Ricky Gervais Puts Hollywood Elites in their Place

We just found this kickass monologue by the very talented and funny British comedian Ricky Gervais. This is from his presentation at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards. If more talent like his gets put on stage at awards shows we will start watching them again!

Here’s some classic Gervais:

In a Victory for Hoosiers Marion County Judge Rules Attorney General Curtis Hill Violated Public Records Law

Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill 

There is some good news and IR thought we would share it with all of you. Johnny Magdaleno writing for the Indianapolis Star on April 1, 2021, reported that former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill had broken state public records law when he refused to disclose the personal email addresses of public officials.

Magdaleno writes:

IndyStar investigative journalist Ryan Martin requested records on employee turnover from the attorney general's office in July 2018. One of the records that fit the request was a PowerPoint presentation on the office's budget that was sent to the personal email addresses of Hill and then-Chief Deputy Aaron Negangard.

Before sending the record to Martin, Hill's office redacted the personal email addresses it contained. His office acknowledged to Martin that the addresses weren't exempt from public records law, saying that "we would provide the information to you if you request it." 

So Martin requested the addresses. When the office still didn't provide them, he filed a complaint with the state's Public Access Counselor, a custodian of public records disputes.

The counselor issued an advisory opinion siding with Martin. "While not prohibited, the use of private email for public business invites oft-unforeseen problems down the road when those emails are requested," counselor Luke Britt wrote in the opinion.

After Britt weighed in, Martin reported that IndyStar sent five emails requesting the information over a 22-day period. The office responded with a new reason as to why it wasn't providing the records, claiming that they were part of Hill's and Negangard's personnel files.

IndyStar finally brought the issue to Marion County court in the form of a civil suit in July 2019.

In January 2021, Judge James Joven ruled in favor of IndyStar. In his decision, he wrote that Hill's attorneys failed to show why personal email addresses should be exempt from public record laws. Such laws protect personnel files related to work but don't protect information that doesn't have to do with the management of employees, Joven wrote.

Joven also ordered the attorney general's office to pay IndyStar $49,150 in attorneys fees, and Hill was fined $100 in civil penalties. Britt told IndyStar the civil penalty may mark the first time that an Indiana law sanctioning public employees for not complying with records requests has been applied in court.

We here at Indy Republican would like to applaud Johnny Magdaleno, Ryan Martin and the Indianapolis Star for filing this lawsuit and forcing the issue into the open. If this gets to be a trend their might be hope for the Indianapolis Star yet.

We strongly encourage our readers to contact the Indianapolis Star and tell them to do much more work advocating for good government. Somewhere in this universe Gary Welsh is smiling down at this.