More Questions Than Answers: The Daniels–Rush Timeline Deserves Greater Transparency or DOJ Political Corruption Probe

If history is a guide, it’s not exactly like the justices have a lot to worry about. No supreme court justice has lost a retention vote since the process was instituted in 1970.Nevertheless, PAC chairwoman Deborah Daniels, picture above and sister of Mitch Daniels, said the Committee to Preserve the Indiana Supreme Court has formed to educate voters about the justices and fend off potentially catastrophic consequences. Anyone with an ounce of common sense must now must question if these people are corrupt, ask why is Daniels so interested in helping Rush, a wont who said publicly she never met him before she interviewed him? And yet, they protect their power and maybe to keep any self dealing hidden from the public. Two of Five justices IU law degrees Rush and Massa both appointed by Gov, Mitch Daniels, now Purdue’s President, were being protected in 2024, why? And why are no outside law school graduates not represented on the current SCOIN?

By Hoosier Enquirer Staff

INDIANAPOLIS — Public confidence in the judiciary depends not only on judges acting ethically but also on the public understanding how important appointments are made and how relationships among influential public officials develop.

One chapter of Indiana history continues to invite legitimate questions.

On June 21, 2012, Purdue University’s Board of Trustees selected then-Governor Mitch Daniels to become Purdue’s next president after his second term as governor concluded.

Less than three months later, on September 14, 2012, Daniels announced that he had selected Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Loretta Rush (a friend of Purdue) to fill a vacancy on the Indiana Supreme Court. Rush was sworn in later that year and ultimately became Indiana’s first female Chief Justice.

A governor trading a state supreme court appointment for a job would violate 18 U.S.C. § 666 (federal program bribery) and 18 U.S.C. §§ 1341, 1343, and 1346 (honest services wire/mail fraud). That is why an investigation is required.

Applicable Federal Statutes

• Federal Program Bribery (18 U.S.C. § 666): Prohibits a state or local government official from corruptly soliciting or accepting anything of value (such as a high-paying university presidency) in exchange for influencing or rewarding an official act, provided the state government receives a threshold amount of federal funds annually. [1, 2, 3]

• Honest Services Fraud (18 U.S.C. §§ 1343, 1346): Criminalizes schemes where a public official uses interstate wires to deprive the public of their intangible right to the official's honest, uncompromised services through a clear quid pro quo exchange. [1, 2, 3]

• The Hobbs Act (18 U.S.C. § 1951): Used to prosecute public officials who commit extortion by obtaining property under color of official right, trading official appointments for personal benefit.

Years later, Deborah Daniels—former U.S. Attorney, respected Indiana attorney, and Mitch Daniels’ sister—served as chair of the Committee to Preserve the Indiana Supreme Court, which campaigned publicly for the retention of Chief Justice Rush and two associate justices during the 2024 judicial retention election.

Those facts are matters of public record. To many Rush was never qualified and has been a farce, fallure and basically has had a hand in destroying Indiana's legal system over her years of being the most powerful woman in state government.

Additional public discussion has focused on Chief Justice Rush’s participation in Purdue events involving Mitch Daniels. That has prompted questions from some observers about when their professional relationship began, how it evolved, and what interactions occurred during the period when Daniels was transitioning from the Governor’s Office to Purdue while simultaneously selecting a new Indiana Supreme Court justice.

None of those questions, standing alone, establish misconduct or an ethical violation.

But transparency—not speculation—is the proper response.

Among the questions that could be answered through public records or voluntary disclosure are:

• What official interactions occurred between Governor Daniels and Judge Rush before her appointment?

• What role, if any, did Rush have in Purdue-related discussions or events involving Daniels during 2012?

• What communications occurred concerning Rush’s judicial application during that period?

• Beyond the publicly known retention campaign, what professional relationship has existed between Deborah Daniels and Chief Justice Rush?

  
  

Indiana’s judiciary routinely asks citizens to trust its impartiality. Public confidence is strengthened when important appointments are accompanied by openness regarding the chronology of events and the relationships among those involved.

The issue is not whether anyone has proven wrongdoing. The issue is whether enough information has been made available for Hoosiers to understand how one of the state’s most important judicial appointments came to pass.

Transparency answers questions far more effectively than silence. If history is a guide, it’s not exactly like the justices have a lot to worry about. No supreme court justice has lost a retention vote since the process was instituted in 1970.Nevertheless, PAC chairwoman Deborah Daniels, picture above and sister of Mitch Daniels, said the Committee to Preserve the Indiana Supreme Court has formed to educate voters about the justices and fend off potentially catastrophic consequences. Anyone with an ounce of common sense must notice that these people are corrupt as hell and protecting their power and keeping their self dealing hidden from you.

5 IU degrees were being protected and no outside ideas are ever welcomed in at the SCOIN. This club must be exposed and investigated by the DOJ division of Public Corruption soon.

Indiana has a severe lawyer shortage and affordability crisis as a few have lined their pockets in black robes and at our state Universities.