HELP SUPPORT INDEPENDENT JOURNALISM BY BECOMING A SUBSCRIBING MEMBER. YOU CAN ALSO MAKE A ONE TIME DONATION HERE.
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Since 2021, an organization known as Indiana Call to Action has been operating within the Michiana area seemingly outside of the bounds of all of the state’s business and political laws. Starting as a grassroots conservative movement that appeared to have the simple goal of educating the public on COVID, Critical Race Theory, radical gender ideology and other important conservative causes — it quickly transformed into a what appears to be an influence peddling scheme from the people running it, greasing the palms of influential politicians and a popular media personality for their own personal and financial gain.
AN UNREGISTERED PAC
Indiana Call to Action (INCTA) was founded and is run by realtor and conservative activist Ashley Leader, along with another local member of the Republican Party Cindy Dunlop and sitting St. Joseph County Councilwoman Amy Drake.
According to their website, Indiana Call to Action exists “To inform busy, hardworking conservatives of pertinent legislation and to help facilitate their engagement in the political process to affect policy at the local, state, and federal levels.” Following recent inquiries from RNM, INCTA added a disclaimer to their website, claiming the organization is not a PAC, despite meeting every definition within the law.
Further, according to US Code “an organization becomes a PAC when it receives or spends more than $1,000 for the purpose of influencing a federal election, and registers with the Federal Election Commission, according to the Federal Election Campaign Act as amended by the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002.”
On top of hosting events to push legislative action, INCTA has held fundraisers and events with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, US Senate Candidate Jim Banks and more.
If not being registered as a PAC wasn’t bad enough, INCTA isn’t even listed as a registered non-profit or business in the state of Indiana. For all intents and purposes, it’s a ghost organization. However, they gladly accept and solicit donations. Nothing is taxed. Nothing is reported to the IRS. Nothing is reported to the FEC. All is illegal.
So, why does that matter?
A registered campaign or PAC must file what’s known as CFA-4 financial disclosure forms with the state where every dollar is publicly tracked — laying out who the donors are and where/what the donation money is being spent on. This information protects voters and citizens from being taken advantage of. None of those mechanisms exist for Indiana Call to Action.
As it turns out, some of that money has reportedly been funneled to conservative radio show host Casey Hendrickson of 95.3 MNC, who has pushed and promoted the INCTA’s preferred candidates, in violation of federal law.
CASEY HENDRICKSON AND APPARENT PLUGOLA
Hendrickson is currently listed as a “partner” with the INCTA on their website, with his biography and credentials listed below his headshot. It turns out, he has been involved with INCTA since it started in 2021, assisting with hosting and emceeing nearly every event they have held. In fact, REAL News Michiana’s Clifton French co-hosted one event with him in 2022. While RNM participated in the event for free as it was considered publicity for our fledgling news outlet, Hendrickson has admitted to RNM to getting paid by INCTA for his involvement. Ashley Leader, the founder of INCTA, confirmed Hendrickson was being paid by the organization after he had done several events for free.
Starting in 2023, Hendrickson has been overtly supporting the INCTA leadership’s preferred candidates while attacking their opponents, mainly within Republican primary races. He has never disclosed his relationship with INCTA. This is violation of federal “Plugola and Payola” laws, which come with a penalty of $10,000 and up to 1-year in prison for every infraction.
The most egregious incidents were earlier this year involving the Republican primary for the St. Joseph County Council District I seat between Anthony “Andy” Rutten and Kent Hizer. Hendrickson promoted and interviewed Rutten on a near daily basis, while never reaching out to Hizer and launching full throated attacks against his character. It turns out, Rutten’s biggest supporter was INCTA founder Ashley Leader (who goes by Ashley Silcox on Facebook). It’s important to note, Councilwoman Amy Drake, who is also involved with INCTA, recruited Rutten to run. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, who is also a “partner” at INCTA, endorsed Rutten as well.
“I was extremely disappointed that Casey Hendrickson never reached out to me and gave my opponent unfettered access to his show and audience.” Hizer told RNM. “This gave my opponent an unfair advantage in the race. In addition, Casey participated in ad hominem attacks against my character. When he was asked by another individual by email, he falsely accused me of being aggressive with the station’s sales staff. He also blocked me from all of his social media feeds, so I had no way to respond to anything.”
Hendrickson did the same in the County Council District F primary race, where he only allowed Republican Randy Figg to have airtime, while refusing the same for Kris Verash. Figg was supported by Leader and Drake.
During the same primary season, Hendrickson refused to interview County Commissioner Tony Hazen. Text messages between Hendrickson and Hazen’s campaign manager can be seen below. Hazen’s opponent was being supported by Leader and Drake.
Earlier this summer, Hendrickson did the same thing with conservative candidates for the Penn Harris Madison School Board. While he was more than willing to give airtime to candidate Doug Chaffee, he refused to give candidate Ben Dallas the time of day. Ashley Leader was an early supporter of Chaffee. Emails showing Hendrickson declining Dallas’ request can be seen below. Dallas also posted a video on youtube describing the situation.
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS
So, why would Hendrickson risk his career with such apparent blatant violations of the law? A possible reasoning would be his current dire financial situation.
In 2023, Hendrickson filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. According to the 72-page filing in federal court, he has more than $300,000 in debt consisting of mainly credit cards, various personal loans and attorneys. Those documents can be seen below.
Hendrickson is also currently going through a costly divorce and custody dispute.
Within the last couple of years he got a second, part-time job at a local factory, making approximately $15/hour.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Casey Hendrickson interviewed Tom McCormick during his primary campaign. McCormick contacted REAL News Michiana stating he never did an interview with Hendrickson on the air.
Want to keep seeing the news the legacy media just won’t report? REAL News Michiana relies on member subscribers to keep going. As a subscriber, you’ll get an RNM mug and invites to special events. Help us continue to expose corruption and report on the news conservatives care about by subscribing here.
Wow, so disappointing!