Recent Columns

“It was all a lie,” a really big one

Jan 15, 2021

I reevaluated how I was spending my time after election season. Even though the big one went my way, I was exhausted with all of it. And with "the big one" not actually being called until November 7, it was clear to me I needed to change the channel, focus more on...

The MAGA flags and hats are now symbols of insurrection

Jan 8, 2021

Take the yard signs down. Put that magic red hat back in the closet. And for the love of America, get rid of the Trump flags. It no longer matters what those symbols may have once meant to you. It is more important what they mean to the rest of us now. It is ironic...

By a nose, some good things in the worst year ever

Dec 31, 2020

I noticed something spectacular the other day when walking by a mirror: the mask I like to wear makes my nose look smaller! OK, maybe it just gently diverts attention from one of the most obvious gifts inherited from my father. I'm not self conscious about my schnoz,...

Christmas traditions should always have a story

Dec 25, 2020

In the classic holiday movie, A Christmas Story, Ralphie gets the opportunity of his young life when his mom suggests he go help his dad change a flat tire on the way home from buying the family's Christmas tree. The opportunity goes south when Ralphie spills the hub...

2020’s memory will be something, and something else

Dec 18, 2020

As I regularly do, it is time to revisit Pew Research to see some preliminary findings about a year like none other. Some might ask: “Why do we need research on this when we are actively living it?” My inspiration comes from a discussion I had regarding an important...

Hillbilly Elegy is just another family drama

Dec 11, 2020

What’s the big deal about this one? I must have been looking the other way in 2016 when J.D. Vance published his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. The book took on the role of “the crucial guide to understanding the rise of President...

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Keeping the Big Ten Network on the Air

One of Mr. Leppert’s successful projects was his media campaign on behalf of the Big Ten Network in its dispute with cable formats for broad distribution of the network during its start-up years. He wrote and distributed press releases, organized supporters to attend press conferences and traveled the state for media events with both Mark Silverman, the original president of the network and Jim Delany, the long-time commissioner of the Big Ten Conference. Silverman has since moved into an executive position at Fox Sports, and Delany has announced his retirement in June of this year. The media output and related responses to it were vital in moving the stalled discussions to a mutually beneficial resolution between the network and cable formats. The Big Ten Network is distributed widely today and is a model for college sports networks.

The three of us were only flagged for speeding one time during the campaign, fittingly on State Road 37, while racing between press conferences at IU and downtown Indianapolis.

Moving Indiana Forward with Bias Crimes Legislation

Mr. Leppert was engaged by the United Way of Central Indiana to design and implement the campaign in 2018-19 for the passage of new hate/bias crime legislation in Indiana. The foundation of this coalition was built by joining two organizations, the Indiana Alliance Against Hate, and Indiana Competes. After several years of resistance in the Indiana General Assembly, specifically since the RFRA session of 2015, this campaign was the catalyst to passage of the new law and removing Indiana from the list of only five states without hate crimes legislation.

More than 800 members of the smaller merged entities were mobilized. Press events were held throughout the state. Editorial boards were visited. Letter writing and phone banking strategies were implemented. The management of this large group, and the short timeframe available to make our impact was an experience. While the law enacted by the legislature did not include all of the protected classes our coalition sought for inclusion, the establishment of hate or bias as statutory consideration in sentencing was established for many classes. Our campaign proved successful.