Embattled Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales sent out an e-mail this weekend defending his recent trip to Hungary.
While there on a “personal trip”, Morales met with Hungarian government officials and spoke at a conservative political conference.
Democrats wrote
This week, Diego Morales was caught in Hungary, once again leaving questions his trip.
Diego posted on social media about visiting his wife’s family in Hungary. However, Diego met with several local and national Hungarian officials, even making agreements on participating in conferences and trade shows, seemingly going around Governor Mike Braun. He also made another appearance at CPAC Hungary.
His office has been hiding details as well. Just this week, his office refused to confirm to the IndyStar that he was even in Hungary, or say who paid for his trip. Hoosiers are once again left seeking answers – and maybe footing the bill.
Morales responded as follows..
The Indiana Democrats and their partners in the media are at it again. Trying to manufacture a controversy because they can never win on the issues.
So, let’s go over the facts.
They are upset I took personal time away from the office and went to Hungary. My wife and her family are from Hungary and she has taken a volunteer role as Honorary Consul of Hungary in Indiana. So, we decided to go when I was once again invited to speak at the CPAC Hungary conference. The same event I have attended multiple times. We know the Democrats and the media hate conservatives and our Hoosier values, so it’s expected that they would attack me for that.
Then they went on to attack the Office of the Indiana Secretary of State for not disclosing who paid for the trip. Well, it was a personal trip and the office had no role in it. CPAC Hungary through their Center for Fundamental Rights was generous to pay for travel expenses for this trip. In fact, I have never used taxpayer money to travel internationally and never will.
But there’s more, they went on to attack me for taking time to meet with Hungarian officials while there. I will always take every opportunity to promote Indiana. I am always Indiana Secretary of State, even when I’m out of the office on personal time. I will continue to promote Indiana across the nation and internationally.
It also just happened that while I was there Purdue was signing a letter of intent with a local university. As a Purdue MBA alumni, I was asked to attend when they knew my wife and I would be in Hungary.
The liberal media is focusing on this because they don’t want to talk about the real issues. They want to hide the fact that liberal groups are working on suing the state for our proof of citizenship requirement. They don’t want to talk about how the Democrats fought against the expansion of voter ID for absentee voting. The Democrats and the media instead want to make excuses for why college students can’t get an Indiana Driver’s License to vote.
Through all the noise the crazy left and the media put out there, I’ll continue to do the work that I was elected to do. I will ensure Indiana is a model for election integrity and Hoosiers have confidence their votes are counted and recorded accurately.
Morales trip is just his latest controversy. The most recent ones included a trip to India, for which he would not disclose who paid for the trip. And the Marion County Election Board voted unanimously to launch a formal investigation into whether Morales violated election law by using video footage taken on an Election Day visit at the vote center in Indianapolis and using it in an internet campaign ad.
Morales has announced his intent to run for re-election. He will face Knox County Clerk Dave Shelton. Former Attorney General Curtis Hill and former gubernatorial candidate Jamie Reitenour are also considering a run.
