Indiana GOP Response to Ballard Pulls Back the Mask

Let's talk about the big story in Indiana politics and government. And this was the response to former Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard announcing that he was running for Indiana Secretary of State as an independent. This came out yesterday. Now, on Monday, we had reported this poll from independent Indiana back in November, was just released this week. We had reported, oh, today's Thursday, I'm sorry, it was Tuesday that we had reported this, this poll coming out from independent Indiana showing that if former Indianapolis Mayor, Republican Mayor Greg Ballard got in the race as an independent, he was uber-competitive. He totally was pulling votes from Diego Morales, the Republican incumbent, and it showed, Beau Bayh, the presumed Democrat nominee, Morales the Republican incumbent, which, by the way, there's no guarantee Diego Morales is gonna be the nominee. The best thing for the Republicans now with Ballard likely in the race would be if he's not, but it showed Morales in second and then Ballard not too far behind in third place. That was on Tuesday. Then yesterday morning, early, 7 a.m., big announcement comes out on Twitter. Greg Ballard says he's running for Secretary of State as an independent. And, oh, my gosh, the Republicans lost their minds. This is fascinating. And the overarching theme of what we're about to talk about is how politics brings out the worst in people. The absolute worst. It's one of the reasons I got out was because I knew if I stayed in and continued to elevate, that I was gonna drop down of a stroke or a heart attack before the age of 35 because it was complete personal misery being around people who I viewed as highly fraudulent, disingenuous, hypocritical. It was all about them. It was all about the shield. It was all about protecting the club. It was almost never about the people. And I think that's what you saw yesterday rear its ugly head is the worst in people. So let me tell you what I'm talking about here. So when Greg Ballard was the mayor of Indianapolis from, let's see, he was elected in 07, so 2008 to 2015, the public was told by the Republicans, both Governor Mitch Daniels and then Governor Mike Pence, under Governor Mitch Daniels and Governor Mike Pence, the Republican Party in Indiana lifted Greg Ballard up as some sort of golden example. I would say golden child, but he was probably in his fifties when he was elected mayor. So not golden child, but golden example. Greg Ballard is the way our party should be. Greg Ballard is what we need. We need more Greg Ballards, a Republican who can win in a blue city. That's the big tent we're talking about here in the Republican Party. And at the time, some of us said, well, okay, he's doing better than the guy before him. He certainly did better than the guy after him, although we didn't know that at the time. We said, look, there's a lot of these issues where Ballard's pretty liberal. And some of these things, though, what was it, the Blue Indy, the cricket stadium? Some of these things feel like kind of unaccountable government that costs a lot of money that aren't what government's supposed to be doing. And you know what the Republican Party said to us, the conservatives? No, no, no. You sit down and you sit in a corner. How dare you go after Greg Ballard! Greg Ballard is the Republican Party. He's what we should all strive to be. We need more Greg Ballards in the Republican Party. And that's what we were told over and over and over again. The Republican Party was a big tent. You had to let the liberals in. They were the new path forward. A Republican that could win in a blue city. And we, some of us would say at the time, well, what are we really winning if he's going to govern? Like a big government liberal. And we were told it doesn't matter. That is the path forward. So fast forward to yesterday in which the Republican Party in a matter of a few hours, and by the way, I've never heard anyone turn on Greg Ballard in the almost, well, it's been more than 10 years now since he's been Mayor of Indianapolis. Can you guys believe that? We've been stuck with Joe Hogsett for 10 years now. How are we all still here? I don't know. Point is, though, in the 10 years since Greg Ballard left as mayor of Indianapolis, whether he moved to Whitestown, which he did, whether he moved to South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, which he did. I've never heard anybody say a disparaging word about Greg Ballard. Never called him, or people call him a sellout. Never heard people talk about how liberal he was. Never talked to people call him a carpetbagger. None of that. None of that. By the way, we're going to talk about the hypocrisy, the Republicans being on Greg Ballard moving to South Carolina in just a second. None of that. Point is not a disparaging word about Greg Ballard until yesterday. That announcement came down shortly before 7 a.m. And I would say by 8 8 30, the haymakers were flying from the Republicans. They were getting the marching orders. They were getting the talking points. A guy who for almost 20 years had been the gold standard of what the Republican Party should be. Now, of course, the Republicans, as you've seen with me, they only want a big tent if it's the liberals coming in. If you're a conservative and you speak out, and how many times have we seen this? You get shut down like me. You get uninvited from the Lincoln Day dinner. When the Republicans talk about a big tent or big ideas or a variety of ideas, diversity, they're talking about more liberal people coming in. More people who don't actually share the beliefs of what the Republicans espouse, but they want their money and they want their votes. But in an hour and a half's time, the Republican Party went from 20 years of Greg Ballard as the gold standard of the big tent, the red guy who could win in the blue city that we should all strive to be, to basically insinuating America's most wanted should be called. He's a liberal. He was for big government. He was for this thing and this thing. I'm sitting here watching going, "Oh, suddenly everyone's come to the party." The exact things that people like me were saying when he was mayor, "Look, Greg Ballard did some good things." Again, as I said, if the standard was Bart Peterson or Joe Hogsett, Greg Ballard was great. I think we should be better than just exceeding Bart Peterson or Joe Hogsett said. By the way, compared to Joe Hogsett, Bart Peterson was outstanding. You look at where the city was under Peterson and people said, "That was unacceptable." Think about Peterson compared to Hogsett. Point of all this though is that Greg Ballard, the things I saw Republicans ripping on Greg Ballard for yesterday were the exact things that I was told I had to sit down and shut up about for well over a decade. That I didn't get it. Conservatives didn't get it. We didn't understand. This is the guy. This is the way. All of a sudden, once he threatened the shield, once he threatens the cabal, once he threatens to take down the Republicans holding the Secretary of State's office, which don't kid yourself, Greg Ballard is a tremendous threat to the Republicans keeping that Secretary of State's office. If he gets in on the ballot, the Republicans probably lose, especially if Diego Morales is the candidate. And they know it. The Republicans know it. They know there is no defense for Diego Morales. And they know once the Bayh machine and how 10 million, 12 million, whatever Beau Bayh is going to raise gets ahold of Diego Morales with ads running across the state of Indiana, he's done. It's all over. Beau Bayh might be able to beat Morales on his own. But if you've got a third party in there who has, let's face it, probably pulling far more from the Republican than the Democrat, it's over. So in an hour and a half's time, the Republicans went from this guy's the gold standard. You criticize him. You don't get it. Sit down and shut up. He's a red mayor in a blue city. That's what we need. He's the worst guy ever. Look at all the big government he was for. Look at all these projects he did. It is another glaring example. People say, why are you so mean to the Republicans? This is why. Because they don't believe in anything. They don't believe in anything other than their own power. And protecting their shield, no matter how rotten that shield is, no matter who the person is, they will protect them. They're the mafia. Government is the mafia. So that's the first thing. Then the Republicans started on Greg Ballard's residency. And this is just the crème de la crème of hypocrisy from these people on multiple fronts. So Greg Ballard in 2021, long after being the Mayor of Indianapolis, decided like many people nearing retirement age, that he was going to move to South Carolina, moves to Myrtle Beach. By the way, I owned a radio station near Myrtle Beach, if you can afford to do it, it's a fine place. It's a fine place. And compared to some of the other places, a somewhat reasonable cost of living compared to some of the other vacation area type destinations or retirement type destinations. But that's neither here nor there. Greg Ballard decides he's moving to Myrtle Beach. Okay, fine. Nobody says a word about it. Nobody says, oh, what a traitor. What a, what a backstabber. What a, what a, what a loser. He goes and he moves, stays there for a couple of years. Like so many other people of his age, he decides, I kind of miss Indiana, kind of miss home. I'm moving back. How many people do you know who have multiple homes? I have a very, very good couple of friends who they're still business owners in Indiana. They're still active in the community in Indiana. They live half the year in Florida. Why? Because that's a common thing that people of retirement age do. And you know why they come back here to Indiana? Because they miss it. That's their technical home. Greg Ballard decides after a couple of years in South Carolina, he's moving back to Indiana. Now, I believe according to Ballard, this was in the spring of 23. So he was basically gone for two years. Now keep in mind, Greg Ballard was a, I don't know if he's necessarily a lifelong Hoosier, but he was an ingrained Hoosier. He'd been the mayor of Indianapolis. He had lived here afterwards and for a brief period of his life, he moved to another state. He then moved back. It's 2023 when he moves back spring of 23, according to Ballard. That's three years ago. So he's been back here for three years where he spent much of his life already, including being a decorated member of the US military. The Republicans then hop on this like it's some sort of gotcha. Oh, look at this carpet bagger. Look at this guy who bailed on Indiana. Look at you. You can't trust him. The same guy who was just the gold standard, not all that long ago. Now you can't trust him. Now what's fascinating to me is, and I saw multiple people doing this, the most prominent one was Andrew Ireland, State Rep. Republican State Rep from Indianapolis who was implying that potentially Greg Ballard might have done something illegal and it needed to be looked into. But potentially, I guess voting illegally. I don't even know what he was trying to insinuate. Ballard then quickly addresses this on Twitter, goes, no, this is when we moved back. This is how long we were gone. And this is when I voted. Case closed. Yet we somehow went in a couple hours time from gold standard to somebody better alert Unsolved Mysteries to get into this. That's the Republican Party. Now the hypocrisy of all of this for these people demanding to know about Ballard's voting record, about his living whereabouts. The Republicans own guy Diego Morales. And by the way, James Briggs, a couple of years ago wrote a very fabulous expose on this, did a deep dive. By the way, speaking of Briggs, he's going to be with us tomorrow to talk about, he's got a new column out today about this issue. Talk about the article he wrote in 22. I believe it was in 2022 when he wrote the article. Diego Morales, when he was running for Congress in 2018, because of course, Diego desperately wanted to be a politician. The office was somewhat irrelevant. You guys remember this? Diego was going to run for Secretary of State and then he realized he couldn't beat Connie Lawson. So then he decided he wasn't running for Secretary of State. Then he decided to run for Congress. He lost. And then he saw an opportunity with Holli Sullivan, Holcomb's pick being vulnerable. So he ran for Secretary of State again. The guy wanted to be in office. He didn't care about which office it was. And look, credit to Diego. He has proved that if you are, if you believe it long enough and strong enough, you can pull it off. If you want something bad enough, if you want power bad enough and you're willing to, if you have no shame whatsoever, no sense of service to the people whatsoever. If your service to self is that strong, you can pull it off. Anyway, Briggs wrote a big article about this. You can go back and read it over at Indy Star and we'll talk about it with him tomorrow. In 2018, Diego Morales voted in a county different from where he took his Homestead credit. I believe his Homestead credit, which is where you live, right? That's your primary residence. When you guys, you know, when you pay your property tax, you get the Homestead credits, a deduction on your taxes. That's only valid on your primary residence, the residence where you live. I believe his primary residence was in Marion County, his Homestead credit, Marion County. But he voted in Hendricks County. Why? Because Hendricks County was in his district. How did that happen? Where were the Republicans then or now demanding an investigation or a resignation or anything else into how Diego Morales voted in a county different from where he took his Homestead credit? You haven't heard a peep about that. Oh, sure. Unsolved Mysteries, the ghost of Robert Stack. You guys better get on, figure it out where Greg Ballard voted and when and where he was living. But this guy, it's there in black and white. Voting in a county different where he took his Homestead credit. And not a word, not a word about it. No demands of investigation, nothing. The hypocrisy of these people, the hypocrisy of them. Let's talk about issue number two. Greg Ballard moves to South Carolina. Okay. Fair game. He moves back. I guess if that's your gotcha moment, okay. It's the guy who's, well, I don't think he's a lifelong, lifelong Hoosier, but essentially is a lifelong Hoosier for all intents and purposes. Go somewhere for a couple of years, moves back. And that's their outrage. The only problem is Indiana has a senator or had a senator who not that long ago did the exact same thing. You guys remember Dan Coats? Dan Coats, he was a senator, then stopped being a senator because he, I believe it was, he didn't want to lose to Evan Bayh when Evan Bayh became a senator. And then Evan Bayh decided he wasn't going to run again because of the anti Obama wave in 2010. You guys remember this? And so then Dan Coats suddenly decided he wanted to be a senator again. Because Dan, and then Coats went on later to be in the Trump administration. National security, I think was, was the title that he had there. But Dan Coats was a senator, stopped being a senator, decided he wanted to be a senator again. The only problem was in between, there was this video that surfaced about him talking about moving to North Carolina. Saying that was his home. That was where they were going to live now. Well, when Dan Coats ran for Senate in 2010, I didn't hear a peep from the Republicans about that. After Dan Coats got the nomination in the Republican primary, I didn't see anybody saying, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, there's this video of this guy saying he, uh, saying he, he don't want to be in Indiana anymore. That he's got a new home. No outrage then. Why? Because the Republicans only care about one thing, and that's electing Republicans. That's it. If you're Greg Ballard and you leave for a couple of years and then come back and you've been here several years before you run for an office again, well, you're some sort of anti Indiana. You're a carpetbagger. But if you're Dan Coats and you move back, presumably kind of just to run for the Senate seat, you're great. You're fine. The Republicans, and look, it is true for both parties. The Democrats would do the same thing if somebody were threatening them. Let's not kid ourselves. You know, our slogan on this show is, we dislike all these people equally. But right now we're talking about the Republican party going after a guy who they previously told us was the best of the best. He's the guy, he's the guy all the other Republicans should be like with ridiculous claims that apparently have been very quickly refuted, by the way. When their guy, guys who they are behind and have been behind, have done the exact same thing or worse. This isn't about who Greg Ballard is. I mean, imagine you're willing to shill and go out on the limb and lay down for Diego Morales. You guys need power that bad that somebody as rotten as Diego Morales is who you will lay down for. And you are willing to attack. Look, I don't agree with Greg Ballard on a lot of his policies. We talked about it, laid it out. And by the way, not endorsing Greg Ballard, not telling you about a vote for Greg Ballard, no doing any of that. We call the balls and strikes here. And in this case, even though Greg Ballard, not my favorite politician, what the Republicans are doing is ridiculous. It's gross. It's totally hypocritical. You're willing to lay down for somebody as rotten and disgusting as Diego Morales and attack the character and who the person of Greg Ballard is. Greg Ballard is an exemplary person, whether you like his politics or not. And so right out of the gate, we are once again seeing how politics brings out the worst in us. But it also exposes who these people actually are. It also tells you exactly when they are forced to remove the mask. I've always talked about this for years, right? That these people, they are essentially wearing masks. They're showing you who they want you to see. They're feeding you lies. And then at adversity, when the heat gets cranked up, you see who they really are. Diego Morales, I saw somebody, a Diego loyalist, Diego supporter, bitching about one of Ballard's plans, a voter guide to people, how much that was going to cost. Diego Morales disappeared last year during a budget session, a budget hearing to go to India for 10 days. Nobody knew where he was going. Nobody knew where he was. I mean, in the public. I'm sure some people around him knew. His job, the budget hearing to decide how his office gets funded, he disappeared. He went to India for 10 days on a quote unquote economic development mission. Bizarre, right? Because the Secretary of State has no economic development responsibilities. What we do know is that his buddy, who had a big state contract with Diego's office, went with him. And what was that guy doing? He was bragging on Facebook about selling visa access. To this day, we publicly have no idea who paid for that trip. We have no confirmation whatsoever that as Diego Morales later said, I pay. I pay for India. Because of course you guys remember when he got pushed on who paid, he wouldn't say who paid. And then he inexplicably, inexplicably, inexplicably one day came out and said, I paid the money back. We said, great. Show us the proof. Show us who you wrote the check to show us the receipts, they match we all, go home. I'm not doing that. And the Republican party won't say a word about it. One of the arguably the second highest office in our state disappears to a foreign country for 10 days doing who knows what with who knows who. What we do know is his buddy who had a big state contract with Diego's office, goes with him and is bragging about selling visa access on Facebook. And then we don't know who paid for it. That's okay with the Republicans. That's standard operating procedure for the Indiana Republican party. That's fine. They'll defend that to the death. They'll, they'll, they'll go to the mat. Why? Because it's about power. It's not about you. It's not about good government. It's not about electing good people. It's about protecting their power. When people say, well, why are you so mean to the Republicans? How would I defend any of this? If you're an intellectually honest broker, how would you defend any of what I just told you? Do you think those people care about you? Do you think they're about electing people who will go to bat for you? Do you think those people are about fighting for you? Why do you think your property taxes have never gone higher? Why do you think your utility bills have never gone higher? All of these issues that we're facing in our state, why do you think that? Look at who's elected, who, look at who's elected to serve you. Look at the people who defend them. Look at the apparatus around them. They will go to the mat for somebody as rotten as Diego Morales and try to destroy the reputation of someone as good, even if I don't agree with him politically as Greg Ballard. That is the Indiana Republican party.