Website, ads go after Bagsby’s criminal record, business dealings in primary against Alting
Senate Majority Campaign Committee attacks ‘a pattern of criminal and unethical behavior’ by Sen. Alting's GOP challenger. Bagsby’s response: ‘I am not running from my story. I am running on it.'
Support for this edition comes from Delphi Opera House, where the 10th Anniversary Season continues. The second half of the season kicks off Saturday, Feb. 21, with Livingston Taylor (yes, brother to James Taylor) performing at 7:30 p.m. The following Saturday, Feb. 28, My Brother’s Keeper, an Ohio-based progressive bluegrass band performs. The First Friday in March, Indy-based rock band, Warrior Kings, brings a night of Led Zeppelin classics to the Opera House. For live music in a historic, intimate venue, look to the Delphi Opera House with over 21 shows playing before the season concludes at the end of May. For the lineup, tickets and more, go to www.delphioperahouse.org.
PAC, NEW ADS GO AFTER BAGSBY’S CRIMINAL RECORD, BUSINESS DEALINGS IN PRIMARY AGAINST SEN. RON ALTING
A political action committee backing state Sen. Ron Alting for re-election in Indiana Senate District 22 took aim this week at Richard Bagsby, pointing to the Republican challenger’s criminal past, among other history pulled from public records.
The Senate Majority Campaign Committee, a group designed to back incumbent Republican senators, posted a dedicated website Monday called The Bagsby Record, detailing the Tippecanoe County minister and real estate businessman’s past prison sentence for cocaine dealing, driver’s license suspensions and business dealings that wound up in court
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The page, with a disclaimer that it isn’t authorized by a candidate, blasts Bagsby for “a consistent pattern of criminal conduct, legal violations and poor judgment.”
Alting told BiL Monday that he didn’t have a comment to add about the Senate Majority Campaign Committee’s site.
“His record speaks for itself,” Alting said.
But a frenetic TV ad broadcast the same day, paid for by Alting’s campaign, pulled some of the same information targeting Bagsby in what already was shaping up to be a contentious primary fight between now and May 5.
Bagsby, who announced his campaign in spring 2025 and has targeted Alting for not being conservative enough for the Senate district, said he knew he’d be attacked on a past he wrote about in a memoir he titled, “Transformation: The Untold Story of Richard Richmond.”
“My life has not been perfect. But it has been transparent,” Bagsby said Tuesday. “What is troubling is not that my past is being discussed – it is that a 28-year incumbent cannot defend his own record and instead relies on personal attacks funded by the Senate Majority Campaign Committee.”
Matt Zapfe, executive director of the Senate Majority Campaign Committee, said: “I will tell you that we stand by the content in these ads.”
“Mr. Bagsby has a pattern of criminal and unethical behavior as the documents clearly demonstrate,” Zapfe said. “His cavalier attitude toward the law and basic civic responsibility is blatantly obvious. We believe the voters have a right to know.”
The website details charges dating to 2004, when he received a deferred sentence in Oklahoma for marijuana and cocaine possession and distribution. The site posts a court case, since expunged, from 2008 when Bagsby pleaded guilty to drug charges and was sentenced in Tippecanoe Superior Court 1 to six years in prison. The site also includes police reports for traffic stops that led to no arrests.
The Senate Majority Campaign Committee included records pointing to multiple evictions, loan defaults and civil court rulings against his construction business, B Squared Construction Service, for unpaid materials and breach of contract. The civil cases listed include filings as recent as January 2026.
The website also questions why Bagsby, who the Senate Majority Campaign Committee says couldn’t vote in 12 elections due to criminal sentencing, skipped voting in “another 12 elections by his own choice.”
Bagsby said he’s not running from that past, something he brings up on campaign stops about what he calls “the failures, the consequences and the redemption that followed.”
“Yes, decades ago I made serious mistakes,” Bagsby said. “I served my time and was legally expunged under Indiana law. I have never hidden that fact. … I have also been transparent about my business challenges, including the collapse of my construction company after being left unpaid for over $300,000 by a general contractor. I did not run from it.”
Bagsby said in that situation, he chose to pay workers “and I go down with the ship, lawsuits and all.” With court actions still coming, he said he “will eventually consolidate the debt and pay it off gradually.”
Bagsby raised questions about Alting’s voting record that he’s been calling out since early in his campaign – and that cropped up last week in a social media post in which Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith used air quotes to label Alting’s status as a Republican while challenging him on votes on the state’s near-total abortion ban and other hot-button issues. Beckwith is backing Bagsby, introducing him during his campaign announcement in May 2025 and earlier this month offering a keynote speech during an event hosted by Bagsby, called the District 22 Reagan Dinner.
“Why is the Senate Majority Campaign Committee protecting a career politician instead of defending conservative values?” Bagsby asked. “I was fully prepared for this attack though and will continue to push through this campaign with my head high. … I am not running from my story. I am running on it.”
The winner of the Republican primary May 5 will face either Natasha Baker of Battle Ground or Marlena Edmondson of Lafayette, Democrats on the Senate District 22 ballot, in the Nov. 3 general election.
Indiana Senate District 22 includes Lafayette, the eastern part of Tippecanoe County and neighboring Carroll County.
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THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
LOCAL TOURISM NUMBERS: Visit Lafayette-West Lafayette this week was touting 2024 numbers from a new study by the Indiana Destination Development Corp. that put tourism in Tippecanoe County at $630.7 million in visitor spending and $368.5 million in net new economic value. Among the findings for Tippecanoe County in a report compiled by Rockport Analytics:
Tippecanoe County ranked seventh among Indiana’s 92 counties for overall visitor spending.
Visitor spending accounted for 8,235 jobs, including 6,727 direct jobs at hotels, restaurants and related businesses, contributing $214.2 million in total wages.
Tax revenue from travel, tourism and hospitality in 2024 was $43.3 million in Tippecanoe County. Of that $69.9 million came from state and local taxes.
Check out the full report here.
‘SALUTE TO WOMEN’ HONOREES NAMED: YWCA Greater Lafayette will honor the achievements of eight women during its annual Salute to Women celebration March 5.
Among the women being honored:
Sophia Betz, Rising Star: Betz is president of Students in Action at McCutcheon High School, where she also has been part of the school’s Spell Bowl team, Drama Club, Art Club and International Club.
Audra May, Woman of Promise: May is a coach and owner of Accelerated Fastpitch Academy.
Amanda Findlay, Woman of Distinction: Findlay is executive director of MatchBOX Studios, a coworking and entrepreneur space in downtown Lafayette.
Libby Richards, Woman of Distinction: Richards is a professor and head of the School of Nursing at Purdue University.
Tracy Orbin, Woman of Distinction: Orbin is a nonprofit leader and community advocate based in West Lafayette.
Shireen Hafeez, Woman of Distinction: Hafeez is the founder of Deaf Kids Code, a national nonprofit that has worked with over 16,000 individuals in more than 60 locations.
Lindsay Mputubwele, Woman of Distinction: Mputubwele is a certified childbirth educator and birth doula and serves as the executive director of Transformed Birth Services.
Marie Morse, Woman of Wisdom: Morse is executive director of Homestead Resources, a Lafayette nonprofit focused on affordable housing.
The YWCA Salute to Women 2026 recognition will be 5:30 p.m. March 5 at the Stables Event Center. For tickets and more information, check bit.ly/2026SalutetoWomen.
Support for this edition comes from Delphi Opera House, where the 10th Anniversary Season continues. For the lineup, tickets and more, go to www.delphioperahouse.org.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
The problem with a guy like Bagsby is he expects everyone else to grant him grace for his failings while wanting to represent a party (exemplified at the state level by its lieutenant governor) that is united around a vengeful president who practices grace toward nobody. They wants the benefits of Christian grace but set aside Christ's principles in favor of political idolatry.
Fortunately, the District 22 election isn’t a binary choice between a sellout voting for redistricting and someone whose legal “past” is not all behind him (Is he truly reformed, or will his legislative decisions be based only on self interest? At best, his current legal will be a distraction).
The Democratic primary will give us another choice.