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Secretary of State Diego Morales is asking for salary increases for his employees and about $6 million in funding for an election cybersecurity program in the next two-year budget cycle, but it’s unclear if he’ll get everything he’s requested.
Jerold Bonnet, deputy director and general counsel for the secretary of state’s office, told Senate lawmakers in a recent committee hearing that a 12.5% increase in salaries for the office’s roughly 80 employees is needed to keep wages competitive and maintain current staffing levels.
“We believe that some adjustments will be necessary to retain the staff that we have,” Bonnet told committee members.
The office is also asking for more than $6 million to continue funding a statewide cybersecurity system to protect the state’s voter registration system.
In 2019, Indiana signed a 40-month, $6.4 million contract with U.S. cybersecurity firm FireEye, which was paid for with federal funds.
Sen. Fady Qaddoura, D-Indianapolis, questioned why the cybersecurity program was needed given that there had been no evidence of significant voter fraud or election tampering in recent elections.
Bonnet said election security has to be taken very seriously, even if there aren’t a significant number of incidents to cause concern.
“If people have a belief about something, then we have to respond so that they will trust and participate in the process,” he said.
Morales himself called the 2020 presidential election a “scam” early in his campaign for secretary of state but later moderated his message.
Sen. Qaddoura also asked Bonnet why administration of the state’s Voting System Technical Oversight Program, which verifies the security and accuracy of voting machines in all 92 counties, had been shifted away from the bipartisan Election Division to the Secretary of State’s administrative offices.
Bonnet said the change only involves administration of the contract and that the Election Division would still be the entity negotiating the cost for services.
Angela Nussmeyer, the Democratic co-director of the Indiana Election Division, confirmed that she wasn’t briefed about moving the fund.
“My concern is that we are losing bipartisan control and oversight over the VSTOP fund,” Nussmeyer said. “By moving the fund and putting the administration solely under one partisan official, it does lead to some concerns that we don’t have the same internal bipartisan controls over other funds within our agency.”
A secretary of state spokesperson said Morales believes the election division was informed of the change by his predecssor, Holli Sullivan.
Brad King, the Republican co-director for the division, did not respond to a request for comment.
The decision to move that fund was made by Sullivan, who proposed the change due to “the effects of inflation and anticipated higher volumes of voting system testing and audits,” according to a letter she sent to the Indiana State Budget Agency in October.
House Republicans’ two-year state budget proposal included the 12.5% increase in salaries and $6 million for election security but did not contain a requested $700,000 per year to fund separate salary increases, security enhancements and other measures in the Election Division.
Senate Republicans have yet to release their version of the budget, and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Ryan Mishler could not immediately be reached for comment on whether his committee would approve Morales’ the funding requests as presented.
Morales overcame numerous criticisms last year to be elected to lead the office that once fired him and twice wrote him up for poor job performance.
Nine days after being elected, Morales hired his brother-in-law to be the co-director of the auto services division of the Secretary of State’s office, a move that raised concerns from Democrats and watchdog groups but did not violate any of the state’s nepotism laws. That division was previously overseen by one director.
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Just created a redundant job with a six figure salary for his brother in law and he’s going to ask for more money for the rest of the office with a straight face?
Get outta here.
Why legislators aren’t leaving Diego Morales with as much power as Brenda Ritz is beyond me.
It’s funny to always read MAGA commenters on here complaining about how corrupt Illinois is. Indiana is just as bad. Almost every state with a perpetual supermajority of either party is corrupt. Look at Mississippi stealing State welfare funding to give Brett Favre money for a new volleyball stadium at the University his daughter attends.
IBJ— remember your editorial supporting the Indy CC when they voted themselves outrageous pay raises and incredibly you also wanted your boy Hogsett to get a raise? I assume you also support these pay raises, right?
I thought Morales was going to get booted for voting in the wrong county. Indiana Republican continue with no back bone. No, no more government spending. Federal Gov. is doing a great job at spending our money.
“If people have a belief about something, then we have to respond so that they will trust and participate in the process,” he said.
What a waste of time and money. You will never convince those who believe the Big Lie, like Diego Morales. You may as well spend the money to fly flat earth adherents into space.
Morales makes me pine for the gentle foolishness of Woody Burton, content with his legacy being In God We Trust license plates. It’s all but assured that Diego will screw up the administration of the 2024 election as he tries to “fix” it … which, I’m sure, will be the blame of everyone except Diego Morales. Maybe that’s what the brother in law is getting six figures a year to do, take the blame.
How long has it been since the staff got raises and what was the percentage?