Gov. Mitch Daniels attempts to squash some myths that have been proclaimed by opponents of right-to-work in this 60-second TV ad.
Hat tip to Capitol & Washington.
Gov. Daniels Launches Right-to-Work TV Spot
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Tag Archives: mitch daniels
Governor to Support Overdue Government Reforms
The Indiana Chamber and MySmartGov have been champions of sensible government reform in Indiana, and have supported suggestions from the Kernan-Shepard Report that would eliminate townships, among other excesses. The Evansville Courier & Press now reports Governor Mitch Daniels will firmly put his weight behind these measures in the 2012 session:
Gov. Mitch Daniels will make one last push for local government reforms – this time, a select and scaled-back set of them – during the final legislative session of his administration, he announced Friday.
Daniels unveiled his legislative agenda for the Indiana General Assembly’s 10-week 2012 session, which starts Jan. 4, during a speech at the Kiwanis Club of Indianapolis.
He said he will lobby for structural changes at both the township and county levels, as well a crackdown on conflicts of interest among municipal workers who also sit on the elected bodies that set the budgets for their employers.
It’s another try at implementing more of the recommendations offered in 2007 by a blue-ribbon panel chaired by former Gov. Joe Kernan and Indiana Chief Justice Randall Shepard.
This year, as freshman Rep. Kevin Mahan, R-Hartford City takes over the chairmanship of the House Government and Regulatory Reform Committee, Daniels said he believes the conditions are right for more progress than he has made in the past.
“We’re going to try to approach it in a little simpler way,” Daniels said.
He said he hopes four local government changes that have stalled out in previous sessions can gain more traction this year. Those four are:
– Allowing counties to switch their executive structure from three-member groups of commissioners to a single county commissioner.
– Abolishing three-member township advisory boards that oversee township trustees’ budgets and bumping their fiscal oversight duties up to county councils.
– Eliminating nepotism – that is, the ability for local elected officials to hire their relatives to do the area’s work.
– Restricting “conflicts of interest,” or situations where those who are paid by local government, such as police, firefighters, park employees and more, also serve on the councils that set their budgets.
“I think if we could get action on two, three, four fronts like those, this would be good. Those are some important reforms. I’ve always believed that we wouldn’t do this in one or two big gulps; it would have to be an incremental process, and this would get the process moving forward,” he said.
Less Than 350 Days Until the Next Big Show
We like to say here at the Indiana Chamber that we have the biggest and best annual business celebration. Sure I’m a little biased, but I think that was proven to be the case again Thursday night.
Don’t take our word for it. The 1,400-plus attendees certainly seemed to enjoy themselves. Governor Mitch Daniels helped get the ball rolling and the night closed with keynote speaker Terry Bradshaw putting on an excellent show.
There were the three major awards, of course. Congratulations to Business Leader of the Year Jean Wojtowicz, Government Leaders Brian Bosma and David Long, and Community of the Year Kokomo. Check out their video profiles and stay tuned for photos, a video recap of the event and more in the coming days and weeks.
It’s about much more than just the awards. It’s business, community and political leaders coming together and celebrating what makes Indiana great.
It’s only 11 months and 12 days until the 23rd Annual Awards Dinner, which will feature Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein on the 40th anniversary of Watergate and the lessons learned that apply to today’s political world. Join us November 1, 2012 and see for yourself what a great event this is.
Economic Impacts of Where Our Energy Comes From
Having diverse sources of energy is a good thing. But the implications go far beyond the very important Indiana advantage of being a low-cost power producer.
The "other" implications will be the focus on an October 25 half-day summit titled Secure Energy: Our jobs, Our Economy, Our Future. In the words of the organizers, this event "will highlight the critical role North American petroleum and natural gas, particularly secure sources such as Canadian oil, play in America’s and Indiana’s economy."
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is the keynote speaker. Gary Doer, Canadian ambassador to the United States, will also be a presenter. Panel discussion will feature state and national experts.
The Indiana Chamber is a sponsor of the event at the Westin Hotel in downtown Indianapolis. Pre-registration is required. Full details available online.
Gov. Daniels Visits Jon Stewart
I’m a big fan of "The Daily Show." I watch every episode, in fact. So I was pretty enthused to see the governor of our great state on the program last night. Mitch Daniels appeared to promote his new book, "Keeping the Republic" — and was asked some pointed questions about his economic philosophies. So how do you think he did?
Dem Leader Bauer: State Surplus is ‘Gimmicky’
Indiana House Democratic Leader Pat Bauer issued the following statement yesterday. I’m posting it in full here and simply asking, "Do you agree with him, or do you think Gov. Daniels’ efforts in creating — and now touting — the over $1 billion surplus are commendable?" Let us know in the comments section:
Indiana House Democratic Leader B. Patrick Bauer of South Bend today issued the following statement on the fiscal year closeout of the biennial state budget:
“For an administration obsessed with nothing more than the bottom line, the news that we have a budget surplus of more than $1 billion must be very gratifying.
“But thinking people should take the time to ponder a few points.
“From even the most cursory examination, it is apparent that this budget surplus has not been built on a strong economy keyed on job creation. That’s because this administration has no such program.
“Instead, it is obvious that this surplus owes a great deal to budget reversions and other accounting tricks that this administration frowned upon when it took office. Without the past use of federal stimulus dollars, the continual demand for trimming agency budgets, and the occasional raid on dedicated funds, our financial picture would not be as rosy as the governor and the auditor would like.
“At that point, it is prudent to wonder at the cost extracted by these gimmicks. What services are suffering as a result of the obsessive need to maintain a $1 billion surplus?
“These questions are not new. A year ago, they were asked and the administration’s response was turning over hundreds and hundreds of pages of documents that offered a recipe for dandelion wine, but nothing concrete about budget cuts. That information only came when the cuts began to have a human impact and people were hurt.
“Indiana House Democrats continue to be concerned about the toll that’s being extracted here. What kind of effect does this obsession with the bottom line have on helping Hoosier families, providing quality schools and creating jobs with decent wages?
“Our schools have paid a heavy price already: hundreds of millions of dollars in lost state support, cut at the governor’s demand. Now they will lose even more funding as this administration pursues its grand social experiment to gut public schools in favor of private programs and schools available only to a select few.
“But we aren’t taking enough time to consider the impact on families.
“Consider the fact that we have gradually moved away from a system of funding government services that relied upon a combination of personal and business taxes toward one that places the greatest burdens upon individuals and families. Business taxes get cut – something that happened again this year – while families find themselves paying more fees and charges and taxes.
“At some point, we have to think about what we can do to help them. A good place to start would be placing a greater priority on finding them jobs, rather than talking about it.
“Families are more important than a $1 billion bottom line, particularly when that bottom line crunches them the most.”
Indiana to Report a Surplus
Inside INdiana Business relays the Hoosier state is prepared to report a surplus for the fiscal year 2010:
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says the state will support a "surprisingly strong surplus" this week. Daniels referred to the pending announcement on CNBC this morning. The news comes after Indiana dealt with revenues $957 million less than budgeted for fiscal year 2010. Indiana was able to remain in the black through steep spending cuts and using nearly $500 million of the state’s surplus, leaving a reserve balance of just over $830 million.
You can see the full report here.
Poll: GOP Faithful ‘Still Waiting’
The news that Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels would not run for president further muddied a GOP race that has been described by some as "mired in mediocrity." Minus a Daniels entry, we asked a poll question regarding your favorite for the GOP nomination.
We offered five individual choices, but the overwhelming winner was "none of the above/still waiting" with 58% of the vote. Three of our individual options are already in the race, one (Jon Huntsman) is ready to make it official and one (Sarah Palin) remains a mystery. We posed the question before Texas Gov. Rick Perry became the object of speculation. A follow-up in a few months could reveal dramatically different sentiments.
The results of your votes:
- None/still waiting: 58%
- Mitt Romney: 13%
- Sarah Palin: 10%
- Tim Pawlenty: 10%
- Jon Huntsman: 6%
- Newt Gingrich (before his mass staff exodus): 2%
We move away from policy and politics with our current question: Do you consider Indiana a leading location for starting or growing a business? Provide your input at the top right corner of this page.
New Poll Question: Your 2012 GOP Choice?
Our final legislative poll question, at least for a while, asked for your biggest "victory" of the 2011 Indiana General Assembly session.
Education led the way, with school choice scholarships and teacher performance-based pay tying for the top spot at 27%. The two "business" choices — corporate income tax reduction and unemployment insurance reform — each collected 12% of the vote. "Other," with a variety of answers, was in the middle at 23%.
While not legislative, we can’t help but go political with our new question. With Mitch Daniels not running, who is your favorite for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination? Check out the choices (top right of the page) and share your opinion.
Will GOP Voters Be Cheering for “My Man… Tim?”
With Gov. Daniels out of the running for the presidency, candidates seem to be scrambling to fill the void of "calm, sober guy who can manage budgets." According to a recent article in the Daily Caller, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty appears to be vying hardest to be "the other Mitch Daniels."
In a Facebook town hall Tuesday, presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty positioned himself as the logical alternative to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, who announced on Sunday that he would not enter the race for the White House…
Then the former Minnesota governor took one question on the subject of his education policies.
“In the state of Indiana, our governor has been really hard on teachers,” asked one girl. “What is your view of education?”
Pawlenty voiced a position on education similar to the reforms passed by Daniels in the last Indiana legislative session: school choice and vouchers, support for charter schools, and saying that education policy should be geared to help children and should “put their needs first, rather than the interests of adults in public employee union movement.”
The choice of the question seemed deliberate, as a way to position Pawlenty as the natural alternative for Daniels’ supporters.
There was a marked contrast between Pawlenty’s presentation and the way another candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, conducted a Facebook town hall last week.
Pawlenty sat at a table in Florida in front of the U.S. flag and a state flag. He wore a suit and tie and read questions off his iPad, conveying a serious atmosphere and emphasizing his tech savvy.
Romney, who has been accused of being too stiff and buttoned down, wore a shirt during his town hall, with the top two buttons unbuttoned. The town hall took place in Nevada, and in the background were a number of people who had volunteered to make phone calls to fundraise for the former Massachusetts governor.
Pawlenty’s town hall seemed much more produced and polished. But despite the fact that a Facebook town hall is meant to convey the idea that anyone can have access to the candidate, it was clear that both chose their questions carefully.
Critics argue his past support of cap-and-trade legislation will hurt him in the GOP nomination — and they say his milquetoast delivery won’t go over well in primaries. What do you think?