they coming for next?”
daves@news-banner.com
miller@news-banner.com
