TIP LINE

If you have any news tips, gossip or rumors you would like to share or any ideas for future post. Please send an email to: 6vwts@notsharingmy.info or contact us on Twitter: @IndyRepublicanX

You do not have to leave your name. We appreciate greatly your support.


Showing posts with label Jim Bopp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jim Bopp. Show all posts

Sunday, July 22, 2018

Jim Bopp Setting Up Curtis Hill Legal Defense Fund

The IR team apologizes for the delay in posting. But the team has been sifting through information and handling some personal matters. Last Tuesday we reported on Kevin Betz’s planned press conference the next day about embattled Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill.

In our post we had postulated that:

Given Betz & Hill’s past history together. It seems doubtful that Betz is antagonistic towards Hill. Given Hill’s digging in his heels regarding allegations of groping various women. Indy Republican highly doubts that Hill is going to announce that he is resigning tomorrow. Our best guess is that Betz might be holding the conference to defend Hill and fight back against calls for Hill to resign.

Our prediction was more than born out when on Wednesday IndyStar reporters Tony Cook, Ryan Martin and Kaitlin Lange reported the following:

Indianapolis attorneys Kevin Betz and Sandra Blevins said Wednesday morning that Hill is considering a defamation lawsuit, but has not yet filed one. While noting inconsistencies between a confidential legislative memo and the public accounts of two women, they are targeting whoever is responsible for supplying the incorrect information contained in the memo — as well as whoever leaked the memo's contents to reporters.

In a press conference at his law firm, Betz pushed top lawmakers — whose legislative investigation's findings were contained in the memo — to do three things: 

  • Correct any incorrect information contained in the memo
  • Identify any unnamed individuals who provided the incorrect information
  • Identify who leaked the contents of the memo to the media
"The governor has already tried, convicted and is marching Curtis to the gallows," Betz said in an interview with IndyStar after the news conference.

Earlier today Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reporter Nikki Kelly brought up questions about whether Hoosiers are paying Hill’s legal costs

Kelly writes:

Republican Attorney General Curtis Hill is fighting for his job and his political career. But who is footing the bill?

State employees have sent out releases via his official account denouncing calls for his resignation, and he held a defiant press conference in his Statehouse digs.

Things are getting more complicated now that Hill has hired both civil and criminal attorneys to handle different facets of the incident.

Indianapolis lawyer Kevin Betz said he has a contract with “the attorney general as an individual as well as with the attorney general in his capacity as an elected official.” When asked if state taxpayers could be on the hook he said, “I'll make sure that doesn't occur.”

Kelly also points out that Curtis Hill is not the only public official that has questionable use of taxpayer resources in the Hill incident:

But Hill isn't the only one using state resources. Holcomb, Bosma and Long have all responded via official channels as well. Bosma and Long were initially approached as employers of the women –who all work for the Indiana General Assembly.

Niki Kelly and others on tweeted the following which sheds some light on a way Curtis Hill could handle his legal defense/public relations battle without using taxpayer dollars:








If the above tweets are accurate as they appear to be. Than former Indiana Republican National Committeeman and Attorney Jim Bopp will be heading the “Fairness for Curtis Hill” group. As to why such a distinguished Indiana GOP Operative and Attorney Jim Bopp would be helping out Curtis Hill is a good question. At this point it should be readily apparent that there is no love lost between Curtis Hill and Governor Eric Holcomb. There is also animosity between many Indiana Republicans against Holcomb for the fact that to put it delicately Eric Holcomb is well Eric Holcomb. Previously we reported that Jim Bopp was involved in a lawsuit against the Holcomb administration. The lawsuit alleges that the Holcomb administration has illegally collected $1 Billion in trucking fees.

And helping out Curtis Hill is just another way to cause trouble for “Mad Little Eric” Holcomb. Indy Republican doesn’t see how this whole Curtis Hill-Eric Holcomb shit show does anything other than damage the Indiana GOP. We hope that justice prevails for the victims of Curtis Hill. We also hope that for their bungling of this very serious matter that Brian Bosma and Eric Holcomb take a very big fall. 

Friday, November 17, 2017

$1 Billion Trucking Fees Lawsuit filed against Eric Holcomb's Administration


It seems that Governor Eric "Bagman" Holcomb just got dragged into the middle of a huge knock down drag-out fight with fellow Indiana Republican and attorney Jim Bopp. The great Tony Cook of the Indianapolis Star reports on the upcoming slugfest between Holcomb and Bopp:

A class-action lawsuit accuses the state of Indiana of illegally collecting more than $1 billion in fees from truckers across the nation — and could set up a high-stakes showdown between two top Indiana Republicans. 

The lawsuit filed Friday in Marion County Superior Court accuses the Indiana Department of Revenue of collecting annual Unified Carrier Registration fees from hundreds of thousands of truckers across the nation without authorization under Indiana law.

The attorney behind the lawsuit is Jim Bopp, a high-powered Republican attorney from Terre Haute best known for representing Citizens United in a U.S. Supreme Court case that overturned restrictions on political spending by corporations, nonprofits and labor unions.

His client is the Small Business in Transportation Coalition, a trucking industry trade group with a colorful and controversial leader who recently organized a parade of big rigs in Washington D.C. to promote expanded gun rights and who has been accused by the Federal Trade Commission of deceptive business practices.

On the other side of the lawsuit is the administration of Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb — specifically the Indiana Department of Revenue and its commissioner, Adam Krupp.

A spokeswomen for Holcomb did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the Department of Revenue said she couldn't immediately comment on pending litigation.

"I’m a conservative who does not want to see government overreaching, taxing people and collecting money unless the people authorize it through the legislature," Bopp said. "What’s important to me is that government stays within its bounds. This has got to be one of the most expensive violations of law that I’ve seen."

Indeed, the stakes could be huge.
Indiana handles registrations and fees on behalf of 41 states under the so-called Unified Carrier Registration Plan, a federally authorized compact that allows interstate truckers to register and pay fees just once a year, rather than in multiple states. 
Bopp said the state collects $100 million a year in UCR fees from close to 400,000 truckers a year. The fees depend on the size of the fleet, the form of payment and location of the truck's home base, but begin at $76 per vehicle, according to the lawsuit. 
"Without such authority under Indiana law, INDOR’s nationwide collection of the UCR-related fees is unlawful and every trucker since 2008 is entitled to a refund of these illegally collected fees," Bopp said.
The lawsuit comes four months after the state settled the second of two class-action lawsuits over unauthorized Bureau of Motor Vehicle fees. Between settlements and voluntary refunds, the BMV admitted to overcharging Hoosier drivers more than $115 million over 15 years.

Well INDY REPUBLICAN doesn't know enough about this particular lawsuit to comment on the merits of Mr. Bopp's case. But Bopp's legal skills are good and he is not crazy. So for him to file such a lawsuit means that he thinks that it is a good case. So far as Governor Eric Holcomb has continued the tax-and-spend legacy of his master Mitch Daniels. It will be interesting to see just how this all goes down. Bopp is also a former Vice Chair of the Republican National Committee and has been a Republican National Committeeman from Indiana. Not exactly somebody that Holcomb wants to get into a fight with. Here's to old Eric getting his ass kicked!