The Optics Here Are Uglier Than a Bad Photoshop Job

By Abdul-Hakim Shabazz | Indy Politics

Some scandals are a single fire you can put out. Others are a political Hydra — cut off one head, and two more grow back. The mess now swirling around the lieutenant governor’s office? Definitely the latter.

You’d think the lieutenant governor’s office would be the last place to get caught up in an AI porn scandal. Yet here we are, boldly going where no Indiana political drama has gone before.

Meet Gregg Puls — deputy chief of staff, chief ethics officer, and, in his spare time, a professional photographer who makes a living shooting, editing, and enhancing images. Normally, that would just make him the go-to guy for press releases, official portraits, and holiday cards. But now? He’s in the headlines because a former contract attorney says Puls was in the room — and laughing — when a pornographic deepfake video allegedly depicting a lawmaker’s wife was played in the lieutenant governor’s office.

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office is investigating. Lt. Governor Micah Beckwith calls the coverage a “hit piece” and insists an internal review found no evidence to back the claim. But the optics? They’re uglier than a bad Photoshop job.

And now there’s word of a second AI-generated video circulating — meaning this may not be a one-off incident. That raises an entirely new set of questions about just how deep this rabbit hole goes.

The Irony Writes Itself

1. Skillset meets scandal – The office’s top ethics cop also happens to have the exact skillset you’d want if you were, hypothetically, creating or editing… images. That’s not proof of guilt — but it’s one heck of a PR nightmare.

2. Narrative glue – “The photo guy was in the room when the fake video played” is the kind of line that sticks whether it’s true or not.

3. Timing is everything – Beckwith’s still in the political honeymoon phase. Instead of rolling out a clean policy agenda, he’s explaining away allegations that could sink his brand before it fully launches.

Why This Isn’t Going Away

Even if this is just bad luck and a disgruntled ex-employee, it has all the ingredients of a slow-burn political mess:

• Salacious, specific allegations — now potentially doubled.

• A plausible optics problem given Puls’s professional background.

• An active prosecutor’s investigation that will keep the story alive for months.

Every whisper at the Statehouse, every rival with a long memory, every reporter with a slow news day — they’ll all keep circling back. And the longer it lingers, the more political oxygen it consumes.

The Lawmakers’ Opening

Here’s the quiet part that’s not being said into microphones: plenty of lawmakers — in both parties — have been biting their teeth waiting for a legally sound way to take Beckwith down a peg, or out of office entirely. He’s made enemies inside his own caucus, and there’s no shortage of people who’d pop champagne if this became their “clean” opportunity.

Could this be it? That depends on what the Marion County Prosecutor finds.

• Corroborated viewing of one or more videos in the LG’s office would make it a leadership problem, not just a staff problem.

• Multiple videos would allow critics to argue this is a “pattern of workplace misconduct,” which is a much stronger case for political action.

• While Indiana doesn’t have a quick recall for statewide officials, a damaging prosecutor’s report could spark impeachment talk or force a resignation.

The Reliant Problem

When your ethics officer becomes part of an investigation, the calls aren’t just coming from inside the building — they’re coming from inside the ship.

In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (don’t look at me like that, this metaphor actually works), the Enterprise defeats the Reliant by transmitting the override code: “zero-one-zero, zero-one-zero, zero-one.” It’s the moment the side that thinks they’re in control realizes they’ve already lost the high ground.

Let’s just say some of us have already punched that code in — metaphorically speaking — and we’re watching the console light up. The rest is just waiting for the right moment to fire phasers.

Until then, we’ll be here on the bridge, smiling politely. Because in politics, like in battle, sometimes you win by letting the other guy think everything is going his way… right up until the shields drop.

Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is the editor and publisher of Indy Politics.  He is also an attorney licensed in Indiana and Illinois.

Photo: WFYI