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June 17, 2012

Bopp says change a sign of rift in GOP Attorney: Lugar backers behind moves

Arthur Foulkes The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — The removal of Terre Haute attorney Jim Bopp from the Republican National Committee exposes a division between the state party leadership and the grassroots, Bopp asserted last week.

The 22-person Indiana Republican Central Committee voted June 8 to remove Bopp, replacing him as one of the state’s three representatives on the RNC with John Hammond, an Indianapolis attorney long active in GOP politics.

Bopp said his ouster from the 168-member national party leadership organization is part of a “purge” within the state party leadership of those who supported state treasurer Richard Mourdock in the May Republican Primary over Sen. Richard Lugar.

“They [Lugar supporters] have the clout on the state committee,” Bopp said Thursday evening in a telephone interview with the Tribune-Star. “Rather than thinking about the good of the country and the state and trying to unite the party, they decided on a purge.”

Although Mourdock received support from six of every 10 Republicans in May’s primary, Lugar and his supporters have the upper hand within the state committee, Bopp said.

“That means there is a big disconnect between the state organization and the grassroots,” Bopp said. “You would think that people who had the good of the state and the country in mind would want to bridge that divide rather than exacerbate it.”

Bopp will remain part of the RNC through this year’s party convention in Tampa. He has been named for a fourth-consecutive time to the party’s platform committee and is one of eight national party vice chairmen.

In a news release issued Tuesday, state Republican party chairman Eric Holcomb said Hammond, “has dedicated most of his life to serving the Republican Party and its candidates. Representing his fellow Hoosier Republicans on the [RNC] is a natural next step.”

Randy Gentry, secretary of the Vigo County Republican Party, is the GOP vice chairman of Indiana’s 8th District and, as such, sits on the 22-person GOP state central committee that voted to replace Bopp. Reached Wednesday, he said he believes Bopp’s removal was part of the normal “ebb and flow” of politics.

“It’s not unique that there are changes,” Gentry said. “I wasn’t vice chair of the district two years ago. There are changes. There are always changes. People are elected. People are brought into the fold or elected to positions. I don’t find what happened anything different than what I’ve experienced personally.”

At the same time Hammond was chosen, the state Republican central committee also voted to name Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman to the RNC, a move Bopp said he actively favored.

However, Bopp faults Sen. Lugar for setting what he considers a divisive tone within the state party leadership.

“Lugar has kind of led this,” Bopp said. “He is refusing to campaign for Mourdock … [Lugar] has kind of set the tone.”

Although Bopp’s law practice is in Terre Haute, he is a nationally known lawyer who has argued 10 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, winning six of them. Perhaps his best-known victory, the recent Citizens United decision, lifted restrictions on corporations and labor unions in political campaigns on First Amendment grounds.

Prior to that victory, Bopp may have been best known for his role as the decadeslong general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee, a national anti-abortion organization.

In 2009, the Republican National Lawyers Association named Bopp 2009 Republican Lawyer of the Year. In 2006, the American Bar Association Journal, in a cover feature story titled “The Big Bopper,” noted that Bopp had argued cases in every federal circuit, something practically no other lawyer has done.

Despite losing his position at the RNC, Bopp said he has no regrets.

“I would not do a single thing different,” he said. “It’s obvious that my views are much more attuned to the views of the average Republican than apparently our state committee.”

Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.

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