Morales tops all state officers with practically $33K in journey bills

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales tops all statewide officers in journey bills, in accordance with the newest fiscal experiences.

The State Budget Committee launched the journey expense experiences on Wednesday in compliance with a new state law, which mandates a yearly expense report on all journeys taken by state officers inside an official capability. The officers are required to reveal whether or not state funding was used to cowl the price of the journey.

The new state legislation was handed within the wake of controversy surrounding Morales’s journey to India throughout the center of state finances deliberations earlier this 12 months. Many questioned Morales’s use of public funds for out-of-state journeys, although Morales later claimed he reimbursed the bills from the India journey with private funds.

While the India journey will not be included on the newly launched journey expense report, 20 different out-of-state journeys are. One journey to Puerto Rico in July 2024 price taxpayers $4,240. This was Morales’s costliest journey, outpacing a $4,088 expensed journey to Washington, D.C. in October 2024 that included a gathering with the Hungarian Embassy. Morales would later go on an out-of-state journey to Hungary in May, claiming on social media posts that the journey was private and paid for by a conservative group.

The yearly journey expense report for Morales totaled roughly $23,000 in taxpayer funds for out-of-state journeys over the previous 12 months, with an extra roughly $10,000 coming from in-state journey.

Not even Gov. Mike Braun racked up this huge a journey expense report, regardless of documenting 144 journeys within the final 12 months. Most of Braun’s bills had been listed as costing taxpayers underneath $50, with the biggest outlier being a helicopter flight to Trine University in Angola to ship a graduation speech, which was expensed at $4,200.

In whole, Braun’s bills didn’t even prime $8,000, in accordance with the fiscal experiences.

Other state officers’ journey prices

Morales’s practically $33,000 in journey bills far exceeded the second-highest journey expense report, which belongs to State Comptroller Elise Nieshalla and was simply shy of $12,000.

A majority of Nieshalla’s journeys had been in-state to county auditors. Out-of-state journeys included attending conferences in North Carolina, Alaska, and Colorado.

Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith documented greater than 100 journeys up to now 12 months. Most had been listed as “speaking event” or “attend event” for the aim of journey. The whole price to taxpayers for Beckwith’s journey was practically $4,300.

Attorney General Todd Rokita offered no particulars for the aim of his journey apart from “official business” on each single entry for his 100 journeys during the last 12 months. Rokita’s largest expense was a $2,237 journey to Washington, D.C. on Sept. 25, 2024. A second journey to Washington in May was expensed at $1,419.

Rokita’s whole journey bills for the previous 12 months had been round $4,700.

State Treasurer Dan Elliott compiled the third-largest expense report. Elliott’s 50+ journeys price taxpayers roughly $9,300. Most of the state treasurer’s journeys are listed merely as “meeting,” “public event” or “media/speaking event.”

Secretary of Education Katie Jenner racked up practically $7,200 in journey bills during the last 12 months. Her journeys included taking part in a panel at South by Southwest in Texas, which price $1,376, and being a keynote speaker on the ASU+GSV Summit in San Diego at a value of $1,456.

Indiana State Police Superintendent Douglas Carter solely traveled thrice on the state’s expense, together with a $4,240 journey to Boston for the International Association of Chiefs of Police convention.

Secretary of Energy and Natural Resources Suzanne Jaworowski had simply shy of $5,000 in journey bills.

Secretary of Commerce David Adams tallied roughly $2,300 in journey bills during the last 12 months. the vast majority of the entire stemmed from a visit to Montreal, Canada, in March for a “business attraction meeting for Bombardier based in Montreal.” This journey price $1,288.

Expense experiences for Trump’s inauguration

Several Indiana officers expensed journeys to Washington, D.C. for President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January. Filed underneath “official business,” Rokita expensed $210 for the journey whereas State Treasurer Dan Elliot charged Hoosier taxpayers $1,470 to attend the presidential inauguration.

Braun’s inauguration journey to Washington, D.C. was expensed at solely $20. Secretary of Business Affairs Mike Speedy additionally attended and listed the inauguration on his journey report, however Speedy’s journey expense report displayed no prices for any of his 20+ journeys.