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Engbers Named To Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Governor Eric Holcomb has reappointed one trustee to the University of Southern Indiana Board of Trustees and named two new trustees to the board. Returning trustee Jeffrey L. Knight of Evansville was reappointed to serve a four-year term. Knight was first appointed to the board in 2006 and has previously been reappointed in 2007, 2011 and 2015.

New trustee appointments are Christina M. Ryan of Newburgh, Indiana, and student trustee Josi Barscz of Huntington, Indiana. Ryan will serve a four-year term, while Barscz will serve a two-year term as student trustee.

Ryan serves as chief executive officer of The Women’s Hospital at Deaconess Health System, Inc.  She has been an administrator at Deaconess since 1999 when she was recruited to help with the initial plans, construction and successful opening of the Women’s Hospital in Newburgh, Indiana. Ryan served as director of Women and Children Services at St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers in Northwest Indiana from 1989 to 1999, where she worked on a federal grant and was awarded $7 million to help reduce infant morbidity and mortality for the cities of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. She was appointed by the Mayor of Hammond to oversee the grant funds and programming and opened a prenatal clinic for the indigent, as well as a pediatric intensive care unit and new birthing center.

Ryan’s civic and community involvement includes serving as the Southwest Division Chairman for March of Dimes, as a board member for Building Healthier Communities and the Leadership Evansville Public Schools Foundation Board, as secretary for the Advisory Council for Infant Mortality, The American Hospital Association Governing Council for Maternal Child Health, and on the Welborn Baptist Foundation Advisory Committee for Movement.

She received her bachelor’s degree in nursing with a minor in psychology from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois, and a master’s degree in health administration from Indiana University.

Barscz, USI Class of 2022, is a biochemistry major with minors in Spanish and military science. She is a participant in the Honors Program and currently holds a 4.0 cumulative GPA. She works as an academic skills tutor at USI and is a member of the Army ROTC. She is involved in a number of groups and activities including Emerging Leaders, Timmy Global Health, American Chemical Society, American Sign Language Club and the Rugby Club.

The student trustee, a voting member of the nine-member USI Board of Trustees, brings a student’s perspective to the governing board. The student trustee must be a full-time student, a U.S. citizen and resident of Indiana, have a 2.5 GPA or above, and have completed 24 semester credit hours at USI.

The USI Board of Trustees has nine trustees and must include one alumnus of the University, one current student and one resident of Vanderburgh County. Trustee terms are for four years, except for the student term, which is two years.

Additionally, Governor Holcomb appointed Dr. Trent Engbers, USI assistant professor of political science and director of USI’s Master of Public Administration Program, as the faculty member of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education for a two-year term.

By Abrahm Hurt
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—Zionsville attorney John Westercamp announced Thursday that he will challenge embattled Attorney General Curtis Hill for the 2020 Republican nomination.

Thirty-year-old Westercamp has practiced law at Bose McKinney & Evans since 2014 where he focuses on representing clients in mergers and acquisitions matters and in negotiating, procuring and drafting economic development agreements.

“I feel like Indiana’s given me so many great opportunities, and it’s important that we keep a pro-life, principled, conservative Hoosier in the attorney generals office next November,” he said at a news conference.

Westercamp formally announced his candidacy on Thursday in Indianapolis and three other locations: Elkhart, Fort Wayne and Evansville.

Westercamp said he would bring a private sector perspective to the office because he works with small and medium-sized Hoosier companies.

He said he would also like to address the number of robocalls across the state.

“Too little has been done to address this issue,” he said. “If elected I would work with the state to negotiate contracts with telecom providers that would require those providers to use big data to reduce the number of robocalls Hoosiers receive on their cell phones.

Hill, the current attorney general who has served since 2017, was accused of sexual misconduct after a March 2018 party at the end of the legislative session.

The four women—Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon, D-Munster; Niki DaSilva, a legislative assistant for Indiana Senate Republicans; Samantha Lozano, a legislative assistant for Indiana House Democrats; and Gabrielle McLemore, communications director for Indiana Senate Democrats— say Hill was drunk, made sexual comments and groped them.

Hill has denied wrongdoing, threatened to sue his accusers and has refused to step down from his position despite Gov. Eric Holcomb and legislative leaders calling for his resignation.

“I think the distractions around the attorney’s general office is not good for the state of Indiana, and we need new leadership,” Westercamp said.

Last October, a special prosecutor appointed to look into the allegations, decided not to file charges against Hill. However, the Indiana Supreme Court disciplinary commission has filed a 10-page complaint against Hill, accusing him of committing both felony-level and misdemeanor battery while acting “with the selfish motive to arouse his sexual desires” in March.

A hearing on the disciplinary charges before retired Supreme Court Justice Myra Selby will be held starting Oct. 2. Hill could face the loss of his law license, which in turn could cost him his elective office because Indiana law requires the attorney general to be licensed to practice law.

The four women also filed a civil lawsuit against Hill and the state claiming they have been subjected to harassment and discrimination since making their complaints more than a year ago.

Westercamp has never run for public office, but he has served as a delegate to the Indiana Republican convention in 2008 and 2014.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in management and his master’s in finance from Purdue, and was graduated from Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law in 2014.

Attorney general candidates are nominated at their party conventions and not by primary elections. The Indiana GOP will name a candidate at its 2020 state convention.

Abrahm Hurt is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.

Court To Decide Whether Seizure Of Car For Minor Drug Offense Was Excessive

By Victoria Ratliff
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—More than five years after the state seized his car, Tyson Timbs was back before the Indiana Supreme Court Friday arguing that taking his $40,000 car for a $260 drug deal is excessive and unconstitutional.

Timbs had used his Range Rover when he sold heroin to an undercover police officer, but “it was grossly disproportionate to his crime,” said Sam Gedge of the Virginia-based Institute for Justice, who is representing Timbs in this case.

Timbs has been battling to recover the vehicle he bought with money he inherited from his father. After selling the heroin to the undercover police officer, he pleaded guilty to his crime and was sentenced to one year of house arrest and probation. That’s when law enforcement seized his vehicle because he had driven it when he sold the drugs.

Timbs went to state court to recover his car and initially won. But when the case landed before the state Supreme Court, he lost.

That’s when he and his lawyers appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where they argued the punishment was disproportionate to the crime. The high court heard arguments last fall and in February issued a ruling in Timbs’ favor, saying the Eighth Amendment protection against excessive fines and punishment applies to the states.

The case was sent back to the state Supreme Court to rule whether the seizure of Timbs’ vehicle was, in fact, excessive.

Timbs’ lawyers say the state has changed its tune—it is no longer arguing whether the punishment is proportional to the crime but that, under law, the state has a right to seize the vehicle because it was used in the crime.

“What should matter is instrumentality,” Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher said, arguing that under Indiana law the mere fact that the vehicle was used when Timbs sold heroin justifies its seizure.

Gedge argued that treating every offender the same and delivering the same level of punishment is dangerous. He said that someone who sold $260 of heroin shouldn’t face the same public forfeiture as someone who is charged with more serious crimes, or someone running a drug ring.

Fisher said that since Timbs admitted to using the rest of his inheritance to buy drugs, he could have faced a much more serious sentence. Therefore, he argued, the seizure of the vehicle was proportionate in relation to the 20-year sentence he could have faced.

“If 20 years wouldn’t be grossly disproportionate, I don’t see how $40,000 would be,” Fisher said.

Chief Justice Loretta Rush said that there was no way for the court to know whether the vehicle was ever actually used in the other drug transactions.

“There’s no range or scope to how often it was used,” she told Fisher.

Gedge argued that the court needs to also look at the ruling in Timbs’ criminal case. The judge in that case gave Timbs a relatively light sentence because she believed the offense was a minor one.

Furthermore, seizing the vehicle was excessive because it made it more difficult for Timbs, who had little money or resources, Gedge told the justices. He also said that Fisher needs to look at what actually came of the criminal case, not the charges Timbs could have received.

A range of organizations from the liberal American Civil Liberties Union to the libertarian Cato Institute filed briefs with the court in support of Timbs’ position.

Rush said that the court will discuss the case more and will then issue its decision.

Victoria Ratliff is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.