Lawmakers acted to rein in fellow state officials on no-bid contracts, luxury cars and more

Indianapolis Star

05-05-2025

From new rules over out-of-state travel to restricting luxury car purchases, lawmakers took steps this session to assert more oversight over other state officials.
Some Republican lawmakers who supported the proposals were reticent to call out the behavior of specific officials, saying the moves weren't an "attack" on anyone.
Secretary of State Diego Morales has been scrutinized since taking office in 2023 for issuing millions in no-bid contracts, hiring his brother-in-law to a six-figure job, and a 10-day India trip.
A Democratic state lawmaker, Rep. Carey Hamilton of Indianapolis, says the oversight moves appear to be in response to a series of embarrassing headlines.
From banning most no-bid contracts to restricting state officials from using tax dollars to buy luxury cars, the Republican-dominated legislature this session appeared eager to send a signal to constituents they weren't thrilled with some of the recent actions from their fellow GOP state officeholders.
Secretary of State Diego Morales' no-bid contracts were not visible in the state's transparency portal? Senate Enrolled Act 5 put an end to that, requiring most contracts to be publicly bid and disclosed to the public within 30 days.
Lieutenant Gov. Micah Beckwith and Morales are driving around in $90,000 SUVs provided by the state? House Enrolled Act 1518 made sure that from now on, public officials will have to settle for standard- or government-trim vehicles.
Morales takes a 10-day economic trip to India but won't reveal who covered his travel costs? The new state budget requires annual travel reports for separately elected officials.
And then lawmakers fixed their eyes on the budgets of many state offices.
Beckwith's office, for example, ended up with about $3.7 million annually, less than half of what he requested, and about $500,000 less each year than his predecessor Suzanne Crouch received two years ago.
Likewise, Morales' office was allocated $8.3 million for each of the next two years, less than the $10.7 million the Secretary of State's office got in the last two-year budget.
To lawmakers who spearheaded the efforts, including state Sen. Scott Baldwin, R-Noblesville, the moves aimed to restore the legislative body's power, which some believe has waned in recent years.
"We approve the budgets ... then we send everybody off into the wild to spend the money," Baldwin said when he introduced Senate Bill 5. "There is no legislative oversight."
Democratic state Rep. Carey Hamilton of Indianapolis said lawmakers this year made "small steps in the right direction" but it wasn't enough. She credited a series of "embarrassing headlines" with convincing lawmakers to take action.
"I was truly stunned to learn that a statewide elected official could put out a large no-bid contract, let alone that it could go to a campaign donor," said Hamilton, referring to Morales' contracts. "We've discovered over the past few years that there are significant holes in transparency in state government spending and also in campaign finance reporting. We definitely have work to do to stave off corruption with public dollars."
'This isn't an attack on anybody'
The moves to rein in some state officials followed a year of unflattering headlines, from Morales giving spot bonuses to his brother-in-law, who has a six-figure job in the Secretary of State's Office to influential Southern Indiana former sheriff Jamey Noel's corruption scandal, which lawmakers addressed with another bill.
"These are unprompted, unprovoked, unnecessary scandals and headaches," said Greg Shufeldt, an associate professor of political science at the University of Indianapolis. "When we think about political parties as brand labels, I think these scandals and headlines are bad for the brand. Efforts that the Indiana General Assembly does at reform, regardless of their efficacy or whether they have teeth, provide voters the bare-bones appearance of oversight."
Some Republican lawmakers have been reticent to tie the changes to any one elected official. Rather, they said, more accountability would shield taxpayers no matter who is in office.
"It's not an indictment of previous performance in any way; it's simply an effort to do better," said Baldwin, during discussions about Senate Bill 5. "This isn't an attack on anybody."
Other Republicans also dodged naming names. State Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, who sponsored a bill banning taxpayer-funded luxury car purchases, was somewhat coy when IndyStar asked him earlier this session about whether he approved of Beckwith's $87,000 SUV purchase.
"I really wouldn't like to step in that bear trap," Doriot said, before saying he wouldn't personally choose to drive that kind of vehicle.
Others have been a bit more direct. State Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, directly criticized Morales' office at a budget hearing in March after the office printed Indiana road maps with the secretary of state's name in large lettering.
"Quite frankly, to me, it looks like a campaign sign," Garten said. "I will be asking we decrease your budget by exactly that amount."
It's not just Morales and Beckwith
Nor were Morales and Beckwith's offices the only ones scrutinized. Lawmakers trained their sights on other government officials too.
For example, lawmakers took away some control of TrustINDiana, the state's local government investment pool, from state treasurer Daniel Elliott, putting a board in charge of overseeing the program. Elliott, however, remains the administrator of the program at the direction of the board.
While Elliott at first called foul on what he described as a "backroom deal" to give banking executives more control over the fund, proponents of the change said the $3.4 billion pot of money needed more eyes on it.
At the end of the legislative session though, Elliott seemed more amenable to the board, praising lawmakers and Gov. Mike Braun for standing up to special interests and safeguarding TrustINdiana. The treasurer's office said the final version allows the board to not be entirely run by bankers.
"We appreciate the work done ... to help the board be more representative of the beneficiaries of the program," his office said.
Lawmakers also approved more oversight on jail commissary funds, requiring quarterly reporting, more audits, and new record-keeping training requirements.
That followed a scandal involving Noel, the former sheriff who last year was sentenced to 15 years in prison related to taking improper payments from one such fund.
'Fox guarding the henhouse'
It remains to be seen what impact the legislation will have in the long run.
Hamilton, the Indianapolis Democrat, pointed out that even Senate Bill 5, which aimed to increase transparency, was watered down throughout the legislative session via amendments.
One amendment exempts state agencies from disclosing legal services contracts in the state transparency portal, such as the one Beckwith signed with a law firm closely connected to the church where he still works as a pastor.
Hamilton said she would like to see the legislature go further in coming years.
"We have the fox guarding the henhouse," Hamilton said.
Indiana generally scores low on rankings of transparency and oversight in state government. A 2020 ranking by the nonpartisan Coalition for Integrity called the S.W.A.M.P. Index, which measured the efficacy of state ethics rules, had Indiana ranked in the bottom six states on anti-corruption standards. The group in 2022 rank ed Indiana dead last when it comes to campaign finance transparency.
Shufeldt said he couldn't comment on the specifics of this session's legislation but was "skeptical" that any of it would result in a big change.
"The Indiana Generally Assembly themselves are regulating industries they financially benefit from or are working in," Shufeldt said. "When there isn't this drip, drip, drip of bad news or scandals or unforced errors, do they return to this or add teeth to this?"