“Flipping the Circle: A Political Thriller”

Leppert owns up to unraveling a tale where fiction is spun from the truth as a double helix code for governance; what in reality are two linear strands running opposite to each other into an anti-parallel that is twisting together. This tight bond makes it hard to distinguish one set of pairings from the other—unless you have the tools to search deeply.

“Flipping the Circle” walks us through the conundrum of the science of governance that’s twining within the partisan-centric Statehouse, and outside around the Capital City where influencers gather in remote watering holes to ensure a personal economic spin onto the supposed straight line of the greater good— Lincoln’s well-worn Of the People, By the  People, For the People, in a very different context of ‘people.’

Leppert eases us into the heft of the world of “Will O’Courtney, short for William,” our narrator/protagonist. Yes, I’m proposing ‘our’—not dishing ’the,’ because seven pages in you, as was I, will be bonding with Will O’Courtney. 

“The book isn’t designed to be an expose of anyone, or meant to disclose something unknown with regard to the real-life story that this fictional story is based on,” shared Leppert in an email responding to my question—what’s the intention?

“It was written to give people a clear picture of the human influence, both good and bad, on our processes. That human influence is what makes our processes unpredictable, but it also makes them unreliable. If left unwatched, or if the electorate becomes too lazy in its stewardship, the worst or most selfish ideas become more likely to come from government officials.”

So, what’s my path to being a pro-active citizen, a legislative watchdog?

“Voting is a minimum, but whenever a government official has done something with their power that is not in the public interest, vote for someone else. Anyone else. A corrupt partisan is always corrupt first.”

Hmm. I’m on double alert here. Are we dormant as citizens?

“Communicate to your elected officials regularly,” pronounces Leppert. “Even if it is just sending them an email, letter, or leaving them a message. That contact is invaluable, and most citizens don’t know that or believe it. 

“Always follow the money,” reminds Leppert. “A simple Google search can lead a voter to see who is financing a legislator’s campaigns. The same goes for lobbying activity. 

“But most importantly, believe the media reports of those outlets covering state and local government. They aren’t the enemy of the people, they are your best source of valuable information, without question.”

Maybe it’s my tendency to question even the best-intentioned journalist —we’re just as easily snookered as anyone else. Just check out P.T. Barnum. He didn’t even pretend he was getting us to thank him for pulling a fast one.

Will O'Courtney is a registered lobbyist as part of a major law firm, beholden to the best interests of clients that pay for the impressive suite with a grand view of The Circle City —and are underwriting his salary for an acquired lifestyle. The story Leppert, via Will, is leading us along reveals two strands: Influencing legislation for the good of his clients is what he’s an expert at. However…Something is niggling him in the aftermath of a divorce he didn’t see coming.

“Who am I?” asks Jean Valjean in that other work of fiction that most of us best know as a commanding musical. Who is it that an unjust law most harms?

"Flipping the Circle" arrived at my door as I was on my way out to experience “Measure for Measure” at The IndyFringe Basile Theatre. Just as I posited in the review of the play, I took with me my personal story when I took a seat to listen and watch, I recognize reading this book is colored by how I am internalizing-intellectually and viscerally the production choices made by the director. 

Being alert and attentive is the undercurrent within this novel. Leppert gives us insights into how political clout is gained and used. The specific story takes us into 2015 when first I did a head’s up about this thing called ‘vaping.’ I remember letting it wash over me—just too hard to fathom replacing smoking tobacco products with yet another habit that might be as hard to kick.

But Leppert let me know via some 320 pages that what seemed to be a personal choice rabbit hole to switch one product for another, in truth was designed to take easily-swayed people into a far deeper recess. Milton’s idea of hell becomes tame in comparison with what a scheming few had conjured up—all in the name of making a lot of money for a very few by fleecing many.

How and why Will O’Courtney began to follow dots that unnerved him and ultimately determined to thwart malicious machinations, is what kept me reading. He ‘flips the circle’ to do the right thing. Be assured, Will’s not into righteousness. He’s into how he wants to ascertain who he is. It’s as simple and as complex as that. The double helix in textbooks comes at us as "science." 

Stick ‘c-o-n’ at the front end of science. 

Join the existential moment.

Read “Flipping the Circle.”

And Columbo-like, when I throw out, ‘and by the way one more thing…’

Leppert is catching my drift. 

“Yes. The actual legislative battles this story is based on happened in three sessions 2015, 16, and 17 (when it was fixed). Plenty of people from statehouse circles seem to worry that the book is some sort of tell-all account of something. It isn’t,” he assures. “I feel like the Irish in me (and Will O’Courtney) matters a lot. I get that primarily from my dad.”

[This book] “wasn’t written for them or about them. I am a teacher now and have wanted to be one for many years. I think like a teacher when I write—I want the story to provoke thought on the topic. And in this case, the best chance for that is by telling this story to all of the people who don’t know the first thing about it, all across the country.  That means all Americans, minus a few hundred people.”

And then he adds an intentional, “Ha!”

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Michael Leppert is a lecturer at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, an adjunct professor at IU’s O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, a columnist, and an author. He received his B.S. in Public Affairs from IU and his M.S. in Communication from Northwestern University. In 2020 he joined the Board of Exodus Refugee. 

The post reads: “I learned about Exodus in November of 2015 when then-Governor Mike Pence announced that Indiana would no longer accept refugees for resettlement from Syria, following the Paris terrorist attacks that had occurred several days earlier. I suspected that the governor was acting outside of his authority, and I wanted to write about it. In that process, I began learning about resettlement programs and was fortunate enough to meet Cole Varga. Cole started teaching me about all of it and continues to today. I have written about a dozen columns on resettlement since then, and the issue has a chapter all its own in my first book: “Contrary To Popular Belief,” which was published in 2016 [IBJ Press, Indianapolis]. I am  proud to have spent my career working within my chosen fields of study–government and communication.”

“Flipping the Circle” is published by Greenleaf Book Group. It will be released on Nov. 4, 2021

Learn more here: https://michaelleppert.com/about/

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Learn more about the actual events as the basis for this book here: https://vaping360.com/vape-news/109386/indiana-will-pass-a-vaping-tax-today-without-public-input/ for a review of the 2015 Indiana Legislature:

“In 2015, the Indiana legislature passed a bill (and then-governor Mike Pence signed it into law) that created a monopoly for a few e-liquid manufacturers who had connections with a former state legislator and a casino company. The whole corrupt mess wound up being investigated by the FBI and eventually exposed by a couple of enterprising Indianapolis reporters. In 2017, the legislature reversed the law—but many small businesses had already been forced to close or move to other states.”

See public comment on this site: https://vaping360.com/vape-news/109386/indiana-will-pass-a-vaping-tax-today-without-public-input/

Learn more about e-cigarette regulations:

https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/resources/us-e-cigarette-regulations-50-state-review/in

https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/resources/us-e-cigarette-regulations-50-state-review

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And here’s my disclaimer in reviewing “Flipping the Circle” because I'm feeling a kinship to books from NUVO Newsweekly editors, both now of blessed memory: Harrison Ullmann, who shows us what can happen when we understand our civic responsibility as living together in a physical space respecting our diversity and our beautiful humanity. Ron Tierney’s Deets Shanahan mysteries take us into the darker side of who we are so we can come out on the bright side. These books now are joined by the more recently read, “The Character of Democracy: Preserving Our Past, Protecting Our Future” by former Indiana Congresswoman Jill Long Thompson who, like Leppert is on the IU-Bloomington faculty, and by Yale history prof Timothy Snyder's "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century." 

Snyder opens his small book with this citation from Leszek Kolakowski; “In politics, being deceived is no excuse."