Former AG Hill named fellow at Washington, D.C. think tank

Former Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill has been named a senior fellow at a Washington, D.C., think tank.

The Times of Northwest Indiana reported last week that Hill was recently named a senior fellow at the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, or CURE.

CURE describes its mission as “aim(ing) to fight poverty and restore dignity through scholarship supporting faith, freedom, and personal responsibility.” It was founded in 1995 by Star Parker, described by the organization as “one of the names on the short list of national Black conservative leaders.” According to CURE, Parker was appointed by former President Donald Trump to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights California Advisory Committee and served on the White House Opportunity Initiative in 2017, among other public and advocacy work.

“As one of the nation’s leading black voices, Curtis Hill is an exciting addition to our team,” Parker said, according to the NWI Times. “As an attorney general, he saw firsthand the damage that government dependence causes to black communities.”

Hill was the longtime Elkhart County prosecutor before he was elected Indiana attorney general in 2016, defeating Democrat Lorenzo Arredondo with 62% of the vote. He succeeded two-term GOP Attorney General Greg Zoeller, who did not seek reelection.

During his time in statewide office, Hill was a stalwart conservative, signing onto a Texas lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate now-President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. He also added Indiana to a lawsuit challenging the Affordable Care Act. 

Additionally, Hill was a visible Trump supporter, publicly opposing the articles of impeachment filed against the former president in early 2020. 

The former AG also met with Trump on multiple occasions, including a February 2018 trip to the White House to discuss school safety and gun reform. 

But Hill began to lose favor with the Indiana Republican Party following allegations in 2018 that he drunkenly groped four women without their consent at a legislative party that March.

Hill has consistently denied wrongdoing, and a special prosecutor declined to press criminal charges. But the Indiana Supreme Court suspended his law license for 30 days with automatic reinstatement in May 2020 after determining Hill had violated the Indiana Rules of Professional Conduct by committing battery against the women.

Even before the suspension was handed down, Indiana lawmakers attempted to pass legislation that would have removed Hill from office if he was suspended for 30 days or more. That legislation ultimately failed, however.

Additionally, Hill has been named in state and federal civil lawsuits filed by his four accusers: former Democratic state Rep. Mara Candelaria Reardon and former Indiana legislative staffers Gabrielle McLemore Brock, Niki DaSilva and Samantha Lozano. Hill has been dismissed as a defendant in the federal case but is facing a September jury trial in the state case. 

In June 2020, the Indiana GOP selected now-Attorney General Todd Rokita to run as the party’s representative in the November general election.  Rokita went on to defeat Democrat Jonathan Weinzapfel.

Rokita entered the race for the GOP nomination relatively late in the primary election cycle, waiting until after Hill was disciplined to announce his candidacy.  But he was not Hill’s only Republican challenger — Decatur County Prosecutor Nate Harter and Indianapolis lawyer John Westercamp also sought the Republican nomination. 

Hill has kept a relatively low profile since his defeat at the 2020 Indiana GOP convention.

His entry on the Indiana Roll of Attorneys has remained blank since he left office, and his official social media accounts have not been updated since March 2021. Last November, the former AG told a crowd gathered at an event in Noblesville that he was “considering” running for office in the future, although he did not specify which office, according to WFYI-FM.