Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith signs no-bid contract with law firm closely tied to his church

Indianapolis Star

25-04-2025

Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith's office has signed a no-bid contract with a Noblesville-based law firm that's closely affiliated with the church where Beckwith still serves as a pastor, a move that has raised red flags for ethics experts and lawmakers alike.
The state will pay up to $150,000 this year for Adler Attorneys to perform "general counsel" and "general consulting services" for Beckwith and his team during his first year as lieutenant governor, according to the contract and a request for outside counsel Beckwith's office submitted earlier this year to the attorney general.
Multiple ethics experts contacted by IndyStar questioned the optics of awarding a no-bid contract to a company that has close ties to Beckwith's other employer.
Not only is Adler Attorneys' CEO and senior attorney, Raymond Adler, a member of the church, another of its attorneys, Devin Norrick, serves on the church's board of directors. The law firm has also recently represented Life Church in municipal government matters.
It's unclear whether Norrick, who now describes himself as the chief legal counsel for Beckwith's office, has any hiring or firing power over Beckwith on the church's board. The lieutenant governor's office referred questions about that to Life Church, which didn't respond to a request for comment.
"Awarding a no-bid contract in that situation raises all sorts of concerns," said Abraham Schwab, a Purdue University-Fort Wayne professor who serves on the Allen County Ethics Commission. "It ultimately undermines (trust in) their ability to be good stewards of the public resources they've been provided."
The hired-out legal services are in lieu of the office having a full-time staff attorney or general counsel, a departure from past lieutenant governors. The decision is the latest sign that Beckwith could be taking a different, more hands-on approach to agenda-setting in the role, rather than largely deferring to the governor.
IndyStar asked Beckwith's office about the potential appearance of a conflict of interest, but it didn't immediately reply. The office told IndyStar it signed the contract in order to increase government efficiency and that it considered other law firms to do the work.
The contract comes as Life Church has become increasingly enmeshed in Indiana government, and as Beckwith has advocated for more connection between government and the faith community. A recent town hall featuring four statewide elected officials was held at the church, which served as a polling place in the 2024 election.
Oftentimes, statewide elected officials will leave their occupations once elected, which can help reduce potential conflicts of interest, but Beckwith has not. That means he earns a salary both from the state of Indiana and Life Church, according to his latest financial disclosure form, which his office confirmed is still accurate.
Paul Helmke, former Republican mayor of Fort Wayne and director of the Civic Leaders Center at Indiana University, said it's important to avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest as a government official. It's why, he said, he cut ties with his law firm when he became mayor of Fort Wayne.
"The concern here is you're throwing public tax dollars to your (church's) board member," Helmke said. "Regardless of if it's a board with authority, or more advisory, it raises the appearance of impropriety."
Contract lacked bidding process
The contract was signed without undergoing a competitive bidding process, Beckwith's office confirmed to IndyStar. His spokesman, Jim Kehoe, said a request for proposals was not completed because it was "not required." Kehoe said the office considered two other law firms to do the work but wouldn't say which firms it considered.
Jeffrey Dunn, director of the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University, said the move to hire a private law firm 'certainly raises red flags because it's out of the norm' but he said it's hard to comment on whether the choice was ethical without more details.
Generally speaking, Dunn said, those holding public office should take care to avoid real or perceived conflicts of interest.
A request for other bids, even though not legally required, would have removed the appearance of a conflict of interest here, Dunn said.
'The lieutenant governor wasn't required to send out an RFP, so legally, there's nothing wrong here, but one reason it might be a good idea to make this a little more transparent is to avoid the appearance that something bad is happening,' Dunn said. 'Sometimes process is important even though following the process is a little less efficient.'
Beckwith isn't the only statewide office holder to issue a no-bid contract recently. Secretary of State Diego Morales' office has signed multiple contracts without competitive bidding worth millions of dollars, prompting Indiana lawmakers to pass legislation this year that tries to cut down on no-bid contracts and increase transparency on how the state spends its money. That bill was sent to Gov. Mike Braun on Wednesday.
However, that legislation leaves out legal services contracts, like the one Beckwith's office recently signed with Adler Attorneys.
"You wouldn't even know of the existence of the contract under the new law," said state Rep. Ryan Dvorak, D-South Bend, who recently voted against the legislation. "The public needs to know how public tax dollars are being spent."
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Cost-cutting is the goal. Will it happen?
Beckwith's office described the decision to contract out for legal services as another cost-cutting move, though it's currently unclear if that goal will come to pass.
Beckwith has called on state government to spend less, while at the same time defending his office's purchase of a nearly $90,000, top-trim SUV for his use. After facing criticism of that purchase, he put out a press release announcing cost-cutting in his office, saying he was cleaning up "wasteful spending left over from the previous administration."
'Lt. Governor Beckwith made a strategic, cost-saving decision to contract legal services as opposed to hiring a full-time attorney for our team," Kehoe told IndyStar. "Since most of our legal needs happen during the four months the General Assembly is in session, it didn't make sense for us to hire a full-time attorney for all 12 months of the year."
The contract signed by Beckwith's office states it will pay $11,000 to the firm for each of the months of February, March and April.
The state will then be charged on an hourly basis for legal fees − up to $475 hourly − until Dec. 31 until spending reaches a maximum of $150,000.
Whether the contract ends up saving the state money depends on how much work the law firm does with the state during May through December, since it is committed to pay at least $33,000 for the first three months of work.
Meanwhile, the lawyers who formerly worked for the Office of the Lieutenant Governor during Crouch's term were each paid less than $150,000 annually.
The last person to serve in the role of staff attorney made about $102,000 in 2023, or about $49 hourly, while working for the office, according to Indiana Gateway, a website that shows public employee compensation for the state of Indiana.
Before that, the previous staff attorney earned $78,000 in 2022, or $37.50 hourly.
Adler Attorneys was hired to consult Beckwith's office on the impacts of any proposed legislation and to provide instruction on compliance to Indiana law, among other requirements listed in Beckwith's request for counsel.
Adler Attorneys did not respond to IndyStar's request for comment about the contract.
Schwab, the Allen County ethics expert, said it's unclear why a state agency would sign a no-bid contract if its goal was efficiency.
"If you had bids, you might have found law firms that were equally qualified to handle the labor and done it for less," Schwab said. "The whole point of privatizing this kind of work is to allow the market to increase efficiency."
'Raises some potential ethical questions'
The contract has raised some red flags among a few lawmakers who are aware of its existence.
"It does seem odd and raises some potential ethical questions when the general counsel position would not be a state employee," Dvorak said. "I would question ... why they would choose to depart from the norm on this."
Dvorak is the lawmaker who expressed concerns about the transparency legislation that recently passed both chambers of the Indiana General Assembly.
Though the legislation makes state agencies provide the state comptroller's office with most contracts for inclusion in the Indiana Transparency Portal within 30 days of being fully executed, it exempts legal services contracts.
It also requires state agencies to submit requests for proposals for most contracts at least 30 days prior to the contract being awarded starting in 2026.
"This whole bill is trying to get us toward a little more accountability and transparency," said state Rep. Matt Lehman, R-Berne, who sponsored the legislation.
Lehman, who said he was not aware of Beckwith's new legal contract, acknowledged Dvorak's concerns about exempting legal contracts, but he said those are more sensitive. The amount being paid by the state to a law firm would still be disclosed in the future, he said.
"They're confidential agreements," he said.
But Dvorak said he fears less transparency in the future.
"That was one of my big concerns," Dvorak said.
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