The Hypocrisy of Hoosier Politicians About Curtis Hill w/Update

Attorney General Curtis Hill R-Indiana 

For much of the past week the news here in Indiana has revolved to a significant extent on the allegations of sexual harassment leveled against Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill. Hill is accused of inappropriately touching four women at a party at AJ’s Lounge in Indianapolis back on March the 15th of this year. The allegations became public knowledge with the leak of a confidential memo containing information on the alleged incidents of March 15th. You can read the memo by clicking here. Tony Cook, Ryan Martin and Kaitlin Lange reported that after state legislative leaders were informed of the alleged groping by Hill in May that:

Details of the accusations are outlined in a confidential June 18 memorandum prepared by the Taft Stettinius & Hollister law firm at the request of legislative leaders. 

The internal legislative investigation into his actions at AJ's Lounge was initiated by Bosma and Long when the groping allegations were first brought to their attention in May, about two months after the party, according to the memo.

The Indianapolis Star says that according to “Jennifer Drobac, a law professor at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. In groping cases, Drobac said, prosecutors typically decide whether the alleged battery was sexual in nature. If not, a criminal charge would be a Class B misdemeanor, which carries a potential sentence of 180 days in a county jail and a fine up to $1,000. A more severe penalty is possible, however, if the battery is sexual. That violation, a Level 6 felony, carries a potential sentence of six months to 2.5 years in state prison or a county jail and a fine up to $10,000.”

Professor Drobac does also say that civil penalties might come into play depending on the circumstances.

Lindsey Erdody writing for the Indianapolis Business Journal reported on July 6th, 2017 that State Representative Ed Delaney-D Indianapolis said they will push for Hill’s impeachment if he refuses to leave office voluntarily. Erdody writes:

State Representative Ed Delaney-D Indianapolis 

“Even his own party says he’s not fit to be in the office,” DeLaney said. “There will have to be an impeachment.” 

But DeLaney said state statute isn’t exactly clear about the impeachment process, and it’s never been done, so he’s carefully examining the statute and looking at states with similar language to determine the appropriate action.

“These things have not been tried out,” DeLaney said. “People generally get the message and depart.”

Bosma has not said whether impeachment is an option he’s considering, and if so, how long he would wait. DeLaney said “a few days seems reasonable.”

But with or without Republican support, DeLaney said he will push for impeachment.

“I prefer to push with some support from the other side of the aisle,” DeLaney said. “The public doesn’t need a months long war over the fate of Curtis Hill.”

One of the things that has piqued IR’s interest about the whole Curtis Hill situation is that nobody from the legislative Republican leadership spoke to Hill about these allegations until 11 days after the June 18th, 2018 Memo. Which has led some (all of us included) to believe that Brian Bosma, David Long and others were hoping to handle this situation quickly and quietly and pray it would just disappear. With the leak of this confidential memo to the Indianapolis Star it doesn’t appear as though Hill’s alleged groping is going to be dealt with quietly or quickly. As of the date this post was written two of the four alleged victims have publicly identified themselves. State Representative Mara Candelaria Reardon D-Munster and Gabrielle McLemore who is the Communications Director for the Indiana State Senate Democrats. You can read each of their letters to the public here and here. Curtis Hill so far has adamantly refused to resign and has asked the Marion County Prosecutors Office to investigate the incidents rather than the State’s Inspector General. Hill’s reasoning for this he says is that since Governor Eric Holcomb has already said he thinks that Hill should resign that having the IG who is an appointee of Holcomb’s to investigate would not lend itself to an impartial investigation. On this we agree with Hill. Even though IR believes the allegations against Hill are credible and that he should resign. That does not mean that we the people should ignore the Glass House inhabitited by many of our elected officials screaming the loudest for Hill’s head.

Readers of Indy Republican , Advance Indiana, and Ogden on Politics may recall that all three of these blogs have written about the severe ethical and legal problems that Eric Holcomb, Ed Delaney, Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson and State House Speaker Bosma have had themselves. Some of them as far as IR knows are not guilty of sexual harassment. Nonetheless there are serious questions about these and other elected officials in Indiana’s conduct that in the interest of justice should be explored. We have previously written about Ed Delaney who is a former attorney at Barnes and Thornburg and the mystery as to why he decided to meet someone he did not know in an abandoned parking lot in 2009, which then resulted in Delaney being injured by Gus Mendenhall. Probably due to less than ethical conduct back in the early 1980’s by Delaney in ruining Mendenhall’s father Burke’s business venture. Connie Lawson who serves as Indiana Secretary of State herself according to some had homesteads in Hendricks, Marion County and Arizona all at the same time. Governor Eric Holcomb who once falsely accused a political opponent of his of engaging in beastilaty. As well as announcing in 2016 he would be dropping his bid for the US Senate and then right after then Governor Mike Pence announced that Holcomb would be appointed Lieutenant Governor to replace outgoing LG Sue Ellsperman in an arrangement that stinks to high heaven. Gary Welsh wrote about this here  here. IR also wrote last year about Holcomb’s administrations being sued by high powered Republican attorney Jim Bopp, over allegations that the State of Indiana was illegally collecting certain trucking fees. Given just how much of an autocrat Holcomb was as state GOP Chairman it’s likely that he would have heard something about Hill’s issues. And given the very public antagonism between the Governor and AG it’s strange that he wouldn’t have tried to use this as leverage over Hill. As for House Speaker Bosma from what we have been hearing going back several years he doesn’t have a squeaky clean life himself. Wish we could say more than that. But unfortunately we cannot. 

Earlier this evening Hill issued a statement saying he would address the media tomorrow at 10 AM in his office. What Hill has planned is anyone’s guess. He has so far stated that he will not resign. So far his only defender of any prominence that we can find is Revered Charles Harrison leader of the Ten Points Coalition in Indianapolis. In a statement released to the media on WRTV-6’s website Harrison said this about Hill: 

“First let me say I am against any kind of sexual harassment, and I believe that this kind of conduct has no place in our society. I have known Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr for several years now. I have often been with Attorney General Curtis Hill Jr in a lot of different settings, and I have never witnessed in my presence any kind of sexual misconduct toward women. Attorney General Hill has always been respectful and has conducted himself in appropriate ways around women. I can only speak to what I have witnessed, and in my presence Attorney General Hill's conduct has always been honorable.”

As a man of the cloth. We sincerely hope that Harrison’s statement is a genuine reflection of his thoughts on Curtis Hill. But a few have noted that Harrison’s defense of Hill might be influenced by the fact that as Attorney General Hill has helped setup $500,000 to help with the expansion of Reverend Harrison’s Ten Points Coalition. 

We will be watching to see what Hill has to say at his conference tomorrow. Friend of the blog Paul Ogden wrote about Hill on Friday  And Rob Kendall discussed the Hill drama on his radio show this afternoon:

Till next time goodnight and God Bless you all. 

UPDATE: An alert readers has just made us aware that Curtis Hill is putting out ads in his defense. Checkout this tweet by Tony Cook for the details:

Looks like Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill is running digital ads defending himself against allegations of inappropriate touching. This on the day two of those women came forward publicly. pic.twitter.com/xU9dYgNumn

— Tony Cook (@indystartony) July 7, 2018

Jim "Shill" Shella to Retire! Thank You God!

Hello everyone out there in cyberspace! Hope you are all having a great day. INDY REPULICAN sure as hell is! Earlier this week in article by Anthony Schoetle writing in the Indianapolis Business Journal announced that after spinning reporting on Statehouse matters since 1982. Good old Jim "Shill" Shella has decided to run like hell retire from WISH-TV. Also Shella will be leaving Indiana Week in Review aka "Pravda Week in Review" on November 18th. He has been the political establishment's propaganda minister on IWIR for 21 years now. Here are some highlights of Anthony Schoetle's article we would like to share with you as well as INDY REPULICAN'S thoughts as well about the story:


Shella is departing WISH as its parent company, Media General Inc., is about to be acquired by Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc. But Shella said he is not being forced out. In fact, he said he was offered another contract.


Shella told IBJ that “family considerations” are a factor in his retirement decision and he looks forward to spending more time with his wife, Connie, and their 38-year-old daughter, Katherine.


Our response to Shella saying he is not being forced out is: Bulls--t! If he wasn't being forced out then he had no reason to bring it up. And as far as "family considerations" go. Everyone who has any experience with people in public life know to often when someone is forced to leave or step down from a position against there will they always site family reasons as one of the main cover stories. Also very popular are health reasons. So if it is hard for all of us here to believe Shella it is mostly due to the fact that he is a hack reporter who spends his time sucking up to those in power rather than being a real journalist. We will get more in depth with that here shortly. Many of us remember Jim Shella's complete lack of professionalism and his out-and-out hit piece on the Revolt at the Statehouse back in 2009 put on by Paul Ogden, Mark Small, the late Gary Welsh and several others. For those of you who do not remember, or never heard of what transpired back in 2009 we refer you to Paul Ogden's account of the event here, as well as Gary Welsh's excellent post in which he refers to Jim Shella as a "washed up hack".


Schoetle goes onto share what some of Shella's colleagues at Pravda Indiana Week in Review say about Jim Shella.:


“If there was an Indiana political reporters’ hall of fame, Jim Shella would be going in immediately on the first ballot,” said Mike McDaniel, a former Republican state chairman and a regular on "Indiana Week in Review" for 21 years. “He’s among the best—and I’m not just talking about TV reporters—of any political reporters.”
Former Indiana Democratic Chairwoman Ann DeLaney said Shella was known for a wicked sense of humor, booming laughter and an irreverence that made him unafraid to ask difficult questions.
“He has the memory, institutional knowledge and lack of reverence to be an effective Statehouse reporter—the dean of Statehouse reporters,” said DeLaney, who has been a regular on "Indiana Week in Review" since Shella started with the show. “He has a healthy dose of skepticism. He’s not afraid to let that show. So he asks better questions and as a consequence, gets better stories.”


DeLaney said there isn’t a state lawmaker that doesn’t know—and respect—Shella. But his appeal goes beyond that, she added.
“He will be missed far beyond the Statehouse,” DeLaney said. “I get comments from the grocery clerk and the mailman about the topics we discuss on 'Indiana Week in Review.' Those are the people that Jim has helped bring the issues to.
“Through his reporting on [WISH] and his role with 'Indiana Week in Review,' he helps to drive the discussion on important topics across the state,” she added. “He’s been able to frame the discussion for 25 years. That’s a pretty significant impact.”


No doubt McDaniel and DeLaney are extremely grateful to Shella for not doing any actual investigate reporting! McDaniel is grateful that Shella bent over backwards in an unsuccessful attempt to try to save former U.S. Senator Richard Lugar's worthless butt, when it was revealed back in 2011-2012 that Lugar had not lived in Indiana since 1977!


Anne DeLaney is glad that Shella has always sucked up to her boss Evan "I am not a lobbyist" Bayh". She is also no doubt very pleased that Shella never delved into the circumstances surrounding the incident in late 2009 where her husband State Rep. Ed Delaney was attacked by Gus Mendehall. That incident is to complicated to go into in this post. Instead we will gladly direct your attention to REAL Investigative Work involving the Mendenhall-DeLaney row here:


Gary Welsh's Post's:


DeLaney Vs. Mendenhall: http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2009/11/delaney-versus-mendenhall.html




Ed DeLaney's Twisting & Turning!: http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2009/11/another-odd-twist-in-delaney-versus.html




Common Sense to Ed DeLaney Shut the Hell up!: http://advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2009/11/shouldnt-someone-tell-ed-delaney-to.html


Paul Ogden has provided information about what occurred from Mendenhall's point of view.


Paul Ogden's Post's:


The Mendenhall Chronicles:


Prologue: http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/01/mendenhall-chronicles-prologue.html




Part One: http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/01/mendenhall-chronicles-part-i.html




Part Two: http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/01/mendenhall-chronicles-part-ii.html


Part Three: http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/01/mendenhall-chronicles-part-iii.html


Part Four: http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/01/mendenhall-chronicles-part-iv.html


Part Five: http://www.ogdenonpolitics.com/2011/03/mendenhall-chronicles-part-v-trial.html






Also be sure to checkout Dick Cady's memoir "Deadline Indianapolis" for a look at how a real journalist would cover the DeLaney's. Needless to say Ed, Anne, Bayh, & Lugar do not come out looking that good in Cady's book.


Turns out that even though "Shill" Shella is leaving his positions at WISH-TV and IWIR we may not be hearing the last of him. The IBJ article ends with these words about Shella's life after television:


Shella said while he’s retiring from full-time work, he’s leaving the door open to other opportunities.
Shella said there’s a possibility he could make special appearances on WISH “to make commentary on political events.”
Shella also said he’s been approached about taking other positions.
“I’ve had overtures,” he said. “I haven’t pursued anything. I won’t say I won’t try something else, maybe on a part-time basis. I just think it’s time to pursue a new chapter.”


We would like to close this post with some parting thoughts all of us here share. If Shella thinks just because of the unfortunate demise of Gary Welsh. That he is going to get away with his endless spin doctoring of the news for the powers that be. He is sorely mistaken! Not going to happen Jim! To many of us are onto you! But in the spirit of honesty a regular reader of our blog asked us to share something special that they have to say to you. Are you ready Jim? Here it is:










On a lighter note in the immortal words of Kool & The Gang: Celebrate Everybody! This is the staff at INDY REPUBLICAN saying good night and God bless! If anyone is interested our some members of the staff also perform as entertainment at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs!


Celebrate: