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IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey talks about homicides in Indy

IMPD Assistant Chief Chris Bailey talks about the complicated issues of homicide in Indianapolis, 'We didn't get here overnight. We're certainly not going to turn it around overnight.'

Kelly Wilkinson, Indianapolis Star

A package of five bills proposed by state Senate Republicans in response to rising violence in Indianapolis received pushback during a committee hearing Tuesday, with some questioning both the reach andconstitutionality of portions of the measures.

Nearly two dozen people spoke for and against the series of bills, whichwould reshape how bail is administered for those accused of violent crimes, increase oversight of pretrial monitoring andzero-in on high-crime areas in Indianapolis. Authors of the bills claimthe measures are aimed at "reducing crime in Marion County and the state as a whole."

More: Indiana Senate Republicans announce bills restricting bail and who can pay bonds

Several state senators, judges and a number of attorneys questionedthe restrictions the bills would place on bail during a passionate discussion that became tense at times.

Among the proposals in question Tuesday was Senate Bill 6, whichwould effectively eliminate the use of surety bonds for people accused of violent crimes. The bill, proposed by Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, would require someone charged with a crimeto pay in full the minimum cash bail amount for "an offender's most serious offense."

Sen. Sue Glick, R-La Grange, during the hearing noted the legislation seems to be "zeroing in on the poor." Glick said the bill would mean only people with money would be able to afford bond, asking Young: "Only rich people with cash are going to get it, correct?

"No," Young answered,"because theres no rich people in Marion County thats committing these crimes.

The legislation, Young said, was driven in part by recent instances in which people serving a post-conviction sentence or out on pretrial release were later accused of committinga homicide.

There are 1,475 people on pretrial electronic monitoring in Marion County, according to court officials who spoke at the hearing. Of those, 85% have not committed a new offense while on pretrial release, and 92% appear for their court dates.

Data from Marion County Community Corrections, which oversees post-conviction monitoring, indicates that of the 238 homicide suspects identified between March 2018 and February 2020 by Indianapolis police, 12 about 5% were on post-conviction monitoring.

Some questioned the constitutionality of requiring those accused of violent crimes to pay only cash bond. Other states, like Ohio, have previously found similar measures unconstitutional, the director ofthe American Bail Coalition, a trade association that underwrites bail bonds, noted. And an Indiana judge said the provision raises "a constitutional concern" over the right to bail.

Glick also took issue with a portion of the bill that holds only close family members can post bail for someone accused of violent crimes. The measure alsowould prevent the courtfrom lowering bail past the amount laid out in a county's bail schedule. It seemed, Glick said, that legislators were taking their opinions and want to "substitute it for that of the judges and the prosecutors."

Others largely echoed those concerns, saying the bail regulations "create two classes of people." Representatives from the Indiana Public Defender Council and the VeraInstitute of Justice, which advocates for alternatives to jailing, noted spending time in jail also could make someone more likely to reoffend.

Judge Mark Spitzer, a circuit court judge in Grant County, said the Indiana Judges Associationis concerned the bill takes away judicial discretion. Judges "keep in mind the constitutional presumption of innocence" for those charged with crimes, Spitzer said, and consider the facts of different situations when deciding on bond. Mandating judges set a minimum bail, he suggested, limits them.

Senate Bill 8, authored by State Sen. Aaron Freeman, R-Indianapolis, aims to restrict how charitable bail funds help low-income people who are in custody and awaiting trial.

More: Indiana Senate Republicans announce bills restricting bail and who can pay bonds

Notably, Freeman's bill prevents the nonprofit organizations from bailing out people accused of felonies limiting them to depositing bonds of up to $2,000 "for an indigent person charged with a misdemeanor."

Glick and Taylor, the Democratic senator, pushed back on the effort, with Glick asking why the bill targets charitable bail funds and does not include bail bondsmen, who also post bonds for people accused of violent crimes, and Taylor noting judges set the bonds that these organizations pay.

"I think all these bills are well intentioned," Glick said. "I just question some of the... you know, in the attempt to kill a gnat, I think we're using a cannon."

Freeman said the bill does nottarget "any one organization" but said he started working on the billwhen he learnedthat "public tax dollars were being given to charitable organizations for the purposes of bail."

The Bail Project, which began work in Marion County in 2018, received $150,000 in city grants between 2019 and 2021, according to the mayor's office. Those funds, however, "were not directed towards paying direct cash bail for individuals," the office told IndyStar, and rather used for daily operations and wraparound services, like transporting clients to hearings and referring people to other services.

Marion Superior Court last month suspended support for that fundand requested The Bail Project provide them with up-to-date data.Marion Superior Judge Amy Jones on Tuesday told the Senate committee the project had shared general data through 2021.

The project will meet with the court in March to discuss its future in Marion County, at which time they will share more data about how many of their clients had pretrial release violations and data on referrals to wraparound services.

David Gaspar, the national director of operations for The Bail Project, noted he lived in Indianapolis and is "anchored" in the community. Senate Bill 8, he said, would "severely limit" the project's ability to help low-income Hoosiers.

"Like loved ones and churches, charitable bail funds rally to support your constituents when they're at risk of losing everything," Gaspar said.

Data from The Bail Project provided to the court and obtained by IndyStar indicatethe project has posted bail for 980 Hoosiers. Of those, 94.7% of people appeared for their court dates, and 84% served no additional jail time. One in five people supported by The Bail Fund had their cases dismissed or were found not guilty at trial.

Nearly 70% of The Bail Projects clients were accused of misdemeanors and low-level felonies, the data show.The group only intervenes, Gaspar said, once they have assessed a person's needs "and determined we can meet them," providing court reminders and, sometimes, transportation.

Still, the bills saw support from a number oflaw enforcement officials, who emphasized Indianapolis' staggering crime statistics, which included a record 271 homicides in 2021.

Senators will consider amendments to the bills next week.

Contact Lawrence Andrea at 317-775-4313 orlandrea@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @lawrencegandrea.

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Republican worries crime bills package targeting Indianapolis is zeroing in on the poor - IndyStar

As a 15-year-old kid, I raked leaves, mowed grass and was part of the grounds crew at the Capitol, paid $1.25 an hour. We navigated all those underground tunnels and hideaways where last January they took the vice president, the speaker and members of Congress to keep them safe.

As a 17-year-old, with a newly-broken leg and a walking cast, I was a page in the U.S. Senate. It was 1965, and we witnessed the passage and signing by President Lyndon Johnson of the Voting Rights Act and we watched as opposition began to build against the war in Vietnam.

Years later, I served on the Church Committee, the select Senate Committee investigating our intelligence agencies. I worked in the Senate for five more years as a top aide to Sen. Frank Church of Idaho.

And for the decades since, I have spent countless hours in the House and Senate office buildings, and in the Capitol, as a political consultant to many members.

Never, in all those nearly 60 years, have I not been in awe of the Capitol, its beauty and grandeur, and what it stands for, the rights and responsibilities of a free people.

Always, as I gazed up at the rotunda as the light shone through, saw the paintings, Statuary Hall, the floor of the Senate and House, I felt lucky to be there. I never took that building or its meaning for granted.

Like so many others, I took the Jan. 6, 2021, attack personally.

As I watched on television those familiar staircases, passageways, people who were so violently attacked hour after hour, I was beyond emotional. I couldnt believe it was happening; it was surreal people from Trump rallies gone berserk, like something out of Game of Thrones.

This was more than a political event more than a demonstration gone violent. It was, in a real sense, the culmination of a sitting president and his friends and advisors having rejected our system of government, representative democracy, fairness and any sense of propriety.

The fact that over the past year the vast majority of rank-and-file Republicans have continued to embrace a president with no moral compass, willing to say anything or do anything to stay in power, is truly despicable. Even those who were initially shocked and who denounced Trump, like Sen. Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellHouse to vote on consolidated election bill Thursday, Pelosi says Black Democrats hammer Manchin for backing filibuster on voting rights Durbin says Biden may have gone 'a little too far' in Georgia speech MORE (R-Ky.), Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamHillicon Valley: Amazon's Alabama union fight take two McConnell will run for another term as leaderdespite Trump's attacks Senate Judiciary Committee to debate key antitrust bill MORE (R-S.C.) and Rep. Kevin McCarthyKevin McCarthyMcCarthy says he won't cooperate with 'illegitimate' Jan. 6 probe Jan. 6 panel asks McCarthy to cooperate The Hill's Morning Report - Biden to make voting rights play in Atlanta MORE (R-Calif.), have now embraced him or gone silent. This is also despicable. What message does it send?

That violence is the wave of the future as increasing numbers of Americans seem to believe? That power by any means is, and will be, the future of the Republican Party?

How much honor and dignity and civility will these Republican leaders give up to stay in power or to gain it? At what point do they say enough is enough, count me out as Lindsey Graham did on the Senate floor a year ago before he flipped and went to Mar-a-Lago to play golf with Trump?

Sadly, most of the Republicans who have spent much of their lives in that Capitol have forsaken the impact of Jan. 6 and all it meant for them and our system of government and instead have embraced a treacherous political calculation: They have decided that they would rather for the sake of re-election cozy up to Donald TrumpDonald TrumpMcCarthy says he won't cooperate with 'illegitimate' Jan. 6 probe McEnany sits down with Jan. 6 investigators Hillicon Valley YouTube takes some heat MORE and the cabal peddling the Big Lie than do the right thing. History will judge them.

The Republican Party of Lincoln and Eisenhower and Reagan and the Bushes is on life support, if not already dead all because these Republicans didnt take Jan. 6 personally and seriously.

The mob did their best to destroy what the building stands for; these Republican leaders might just finish the job for them.

Peter Fenn is a long-time Democratic political strategist who served on the Senate Intelligence Committee, was a top aide to Sen. Frank Church and was the first director of Democrats for the 80s, founded by Pamela Harriman. He also co-founded the Center for Responsive Politics/Open Secrets. He serves on the board of the Frank Church Institute. Follow him on Twitter@peterhfenn.

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Republicans' true failure since the last election | TheHill - The Hill

WASHINGTON Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the second-ranking Senate Republican, announced on Saturday that he would seek re-election, after an aggressive lobbying campaign by colleagues prompted him to put aside concerns about the future of his party and pursue a fourth term.

Im asking South Dakotans for the opportunity to continue serving them in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Thune, the minority whip, said in a statement, adding that he could deliver for his state.

I am uniquely positioned to get that job done, he said.

The South Dakotan, who turned 61 on Friday, had recently told associates that he was considering retirement, complaining about the strain of congressional service and privately expressing concern about former President Donald J. Trumps continuing grip on the Republican Party.

But by seeking re-election in a heavily conservative state, Mr. Thune is well positioned to win again and potentially succeed Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, as the Senates top Republican.

A host of Senate Republicans leaned on Mr. Thune in recent weeks to run again, but Mr. McConnell was especially aggressive and met privately with him this past week. The Kentucky Republican turns 80 next month and has made clear that he wants to remain his partys Senate leader into 2023, when he would become the longest-serving party leader in the chambers history.

It is unclear how long Mr. McConnell will serve beyond then, though, an open question that helped lure Mr. Thune to seek another term. Mr. Thune has told associates he is confident he would have the support to succeed Mr. McConnell when the leader exits.

The South Dakotan would face competition for the post, however. Senator John Cornyn of Texas preceded Mr. Thune as the party whip and has indicated his interest in succeeding Mr. McConnell, as has Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, currently the No. 3 Republican.

For now, Mr. Thune will have to navigate re-election in South Dakota, which rejected its two most famous senators, George S. McGovern and Tom Daschle, both Democrats, in their bids for fourth terms.

Mr. Thunes only real obstacle, though, would be a primary. He put off a decision on running until the new year because he wanted to minimize the time a potential Republican rival would have to mount a primary challenge and to limit Mr. Trumps window for mischief-making.

The former president lashed out at Mr. Thune at the end of 2020 after the senator said Mr. Trumps unfounded election objections would go down like a shot dog in the Senate.

That prompted the former president, who maintains an iron grip on the Republican Party and has already intervened in a series of 2022 primaries to consolidate his power even further, to deride Mr. Thune as Mitchs boy and a RINO, or a Republican in name only.

He will be primaried in 2022, political career over!!! Mr. Trump warned at the time.

But no major primary challenger has emerged. And Mr. Trumps allies in the Senate said last month that the former president would be unlikely to oppose Mr. Thune if the senator appeared likely to win renomination.

Once a hub of prairie populism, South Dakota has turned deeply red in the last two decades, a transition that began with Mr. Thunes defeat of Mr. Daschle in 2004.

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John Thune, No. 2 Senate Republican, Will Seek Re-election - The New York Times

A group of North Carolina voters told state officials on Monday that they want Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn to be disqualified as a congressional candidate, citing his involvement in the 6 January attack on the Capitol.

Cawthorn questioned the outcome of the presidential election during the Save America Rally before the Capitol riot later that day that resulted in five deaths.

At the rally, Cawthorn made baseless claims that the election had been stolen from Donald Trump, and has been accused of firing up the crowd, many of whom went on to storm the Capitol.

Lawyers filed the candidacy challenge on behalf of 11 voters with North Carolinas board of elections, which oversees a process by which candidate qualifications are scrutinized.

The voters say Cawthorn, who formally filed as a candidate last month, cannot run because he fails to comply with an amendment in the constitution ratified shortly after the civil war.

The 1868 amendment says no one can serve in Congress who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress to support the constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same.

The written challenge says the events on 6 January amounted to an insurrection, and that Cawthorns speech at the rally supporting Trump, his other comments, and information in published reports, provide a reasonable suspicion or belief that he helped facilitate the insurrection and is thus disqualified.

Challengers have reasonable suspicion that Representative Cawthorn was involved in efforts to intimidate Congress and the Vice-President into rejecting valid electoral votes and subvert the essential constitutional function of an orderly and peaceful transition of power, the complaint read.

The complaint went on to detail the ways Cawthorn allegedly promoted the demonstration ahead of time, including him tweeting: The future of this republic hinges on the actions of a solitary few Its time to fight. The complaint also details reports of Cawthorn meeting with planners of the 6 January demonstration and possibly the Capitol assault.

Cawthorn, 26, became the youngest member of Congress after his November 2020 election, and has become a social media favorite of Trump supporters. He plans to run in a new district that appears friendlier to Republicans. He formally filed candidacy papers just before filing was suspended while redistricting lawsuits are pending.

Last September, Cawthorn warned North Carolinians of potential bloodshed over future elections he claims could continue to be stolen, and questioned whether Biden was dutifully elected. He advised them to begin amassing ammunition for what he said is likely American-v-American bloodshed over unfavorable election results.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes your duty, he said, in addition to describing the rioters who were arrested during the 6 January insurrection as political prisoners. He said we are actively working on plans for a similar protest in Washington.

Ron Fein, legal director of Free Speech for People, a national election and campaign finance reform group backing the challenge to Cawthorn, told the Guardian the complaint was the first legal challenge to a candidates eligibility under the disqualification clause filed since post-civil war Reconstruction in the 19th century.

He said: It sets a line that says that just as the framers of the 14th amendment wrote and intended, you cant take an oath to support the constitution and then facilitate an insurrection against the United States while expecting to pursue public office.

Fein said the challenge will be the first of many against members of Congress associated with the insurrection. Free Speech for People and the group Our Revolution announced last week they would urge state administrators to bar Trump and members of Congress from future ballots.

He said: This isnt just about the voters of that district. The insurrection threatened our countrys entire democratic system and putting insurrectionists from any state into the halls of Congress threatens the entire country.

The challenge asks the board to create a five-member panel from counties within the proposed 13th district to hear the challenge. The panels decision can be appealed to the state board and later to court.

The challengers also asked the board to let them question Cawthorn under oath in a deposition before the regional panel convenes, and to subpoena him and others to obtain documents.

John Wallace, a longtime lawyer for Democratic causes in North Carolina, who also filed the challenge, told the Guardian: The disqualification of Representative Cawthorn certainly should provide a deterrent to others who might try and obstruct or defeat our democratic processes.

A Cawthorn spokesperson, Luke Ball, said over 245,000 patriots from western North Carolina elected Congressman Cawthorn to serve them in Washington a reference to his November 2020 victory in the current 11th district.

Now a dozen activists who are comically misinterpreting and twisting the 14th amendment for political gain will not distract him from that service, Ball wrote.

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Voters move to block Trump ally Madison Cawthorn from re-election - The Guardian

Media top headlines January 6

In media news today, an MSNBC reporter warns that Republicans in state legislature are passing voting laws that make 'January 6 every day, a CNN medical guest says that companies should not treat the unvaccinated and vaccinated as equal, and a White House reporter asks Jen Psaki why Biden hasnt focused more on scolding the unvaccinated.

MSNBC anchor Chuck Todd grew heated with a Republican guest Thursday for speaking out against President Trump's 2020 election rhetoric but saying he would support him again as the 2024 nominee.

Amid his network's wall-to-wall coverage of the one-year anniversary of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Todd noted Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., was one of only 60 House Republicans who weren't on the Jan. 6 commission who had accepted his invitation to speak on "MTP Daily."

Reed, who is retiring at the end of the year, said it was incumbent on both sides of the aisle to lead and "rightfully condemn" the sort of extremism on display when pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol building and disrupted the official certification of Joe Biden's 2020 victory. Biden blasted Trump in a speech Thursday commemorating the anniversary of the riot for spreading a "web of lies," while Trump reiterated his rigged election claims and said Biden was further dividing the country.

Chuck Todd interviews Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., on Jan. 6, 2022.

ARI FLEISCHER: KAMALA HARRIS' 9/11 COMPARISON ABSURD BUT ALL SHOULD DENOUNCE WHAT HAPPENED ON JAN. 6

As Todd pointed to efforts by Trump to overturn the election results, Reed responded that the "74 million people" who voted for Trump were not the ones who stormed the building.

"What happened was a vocal minority of extremists took it into their own thought process and power to do what they did, and to me that is what has to be objected to," he said. "And what has to happen is we have to stand up to it on the right, and you have to have leaders that will stand up to it on the left."

Todd, who has been criticized by progressives at times for being insufficiently partisan on the left-leaning network, asked Reed if he regretted co-chairing Trump's presidential campaign. When Reed said he didn't, Todd quickly said, "Why?"

"I dont, because he brought the disruption to Washington, D.C., that needs to be brought. Washington, D.C., the establishment, and the status quo needs to be disrupted," Reed said, adding he disagreed with some of Trump's rhetoric and actions.

EX-NEW YORK TIMES COLUMNIST NICHOLAS KRISTOF DECLARED INELIGIBLE TO RUN FOR GOVERNOR OF OREGON

"Are you willing to hand the keys to the democracy to this man again?" Todd asked.

Todd said if Trump was the Republican nominee again in 2024, he would support him, leading an incredulous Todd to quote Trump's statement Thursday following Biden's blistering address.

President Biden speaks from Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol to mark one year since the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by supporters loyal to then-President Donald Trump, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"Hes calling the 2020 election a crime. Do you believe it was a crime?" Todd asked.

"Chuck, that will be part of the process. If hes elected hes going to have to go through the primary process, and the Republican Party will put its standard-bearer onto the line. I believe at the end of the day were going to have enough voices in that conversation, that that type of rhetoric will be held to account, and I think that will discount the ability for an individual to be the standard-bearer for the Republican Party," Reed said.

An increasingly exasperated Todd said Reed sounded like Republicans who are "afraid" of telling their supporters Trump was lying about the 2020 election.

LINDSEY GRAHAM SAYS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN EASY FOR TERRORISTS TO INFILTRATE JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOT

"I will be very clear with you, Chuck," he said. "I believe the election in 2020 was a duly held election, the results were duly certified and the challenges of fraud were given an opportunity to be vetted, and I will tell you that this big lie type of representation I disagree with, and Im saying that right now, but that doesnt mean you go forward and not look at the next election in a way that says we need to learn from 2020. And so in 2024, Republicans are just as good at getting their vote to the ballot box as the Democrats are, so we have a fair shake in 2024 on an even playing field."

Pressed by Todd on what he meant by "fair," Reed reiterated 2020 was a fair election, but claimed the rule changes implementedamid the coronavirus pandemic played into Democrats' hands, and they were more effective in getting out their voters.

"It sounds like youre trying to put an asterisk on the 2020 election which only feeds this conspiracy nonsense that is wrecking this country," Todd said heatedly. "Why did we have what we had here a year ago was this conspiratorial nonsense that leads people to the idea that there was something to this. There was nothing to this."

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, on Jan. 20. 2021. (AP)

"Its not conspiracy. They control the state legislatures, they changed the rules legally," Reed said. "So it was a legal, fair election. However, that doesnt mean the rules weren't maximized by one party over the other party. Thats what Im saying going into 2024. We need to make sure that we understand the rules as a Republican Party, and we use them fully to our advantage going forward in 2024, so that we're deploying the same assets in an election equally on each side of the aisle."

"Does it bother you at all that the Republican Party is no longer a conservative party but a cult of personality right now?" Todd asked.

"I mean, I disagree with that assessment I still believe in the Republican Party. The ideology of the Republican Party is still strong," Reed said. "Its a Republican Party that I believe in, and that philosophy is whats going to see America through, through the future, and I still believe America is a center-right country."

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Coverage of the Jan. 6 anniversary has been marked by Democrats pushing to pass federal election overhaul bills, as they and some media outlets continue to characterize state voting bills passed in Republican-led states as voter suppression efforts.

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MSNBC's Chuck Todd grows heated with Republican guest on 1/6 anniversary for still supporting Trump - Fox News