Lucas' Controversial Post on Social Media Draws Scrutiny

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Barely two months after he was demoted from leadership posts by the Republican House caucus for what many considered to be a racially-charged Facebook post, Jim Lucas, the District 69 State Representative, has again posted something controversial.

Lucas, who has been a frequent critic of the state's pandemic response, took to Facebook to express his outrage over the mandate asking Hoosiers to wear a mask. This picture of the post is circulating on social media. 

Lucas met with almost immediate backlash and even some praise on the post. After the outrage began to outweigh the praise with many people seeing the post as a potential threat against Governor Eric Holcomb, Lucas added an addendum to the post:

For those that are blowing this out of proportion (again), this picture IS NOT a threat against anyone! 

It is a picture that I have used countless times for years that best exhibits our FREEDOM and Constitutional rights and IS NOT A THREAT!

History shows that the posts from yesterday were right in character for Lucas.

Lucas once posted a letter he wrote to an Indy Star reporter who had written a story about rape suggesting a follow-up story about women "learning how not to be a victim." Lucas apologized.

Another time, he also shared a meme with a picture of a woman in the trunk of a car with the caption, "Wanna know who loves you more: your wife or your dog? Lock them both in your trunk and see who's happy to see you when you let them out."

On WISH-TV's Facebook page, Lucas once shared a photo of two nooses under a story where a black man had confessed to raping three women in Indiana. Lucas claimed the photo posting had nothing to do with the race of the man who admitted to the rapes.

Then, that post I mentioned earlier in this post from last May that caused him to write this (ahem) apology

In almost every case, Lucas accuses those who take umbrage with his posts as making a mountain out of a molehill. He also has claimed multiple times that the pictures or memes he posts have been used by him in other ways before in trying to excuse the use. You can almost set your watch by it.

One has to truly wonder what Lucas' intentions were in this case. Does he think he can intimidate Governor Holcomb? Holcomb, who has polled strongly since taking office, is a longtime GOP insider and former Indiana Republican Party Chair with inside ties to Dan Coats, Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence. He's Donald Trump's honorary campaign chair in Indiana.

Lucas is a State Representative who has managed to get catty-wompus with his own party.

Holcomb's not intimidated. He's right on masks. He may have taken a little time to get there, but action had to be taken to help slow the spread. Masks don't violate anyone's rights. They protect your health.

One thing's for darn sure, Lucas' history shows that he's clearly not changing the way he goes about his social media activities. Some would say that it's been the minimal consequences that he's faced that emboldens him. He seems to believe he's untouchable politically. Perhaps he's too comfortable in his seat, but it's his seat until someone defeats him at the ballot box.

Just so you know, voters of District 69, Jeffery Prewitt is running against Lucas, and there's also an independent on the ballot named Katrina Hardwick. You have a choice.

For now, I'll mark the tape because I am quite sure there will be a new, controversial Lucas post sometime soon. When it happens, I'll even use the same headline.

Larrison's Past Blog Posts Provide District 12 Caucus Eve Surprise

When Blake Johnson was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Dan Forestal, who resigned from his District 100 post in the Indiana House, it set off a race to replace him on the City-County Council

Many community leaders and several City-County Councillors have come out in support of Karla Lopez-Owens to replace Johnson. Mayor Joe Hogsett has backed former employee Jason Larrison for the spot. So, as you might imagine, the caucus has taken a turn and has become a bit of a proxy battle between the Council and the Mayor. Francine Lee, who has supporters of her own, is also in the race to become a Councillor as well.

Well, this race took a turn this evening. Call it a "Caucus Eve Surprise" if you will.

Tonight, the Indianapolis Star published an article by Amelia Pak-Harvey detailing blog posts written in 2006 and 2007 where Larrison had made insensitive remarks about undocumented immigrants, women and members of the LGBTQIA+ community. 

For his part, Larrison apologized without any confusion. After explaining to the Pak-Harvey that he was unsuccessfully attempting to be a blogger and a comedian at the time he penned the posts, he said, "I made bad jokes that were completely unacceptable and I am not the sort of person to make excuses when I screw up."

That's a definitive apology, and I credit him for taking responsibility. He didn't go the wishy washy way of saying that he was apologizing if he offended someone. He said he was clearly wrong. 

The apology, though, in my opinion is not enough. The posts were unacceptable, as he stated, and they were disqualifying. Larrison should drop out of this race before the caucus on Tuesday. I believe that no matter his contrition, the posts were written and that will damage his ability to effectively serve his constituents. District 12 has, according to the Star, the highest percentage of Hispanic and Latinx individuals in our city.

That's not all, though. I'm also disappointed in Mayor Hogsett, who, according to the Star piece, condemned Larrison's past posts but continues to support his candidacy. I think that's incredibly unfortunate, and it has the potential to strain the relationships between the Mayor and the Latinx community in Indianapolis.

I agree with the Councillors and community leaders backing Karla Lopez-Owens. She should be given the opportunity to lead the 12th District on the Council. She appears qualified and ready to lead the district forward.

UPDATE: After having read some of the posts in question (found them on a Facebook post of a friend), I think Joe Hogsett needs to answer as to why he is continuing to support Larrison's campaign at all. The posts are definitely disqualifying.