INDIANAPOLIS – One week before the annual Organization Day at the Statehouse, the Indiana Democratic Party would like to publicly follow up on an outstanding request sent to Mike Pence and his administration this summer – the formal records request on the cancelled contract with Porter Novelli.

“Mike Pence had no problem putting Indiana’s ‘Hoosier Hospitality’ reputation in jeopardy last spring, but he apparently does have a problem showing Hoosiers what their tax dollars were used for in the state’s contract with Porter Novelli. For a contract that was supposed to repair the state’s image, Indiana continues to be the national punchline, and all eyes are on Mike Pence as he’s already late-to-the-game…again,” said Drew Anderson, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party. “With a majority of Hoosiers, top businesses leaders, and third party organizations all calling for protections for the LGBT community, Mike Pence should not only show some transparency in his plans on this issue, but also release all documents involved with the taxpayer funded Porter Novelli contract. Hoosiers deserve to know everything about the contract that was meant to improve the state’s image that Pence so willingly put in jeopardy.”

After forcing Hoosier taxpayers to shell out $365,000 to repair Indiana’s reputation following last spring’s RFRA mess, Governor Mike Pence had a lot of questions to answer with his choice to sever ties with international firm Porter Novelli. However, 127 days after the IDP submitted a formal records request, Mike Pence and his administration have failed to release any documents pertaining to its contract with the PR firm. And in light of Indiana achieving an abysmal “F” grade in public access to information, this silence from Pence now makes perfect sense.

So while Mike Pence continues to “study” the issue of civil rights protections for LGBT Hoosiers, he should go ahead and show the state’s taxpayers what their $365,000 bought them with Porter Novelli.

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