The Political Spotlight - Episodes Tagged with “Political Accountability”

#748 | Sunday, October 11, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Sun, 11 Oct 2026 21:00:00 -0400

In this 748th episode of The Political Spotlight, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey dives into the latest political drama unfolding in Delaware and Herny Counties.

DELAWARE COUNTY:

At the center of the latest mess in Delaware County is the Delaware County Republican Party Chairman Tim Overton, who, in Bilbrey's view, can't seem to make the right call. One wrong turn after another is creating controversy, confusion, and political fallout, not only for Tim but also for those around him.

HENRY COUNTY:

From there, Bilbrey heads to Henry County, where it appears a #SprolesWatch is officially in effect.

Lame-duck Sheriff John Sproles appears to have a newer, previously county-owned vehicle for sale in his parents' yard. While everything may ultimately prove to be above board, many questions remain about how the vehicle ended up there, how the sale came about, and why Sproles keeps putting himself in situations that at least create the appearance of impropriety.

Staying in Henry County, Bilbrey examines the still-unresolved issue involving two Henry County Sheriff's Department deputies on paid leave for more than five months.

How long will taxpayers continue to foot the bill for their "staycation"? When will the situation finally be resolved? And why is the Henry County Prosecutor's Office dragging its feet?

Lastly, regarding Henry County, Bilbrey has a couple of concerns about the Henry County Merit Commission.

WRAP-UP:

To close out the show, Bilbrey shares his vision for the upcoming Political Candidate Series on The Political Spotlight and outlines what viewers can expect from the program in the week ahead.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 748: https://youtube.com/live/AI5SNGNPkzw

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Connect with The Political Spotlight team on social media:
Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
Twitter: https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🚨🚨🚨
'The Political Spotlight'
LIVE Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. (ET)
Hosted by: Kristopher H. Bilbrey
Produced by: Kate Thornburg & Brandon Rudd
https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://rumble.com/c/ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com
© 2026 Mud Creek Studio.
—

#736 | Sunday, September 20, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0400

In this 736th episode of The Political Spotlight, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey brings back an old favorite right up front: Winchester, Indiana!

It all began with a Winchester Board of Works meeting that two sources sent to Bilbrey for very different reasons. While reviewing the meeting, something caught his attention—and suddenly, an old controversy came back to mind.

That's right. Bilbrey revisits former Winchester Mayor Shon Byrum (D), the five bumbling Republicans who served on the Winchester City Council, and the disastrous decision that brought the "Winchester House" drug treatment facility to Winchester.

Bilbrey recounts what he sees as Byrum's attempt to jump-start his political career by putting Volunteers of America (VOA)'s interests ahead of his responsibility to Winchester's citizens.

But that was roughly TEN YEARS AGO! VOA has been gone from Winchester for years.

So what brought all this back now?

Bilbrey shares what caught his attention at the Winchester Board of Works meeting and takes a well-deserved, long-awaited victory lap!

From there, the spotlight shifts back to Muncie, where the City Council is preparing for three key meetings about the proposed 2027 budget.

All three meetings are scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m. ET:

Meeting 1 - Tuesday, September 22, 2026...
Meeting 2 - Thursday, September 24, 2026...
Meeting 3 - Wednesday, September 30, 2026...

The next couple of weeks in Muncie will be critical, and Bilbrey explains why citizens need to pay attention!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 736: https://youtube.com/live/Dx0F4IssGXE

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#735 | Thursday, September 17, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Thu, 17 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0400

In this 735th episode of The Political Spotlight, Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey is at his wit's end over what he sees as the complete breakdown of "public service" among far too many local public servants across East Central Indiana and beyond.

Muncie, Delaware County.
Anderson, Madison County.
Winchester, Randolph County.
New Castle, Henry County.
Indianapolis, Marion County.

Different communities. Different offices. Same recurring problem:

Too many people in public office seem to have forgotten who they work for... and too many citizens aren't involved and can't be bothered. It's only getting worse!

Bilbrey begins with a brief review of the most recent Muncie Board of Works meeting from Wednesday, September 16, 2026, then turns to the Muncie Redevelopment Commission meeting from earlier today, Thursday, September 17, 2026.

This is where the frustration really mounts.

As calmly as he can, Bilbrey attempts to explain the problems citizens face with the Redevelopment Commission — the decisions being made, the way business is conducted, the lack of accountability, and the larger question of whether the public is truly being served by those exercising public power: Mayor Dan Ridenour and Jeff Howe.

Then, for the rest of the episode, Bilbrey heads straight down the rabbit hole:

It is time for more people to run for local office! Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians!

Not someday! Not after the next disaster! Not after another four years of complaining! Now! Starting now, because the next election cycle begins in January 2027!

If citizens are tired of the same miserable mopes making the same bad decisions, someone has to step up and challenge them.

Bilbrey spends the rest of the show talking directly to the people who keep saying local government is broken — and asking the obvious question:

Are you willing to do something about it?

If better people never file, organize, campaign, or put their names on the ballot, nothing changes.

This episode is about local government, public service, accountability, citizen power, and finding the next generation of people willing to step forward and run for office.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 735: https://youtube.com/live/qIRUU2HHGAM

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#728 | Friday, September 04, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Fri, 04 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0400

(Part 2 of 2) :

Once again, Dr. Katherine Callahan, a contributing correspondent from Madison County, Indiana, joins Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey for this 728th episode (part 2 of 2) of The Political Spotlight to discuss the past couple of weeks of political and governmental developments in and around Madison County!

From residency issues involving a Lapel Councilor to the insanity of the recent Madison County Commissioners meeting, and the open-door violations and more involving the Madison County Parks Board... this is going to be an informative show, as always!

(This is part 2 of a 2-part series)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 728: https://youtube.com/live/14YZzeQfkuM

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Special Guest: Dr. Katherine Callahan.

#727 | Thursday, September 03, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Thu, 03 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0400

(Part 1 of 2) :

Dr. Katherine Callahan, a contributing correspondent from Madison County, Indiana, joins Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey for this 727th episode (part 1 of 2) of The Political Spotlight to discuss the past couple of weeks of political and governmental developments in and around Madison County!

(This is part 1 of a 2-part series)

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 727: https://youtube.com/live/ZulXq0fwr-w

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Special Guest: Dr. Katherine Callahan.

#726 | Wednesday, September 02, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Wed, 02 Sep 2026 21:00:00 -0400

The Political Spotlight examines Grant County Commissioner Chuck Poling and the investigation his local government requested into his WILD behavior over the past couple of years, both before and during his tenure as Commissioner.

The investigation ran for roughly five weeks, from late July 2026 through September 2, 2026, but it examined allegations and incidents dating back at least to 2025 — and, in some witness accounts, even earlier.

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey outlines serious allegations against Grant County Commissioner Chuck Poling and details his conduct in county government.

According to the investigation, former Grant County Treasurer Tiffany Griffith described an atmosphere of fear, intimidation, political pressure, and concerns about possible retaliation—concerns she says were significant enough to prompt her to leave county government after years of public service.

Grant County Recorder Kathy Foy has described alleged aggressive behavior, political pressure, retaliation after disagreements, workplace incidents, employee concerns, and attempts to influence decisions within county government.

In this episode, Bilbrey lays out the timeline, examines the accounts, and begins connecting the events, personalities, political relationships, and government actions surrounding this developing story in Grant County.

What happened?

Who knew what — and when?

Were county employees intimidated or pressured?

Were political relationships influencing county government operations?

What records, security footage, public meeting minutes, written statements, and other documentation could help establish exactly what happened?

And perhaps most importantly:

Is Grant County government operating in a way that citizens should accept from those entrusted with public power?

These are serious allegations, but as Bilbrey often says, "allegations are not automatically facts." When multiple current and former elected officials describe troubling experiences in the same county government, those claims deserve scrutiny — and the public deserves answers.

Grant County and Commissioner Poling are under the white-hot spotlight in this episode. As Bilbrey said in April and May 2025, "something is up with Commissioner Poling; it's just a matter of time until it hits the fan!"

Well, surprise, surprise... Bilbrey was right again, and he discusses it all tonight!

Also, Bilbrey begins with a brief word about Henry and Madison Counties!

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 726: https://youtube.com/live/Z09tLy-LEVU

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#714 | Monday, August 10, 2026 | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 21:00:00 -0400

Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey offers his thoughts on three major topics in Indiana State politics — and all three raise the same fundamental question:

Who holds the power in Indiana, and how far can they use it?

🔴 1. BRAUN vs. ANDY ZAY — THE IURC LAWSUIT

Former Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission member Andy Zay is suing Gov. Mike Braun after Braun removed him from the commission on Monday, August 3, 2026.

Zay alleges that the Braun administration improperly pressured him over the pending AES Indiana rate case and retaliated after the commission reached an outcome the administration opposed.

Was Zay legitimately fired “for cause” — or was an independent regulator removed because he wouldn’t deliver the result the governor wanted?

What does this mean for the IURC’s independence, utility rates, executive authority, and the future of the AES case?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🔴 2. THE INDIANA STATE SENATE DISTRICT 23 RECOUNT FLIPS THE WINNER

The razor-thin Republican primary between State Sen. Spencer Deery and Trump-backed challenger Paula Copenhaver has now flipped after a recount.

Copenhaver comes out on top after Deery — one of the Republican senators who opposed the push for mid-cycle congressional redistricting — had appeared to survive by only a handful of votes.

Was this simply an extraordinarily close local election?

Or is it another warning to Indiana Republicans about the political consequences of crossing President Donald Trump?

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🔴 3. WHO TAKES CONTROL OF THE INDIANA SENATE

Indiana Senate President Pro Tem Rodric Bray is stepping down from the chamber’s top leadership role, and the fight to succeed him is underway.

Sen. Chris Garten is seeking the leadership post as Republicans continue to grapple with the fallout from the redistricting battle that fractured the caucus.

The question now:

Is the Indiana Senate Republican Caucus about to move in a fundamentally different direction?

Tonight, we connect all three stories and examine the broader battle over power, loyalty, executive authority, control of the Republican Party, and the future of Indiana politics.

Join the conversation.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

VIDEO version of Ep 714: https://youtube.com/live/sLubpoBx6Wk

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Subscribe: https://bit.ly/subTPS
Become a Member: https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS
Merch: https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday — Thursday at 9 p.m. ET)

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Podcast: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& All Other Podcast Hosting Sites

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

#503 | Big Resignation in Lt Gov's Office, Judge Arnett News, & More! | The Political Spotlight

Kristopher H. Bilbrey, Kate Thornburg, & Brandon Rudd (The Political Spotlight) — Thu, 07 Aug 2025 21:00:00 -0400

"Resignation Shock" from Indiana's second-highest office, "Disciplinary Charges" filed against Randolph County Judge, and "Political Spin" from the one and only, "evil" Ed Soliday, Indiana State Representative.

On this 503rd episode of 'The Political Spotlight,' Host Kristopher H. Bilbrey explores the latest "breaking news" from the Indiana Lieutenant Governor’s office. Communications Director Jim Kehoe suddenly resigned on Thursday morning, August 7, 2025, amid the ongoing fallout from the controversial AI deepfake video scandal. Bilbrey shares his thoughts on Kehoe's resignation, the ongoing drama, and what this departure could mean for the Lieutenant Governor's office and the Governor's administration overall.

Next, Bilbrey discusses newly filed disciplinary charges against Randolph County Superior Court Judge Dale Arnett — an investigation that has been ongoing for months. Bilbrey shares his thoughts on the current situation.

Then, as a follow-up to Episode 502, Bilbrey addresses State Representative Ed Soliday, who recently threatened the entire city of Portage, Indiana, via text. Soliday has issued a statement, admitting to sending the message, but his explanation raises eyebrows and questions, and honestly, Bilbrey just isn't convinced by what he's trying to sell!

Finally, Bilbrey looks into the vice president’s quiet, closed-door meeting with Indiana state officials. Why all the secrecy, and how long until Governor Braun calls for the "special session?"

From high-profile resignations to political spin and hidden meetings... Bilbrey keeps the spotlight where it belongs — on the government officials who don't seem to light the light!

============================

VIDEO version of Ep 503: https://youtube.com/live/oB20i6kADDQ . . .

============================

Enjoy our content? Give us a like or a review!
Dig our content? Subscribe to the show!

============================

The Political Spotlight Airs LIVE
(Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. ET)
YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight

Audio Only Podcast Link: https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
& all other hosting sites.

============================

Become a Member of the YouTube Channel:
https://bit.ly/MembershipTPS

============================

Get Your OFFICIAL Show Merch:
https://bit.ly/Spotlight_Merch

============================

Connect with us on social media:
Facebook 1: https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
Facebook 2: https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
Twitter: https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE

============================

Connect with us via email:
tpsprogram@gmail.com

============================

SUBSCRIBE . . .
LIKE &/or REVIEW . . .
& SHARE THE SHOW . . .

============================

🚨🚨🚨
'The Political Spotlight'
LIVE Sunday - Thursday @ 9 p.m. (ET)
Hosted by: Kristopher H. Bilbrey & Brandon Rudd
Produced by: Kate Thornburg
https://www.youtube.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://rumble.com/c/ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://ThePoliticalSpotlight.fireside.fm
https://www.facebook.com/Bilbrey318
https://www.facebook.com/PoliticalSpotlight318
https://www.tiktok.com/@ThePoliticalSpotlight
https://x.com/BilbreyLIVE
Email: tpsprogram@gmail.com
© 2025 Lighthouse Studio.
—