(INDIANAPOLIS) – Three House Democrats plan to call for Attorney General Curtis Hill’s impeachment. But the effort appears unlilkely to go anywhere:
If an impeachment resolution is filed, House Speaker Brian Bosma says he’ll follow procedure and assign it to a committee. But while Bosma and other legislative leaders have called on Hill to resign, the speaker says impeachment would become the session’s all-consuming issue.
And Bosma says there’s disagreement over whether the groping accusations against Hill are best addressed through impeachment or by voters. Since Indiana’s current constitution was adopted in 1851, the only impeachment was in 1927, when Delaware County Judge Clarence Dearth was accused of stacking juries with fellow Ku Klux Klan members. The Senate acquitted him. Bosma says legislators will have to decide whether charges need to be that serious to warrant impeachment, and whether the charges of inappropriate touching rise to that level.
A special prosecutor found accusations by a legislator and three other women credible, but declined to file criminal charges.
Hill presided over a statehouse event Tuesday to call for tougher sentences for drug dealing and human trafficking, but left without taking questions. Two protesters yelled, “Resign!” as he wrapped up prepared remarks. A third woman, Ali Brown, describes herself as a friend of some of Hill’s accusers, and handed out copies of the 25-page inspector general’s report characterizing Hill’s behavior at a post-adjournment party at a downtown bar as inappropriate and “creepy.” Brown says she wants Hill to step down, and says the House should impeach him if he won’t.
Attorney General Curtis Hill (Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)
