The Marion County Election Board believes that Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales violated state ethics code by using footage on government property in a campaign video, and is now referring the case to state investigators.
At a hearing this morning, the bipartisan board decided unanimously to refer its findings to the state ethics commission and the inspector general’s office. Morales’ office, meanwhile, is calling the findings “meritless and transparently political.”
The board also unanimously voted March 6 to bar Morales from the restricted section of the election center for the remainder of the year, so as to prevent a similar alleged incident in the future.
“This is not a decision taken lightly,” Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell told IndyStar.
At issue is a campaign video Morales posted on social media on May 1, 2025, announcing his intent to run for reelection. In the video, there is footage of a visit he made to the Marion County Election Center in his official capacity as secretary of state in which he’s interacting with government workers.
The board’s investigation found that Morales directed his staff to record and store the footage which he then posted to his official social media accounts the day of the Nov. 5, 2024 visit. A clip was then used in the campaign ad.
In a letter to Morales inviting him to the March 6 hearing, the board said it has “substantial reason to believe” these actions violate the part of state ethics law that says a state officer cannot use state materials, money, staff or property for anything other than “official state business.”
There’s another part of state law barring government employees from advocating for a political candidate using government property, which the board mentions in its letter but ultimately concludes that Morales didn’t violate because he isn’t classified as a government employee.
The elections board doesn’t have the authority to formally investigate and prosecute an alleged violation of state code, which is why it voted to refer the matter to the state authorities.
Morales did not attend the hearing, and Sweeney Bell said neither she nor the board staff had received any response from Morales to their multiple notices. A campaign spokesperson for Morales said they were “surprised” to learn of this claim, saying they sent the board a letter via email on March 5.
In the letter, Morales argues that the footage taken during the Nov. 5 visit constituted official state business: “the routine and legitimate governmental purpose of documenting and communicating the work of the Office to the public.” Since his office posted the footage publicly, they argue, the footage then became “public-facing governmental media” months before the campaign ad, and thus fair game for use by anyone for any purpose.
“There is no evidence — and your investigation identifies none — that state personnel, equipment, or funds were used to produce the campaign advertisement itself,” the letter says. “Without such evidence, the central element of an alleged misuse of state resources simply does not exist.”
Sweeney Bell called this argument “absurd.” It might apply if Morales used footage from a video the clerk put out online, and thus in the public domain, she said, but the issue here is that Morales’ staff took the footage themselves using government resources.
“That’s a shoddy argument, and I’d like to see what the inspector general thinks about it,” Sweeney Bell said.
Morales also noted that the campaign ad contained footage from multiple visits to county offices, but Marion County was the only one to “manufacture a grievance over this standard public outreach.”
“Secretary Morales will not be intimidated by a local board’s attempt to exceed its statutory authority and conduct a taxpayer-funded political fishing expedition,” the letter states.
Sweeney Bell called this notion “hogwash.”
“I think that he got caught, and now he’s trying to justify his behavior,” she said, “and he’s trying to confuse the issue instead of doing what is right and taking down this video.”
Contact IndyStar Statehouse reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X@kayla_dwyer17.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Marion County election board claims Diego Morales broke ethics law
Reporting by Kayla Dwyer, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
