Rokita Plan To Clean Up Voter Lists Is On

With a little prodding from the U.S. Justice Department, Democrats withdrew their objections to Secretary of State Todd Rokita's plan to send a mailing to the state's more than 4 million registered voters in an effort to clean up voters lists. Rokita tells reporters:

As my office, the Department of Justice, and statewide media have pointed out, when we determined that 19 of 92 Indiana counties have more registered voters than actual citizens, age 18 or older, we knew there was a problem. When our brand new statewide voter registration system found 290,522 possible duplicate records, we knew there was a problem.”

As it turns out the Democrats weren't at all interested in saving taxpayers' money or the integrity of the voting system; they simply wanted to make sure Rokita's name did not appear anywhere on the mailing, and that voters could not learn how the voter ID law works. TDW writes today:

Specifically, he had to take his office name off the postcard, and he promised to omit a whole lot of information about the state's voter identification law, which was to be set out even though the law currently is under consideration by the Seventh Circuit in Chicago. In other words, it has to be a content-neutral mailing from the Indiana Election Division, not a mailing that might intimidate voters into not coming out this November.

"Content-neutral?" God forbid we educate the state's voters about the requirements for voting in this state. At least the mailing is going forward, although AI thinks it is a waste of taxpayer dollars to send the mailing to every registered voter since the statewide voter registration system already has identified potential duplicative registrations. That's why we spent millions to develop the system.

Star Punts Schneider Story; Instead Gives Top Billing To 9-Year Old Suit

If one would have expected a front-page story from the Star today on Lottery Director's Esther Schneider's admissions of wrongdoing in her management of the agency, you would be wrong. You'll have to look for a tiny story buried somewhere in the Metro & State section for that story. Instead, the Star gave front-page billing to news that the agency is settling a nearly decade-old suit by the winner of a $5 scratch-off ticket who failed to claim his prize within 90 days.

WTHR-TV, however, gave top billing in its Thursday night newscast with an interview with Schneider by Kevin Rader concerning the allegations contained in an anonymous complaint filed with the Inspector General. His report included an interview with Jennifer Wagner, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party and the editor of Taking Down Words, which first posted the complaint on its blog site Wednesday night. It appears that TDW was the first media source to obtain the complaint. TDW wrote upon its release, "Lo and behold, a copy of the anonymous IG complaint arrived on TDW's desk last week." Other news media sources say they received their copy on Wednesday, at the same time copies were being distributed to all 150 state lawmakers.

Mary Diana Penner writes in today's Star about the 9-year old lawsuit being settled:

A dispute over a winning scratch-off ticket that would have cost the Hoosier Lottery $5 to resolve in 1997 instead will cost the agency more than $1 million.

The lottery has agreed to a proposed settlement to end the nearly decade-long fight, which evolved into a class-action lawsuit.

Here's what happened:

Tom H. Smith, Indianapolis, bought a $2 "instant win" ticket in 1996, which yielded a $5 prize. He didn't instantly redeem it, though. And when he tried to collect months later, he was told he was too late.

Smith appealed to lottery headquarters, saying he had no way of knowing the game had ended. That didn't work, so he sued.

The lottery already has ponied up more than $450,000 to pay lawyers to fight the suit and now is agreeing to set up a $600,000 pot to resolve the entire matter, once and for all.

Esther Schneider, executive director of the Hoosier Lottery since January 2005, when Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed his own team, said she looked at the lawsuit she inherited and decided enough was enough.

"I thought, 'OK, how do we make this thing go away?' " she said. Under the terms of the proposed settlement, which still must be formally approved by a judge, Smith will get $15,000 from the $600,000 fund.

It really is a serious case of mismangement on the part of the agency, although the blame here largely must be placed on her predecessors. The only real winner is the law firm of Baker & Daniels, which the state paid more than $450,000 in legal fees to handle a $5 scratch-off ticket claim. The disputing winner will receive $15,000 for the $5 prize the Lottery refused to pay him, although I suspect his attorney, Rich Waples, will get at least 40% of that amount.

State Workers Fired For Downloading Child Porn

The Courier-Journal picks up more on the State of Indiana's efforts to filter what state employees may view on their work computers. A few state workers have been fired for downloading child pornography to their state computers according to the story. Elisabeth Beardsley writes:

The Indiana state government began restricting state workers' Internet access yesterday and some employees have been fired or disciplined after evidence was found that child pornography was viewed from work computers.

The move came a day after the state of Kentucky, in an unrelated move, expanded its filtering efforts to ban blogs, entertainment and shopping sites.

"Child pornography — you see those two words and you think, `Oh my God,' which is what we all thought," said Chris Cotterill, general counsel for the Indiana Office of Technology. "Child pornography is disgusting and it was taken very seriously."

A "handful" of employees were fired and several others were disciplined after the technology agency reported them to their human-resources departments for viewing child porn, Cotterill said. The agency also notified the state police, he said.

Gov. Mitch Daniels supports the decision to install a filtering system, which replaces what had been the employees' unfettered Internet access, said Daniels spokeswoman Jane Jankowski. "He wants to assure that there's appropriate use of state resources and so he is fully on board" with the Office of Technology plan, she said.

Beardsley quotes Cotteril as saying, "Indiana has not yet banned blogs." "Cotterill said individual employees' Web habits are not being monitored, although he said activity such as viewing child porn can usually be traced to a specific person." The state purchased the new system from 8e6 Technologies for $166,307, plus annual maintenance costs.

Schneider Responds To IG Complaint

Hoosier Lottery Director Esther Schneider met with various members of the media today, including the AP's Mike Smith, to answer charges laid out in a detailed, unsigned complaint which was originally filed with the Inspector General's office on June 12. While Schneider denied some of the more serious charges in the complaint, she surpisingly owned up to many of the complaint's charges against her. And Schneider told Smith that she welcomed an investigation by the IG's office. Oddly, IG David Thomas would not confirm whether an investigation of Schneider was under way. Smith writes:

The Hoosier Lottery director says she would welcome an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing and mismanagement against her.

Esther Schneider said she did not know the source of the allegations, which were sent in letters to both the Republican and Democratic parties. Jeff Harris, a spokesman for Senate Democrats, said their members received the anonymous complaint in letters that had no return address and were distributed through the Statehouse mail system . . .

But she said the allegations contained in a 10-page complaint, such as rewarding contracts to benefit friends and having assistants perform personal tasks for her, were either twisted, half-truths or baseless and likely stemmed from disgruntled workers or former lottery employees.

The cover page of the complaint said it was sent to the state inspector general's office on June 12, and a log in that office dated June 16 shows that a complaint was filed against an employee of the lottery. But Inspector General David Thomas said he could not confirm whether it was the same anonymous complaint sent to lawmakers, or whether there was any investigation into the one his office received.

Schneider said she also did not know whether it was the same complaint, but guessed that it was. Regardless, "If something has been filed they have an obligation to do an inspection." She said she welcomed an investigation by Thomas' office so she could be cleared.

Here's what Schnieder told Smith was truthful about the complaint against her:

• Making a decision to pay claims for winning Hoosier Millionaire tickets beyond the expiration date for cashing in. Smith writes: "An internal auditor said in a memo earlier this year that doing so violated a lottery statute, but Schneider and the auditor said she did it for promotional reasons and was unaware that an extension was not allowed."
• Sponsoring a luncheon for a women's leadership program named for Republican Sen. Richard Lugar and holding a drawing for scratch-off tickets there to gather names of people to whom the lottery could send promotional materials. Smith writes: "She said Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, who appointed her last year, told her later that was wrong because it appeared as if the lottery was sponsoring a political event."
• Bringing her dogs to work and having Lottery employees tend to them, Smith writes: "Schneider said she did bring her two dogs to her office one day because she needed to drive them to the vet after work. But she said a commission meeting was being held, and "I had two employees who begged me to please could they hold the dogs, could they walk the dogs."
• Awarding contracts to friends and former business associates, Smith writes: "A recent internal audit looked into a few specific concerns raised by an employee or the agency's chief financial officer, including her awarding a $90,000 no-bid contract for marketing research to a company owned by a friend she knew in the gaming industry. Schneider said it was the only vendor who could do the job, and the audit said the choice was approved by the governor's office and Lottery Commission and there appeared to be no violation of state law or administrative codes.
• Engaging in political work on state time, Smith writes: "She acknowledged speaking to some Republican groups about the lottery's operations, but said it was always done on personal time or during vacation."
• Mistreating Lottery employees, Smith writes: "Schneider acknowledged that she sometimes gets excited when talking to employees, and that Lottery Commission Chairwoman Jean Northenor had talked to her about her management style with people. But Northenor said she had never reprimanded Schneider, as the anonymous complaint alleged."
• Firing people because of their political affilliation, Smith writes: "She said since she took over operations of the lottery, she has dismissed about 50 employees for various reasons and has looked scrupulously for cost-savings, and some employees or former workers did not like her management style. "They are definitely gunning for me," she said.

I am actually quite impressed with Schneider's candor in her interview with Smith, particularly when I compare it to the summary of the complaint I wrote about last night. You have to give Schneider credit for owning up to her mistakes when called upon to answer for them, quite the opposite of the deny, deny and deny approach taken by former ICJI Director Heather Bolejack. At the same time, they do raise some very serious questions about her management of the Lottery, an extremely critical source of state revenues. Her own admission of partisan political activities is particuarly troublesome. While she denies any political considerations in hiring/firing decisions, the fact that she has canned at least 50 employees of an agency that is not all that large to begin with is quite troubling. It is imperative that whoever serves in this position remain completely independent of any partisan considerations, and it certainly appears she has crossed that line on several occasions with the full knowledge of the Governor's office.

Schneider, prior to taking the job as Lottery director, was described by some who know her as very principled and moral in her approach to her work. It has been said that Brad Hiller, the former consultant for the Senate Majority Campaign Committee who was caught embezzling more than a hundred thousand dollars, would have never been prosecuted had she not demanded it of Senate President Pro Tem Robert Garton and other Senate GOP leaders when she worked for them. According to sources, she threatened to go public and tell the prosecutor if Garton didn't agree to do so. In the end, Garton and the GOP leadership agreed to cooperate in the investigation of Hiller, which eventually led to a conviction and several months time in prison for Hiller. While she obviously did the right thing with respect to Hiller, that is now the standard to which people are now going to hold her.

Unlike the case of Bolejack, it is quite apparent from Schneider's admissions to Smith that the Governor's office has been well aware of at least some of the problems laid out in the complaint for quite some time. This will no doubt open the Governor up to new charges that he is not taking the ethics he preached when he first took office as seriously as the public might expect him to. It also raises questions about why the Inspector General wasn't called upon to investigate the agency sooner rather than have it become public in the unconventional way it first reached the blogosphere and then the mainstream media with still no official word from the administration itself.

Star Gives Front-Page Billing To Hamilton Sex Sting Arrests

The Star in a front-page story fills us in on the arrest of 22 people in a sex sting operation by undercover cops at Westfield's Cool Creek Park, including a list of all their names and the charges against them. Here's how the Hamilton Co. Sheriff's department conducted the sting:

According to probable cause affidavits, at least four undercover officers made contact with the suspects, either near the restroom or in a parking lot at Cool Creek. Police and a suspect often would agree to take a walk on one of the nature trails that wind through the heart of the park. Once inside the forested area of Cool Creek, the suspects would expose or fondle themselves or attempt to engage in such behaviors with the officers.

Many of the people arrested in the sting operation are now facing felony charges, not the typical misdemeanor charges that accompany such acts, because the acts took place in a public park where minors may be present, although police concede none of the acts were witnessed by any children. As the Star explained:

Because much of the behavior occurred in a public park that is equally accessible to adults and children, Wehmueller elevated the charges against many of the suspects to felonies. If convicted on the felony charge of performance harmful to a minor, the suspects could receive jail sentences ranging from six months to three years.

Wehmueller said that although none of the incidents involved or was witnessed by children, the threat that a minor would see the sexual activities paved the way for the harsher charges.

The problem with these sting operations is that they are not always what they appear. Arrestees often complain that the undercover police officer instigates the act in a way that amounts to entrapment, including engaging in a lewd act himself to entice the target into engaging in an act he may have otherwise not engaged in but for the bait the police officer used. Of course, the undercover officer, who is typically chosen for the sting operation because of his alluring good looks, denies engaging in any lewd act himself. Having said that, anyone who engages in these kinds of sex acts in public should be arrested.

The question is why the need to use undercover agents to entice people into commiting the acts? The most common reason police offer for conducting sex sting operations of this nature is that people report seeing people engaging in sex acts. If civilians are able to witness other people in these acts, then plain-clothed officers should be able to witness the same acts and make the appropriate arrests without actually first approaching and then propositioning a person to engage in a sex act. The problem with doing the latter is that it takes more time and police don't want to wait hours for someone to come along and do the dirty deed without a little enticement from police.

About a year ago, Terre Haute police conducted a similar sting operation in Fairbanks Park along the Wabash River. All of the men arrested in the sting had their names and pictures plastered on the front page of the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, and the arrests were widely reported by local TV stations. Among the arrestees was a cousin of mine who suffers from a mental disability he has had since birth. After his arrest, he was at a complete loss to explain to his family what had happened. Fortunately for him, the police had recorded the conversation between him and the undercover officer. After his attorney reviewed the tape and discussed it with prosecutors, the case against him was dropped as it was quite apparent that the recorded conversation didn't support the charge against him. Of course, it was a little hard at that point to remove the damage from the embarrassing news coverage. His family became very concerned for his well-being as he withdrew and became extremely depressed.

I don't know if the circumstances for any of the 22 arrested in the Westfield park are similar to those experienced by my cousin, but for their sake I hope not. Because their lives will never be the same after the Star published their names and the charges against them in the newspaper today.

Advance America Reports Less Than $14,000 In Lobbying Expenditures

INDIANA EQUALITY REPORTED EXPENDITURES OF $12,600
Throughout the 2006 legislative session, Advance America founder Eric Miller sent e-mails to his members on a weekly basis updating them on the organization's aggressive legislative agenda. Each e-mail requested tax-deductible contributions to support the effort, the cost of which Miller himself pegged at more than $160,000 for the legislative session. Last week the group filed a "Report of Lobbyist Activity" it is required by law to file with the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission for the reporting period covering Nov. 1, 2005 to April 30, 2006 disclosing how much it spent on lobbying. The group reported total expenditures of just $13,994.48, less than 8% of the amount Miller told his members the group needed to cover its legislative expenses.

The group's largest expenditure, $7,464.62., was for compensation it paid to its employees and contract lobbyists for performing lobbying services. The group reported spending $5,955.14 for uncategorized expenses and $307.72 for entertainment, including meals. According to Advance America's Form 990 IRS tax returns, Miller's law firm, which shares office spaces and expenses with Advance America, has been paid six-figure retainer fees by Advance America over the past several years to perform what appears to be legislative-related work. The firm has not, however, ever registered to lobby on behalf of the organization as Indiana's Lobby Law requires, although Miller and some of the firm's attorneys have registered as compensated employees of the organization. Miller has also consistently been paid a full-time salary by the organization which annually tops $100,000 when benefits are added in.

In sharp contrast to Advance America's lobbying reports, a "Report of Lobbyist Activity" filed for the same reporting period by Indiana Equality, a statewide organization advocating on behalf of the state's GLBT community, reported total lobbying expenditures of $12,600, all of which was for compensation paid to employees or contract lobbyists for performing lobbying services. Because IE had no employees during the reporting period, the amount reported is what the group paid to its contract lobbyists, Lambda Consulting's Mark St. John and John Joanette. What is striking about this is the fact that IE's total annual budget in the past has been less than one-tenth the size of Advance America's annual budget. Additionally, IE did not pursue the passage of any specific legislation during the 2006 legislative session, unlike Advance America, which actively pursued passage of more than a half-dozen bills. Yet, its report seems to reflect the fact that the money it paid to its lobbyists was for direct lobbying activities.

What this demonstrates is precisely what we've reported in the past: Advance America's lobbying reporting both to the IRS and the Indiana Lobby Registration Commission belies the true extent of its actual lobbying activities. While Advance America is only required to report its direct lobbying expenditures and not other expenditures such as grassroots lobbying, the small sum disclosed is simply not credible. By grossly under-reporting the true extent of its lobbying activities, Advance America is able to preserve its tax-exempt status, which allows members to deduct contributions it makes to the organization. Would someone in the mainstream media please do their jobs and report the blatant abuse of our nation's laws government tax-exempt organizations? Must an unpaid blogger continue to do the jobs you are too lazy to do?

TDW Takes Aim At Daniels' Hoosier Lottery Director

Taking Down Words played an instrumental role in uncovering corruption at the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute which resulted in the ouster of the agency's two top officials, now the Democratic blog is taking aim at the Hoosier Lottery and its Director Esther Schneider. TDW, after alluding to problems brewing at the agency awhile back, has now obtained a copy of a complaint it reports was filed with the Inspector General against Schneider which contains explosive allegations. The original complaint was filed on June 12, and the updated complaint made available at TDW dated June 14 alleges that Schneider and another staff member "spent the day moving, altering, and possibly removing documentation alluded to in the [June 12 complaint]." The complaint speculates that Schneider was responding to a "heads-up from the OIG or the Governor's office." The Complaint appeals to the Inspector General to conduct "an immediate and thorough investigation of the actions" of Schneider.

The unsigned complaint charges that Schneider has violated "state ethics rules, state statutes, and abused her discretionary authority including but not limited to slander, ongoing public humiliation of staff, derogatory comments, intimidation, coersion, and awarding of contracts." Advance Indiana emphasizes that at this point these are simply allegations. Neither the IG's office nor any other investigative agency to our knowledge has conducted and concluded an investigation to determine whether there is any merit to the complaint. No conclusions should be drawn about anyone's guilt or innocence in this matter. AI would point out, as alluded in the complaint, that the agency is facing legal action by several ex-employees of the agency, alleging wrongful termination. Because these matters do involve a public agency, the public has a right to know what current and former employees of the agency have to say about the current management of the agency.

Among the specific charges laid out in the complaint are the following:

• Paying out prize monies from the now-defunct Hoosier Millionaire Show after the grace period.
• Accepting entertainment from vendors and former business associates.
• Entertaining vendors, clients and other individuals, and submitting improperly prepared expense reports for personal reimbursement.
• Performing political activities using her office and title.
• Awarding contracts to former business partners and political associates.
• Based hiring/firing decisions on a person's political affiliation.
• "Routinely derided" the agency's former general counsel, a quadriplegic.
• "Frequently derisively" refers to the Lottery's players and Indiana residents as "rubes", "hayseeds" and "anti-Semitic" in meetings with staff and vendors.
• Instituting a cash bonus system which rewards employees, including herself, which purportedly insures she will receive a bonus equal to 1/3 of her annual salary.
• Brings her dog to work and makes staff care for it, including taking it for walks and "cleaning up after it on the street."

The report also suggests that Schneider has made many short-sighted decisions to save money, which at first appear to result in greater lottery revenues, such as cutting staff and cancelling the Hoosier Millionaire Show. But the complaint argues that these one-time savings may negatively impact long-term revenues. The report zings Schneider with her own words. It quotes her as saying, "[T]here was zero accountability for bad behavior" in the previous Lottery administration.

UPDATE: The Indiana Daily Insight is reporting tonight the following: "Expect the news to break today (Thursday) about some issues in a quasi-state agency that may involve an Inspector General investigation." AI has also learned that the complaint posted at TDW was mailed to all 150 of Indiana's state legislators, in addition to being widely distributed among members of the State House media.

Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher Blocks Blogs On State Computers

TPM Muckraker is reporting that the administration of Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) is selectively blocking state computers so that state employees cannot access blog sites it finds objectionable. TPM writes:

[S]tate employees arrived at work this morning to discover their computers were blocked from viewing the muckraking blog Bluergrassreport.org. The site has doggedly pursued the administration of Gov. Ernie Fletcher, who's at the center of one of the largest scandals in the state's history.

The admin's tech office is responsible for the deed, which seems ham-handedly political -- Wonkette has also been blocked, though other blogs have not. The blog has been hitting Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-KY) for months and months over his administration's illegal cronyism. You can see the long list of scandal casualties here on our Kentucky Grand Ole Docket -- 15 indictments, nine of which Fletcher pardoned.

TPM quotes Rep. Ben Chandler (D-KY), whose district includes the state capitol as saying, "I believe the recent action of the Fletcher administration to block access to a handpicked number of blogs is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution." "This flies in the face of a fundamental right of free speech."

Bluegrass Report has been compiling a list of blocked blog sites here. Coincidentally, the State of Indiana added new blocking software to state computers this week as well. Taking Down Words initially reported that its blog site was blocked by the software, but that report proved untrue. TDW later reported the blocking was only for two pornography categories.

GOP Presidential Candidates Face Marital Infidelity Scrutiny

The Washington Monthly asks the question, "What if three admitted adulterers run for president and no one cares?" concerning the potential candidacies of Sen. John McCain, former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Steve Benen was motivated to raise this question after the New York Times published "a 2,000- word front-page dissection of Bill and Hillary Clinton's marriage." Benen said, "It contained no real news, few named sources, and plenty of gossip masquerading as political coverage." Picking up on the NY Times piece a few days later, Benen notes that noted columnist David Broder wrote "that the failure of reporters in the post-speech Q&A to grill Hillary about her personal relationship with her husband was the 'elephant in the room.'"

Benen writes that "there was once a time when reporters believed that the sexual peccadilloes of American leaders were a private matter, and the nation was probably betteer off for that belief." But if private matters are to be an issue in the next presidential election, he thinks "Republicans have the most to lose." Here's a taste of what he has to say:

Lurking just over the horizon are liabilities for three Republicans who have topped several national, independent polls for the GOP's favorite 2008 nominee: Sen. John McCain (affair, divorce), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (affair, divorce, affair, divorce), and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (divorce, affair, nasty divorce). Together, they form the most maritally challenged crop of presidential hopefuls in American political history.

His piece goes on to offer far more sordid details about each of the would-be presidents sexual pecadilloes. Given the dominance of the Christian right in the Republican party, none of these three candidates stand a chance at winning the nomination. My hunch is that one-by-one the likes of James Dobson will begin lining up behind Gov. Mitch Romney of Massachusetts, particularly since he's so happy to be the poster boy for the fight against gay marriage.