Insider fraud trial starts

It was January 2005 when the discovery of fake signatures on his nominating petitions doomed former Milton Township Assessor Jim Gumm's re-election bid.

Several judges, several defense attorneys, several prosecutors and several years later, the man accused of creating those fake signatures is having his day in court -- and blaming homeless men for any possible wrongdoing.

Opening statements and the first round of witnesses Tuesday kick-started the first day of the trial of political consultant Rodney McCulloch. He is accused of felony forgery and perjury and misdemeanor disregard of election code.

The charges stem from nominating petition signatures Gumm hired McCulloch to obtain in order to get on the ballot.

Prosecutors now say they believe possibly hundreds of the signatures McCulloch submitted were fake.

McCulloch perhaps is best known for running Republican John Borling's primary campaign for the U.S. Senate seat ultimately won by Democrat Barack Obama. Borling fired McCulloch after McCulloch tried to circulate salacious details about the divorce of Borling's Republican opponent, Jack Ryan, from actress Jeri Ryan.

On Tuesday, McCulloch's defense attorneys said they'll make the case that even if the signatures on the petitions are fake, there is no evidence McCulloch forged the signatures or knew they were forged when he testified to a notary they were genuine.

Instead, McCulloch's defense strategy plans to implicate four homeless men McCulloch hired to help him collect the signatures on Gumm's behalf.

According to his attorneys, McCulloch said he believes the homeless men may have forged the signatures out of greed and laziness because McCulloch had agreed to pay them $1.50 per signature.

Seven people testified Tuesday that their purported signatures on Gumm's petitions were false. They also testified that they'd never met nor heard of Gumm or McCulloch.

At least one signature on the petitions, bearing the name George Theis V, seems to belong to someone who doesn't exist, testified George Theis IV.

In addition, Gumm took the stand to recount his hiring of McCulloch and the beginning of his concerns with the authenticity of the signatures.

Gumm said he suspected something was wrong the first time he looked through the signatures McCulloch collected. At that time, he noticed that the signatures on the petition sheets weren't from sequential addresses on the same streets as one would expect in a door-to-door effort.

"It struck me as odd," Gumm said.

Lawyers on both sides said they expect the trial to conclude today.

McCulloch said outside the courtroom Tuesday afternoon that he's not sure if he'll take the stand in his own defense.