Horne extends contract for off-duty officers as school shootings increase

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Horne extended the Dept. of Ed’s contract with Off Duty Management, a company that places off- duty police officers on K-12 campuses to temporarily fill vacant school resource officer positions, through FY2025. The program benefits 73 schools across the state. Last October, the department announced the public-private agreement. The contract between the department and Off Duty Management draws from funds provided by the $90 million grant to the School Safety Program, which allows schools to hire school resource officers or counselors. The funding initially budgeted for 301 SRO positions, but after a little less than half remained vacant given general officer shortages, Horne looked to ODM to coordinate with police departments and districts or charters to identify vacancies and schedule off-duty officers to work on campuses. Mike Kurtenbach, the department’s director of school safety, noted off-duty officers can work across jurisdictions and said more than 700 officers were trained and eligible for assignment to the 73 schools. There are currently 228 full-time School Resource Officers statewide, according to department spox Doug Nick. Horne said in a statement, “If some armed maniac should try to invade a school, the most effective response is to have well-trained armed law enforcement officers to protect everyone on campus.”

Mohave County supervisor wants hearing on election hand counts

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

An attorney for Mohave County Supervisor Ron Gould asked the court to schedule a “speedy” hearing in his lawsuit seeking a declaration that boards of supervisors can pursue full hand counts of ballots in lieu of tabulation machines and do so without being subject to threats and legal action by the AG. Gould filed the suit against AG Mayes in January. Mohave County had toyed with the idea of pursuing a full hand count and had its election director prepare a gameplan on the logistics, time and money it would take to do so, but the board voted against a hand count on a single vote margin, twice. Prior to the second vote, Mayes sent a letter to the board warning members voting to hand count all ballots constituted a violation of Arizona law. On Tuesday, Gould filed a request for a “speedy hearing” given the purely legal issues at play in the case. He further claimed the proceedings have already been “unnecessarily multiplied” given the intervention of the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans, the group that took the Cochise County Board of Supervisors to court for pursuing a hand count. He asked the court to schedule a hearing on his complaint and the motion to dismiss by Oct. 11.

Auditor General finds regulatory review council missed deadlines

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

The Arizona Governor’s Regulatory Review Council has not always notified agencies of review report deadlines, which has led to an increased risk of “ineffective or unnecessary” rules in place, according to a recent report published by the Auditor General’s office. The audit was conducted by a third-party consulting firm on behalf of the auditor general and published on Tuesday. Established in 1981, the council reviews each government agencies’ rules every five years on a rotating basis and approves an agency’s proposed administrative rules. Agencies are required by state law to review their rules every five years, and the council must notify agencies 90 days before a five-year review report is due. Auditors found this did not occur for at least two agencies. A notice wasn’t sent to the Dept. of Agriculture due to a data entry error for the five-year review calendar, and the State Land Department got a timely notice, but it omitted information the land department was required to review, resulting in an incomplete report. “The Council’s lack of timely and/or accurate notification to agencies can not only affect the Council’s compliance with the statutory requirement to inform agencies of rules due for review, but also hamper the ability of agencies to conduct timely and effective reviews of their rules,” the audit report states. “Outdated or noncompliant rules may remain in effect, undermining the very purpose of the statutory review process.” The council’s chairwoman, Jessica Klein, agreed to the findings of the report and wrote in a response letter to the audit that the council would implement some recommendations, including a review of the five-year deadline calendar the council has for government agencies. This review was conducted in July, and council staff didn’t find any additional agency reports not in compliance with state law.

Holcomb visits Ukraine, says cost of peace pales in comparison to cost of war

Posted on by Tom Davies

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb gave a message of support Thursday as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials in the war-torn country’s capital of Kyiv.

Holcomb’s visit marks the first time a U.S. governor has traveled to Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022, the governor’s office said.

His previously unannounced visit to Ukraine came as he was already in Europe for an economic development trip to Slovakia and Italy over the past week — and put Holcomb in contrast to some other top Indiana Republicans over Ukrainian assistance.

Holcomb said showing continued support for Ukraine during its time of need was important.

“I will say that the cost of peace pales in comparison to the cost of a wider war in Europe that would require NATO direct intervention, that would require men and women that wear the uniform outside of Ukraine to enter,” Holcomb said during a news conference with a regional Ukrainian governor.

“We have friends in the world that are sovereign, that believe in freedom, that believe in the rule of law, that are independent, and I stand by my friends,” Holcomb said. “What I can do as a governor from a state in the Midwest is encourage other like-minded individuals that want to help, that want to be that friend indeed. That’s why I’m here.”

Holcomb spoke with Zelenskyy about how Indiana could strengthen its support of Ukraine now and into the future, including through agricultural and life science support, the governor’s office said.

Video and photographs of the meeting between Zelenskyy and Holcomb were posted to the Ukrainian president’s X account.

Zelenskyy’s post said a partnership with individual U.S. states “strengthens both Ukraine and America, our positions in the world, our economies, and our societies.”

“I thank Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb for his comprehensive support of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy’s post said.

Holcomb signed a memorandum of understanding with Zhytomyr Oblast Gov. Vitaliy Bunechko calling for greater economic cooperation and academic and cultural exchanges between Indiana and the region in northwestern Ukraine.

Holcomb said he arrived Thursday in Kyiv after a 14-hour train trip and would leave later in the day after meetings planned with the Ukrainian prime minister, the U.S. ambassador to the country and others.

He also planned to visit the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen for Ukraine to honor those who have died during the war with Russia.

Holcomb recalled visiting a refugee camp for hundreds of Ukrainians in Slovakia during a trip there a month after the Russian invasion.

Holcomb’s show of support for Ukraine contrasts with some fellow Republicans who have criticized U.S. military aid to the country, including former President Donald Trump, U.S. Sen. Mike Braun and U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, who is the GOP nominee to succeed Braun in the Senate.

Holcomb said he shared the concerns of those worried about what Russian President Vladimir Putin could do next if Ukraine is defeated.

“I don’t trust Putin for one nanosecond,” Holcomb said. “He’s made his designs very public, that he rues the day that the Soviet empire dissolved and is seeking more imperial pursuits out of pure greed, in my opinion, and by all means necessary.”

The offices of Braun and Banks did not comment to State Affairs about Holcomb’s trip to Ukraine and his remarks.

U.S. Sen. Todd Young, a consistent supporter of military assistance for Ukraine, voted in April in favor of a package that included $61 billion in aid for the country. Braun and Banks voted against that assistance.

Young’s office declined to comment Thursday on Holcomb’s trip to Ukraine but pointed to an April statement from the senator in which he called the Ukrainian support “vital security assistance.”

“In the aftermath of the last two decades, there is a natural impulse to want to withdraw from our global leadership role and turn our attention inward,” Young said. “But we cannot ignore the cost of such divestment — costs which are manifesting themselves at this very moment.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick said she has always supported U.S. assistance for Ukraine and told reporters Thursday that Braun “has some room to grow in that area.”

“It is alarming, it’s frustrating, it’s sad that we’re still in the situation we are with what Russia is trying to accomplish. A lot of innocent lives are being lost, and it’s really unfortunate,” McCormick said. “So I’m glad that Gov. Holcomb is taking that stance, and my question is, why did it take so long?”

Update: This story has been updated with reaction from other officials.

Tom Davies is a Statehouse reporter for State Affairs Pro Indiana. Reach him at [email protected] or on X at @TomDaviesIND.

McCormick outlines plan to improve sexual harassment reporting in Indiana government

Posted on by Jarred Meeks

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jennifer McCormick on Thursday released her ethics plan, which seeks to improve sexual harassment reporting throughout all levels of Indiana government.

McCormick said she wants to establish a confidential way for Hoosiers to report instances of sexual harassment committed by state and local officials as well as lobbyists. Under her plan, reports of sexual harassment would go to the inspector general, whose office would spearhead investigations and report findings to the state ethics committee. As part of the process, the committee would publicize findings related to any elected officials.

If criminal actions are warranted, the committee would refer the findings to “the prosecutor of record,” according to the McCormick campaign. And if the matter is not criminal in nature, the findings would be sent to an appropriate personnel department.

The Indiana Office of Inspector General investigates fraud, waste, abuse and wrongdoing within the executive branch of state government. The office’s jurisdiction does not extend to the judicial or legislative branches or local units of government. Yet McCormick said the inspector general could handle the reporting aspect of her plan and, “beyond that, the investigations would flow in different ways.” She said her campaign has time “to work out the details” but emphasized the reporting aspect is “incredibly important.”

“This is to make sure that people feel safe and that Hoosiers feel heard, and there is no bigger charge than that in government,” McCormick said during a Thursday news conference. “And far too many times, people feel powerless.”

Her call for improved sexual harassment reporting comes after investigations by the Indianapolis Star and Mirror Indy that separately documented accounts of three women who claim they were harassed by Thomas Cook, a former chief of staff to Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. McCormick said in a statement last month that the allegations were “deeply troubling.”

“Mayor Hogsett’s apparent failure to address these issues appropriately highlights a systemic problem that demands a systematic solution,” McCormick said in the August statement.

Other aspects of McCormick’s ethics plan

McCormick said her ethics plan would increase state and local government transparency by including links to campaign finance and statements of economic interests on the Indiana Transparency Portal and ensuring legislators are bound by Indiana’s public access law, particularly after lawmakers limited the actions of the state’s public access counselor.

McCormick aims to reform campaign finance reporting by funneling all candidates for public office’s filings to the state Election Division. (Under current practice, local candidates file with one of the state’s 92 county election boards.) She would also require quarterly reporting every year.

In addition, McCormick proposes banning lobbyists from giving gifts to legislators or executive officials and enforcing the ban via potential criminal penalties for both parties.

“I’ve watched too often where people get real comfortable in taking some big gifts, so that is concerning,” McCormick said.

A 2023 State Affairs investigation found more than $1 million was spent on entertainment and gifts for Indiana lawmakers from Nov. 1, 2022, through April 30, 2023, and that gaps in state law meant roughly three-fourths of the spending would remain secret to the public.

Under the plan, McCormick would see lobbyists precluded from holding a position on a political committee. She also wants to extend Indiana’s post-employment restriction on lobbying after leaving public office to three years. The current restriction is for one year.

Earlier in the election cycle, McCormick released education and property tax relief plans. 

“Rather than just talking about reforms in a campaign press release, Mike Braun took action: he wrote the federal ban on lobbying for former members of Congress, forced votes to cut every corrupt earmark from every spending bill, and has fought constantly for transparency in government at the highest levels for Hoosiers. Jennifer McCormick is a say anything, do nothing politician,” Josh Kelley, senior adviser to U.S. Sen. Mike Braun’s gubernatorial campaign, said in a written response to McCormick’s plan.

Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Donald Rainwater’s campaign did not immediately respond to State Affairs’ request for comment.

Contact Jarred Meeks on X @jarredsmeeks or email him at [email protected].

United Kansas responds to secretary of state’s push to dismiss fusion voting lawsuit

Posted on by Bryan Richardson

United Kansas and its associates are asking a Saline County judge to allow them to continue the legal fight for fusion voting.

The plaintiffs on Tuesday filed their response to the Kansas Secretary of State’s Office’s motion to dismiss the case.

“This case boils down to two simple truths: application of the Anti-Fusion Laws burden Plaintiffs as they try to participate in the political process, and the State’s asserted justifications are fanciful, defy nearly two centuries of experience, and presuppose that the State can legitimately exclude disfavored forms of political activity,” the response said.

United Kansas seeks to nominate candidates under fusion voting, which would allow more than one political party to list a candidate on the ballot. The votes for the candidate would be combined for a final total.

State law forced Rep. Jason Probst, D-Hutchinson, and Lori Blake, the Democratic nominee in House District 69, to relinquish one of their nominations. J.C. Moore, who lost the Republican primary in Senate District 26, is allowed to retain his United Kansas nomination.

Attorneys for United Kansas argued in court filings that not allowing them to keep their Democratic and United Kansas nominations violates their rights to free speech, association and equal protection.

“This abrogation of the United Kansas nomination two months before Election Day prevents the Party, its supporters, and its candidates from engaging in critical political speech, and severs the most important associational link uniting them all,” the filing said.

Probst and Blake submitted documents to the Secretary of State’s Office that stated they would retain the Democratic nomination. But in this week’s court filings, they argued they shouldn’t have had to make the decision.

Probst, Blake and party chair Jack Curtis submitted separate documents that argued for the virtues of fusion voting.

“As an elected official, I understand that voters use their ballot to send a message—and that votes cast for me on the UKP line would convey clear support for the principles of moderation and pragmatism at the heart of the UKP mission,” Probst wrote.

Blake said fusion voting avoids “the counter-productive effects” of a moderate third candidate increasing the chances of “the more extreme major party opponent” getting elected.

Curtis said nearly 30% of Kansas voters are registered as unaffiliated, which shows many share the party’s desire to “reduce bitter partisanship and rigid ideology in Kansas politics.”

United Kansas sued Secretary of State Scott Schwab, Saline County Clerk Jamie Doss and Reno County Clerk Donna Patton to reverse a law that’s been in place for more than a century.

Kansas hasn’t allowed fusion voting since 1901, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Only five states — Connecticut, Mississippi, New York, Oregon and Vermont — allow fusion voting.

In early August, Schwab’s attorneys argued in the dismissal motion that the Legislature, not the courts, should decide on the matter.

“At its heart, however, the lawsuit—filed on the virtual eve of a major national election—is an effort to inject the court into a major public policy dispute, completely bypass the legislative process, and radically overhaul the State’s long-established election procedures,” the filing said. “This is emphatically not the role of the judiciary.”

The attorneys also argue that courts have a history of rejecting constitutional challenges of fusion voting bans.

“In the approximately 135 years since the early enactments against fusion voting first took hold, courts have almost uniformly upheld these laws, reasoning that voters remain free to vote for any candidate they wish and that the laws advance valid state interests in ballot integrity and management, reducing voter confusion, and preventing abuses,” the filing said.

The Kansas Supreme Court in late August granted a motion to consolidate United Kansas’ lawsuits in Reno and Saline counties into one case in Saline County District Court.

Schwab recently told State Affairs that even if the state lost the lawsuit, it wouldn’t affect the election in November.

Bryan Richardson is the managing editor at State Affairs Pro Kansas/Hawver’s Capitol Report. Reach him at [email protected] or on X @RichInNews.

Election administrators ‘in limbo’ over new voting rules, top official says

Posted on by Tammy Joyner

If you plan to hand-deliver your absentee ballot to your local election office this year, you’ll have to show identification and sign a form stating whose ballot you’re dropping off, under a new rule recently passed by the State Election Board.

If you fail to show your ID or don’t complete the form, your ballot may not be counted.

Problem is, local election administrators have yet to receive the forms to distribute to voters.

“We haven’t even seen the form,” W. Travis Doss Jr., executive director of the Richmond County Board of Elections in Augusta, told State Affairs. “We don’t even know what this [form] is supposed to look like. I don’t know the wording or what it’s supposed to say.” 

Under the new rule, the form is supposed to be provided by the Secretary of State’s office, Doss said.

“If so, this is the first I’ve heard of it,” Mike Hassinger, spokesperson for the secretary of state, told State Affairs. “I will double-check and get back to you.”

While the State Election Board, lawmakers and voting rights activists tussle over the new and proposed rules, election administrators such as Doss are worried about their ability to implement the rules.

Continue reading “Election administrators ‘in limbo’ over new voting rules, top official says”

BMV decides 2nd license branch closure this year

Posted on by Tom Davies

The Bureau of Motor Vehicles has decided to shut down its Griffith license branch in Lake County in the second such branch closure this year.

The agency announced Thursday that the Griffith branch will close during the fourth quarter of this year. BMV officials announced in July the proposed closing of the branch.

The Griffith branch closure will leave six BMV offices in Lake County — one each in Crown Point, East Chicago, Gary, Hammond, Merrillville and Schererville.

“The decision to close Griffith came after careful assessment of branch activity over the past several years,” BMV Commissioner Joe B. Hoage said in a statement. “It is not an easy decision to close a branch, but with six other branches within 13 miles of Griffith, residents have nearby options to conduct their business.”

State Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster, said he was “deeply disappointed” about the branch closing in his legislative district.

“BMV branches play a vital role in connecting residents with state resources and often represent their primary interaction with government services,” Andrade said in a statement. “With the Griffith BMV Branch closing, residents will now need to travel outside their community to access these essential services.”

The BMV decided in early July to shut down its Madison Avenue branch in Indianapolis as of Aug. 30. That was the first license branch closure since 2022, when the bureau shuttered six offices.

The bureau said it has continued reviewing branch operations amid the ongoing shift of motorists completing their BMV transactions online or at kiosks rather than in person at a branch.

The Griffith closure will leave 118 branches in the BMV’s system, with at least one in all 92 counties as required by state law.

Non-branch transactions grew to 53% of the BMV’s total in 2023 from 34% in 2018, according to agency reports.

BMV officials cited that transaction shift last year as they made widespread changes to branches’ operating hours. That action included ending Saturday hours at 19 locations around the state.

Tom Davies is a Statehouse reporter for State Affairs Pro Indiana. Reach him at [email protected] or on X at @TomDaviesIND.

Activist who helped topple Hazlewood has Watson, lobbyist wife in his sights

Posted on by Andy Sher

After helping orchestrate the defeat of Tennessee House Finance Committee Chair Patsy Hazlewood in Hamilton County’s Republican primary last month, conservative activist and Tennessee Conservative website owner Brandon Lewis has set his sights on her Senate counterpart.

Lewis says he is seeking to find a Republican primary challenger to Senate Finance Committee Chair Bo Watson of Hixon in 2026.

“Hey,” Lewis says in a video recently posted on his website. “Sen. Bo Watson is getting filthy rich off taxpayer money, and he’s not the only one in the General Assembly who’s cashing in with your tax dollars.”

Lewis’ assertion comes in the wake of Hazlewood’s surprise loss to Michele Reneau in House District 27, which includes the affluent town of Signal Mountain as well as Red Bank and more rural communities north of Chattanooga. 

Watson’s wife, Nicole Osborn Watson, is a lobbyist. She currently works for the Holland & Knight law firm and is registered on behalf of 23 clients, including Tennessee Football Inc., which is the Tennessee Titans football team. The firm has other lobbyists who were registered to lobby on that and other measures.

“I’m talking about these state senators and these state reps who are fleecing taxpayers, and they get this tremendous conflict of interest,” Lewis said in the video.

Watson’s marriage came under scrutiny in 2022 when lawmakers approved issuing $500 million in bonds for a new covered football stadium in Nashville. 

The senator noted at the time he voted against the funding for the stadium both in committee and on the floor. But he wound up voting to go along with the bonds when the House insisted on their inclusion in the spending plan. He filed a Rule 13 personal interest disclosure on the measure prior to the vote. 

The decades-old rule states “that it may be considered that I have a degree of personal interest in the subject matter of this bill, but I declare that my argument and my ultimate vote answer only to my conscience and to my obligation to my constituents and the citizens of the State of Tennessee.”

“Actually,” Watson said in his email to The Tennessee Journal, “I was the sponsor of Senate Amendment 0940 … that initially removed the funding for the Titans stadium from the 2022 budget bill, Senate Bill 2897, which passed the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee.” 

Lewis also blasted Osborne Watson as having been “involved in the Ford Motor Company corporate welfare scheme to give them billions of dollars with very few strings attached to build these electric vehicles nobody wants out in West Tennessee that apparently are not going to be built on schedule now, and ultimately, I think probably won’t be built at all.”

Lewis said Osborne Watson “gets paid hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars, to get this billion dollar deal through, and her husband sits on the Finance Committee.”

“That money goes from the Titans and Ford Motor Company into Nicole’s pocket and then into the Watson family bank account. When we report on this story, the comments are all like, this is a patent conflict of interest. This is not correct. When we have polled and surveyed people, they say, this is bad, but Bo Watson can’t seem to see it.”

“Anyone can look up my wife’s clients at the state’s Ethics Commission,” Watson said in a statement to The Tennessee Journal. “Our state’s newest automobile manufacturer is not — and never has been — one of her clients.”

A review of Tennessee Ethics Commission filings shows Ford did not use the Holland & Knight firm nor was Osborn Watson listed as a lobbyist for the automaker. Instead, it used an in-house staffer.

Lewis often denounces Republicans he disagrees with as “RINOs,” or “Republicans in Name Only.” Asked if he saw the relationship as a conflict of interest, Lewis said in an interview that he believes what’s going on is “absolutely 100% corrupt.”

“Your wife gets to dole out billions of dollars to millionaires and billionaires, those companies hand your wife a check. That check winds up in your personal bank account, just like my wife and I have shared finances,” he said. 

Lewis, who once worked as field director for U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Sherwood, said “we need as many conservative challengers to go up against these people that have these voting records that are not palatable to the typical Republican primary voter. I mean, we need more folks to challenge folks like Patsy Hazlewood that are up there in the House and in the Senate.”

During the Hazlewood-Reneau campaign, the incumbent spent at least $300,000 through the pre-primary period. But she never went negative much to the dismay of her supporters, one of whom went so far as to create a website featuring Reneau in a tinfoil hat. Reneau spent $71,000. She won by 131 votes.

Local Republicans believe Hazlewood, a pro-business Republican who was more moderate on some social issues, may have lost some traditional supporters due to non-ideological factors. One cited her insistence for keeping a state mental health facility at Moccasin Bend despite influential advocates demanding the hospital be moved elsewhere. They want the facility relocated so the land in the historically rich area can become part of the Moccasin Bend Archeological District.

Opinion: Trump’s debate with Kamala Harris marks the start of his political prosecution

Posted on by Brian A. Howey

MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. — The political prosecution of Donald J. Trump will begin live on network TV in prime time next Tuesday when he faces Vice President Kamala Harris in their first presidential debate.

It will be different from the legal prosecutions that could have taken place in four courtrooms in New York, Washington, Florida and Georgia. And these prosecutions would be different from the political “persecutions” Trump has consistently said have been ginned up and arrayed against him as he seeks a return to the White House.

“These four horrible, radical-left Democrat investigations of your all-time favorite president, me,” Trump said on NPR’s “Consider This” in February 2023. “When you look at what’s happening, this is a persecution of a political opponent. This was never supposed to happen in America. This is the persecution of the person that’s leading by very, very substantial numbers in the Republican primary and leading Biden by a lot. So if you can’t beat him, you persecute him or you prosecute him.”

On ABC next Tuesday, Harris will press her case before American voters. The verdict is expected to be rendered in early to mid-November when votes are counted in thousands of counties across America.

And it is altogether appropriate that American voters, not jurors, make the most profound judgment in the history of the United States.

The American judicial system has been snail slow to react to the events that occurred on or before the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol insurrection. Like that Jan. 2, 2021, phone call President Trump made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking him to “find” more than 11,000 votes that could have swung the state to his Electoral College tally. Or since March 30, 2022, when the FBI opened a criminal case for unlawful retention of classified documents stored next to Mar-a-Lago toilets and in unsecured ballrooms.

The legal timelines are there, from the June 3, 2022, grand jury subpoenas surrounding 38 classified documents at Mar-a-Lago to Nov. 18, 2022, when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel three days after Trump declared his candidacy for 2024.

Or on April 4, 2023, when Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced a 34-count indictment, making Trump the first former president to face the music. Or June 8, 2023, when a federal grand jury in Florida indicted Trump 37 times on the classified doc case. Or the Aug. 14, 2023, Fulton County grand jury that indicted Trump on racketeering charges, alleging he led a criminal organization in an attempt to overturn Georgia’s election results.

Since all of these legal indictments have been handed down, a verdict has been rendered only in Manhattan, with 34 guilty counts coming after a short period of deliberations by all 12 jurors.

“This was a disgrace,” Trump said as he exited the courtroom. “This was a rigged trial by a conflicted judge who was corrupt. The real verdict is going to be Nov. 5 by the people.”

Harris is a prosecutor by trade, so for her it’s game-on.

During her Democratic National Convention speech in Chicago last month, she described finding out that her best friend had been sexually abused.

“This is one of the reasons I became a prosecutor: to protect people like Wanda, because I believe everyone has a right to safety, to dignity and to justice,” Harris said. “As a prosecutor, when I had a case, I charged it not in the name of the victim, but in the name of the people, for a simple reason. In our system of justice, a harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us. And I would often explain this to console survivors of crime, to remind them: No one should be made to fight alone. We are all in this together.

“And every day, in the courtroom, I stood proudly before a judge and I said five words: ‘Kamala Harris, for the people.’ And to be clear — and to be clear, my entire career, I’ve only had one client: the people.”

As for Trump, Harris said, “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences … of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious.”

Harris then asked the audience to consider what had occurred. 

“Consider — consider not only the chaos and calamity when he was in office but also the gravity of what has happened since he lost the last election,” she said. “Donald Trump tried to throw away your votes. 

“When he failed, he sent an armed mob to the U.S. Capitol, where they assaulted law enforcement officers,” Harris continued. “When politicians in his own party begged him to call off the mob and send help, he did the opposite — he fanned the flames. And now, for an entirely different set of crimes, he was found guilty of fraud by a jury of everyday Americans and separately — and separately found liable for committing sexual abuse.”

Harris added, “Consider — consider the power he will have, especially after the U.S. Supreme Court just ruled that he would be immune from criminal prosecution. Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States. Not to improve your life, not to strengthen our national security, but to serve the only client he has ever had: himself.”

Polling has consistently shown a majority of Americans don’t believe that the criminal charges are politically motivated or that Trump is being persecuted. 

In August 2023 after Trump was indicted in Florida, ABC News/Ipsos found that 51% thought the former president’s federal indictment related to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election were very serious. 

Following his Manhattan convictions, Reuters/Ipsos found that 54% of registered voters said they would not vote for Trump if he were convicted of a crime, a six-point drop from this past April (60%) before the trial began. The drop was driven entirely by Republicans. In April, 24% of Republicans said they would not vote for Trump if a jury convicted him of a felony. However, after the guilty verdict, only 14% said they would not vote for him. 

Beyond Manhattan, the criminal proceedings have been achingly slow, to the point that juries will not be seated, arguments not heard and verdicts not rendered until after voters make the political decision on whether to return Trump to the White House.

Thus, Tuesday’s debate will be precedent-shattering: the former prosecutor versus the felon former president.

“Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election where you have every right to do it?” Trump said Sunday on Fox News. “You get indicted and your poll numbers go up.” 

Needless to say, this upcoming debate should be … interesting.

Brian A. Howey is senior writer and columnist for Howey Politics Indiana/State Affairs. Find Howey on Facebook and X @hwypol.

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