Melyssa Hubbard, Indianapolis dominatrix turned political activist, has died
Melyssa Hubbard (nee Donaghy), a dominatrix turned political activist, was found dead Friday. She was 62 years old.
The cause of death wasn't immediately available.
Hubbard first came to public attention in May 2003, when WRTV reported that she was working as a professional dominatrix out of her Meridian-Kessler basement.
The Dungeon Arts Reformatory offered consensual role-playing activities for clients, who knew Hubbard as Miss Maitresse Ann.
Police who looked into the operation didn't find anything untoward. The publicity still hurt business, though, and Hubbard wrote in her memoir that she spent her newfound time on "activities that would advance (her) interest in personal freedom." That led her to libertarian politics, she wrote.
Despite being publicly outed as a dominatrix, Hubbard continued engaging in Indianapolis' fetish scene, organizing the Erotic Arts Ball and opening a bondage boutique in Chatham Arts.
In November 2004, a sheriff's deputy came to Hubbard's front door wielding a lawsuit filed against her by the city alleging that her boutique and in-home business violated city zoning law. She wrote that she confronted then-Mayor Bart Peterson at a press conference the next day.
Hubbard eventually agreed to shut down the Dungeon after more than two years of litigation. The boutique had closed before the lawsuit was even filed, according to Hubbard's memoir.
After the lawsuit ended, Hubbard "killed off Miss Ann" and eventually took a job in advertisement sales at Angie's List. Former coworker Karey Morris recalled Hubbard as a vibrant, loving presence who went out of her way to help new hires.
"The lore around her was awesome," Morris said. She recalled that Hubbard's desk was decorated with memorabilia from George Washington's childhood home, fresh flowers and a leather riding crop.
Around the time Hubbard began working at Angie's List, she began volunteering as an advocate for radical tax reform, proposing elimination of the IRS, income and property taxes.
More: Former dominatrix Melyssa Hubbard still speaks her mind
A 2007 property tax increase brought Hubbard back into the media spotlight — this time as a political activist.
"I'd always had a knack for getting people to move and gather at parties, fetish events, the Erotic Arts Ball — a political demonstration would be no different," Hubbard wrote.
Hubbard was right. Her rallies against Peterson and taxation drew hundreds of supporters. She recalled in a 2013 IndyStar interview that someone in one of the crowds said, "we need a tea party."
Sean Shepard, a longtime political acquaintance, recalled that one demonstration featured a giant handmade teabag. It was filled with tax assessments and then "steeped" in the Broad Ripple Canal.
Hubbard went on to found Indiana's Tea Party, though she left after it was "hijacked by GOP operatives," she told IndyStar in 2013.
After the publication of Hubbard's 2014 memoir, "Spanking City Hall: Dominatrix to Political Activist," she focused on "the simple life," but she was never a simple person, according to her good friend Erick Faust.
"She loved the dive bars, but yet she could put on a feast fit for a president or coronation," Faust said. "The dichotomies within herself were just amazing."
Faust described Hubbard as fiercely loyal in her relationships and in her beliefs.
"Mely could make friends anywhere, and she could make enemies anywhere," he said. "There was no in-between."
Ryan Murphy is the communities reporter for IndyStar. She can be reached at rhmurphy@indystar.com or at (317) 800-2956.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Melyssa Hubbard, Indianapolis dominatrix and Tea Party founder, dies
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
18 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Takeaways from New Jersey's primaries: GOP nominee's win is also a victory for Trump
NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey primary voters have chosen their GOP nominee — and President Donald Trump notched a win in his endorsement belt — in one of two high-stakes governor's races being held this year. While officials from both parties say November's general election will hinge on local, pocketbook issues, the outcome will also be closely watched as a harbinger of how both parties might fare in next year's midterm elections, and as a test of both Democratic enthusiasm and how the GOP fares without Trump on the ballot. Here are takeaways from Tuesday's primary results: Trump notches a decisive win 2025's off-year elections have been rough for Republicans and Trump. The president went all in on Wisconsin's state Supreme Court race this spring, backing conservative Brad Schimel, even as polls showed Schimel lagging his Democratic-backed rival. Schimel went on to lose by a whopping 10 points, even after billionaire Elon Musk and groups he backed poured $21 million into the race. This time, Trump's chosen candidate, Republican front-runner Jack Ciattarelli, easily won the nomination. 'Jack Ciattarelli is a WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement – HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,' Trump wrote in a social media post announcing his endorsement last month. 'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, ELECT JACK CIATTARELLI!' After losing in 2021 to term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy by the slimmest of margins, Ciattarelli is hoping his third try for the office will be the charm. The endorsement was a blow, in particular, to Ciattarelli rival Bill Spadea, a conservative radio host who ran by vowing to enthusiastically back the president's agenda. Ciattarelli, he complained in one ad, 'did more than disagree with the president. He disrespected him. Me? I've been a supporter of President Trump since he came down the escalator.' He said voters should feel free to flout Trump's advice: 'I've disagreed with him in the past. It's ok for you to disagree with him now.' Trump alluded to the name dropping during a tele-rally he held on Ciattarelli's behalf. 'Other people are going around saying I endorsed them. That's not true,' he said. Another primary all about Trump Candidates on both sides of the aisle vowed to tackle pocketbook issues, from high property taxes to grocery prices, to housing and health care costs. But Trump loomed large. On the GOP side, most of the candidates professed their allegiances to the president. Ciattarelli said in ads that he would work with Trump and end New Jersey's status as a sanctuary state 'on Day One.' (Currently, the state's attorney general has directed local law enforcement not to assist federal agents in civil immigration matters.) He also pledged to direct his attorney general to end lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, including one challenging Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship. Democrats featured him heavily, too. In one ad, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill — who won the Democratic primary for New Jersey governor on Tuesday — featured an armada of pickup trucks waving giant Trump flags and warned that, 'Trump's coming for New Jersey with Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli.' 'We've gotta stop them,' it said. In another, she tells viewers, 'I know the world feels like it is on fire right now,' and vows to 'stand up to Trump and Musk with all I've got.' Past insults forgotten Back in 2015, Ciattarelli labeled then-candidate Trump a 'charlatan' who was unfit for the office of the presidency and an embarrassment to the nation. 'Instead of providing the kind of leadership that appeals to the better angels of our nature in calling us to meaningful and just action, Mr. Trump preys upon our worst instincts and fears,' he wrote. When Ciattarelli ran in 2021, he distanced himself from Trump, without the outward insults. Trump nonetheless complained about the treatment on Spadea's radio show last year, saying Ciattarelli 'made some very big mistakes' and would have won had he sought Trump's support. But like Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and so many others, past insults gave way to alliance. Trump offered his enthusiastic backing in a tele-rally, and in his endorsement, said that, 'after getting to know and understand MAGA,' Ciattarelli 'has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!).' A changing state November's presidential election offered warning signs for Democrats in the state. While Trump lost to Democrat Kamala Harris, he did so by only 6 points — a significantly smaller margin than in 2020, when President Joe Biden won by 16 points. 'New Jersey's ready to pop out of that blue horror show,' Trump said in the tele-rally held for Ciattarelli last week. Trump also made stunning gains in several longtime Democratic strongholds, including New Jersey's heavily Latino Passaic County. He carried the city of Passaic and significantly increased his support in Paterson, which is majority Latino and also has a large Muslim community. Indeed, 43% of Latino voters in the state supported Trump, up from 28% in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. November's election will serve as a crucial test for Democrats and whether they can regain Latino support — both in the state and nationally. Strategists, unions, organizers and politicians so far were pivoting away from immigration and focusing on pocketbook concerns in their appeals. 'At the end of the day, if you're worried about paying your bills and being safe at night, everything else is secondary,' Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of the Democratic candidates, told the AP. 'I think that is front and center in the Latino community.' One exception was Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested while trying to join an oversight tour of a 1,000-bed immigrant detention center. A trespass charge was later dropped, but he sued interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba over the dropped prosecution. In one of his final campaign ads in Spanish, he used footage from the arrest to cast himself as a reluctant warrior, with text saying he is 'El Único,' Spanish for 'the only one,' who confronts Trump.
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Takeaways from New Jersey's primaries: GOP nominee's win is also a victory for Trump
NORTH BERGEN, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey primary voters have chosen their GOP nominee — and President Donald Trump notched a win in his endorsement belt — in one of two high-stakes governor's races being held this year. While officials from both parties say November's general election will hinge on local, pocketbook issues, the outcome will also be closely watched as a harbinger of how both parties might fare in next year's midterm elections, and as a test of both Democratic enthusiasm and how the GOP fares without Trump on the ballot. Here are takeaways from Tuesday's primary results: Trump notches a decisive win 2025's off-year elections have been rough for Republicans and Trump. The president went all in on Wisconsin's state Supreme Court race this spring, backing conservative Brad Schimel, even as polls showed Schimel lagging his Democratic-backed rival. Schimel went on to lose by a whopping 10 points, even after billionaire Elon Musk and groups he backed poured $21 million into the race. This time, Trump's chosen candidate, Republican front-runner Jack Ciattarelli, easily won the nomination. "Jack Ciattarelli is a WINNER, and has my Complete and Total Endorsement – HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN," Trump wrote in a social media post announcing his endorsement last month. 'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, ELECT JACK CIATTARELLI!' After losing in 2021 to term-limited Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy by the slimmest of margins, Ciattarelli is hoping his third try for the office will be the charm. The endorsement was a blow, in particular, to Ciattarelli rival Bill Spadea, a conservative radio host who ran by vowing to enthusiastically back the president's agenda. Ciattarelli, he complained in one ad, 'did more than disagree with the president. He disrespected him. Me? I've been a supporter of President Trump since he came down the escalator.' He said voters should feel free to flout Trump's advice: 'I've disagreed with him in the past. It's ok for you to disagree with him now." Trump alluded to the name dropping during a tele-rally he held on Ciattarelli's behalf. 'Other people are going around saying I endorsed them. That's not true," he said. Another primary all about Trump Candidates on both sides of the aisle vowed to tackle pocketbook issues, from high property taxes to grocery prices, to housing and health care costs. But Trump loomed large. On the GOP side, most of the candidates professed their allegiances to the president. Ciattarelli said in ads that he would work with Trump and end New Jersey's status as a sanctuary state 'on Day One.' (Currently, the state's attorney general has directed local law enforcement not to assist federal agents in civil immigration matters.) He also pledged to direct his attorney general to end lawsuits filed against the Trump administration, including one challenging Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship. Democrats featured him heavily, too. In one ad, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill — who won the Democratic primary for New Jersey governor on Tuesday — featured an armada of pickup trucks waving giant Trump flags and warned that, 'Trump's coming for New Jersey with Trump-endorsed Republican Jack Ciattarelli." 'We've gotta stop them,' it said. In another, she tells viewers, 'I know the world feels like it is on fire right now," and vows to "stand up to Trump and Musk with all I've got.' Past insults forgotten Back in 2015, Ciattarelli labeled then-candidate Trump a 'charlatan' who was unfit for the office of the presidency and an embarrassment to the nation. 'Instead of providing the kind of leadership that appeals to the better angels of our nature in calling us to meaningful and just action, Mr. Trump preys upon our worst instincts and fears,' he wrote. When Ciattarelli ran in 2021, he distanced himself from Trump, without the outward insults. Trump nonetheless complained about the treatment on Spadea's radio show last year, saying Ciattarelli 'made some very big mistakes' and would have won had he sought Trump's support. But like Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and so many others, past insults gave way to alliance. Trump offered his enthusiastic backing in a tele-rally, and in his endorsement, said that, 'after getting to know and understand MAGA,' Ciattarelli 'has gone ALL IN, and is now 100% (PLUS!).' A changing state November's presidential election offered warning signs for Democrats in the state. While Trump lost to Democrat Kamala Harris, he did so by only 6 points — a significantly smaller margin than in 2020, when President Joe Biden won by 16 points. 'New Jersey's ready to pop out of that blue horror show,' Trump said in the tele-rally held for Ciattarelli last week. Trump also made stunning gains in several longtime Democratic strongholds, including New Jersey's heavily Latino Passaic County. He carried the city of Passaic and significantly increased his support in Paterson, which is majority Latino and also has a large Muslim community. Indeed, 43% of Latino voters in the state supported Trump, up from 28% in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. November's election will serve as a crucial test for Democrats and whether they can regain Latino support — both in the state and nationally. Strategists, unions, organizers and politicians so far were pivoting away from immigration and focusing on pocketbook concerns in their appeals. 'At the end of the day, if you're worried about paying your bills and being safe at night, everything else is secondary,' Rep. Josh Gottheimer, one of the Democratic candidates, told the AP. 'I think that is front and center in the Latino community.' One exception was Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested while trying to join an oversight tour of a 1,000-bed immigrant detention center. A trespass charge was later dropped, but he sued interim U.S. Attorney Alina Habba over the dropped prosecution. In one of his final campaign ads in Spanish, he used footage from the arrest to cast himself as a reluctant warrior, with text saying he is 'El Único,' Spanish for 'the only one,' who confronts Trump.
Hamilton Spectator
31 minutes ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Jack Ciattarelli, ex-state lawmaker backed by Trump, wins New Jersey Republican primary for governor
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Jack Ciattarelli, a former state lawmaker and small businessman, won the Republican primary in New Jersey's race for governor, cruising to victory with the support of President Donald Trump. Ciattarelli now heads into the general election seeking to win back the governorship after two straight Democratic victories. He's hoping to build on his 2021 performance when he came within a few percentage points of defeating Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. New Jersey is one of two states with a governor's race this year — the other is Virginia — and could give both parties a chance to test strategies with voters ahead of next year's high-stakes midterm elections. As he turns his attention to the general election, Ciattarelli confronts a balancing act in a state that leans toward Democrats but has shown a willingness to elect Republicans as governor. On one hand, he and the president have embraced one another, and Ciattarelli remains popular with the GOP base, which has largely unified after eight years of Democratic control of state government. But to win in November, Ciattarelli will have to appeal to New Jersey's wider electorate, which has never supported Trump in his three presidential campaigns despite the president's strong ties to New Jersey, where he has owned casinos and other high-profile properties. Ciattarelli's campaign touts the president's 2024 performance in the state, where he lost by 6 percentage points compared to a 16-point defeat in 2020, as a sign that the GOP is poised for a comeback. It also notes a decline for Democrats in registration as an indicator that voters are disillusioned with the party that has long prevailed in most statewide elections, though they occasionally have tapped Republicans as governor. Ciattarelli defeated former talk radio host Bill Spadea, state Sen. Jon Bramnick, former Englewood Cliffs Mayor Mario Kranjac and contractor Justin Barbera to win the GOP primary. A state Assembly member until 2018 when he stepped down to run for governor, Ciattarelli founded medical publishing company Galen Publishing and held local and county positions in Somerset. Trump's endorsement of Ciattarelli in the final month of the primary came after the candidate got to know and understand the 'Make America Great Again' movement, the president said in a social media post. Trump's backing hinted at Ciattarelli's earlier criticism of Trump during his first run for the White House a decade ago, when he said Trump wasn't fit for the presidency. Now Ciattarelli is 'ALL IN,' Trump said. Murphy is prohibited from seeking a third consecutive term because of term limits. He didn't endorse a successor in the primary. The two open races for governor this year could offer signals about how the public is responding to Trump's agenda and whether Democrats have succeeded in their efforts to rebuild after defeat in 2024 . Both parties will look to build their general election campaigns on widespread voter frustrations. For New Jersey Democrats, that means focusing on the parts of Trump's aggressive second-term agenda that are unpopular. Republicans, meanwhile, are casting blame for economic hardships on Democrats who've run state government for the last eight years. New Jersey has been reliably Democratic in Senate and presidential contests for decades. But the odd-year races for governor have tended to swing back and forth, and each of the last three GOP governors has won a second term. Democrats have the largest share of registered voters in the state, followed closely by independent voters and then Republicans, who have roughly 800,000 fewer registrations than the Democratic Party. But the GOP has made gains in recent years, shaving the Democrats' lead of more than 1 million more registrations to the current level. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
