INDIANAPOLIS — Ever since he was accused of gripping and groping almost every woman who came within his reach at a legislative wrap-up party two years ago, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill has relied on three Ds for his defense.
Deny everything, including multiple eyewitness accounts.
Defame the four women who made the accusations — and anyone who might have tried to help them.
Delay the day of reckoning.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]
For the longest time, it seemed as though Hill’s strategy of evasion and obfuscation might work. Even though a special prosecutor appointed to investigate Hill’s conduct at the party found that he had behaved like a drunken boor and cad, the prosecutor also determined there wasn’t enough evidence to file criminal charges.
Taking a page from Donald Trump’s playbook, Hill claimed the special prosecutor’s report, damning as it was “vindicated” him.
He also, like Trump, argued that he deserved “due process,” as if holding public office were an entitlement and a right, rather than a privilege and a duty.
A pattern emerged.
Every investigation into the way Hill acted that night established that he came to the party drunk and became even drunker while he was there. He moved around the party like a blind octopus, putting his hands on just about every woman with whom he came in contact, even after they told him not to. His conduct was so egregious that women at the party were calling on everyone but the Coast Guard to rescue them.
That didn’t matter.
However devastating the facts might be, Hill always claimed the findings “exonerated” him.
Worse, he often went on the attack, questioning both the characters and the motivations of the women who complained about the way he pawed them — and anyone inclined to listen to them. There is evidence that he used government staff and taxpayer money to do these assaults on their reputations.
Hill didn’t do this in service of any grand principle.
He did it simply to keep himself in office.
He, like many other politicians, likes to argue that he exists to serve this state, its laws and its people. All the evidence, though, suggests he really believes the opposite — that this state, its laws and its people exist to serve him and his ambitions.
He managed to stay one step ahead of disaster until a few days ago.
Former Indiana Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby delivered a recommendation that Hill’s license to practice law be suspended for 60 days, with no guarantee of automatic reinstatement. If the Indiana Supreme Court follows her recommendation, it’s difficult to see how Hill could remain in office. To be attorney general under Indiana law, one is supposed to be a lawyer in good standing.
It’s hard to argue that an attorney who has had his license to practice suspended for reasons of professional misconduct is one who is in good standing.
Not that Hill isn’t likely to try to make that case.
He’s gone this far contending that night is day, down is up and right is left, so he probably won’t stop now.
Somehow, he’ll try to spin Selby’s recommendation as a victory for him.
That will be tough going.
Reasonable people can disagree about whether Selby’s recommended penalties are appropriate for the attorney general’s offenses, but only those who have imbibed the Curtis Hill Kool-Aid can dispute her conclusion.
That is that Curtis Hill did wrong.
He did wrong by putting his hands on women when they didn’t want him to. He did wrong by continuing to do so after they told him to stop. He did wrong by using the resources and power of his office to try to deny their stories and diminish their credibility.
He did wrong.
Period.
And he deserves to be punished.
There is a kind of appeals process to the recommendations, one with a clock that has a maximum of 75 days.
Hill may try to use that, because delay — one of the Ds — has been one of his favorite tactics.
Even if he does, it appears the end is in sight and three new Ds soon will define the sordid Curtis Hill saga.
Disgraced.
Departed.
Done.
John Krull is director of Franklin College’s Pulliam School of Journalism and publisher of TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students. Send comments to editorial@therepublic.com.
