Sen. Mike Braun, a Republican, faces accusations in a Federal Election Commission draft audit that he appeared to break multiple campaign finance rules, including accepting millions of dollars of potentially improper loans.
FEC auditors also say his campaign appeared to overstate both contributions and disbursements by millions of dollars, accepted $1.17 million worth of contributions that were above the contribution limit and repaid Braun more money than permitted within the 20 days following the primary election.
The report is only a draft and does not include information from documents submitted by the campaign late last week, so the findings could change. That's what Braun's folks are hoping.
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"Sometimes these FEC audits require time to work themselves out; that has been the case here, and we're not the least bit concerned about how the process will end," Joshua Kelley, Braun's chief of staff and senior political advisor, said in a statement.
State Democrats are now accusing the Hoosier of stealing a U.S. Senate seat.
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Attorney General Todd Rokita issued an advisory opinion Thursday at the request of two state lawmakers saying that public schools should treat the Black Lives Matter movement as a political group.
"Black Lives Matter is unequivocally a political organization," Rokita said in a news release sent Thursday morning. "Promoting or displaying some politically based materials while prohibiting the promotion or display of others could create a liability for schools and could violate the First Amendment."
No Republican member of the Indiana Congressional delegation voted for the infrastructure deal, while Democratic Congressmen André Carson and Frank Mrvan both did.
Its passage and the Democratic lawmakers were praised by the Indiana Chamber, a historically Republican-leaning body.
"All of these positives in the bill outweighed our concern of adding to the national debt. We simply couldn't let our infrastructure further deteriorate and burden business and citizens alike," Indiana Chamber President and CEO Kevin Brinegar said in a statement.
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Former Senate Minority Leader Tim Lanane announced this week that he won't seek reelection in 2022 at the end of his term after 24 years.
Lawmakers shifted Senate District 25's boundaries during redistricting, splitting apart Muncie and Anderson and drawing Republican Sen. Mike Gaskill into the district with Lanane. Lanane had criticized Republicans for breaking up "tightly connected cities."
"It has been my honor to serve the citizens of District 25 for over 20 years, but I feel it is time to thank them for their confidence and allow a new person to step into that role," Lanane said in a statement Monday. Previously he criticized Republicans for reshaping his district.
We've got a Democratic challenger in what could be one of the most competitive General Election Statehouse races.
Democratic Fishers City Councilor Jocelyn Vare announced this week that she's running for State Senate District 31, currently represented by Republican Sen. Kyle Walker. Walker was appointed by a Republican caucus in November 2020 to serve out the remainder of the term of former Indianapolis Sen. Jim Merritt.
According to the PlanScore analysis of the redrawn district, the district is almost a toss up between Republicans and Democrats, giving Democrats a slight edge. That, however, doesn't take into account any advantage Walker would get from being an incumbent.
Democrats are gearing up for the race for the Wayne township trustee position as embattled trustee Chuck Jones says he won't run for a second term.
Former state representative Karlee Macer has thrown her hat into the ring, formerly announcing her candidacy this week. She joins former Rep. Jeb Bardon, who served as treasurer for Jones' campaign, and Becki Adair, a Democrat who previously worked as an administrative assistant to former Republican trustee Andy Harris.
Jones, the former steelworkers union chief elected to the position in 2018, has faced criticism over receiving a $17,5000 salary from a nonprofit under contract to support the township's fire department. That's after fire department heads drew consternation for the amount of overtime the township paid out in 2019 and 2020.
The negative press has spurred some Democrats, including Sens. J.D. Ford and Greg Taylor, to pen a letter to Jones urging him to step down. He has no plans to resign.
Columnist James Briggs wrote about whether or not we can expect Mayor Joe Hogsett to run again in 2023. His takeaway: don't rule it out.
Hogsett had said in 2018 that he had no plans to run for a third term. But in an interview that IndyStar columnist Matthew Tully conducted with Hogsett, then a U.S. attorney, in January 2014, Hogsett said he wouldn't run for mayor. And he still did.
Former President Donald Trump appeared to defend the threats made against Hoosier and former Vice President Mike Pence during the January 6 insurrection in audio taped for ABC News' Jonathan Karl's new book, "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show."
"Well, the people were very angry," Trump said when asked about the "Hang Mike Pence" chants.
"It's common sense that you're supposed to protect. How can you -- if you know a vote is fraudulent, right -- how can you pass on a fraudulent vote to Congress?" Trump said.
Looking for something to watch this weekend? Amazon Studios' "Mayor Pete" documentary following Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign is now available on Prime Video.
ICYMI: Last month we watched the film. Here were our takeaways.
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Hoosier Politics is compiled and written by the IndyStar politics and government team. Send us tips or let us know what you think of the newsletter by emailing Kaitlin.Lange@IndyStar.com.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Braun could face campaign finance violation | Rokita addresses BLM