Democrat Beau Bayh and Republican Max Engling agree on one thing: Indiana’s next secretary of state must investigate Diego Morales, the scandal-plagued outgoing incumbent.
But the candidates offered contrasting visions of who should lead such an investigation in the final secretary of state debate Thursday.
Bayh wants to hire Knox County Clerk David Shelton, a private investigator and Republican who previously sought the GOP nomination, to lead an independent audit of the office.
“It’s been a central promise of this campaign that I will conduct an independent audit of this office,” he said.
Morales is accused of spending taxpayer dollars on luxury vehicles and promotional materials, as well as hiring family members and awarding no-bid contracts to donors.
Engling, a late entrant to the race after Morales refused to suspend his campaign, said any investigation should be led by the inspector general to guarantee the “full weight” of the state is behind it.
He described Shelton as a “friend” of Bayh’s who lacks the expertise and authority to compel state officials to cooperate.
“You need to have the person that actually has the authority to compel documents, to look at emails, to investigate dozens of people and make sure what the office has done is proper, or if not, hold it accountable,” he said.
Engling and Bayh traded barbs about their residency — neither spent their full lives in Indiana though both claim strong roots to the state — their driving records, campaign contributions, ethics pledges and the debate host’s decision not to invite their opponents.
Libertarian nominee Lauri Shillings and Lincoln Party candidate Greg Ballard did not meet qualifying polling thresholds to participate in Thursday’s debate, hosted by FOX59 and CBS4.
“Max doesn’t want him here,” Bayh said in response to a question about Ballard’s call to make the secretary of state a nonpartisan office, to which Engling asked the moderator to clarify why the other candidates weren’t present.
Bayh quickly added that Engling declined to sign onto a statement supporting their inclusion.
Both candidates pledged to serve the full four-year term if elected secretary of state, rather than resign early to seek higher political office.
And they agreed the office shouldn’t be used toward partisan ends.
Bayh said he would still support candidates and causes he believes in, but wouldn’t let his support affect his decisions in office. Meanwhile, Engling said voters expect elected officials to “link arms” and “move the state forward.”
On voter fraud, Engling reiterated his support for the SAVE America Act to verify the citizenship status of voters, suggesting he would work with state lawmakers to color code state IDs so legal noncitizen residents cannot use the IDs to vote.
“One illegal vote is too many,” he said.
Bayh said he would work with county clerks to flag and remove ineligible voters from the voter rolls. He criticized state officials for prosecuting only one of the 21 noncitizen voters they say they identified in a recent review.
“We need to actually hold people accountable when they’re caught,” Bayh said.
Both Engling and Bayh expressed support for Indiana’s voter identification law to secure elections, and agreed the state should extend early voting hours to boost participation.
Ballot initiatives, dark money and campaign contributions
Bayh broke with Engling in his desire to work with lawmakers to bring citizen-led ballot initiatives to Indiana, which he said would result in greater turnout if voters had a direct say in issues like partisan gerrymandering.
“One of the big problems with our politics here is that some of the folks in the Statehouse are too often looking out for the special interests — not the interests of the working people of our state,” Bayh said. “So, I say let’s give the 5 million registered Hoosier voters a more direct say in some of the biggest issues they’re facing.”
Engling said dark money groups are using citizen-initiated referendums in other states to skirt lawmakers, often tricking voters in the process.
“It’s important to trust the voters certainly, but I think it’s also important to use our elected representation in the General Assembly to make law where they’re going through regular order, they’re going through the committee process,” he said.
Personal attacks
Bayh defended his father, former governor and U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, from attacks by the Engling campaign connecting him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are running an ad right now about my dad, baselessly linking him to a known pedophile with no evidence,” he said. “He has never met Jeffrey Epstein. He has never talked to Jeffrey Epstein … it’s unfortunate that Max Engling deems it necessary to attack my family. I’m not going to do that.”
Engling said his team is in the process of suing Bayh for defamation for a political advertisement misconstruing decades-old speeding tickets as reckless driving convictions.
“There’s only one person on the stage has been charged with reckless driving, and that’s my opponent, not me,” he said.
Bayh and Engling touted their Hoosier roots, as questions about their time spent out of state continue to circulate.
Engling said he moved from rural Illinois to Indiana as a teenager.
He went to school at Ivy Tech and Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis before moving to Washington, D.C. to work in politics, returning to Indiana after more than a decade with his wife and children.
“It’s important to know what it means to be a Hoosier, but also know what it means to serve whether that’s here or in another place,” he said.
Bayh said he is the seventh generation of his family to be born in Indiana. He too moved to Washington, D.C. when his father was elected to the U.S. Senate and spent time overseas when he enlisted in the Marines.
“I didn’t have a say over where we moved,” he said, adding: “My life has taken me many places … I always knew I wanted to get back home.”
This article was written by Mackenzi Klemann for Indiana Capital Chronicle.
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