Diego Morales Controversy Grows as Indiana GOP Faces Criticism Over Loyalty, Ethics, and Leadership

So James Briggs with the Indy Star had an article that got me thinking about a whole bunch of different things, and that’s sort of how my mind works, right, like I always try to read whether it’s an opinion piece, a news piece, I read the article, I’m like, okay, what are they saying, but what are sort of some of the unsaid things here. And so Briggs wrote this article about the upcoming Republican convention in which Diego Morales is going to be challenged, the incumbent secretary of state is going to be challenged by David Shelton, and the title of the piece is "If Electing Diego Morales is the Price of Winning, It’s Too High", and here’s how he described Morales, and I thought this was pretty much spot on, quote, "A person so compromised and ill suited for leadership that he can only succeed in a landscape where team politics determines value and moral virtue no longer matters." I thought that was just spot on, it is what the Republican Party has become.

Why Diego Morales Has Become a Flashpoint in Indiana Republican Politics

Now look, I’m still a Republican in good standing, I still consider myself a Republican because I believe in the ideals on paper that the Republican Party claims to be for, my issue with the Republican Party is they don’t do the things that they write on the paper, and it hasn’t been, they haven’t done it for a very long time, and it’s gotten progressively worse, the Republican Party, the political parties, plural, have become essentially nothing more than a social club in which the people who lead the charge have figured out that they can enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us, and the rank and file people in the club so want to stay in the club, they’re too afraid to stand up and do anything about the people in charge, and it’s really true in both places, look at the Democrats, I mean look, the Democrats aren’t immune to this either, they just don’t have any offices in the state of Indiana right now. When you look at some of the people that we interview, whether you agree with them or not, like a Joe Mackey who’s running for Congress, last week, Beau Bayh yesterday, Nick Roberts is going to be with us coming up next, talk about the data centers, and by the way one of the reasons I think we are popular is we talk to Democrats all the time, don’t agree with them on a lot of things, but that’s what I’ve always strived to do, at WIBC you used to see us get Democrats all the time that other shows couldn’t get, because I believe in giving people who have influence and ability to speak, I believe in having those conversations, and I always believe that you’re smart enough to hear what they have to say and then come to your own conclusions about it, and but my point on this is when you hear Nick Roberts speak, he sounds like a reasonable person, when you hear Beau Bayh speak, he sounds like a reasonable person, Joe Mackey, reasonable person, whether you agree with them or not, their politics or not, I’m not talking about that. The problem for the Democrats is the reasonable people have been pushed to the side, it’s the lunatics, the lunatics get all the attention, the lunatics are the featured speakers, the lunatics are the face of the Democrat Party, and so the moderates who might be able to actually get elected don’t have a chance in many cases because people see the lunatics and go nope, no thank you, if you’re going to in any way associate with those people, no thank you, the problem for the Republicans on their side is they’re basically doing the same thing, only it’s some bizarre obsession with who can be the most like Trump or what they think Trump is going to love the most, and that doesn’t work everywhere, we’re not about governance anymore, we’re not about accountability, we’re about some sort of dinner theater where this guy espouses to be the most like Trump or the biggest Trump supporter, it means nothing, it means nothing.

How Party Loyalty Is Replacing Accountability in Indiana Government

And so in the case of Diego Morales, look, Diego Morales won because the Republican base hated Holcomb, that’s it, it could have been anyone, any person of high moral standing, any person of any reputable reputation whatsoever, and they would have beaten Holly Sullivan because Diego Morales was the middle finger of the delegates to Holcomb for all the lockdowns, the shutdowns, etc., I was screaming at the time though don’t pick this guy, David Shelton is running, he was running, I said if you want to protest Holcomb, great, by all means I’ll lead that rally, that is not the guy, because he is a grifter, scumbag, con man, politician, and what have we seen the past three and a half years, we have seen from Diego Morales the behaviors, everything I told you it was going to be, and yet the Republicans, the power structure continues to stand behind Diego Morales even though they know what he is. Briggs also goes on to say, and this is so true, you would be hard pressed to find a single Republican arguing that Morales is the candidate most capable, honest and committed to serving Indiana, yes, have you heard anyone stand up and say Diego’s doing a hell of a job, he’s totally scandal free, he’s really competent, the office is run really well, do you hear that with any sort of detail from any of these politicians or power brokers who endorse him, no, because they can’t, because the office is a dumpster fire, we have had multiple, just in this primary season, issues with administering our elections and registering candidates in order to vote, and now there could be issues with the poll books, it’s one thing after another just on the competency of the office, why, because Diego doesn’t care about the office, Diego cares about Diego, Diego cares about elevating himself and the people who elevate him, which are the donors.

Ongoing Controversies Raise Questions About Competency and Transparency

It’s one scandal after another, it’s one bad behavior after another, it’s one bizarre behavior after another, who starts shouting, "I pay for India!" What the hell does that even mean? You didn’t pay for it, you acknowledge someone else paid for it, who disappears to a foreign country? By the way, we’re I think we’re on the anniversary of him missing that budget hearing, I think Facebook told me the other day, I think we passed it, we were I can’t remember anyway, you guys have the Facebook memories where you go back and see all your old stuff and look at yourself, I think we’re maybe a month behind on that, anyway it doesn’t matter, I’m not going to sidetrack myself here with trying to figure out exactly when that was, the reality is the guy disappeared to a foreign country for ten days, ten days, no one knew where he was, you know who outed him, the Indians outed him, the Indians started posting that he was there, that’s how he figured out where he was, people on Twitter in India were posting that Diego Morales was there, he blew off his budget hearing, he won’t tell you who paid for the trip, he won’t tell you because it would look really bad if he tells you. You know who will tell, Bayh will probably tell, that’s sort of why I want Bayh to win, I’m not saying I’m voting for him, I’m not endorsing him, but I sort of want him to win because he’ll tell everyone who paid, anyway, Briggs goes on to say, and this is the most frustrating part of all, and he’s absolutely right, the elected people who know what Morales is the best and have the ability to stop him are the ones lining up behind him, that’s what’s most disappointing, Todd Rokita, Jim Banks, Todd Rokita has the ability to move a lot of headway on finding out who paid for that trip to India, Todd Rokita has the ability to get to the bottom of a lot of stuff related to Diego Morales, he’s the chief law enforcement officer for the state, never going to get it though, because Todd gave him a bunch of money and endorsed him, why would Todd Rokita do that, why would Jim Banks do that, it’s not like it’s in dispute what this guy is, these are our elected officials who should, above anyone else, be holding Diego Morales to account. Briggs writes, quote, "US Senator Jim Banks, Attorney General Todd Rokita and other top Republicans who enthusiastically throw their support behind Morales are telling you that all manner of misconduct is acceptable so long as the transgressor wears a red hat and pays lip service to the correct politics of the moment." Spot on, spot on, these guys know what Morales is, they know what he’s done, they probably know way more than I do about what he’s done, if those guys came out and enthusiastically said we are Republicans but we are not for this, we are Republicans but this has to stop, the corruption, the unethical behavior, the potentially criminal behavior, who knows, it all has to stop, the no bid contracts, the hiring of family members, the $90,000 car, the disappearing to a foreign country for ten days and then refusing to say who paid for it, all of it has to stop, we support David Shelton who is an actual clerk who actually administers elections right now, that would make sure you’re still supporting a Republican.

The Decline of Independent Thought Within the Republican Party

But it comes back to what I’ve been talking about for a while, which is the death of independent thought, there used to be space in the Republican Party for people like me, like when I first got engaged in politics, this would have been 2010, 2011, when I ran for public office, like I was different than everybody else at these meetings I would go to, but I wasn’t public enemy number one, I wasn’t called horrible names, I wasn’t shunned, I wasn’t banned, I was invited, and people would engage and we’d have these conversations, and I had many of the same opinions that I have now, back then I was an outsider, I was different than everybody else there, but I wasn’t ostracized, I was allowed to have my thoughts, I was allowed to hold people accountable, I was allowed to speak out. Today I get banned from Lincoln Days, think about this, a Republican in good standing who votes in every Republican primary, has since 2010, lifelong Republican other than in 2008, like so many other Republicans I at the behest of Rush Limbaugh voted in a Democrat primary against Obama, but every other Republican since 2002, so for 24 years every Republican but one primary I voted in was a Republican, elected Republican, cut more local property taxes than any local Republican in history of our state, all of the things that Republicans should be about, huge investments in infrastructure, as an elected person I did all the Republican things, I’m now not allowed to go to a Lincoln Day dinner in my home county, why, because they knew if I went I would go right up to Diego Morales as I did in Clay County and call him out right to his face, I do the things that I demand others do, and what would happen, Diego would have another meltdown like he did in Clay County and start shouting "I pay for India! I pay!" It’s bizarre. The guy’s a total freaking weirdo, he has no business being in any public office, much less something the magnitude of Secretary of State, the Republicans knew that, they’re more mad at me for asking questions than the guy who they know is a piece of trash, and they all know it, and so the Republicans just say get him out of here, not me or not Diego, me, get him out of here is me, the guy who espouses all of this, and when I’m saying they will do this to you too, they will do this, they are doing this to you, we are seeing the death of independent thought, we’re seeing the death of people who try to take a courageous stand and say character matters, the way you behave in the office matters, the way you handle other people’s money matters. I got into politics because I believed that the Republican Party was the tent where that happened, and I thought well I can make a difference because the Republicans they’re about free thought, they’re about disagreements, they’re about independent thinkers like me being able to speak out and go you know that guy’s got a point, here’s how we make things better, let’s do that, he’s right on about that, and I believed if you just showed by leading, if you just showed by doing things the right way, if you govern the right way, you’ll be like yeah that dude, he did all the things right that we’re supposed to be about, we should, yeah good on him. No, they don’t do that because it’s not about good governance anymore, it’s not about you, it’s not about making a better life for you, it’s not about supporting people who will behave in a businesslike, professional, ethical, not corrupt manner, it’s about the party, and if you flow money into the party, if money that touches you touches the rest of the party, if they’re worried that you going away would make their money go away, that’s all they care about. I still believe we can bring back independent thought, when people are like well how could you possibly even ponder supporting Ballard, because I want the Republicans to be the way they used to be, not a party that agrees with me, but a party that welcomes my speech, if people want to disagree with my policies on things or my views on a specific issue, that’s great, what do we do here on this show, we lead by example, we have people in here all the time that we don’t agree with, there is no more diverse show than what we do here, because I believe in freedom of speech, I believe in differing ideas, I believe that everyone has a right to a voice and to be heard. I don’t have that anymore in the Republican Party, I’m the bad guy now, this team sports stuff, and you know where I see it the most is with the Micah Beckwith people, no matter what that guy does there are people who will defend it, they will excuse it, and they will make me the bad guy, they passionately make me the bad guy on social media for calling it out.