Politics

AG Curtis Hill Temporarily Steps Down After Court Suspends Him Over Groping Allegations

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Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill announced Monday that he is temporarily stepping down after the state’s Supreme Court suspended his law license for 30 days over allegations the Republican groped a lawmaker and three other women during a drunken stupor.

Chief Deputy Aaron Negangard will take over all legal operations on May 18 until the Republican attorney general is reinstated June 17, Hill said in a press statement. Indiana’s attorney disciplinary commission “proved by clear and convincing evidence that [Hill] committed the criminal act of battery,” the court ruled Monday.

“I offer my deepest gratitude to my family, friends and the entire staff of the Office of the Attorney General. My staff has worked tirelessly and without interruption and will continue to do so on behalf of all Hoosiers,” Hill said in the statement.

One of the commission’s hearing officers recommended in February that Hill receive a 60-day suspension for allegedly groping the women during a party celebrating the end of the 2018 legislative session.

Democratic state Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon testified that Hill touched her shoulder while sliding his hand down her dress to grab her buttocks.

“A squeeze, a firm grasp,” she said, noting that the attorney general smelled of alcohol and was glassy-eyed.

Hill denied doing anything wrong, testifying in October 2019 that he touched Reardon’s back while leaning in and trying to hear a conversation she was having with another person.

“Absolutely not,” Hill said during the testimony when asked whether he grabbed Reardon’s backside.

Hill also disputed testimony from three female legislative staffers in their 20s who said Indiana’s top law enforcer attempted similar actions during the party. His attorneys said his actions were misinterpreted, and they argue that Hill should not be suspended because he did not do anything improper as a lawyer.

The conservative attorney general is a “disgrace” whose conduct was “repulsive,” Lauren Ganapini, the state’s Democratic Party executive director, told The Associated Press.

“Now the uncertainty created by his punishment could tip the state into a constitutional crisis,” Ganapini said of the problem Hill’s suspension presents to the state.

Indiana’s constitution requires the attorney general to be “duly licensed to practice law in Indiana,” though it does not specify what happens if the official is disciplined.

Ganapini added: “Over and over, Indiana Republicans failed to remove him. They now own his shameful conduct and the crisis it’s created.”

Hill is dismissing calls from Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb for his resignation since the groping allegations became public in 2018. ‘This decision bolsters the case of the victims going forward on the route that they’re on,” Holcomb said during a press briefing Monday.

Hill is a pro-life Republican and is seeking a second term despite the allegations. He also frequently makes public gestures expressing his position on abortion.

He visited a South Bend, Indiana, funeral home in February to commemorate the 2,411 babies whose remains the late abortionist Ulrich Klopfer hoarded. The babies could not be buried in the states that their mothers were from because their bodies were too deteriorated for transportation, Hill said at the time.