V18, N19 Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012 Historic farewell: Lugar, Daniels exit In the next few weeks 2 transformative Republicans leave elective office By BRIAN A. HOWEY INDIANAPOLIS – The next four weeks end an epic era – two for that matter – in Indiana politics as U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar and Gov. Mitch Daniels prepare to leave elective office for what they say quality to it. Both Lugar and will be the final time. Daniels were spawned out of For the last half century, the L. Keith Bulen political ma- Lugar and Daniels, once mentor chine. But when it came to an and acolyte, ushered in profound end this year, the GOP machine changes to the Indiana political came stunningly close to seizing and policy landscape. It is unlikely up with potential catastrophic that any future tandem of public results for the party. officials will offer the width and But, first, the legacies of breadth of dramatic policy and the Daniels and Lugar. good politics they rendered. To- In Lugar, likely to have gether they polled almost 10 mil- been the most prolific vote lion general election votes (Lugar getter in Indiana history for Gov. Mitch Daniels in his Statehouse office on Wednes- 7.13 million; Daniels 2.8 million). the foreseeable future, his day while U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar (right) gives his farewell The story of this tandem speech on the Senate floor a few hours earlier. (HPI exit has an intriguing alpha/omega Photos by Brian A. Howey) Continued on page 4 Debate commission tweaks By BRIAN A. HOWEY NASHVILLE, Ind. – After the Oct. 23 debate in New Albany that probably altered the outcome of the U.S. Senate race, you can make a case that the Indiana Debate ‘‘We found our campaign caught Commission provided a proper forum for discussion in the gubernatorial and in the liberal media cross hairs. Senate races that had relevance and Never has Indiana seen a more impact. However, this being only the obvious example of media bias by second election cycle for the commis- sion, which was created in 2007, some reporters more interested in de- tweaks are in order. feating conservatives than report- In the spirit of constructive feedback, here are some thoughts to ing the news.” - Mourdock Campaign HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 2 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

ponder: Rupert Boneham into a conversation 1. Provide different for- beyond the sound bite. The commis- mats. The three gubernatorial sion should consider a series of differ- debates and two in the U.S. Senate ent formats, so that in each race there www.HoweyPolitics.com race used the identical format in all is variety that prompts the candidates five events. This included two-minute into different types of responses and opening statements, a series of one- at varied lengths. Howey Politics minute responses to viewer questions, 2. The use and treatment Indiana 30-second rebuttals, and a second of journalists. The citizen questions is a non-partisan newsletter response. The debates then went into are valuable and should be included based in Indianapolis and a middle “Lincoln-Douglas” format in at least one debate in each con- Nashville, Ind. It was founded where a candidate could raise an is- test. But journalists were minimalized sue, a counter from the other candi- during the entire process. The biggest in 1994 in Fort Wayne. dates, and then end with a response. beef here is that the press corps was It is published by And then it confined to a “filing WWWHowey Media, LLC was back to room” outside of the 405 Massachusetts Ave, the one-min- main venue. Essen- Suite 300 ute responses tially, we were kept to viewer from witnessing the Indianapolis, IN 46204 questions and entire event. We had 30-second no access to take into Brian A. Howey, Publisher rebuttals. It account reaction from Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington ended with a the audience, which Jack E. Howey, editor brief closing is a crucial part of statement any story involving a from each debate. Subscriptions candidate. This format is an invita- Journalists need to be ac- $350 annually HPI Weekly tion for sound bites – which already commodated in the main venue, far $550 annually HPI Weekly and dominate the campaigns via their TV enough away from the candidates so and radio ads – and became duplica- that typing doesn’t become a distrac- HPI Daily Wire. tive, particularly in the gubernato- tion. Secondly, journalists cover the 'Call Adrian France rial debate when the second event day-to-day campaign, know the issues, 812.455.4070 or email seemed to be a rerun of the first. The and should be allowed to pose ques- [email protected] candidates drove home much from tions to candidates during the debate their stump speeches and promoted sequence during at least one event. their websites. As it stands right now, journalists can Contact HPI What would have made the only ask questions after the event. So www.howeypolitics.com Lincoln/Douglass section much better the public doesn’t get to witness the [email protected] is if the moderator was empowered journalists questioning the candidates, 'Howey’s Cabin: 812.988.6520 to step in and insist that a candidate and the journalists don’t get to wit- answer a question – or, perhaps, to ness the public during the debate. 'Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 reframe the question to hone in on Thirdly, while the public asked 'Washington: 202-256-5822 key issues that both candidates had many good questions, there was some 'Business Office:812.455.4070 ignored or dodged. duplication, and relevant issues, such In multiple debate series, a as the outside financing of the $30 © 2012, Howey Politics Indiana. varied format should include one used million Senate race, were never raised. All rights reserved. Photocopy- by Rev. Rick Warren in 2008 when he Joe Donnelly and Richard Mourdock conducted two extensive “conversa- should have been placed in a position ing, Internet forwarding, fax- tions” with Barack Obama and John to take questions on all of the national ing or reproducing in any form, McCain. We saw former Chief Justice money that spilled into their race. But whole or part, is a violation of Randall T. Shepard use this type of with citizen questioners, it never came federal law without permission format at an IU event in August. It up. from the publisher. v prompted Mike Pence, John Gregg and 3. The involvement of HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 3 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

the Libertar- sound violated participation agreements. This violates “fair ians. Early use” doctrine. Anything said or seen in an Indiana Debate last summer at Commission event should be fair game for use in any form an Associated or format going forward. To restrict its use is . . . unA- Press Managing merican. It makes no sense. If a candidate participates in Editors event, a debate, anything said or done should be fair game. It the Libertarians becomes part of the public domain. pressed news- 5. Production values. Younger viewers who use paper and radio nothing but high def told me the production values were a executives for real turnoff. I suspect in the next four years there will be more extensive great strides made by public television on this front, but it’s coverage of worth noting that people – particularly younger people – their candidates. And throughout the rest of the campaign, noticed. v Andy Horning and Rupert Boneham were dutifully included in many stories. The problem is, they represent no real power. Neither of them had any chance of winning. Nei- ther candidate had any power base in the Indiana General Delayed candidate reaction Assembly (which has never had a Libertarian elected into either chamber) or Congress, which has no Libertarians By BRIAN A. HOWEY serving. INDIANAPOLIS - The Oct. 23 U.S. Senate debate in Libertarians are “playing politics.” They don’t raise New Albany changed the outcome of that race, but neither money, build organizations that place their candidates in Democrat Joe Donnelly or Republican Richard Mourdock a position to win. Horning essentially admitted this during realized the implications of the latter’s “God intends” rape the press conference following the second Senate debate. remark until they exited the stage. Essentially, Libertarians are “fringe” candidates with the Until the last minute, Donnelly believed Mourdock only impact on an election being whether they get their was going to duck the Indiana Debate Commission events. customary 3% or whether it balloons up to 5 or 6% as it He believed that it was just going to be he and Libertar- did in the U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races. Too often, ian Andrew Horning participating. Mourdock didn’t agree the Libertarian candidate becomes the jokester, injecting to participate until just two weeks before the first debate opinions into the format or repeat websites or ideology, at WFYI-TV. The dilemma for Mourdock was that if he though they have no realistic chance of ever governing. I skipped the debates, he would have taken multiple news challenge anyone to go back and listen to Boneham during cycle hits (days prior, day of, days after debates), and the three gubernatorial debates and explain how anything finally decided to participate, with the New Albany debate he said had any realistic chance of becoming policy. I’m his “Todd Akin moment” undoing. Obviously, the Mourdock not saying bar the Libertarian candidate. They could be campaign and its national handlers/bundlers had ample included in at least one event. But the debate commission reason to be very afraid. could raise the bar. They could insist that a Libertarian Donnelly didn’t fully realize the gravity of Mour- get at least 10% in the previous election, or in a major- dock’s “God intends” rape remark on Oct. 23 until he ity of public opinion polls prior to an invitation deadline walked off stage and his wife flagged it as potentially date. That might incentivize the Libertarians to act like a devastating to the Republican. Donnelly said he didn’t leap real party. If they don’t, let the Republican and Democratic into the Mourdock remarks during the debate because he nominee have one or two events where they contrast the wasn’t sure exactly what he had heard and didn’t want to issues between themselves. react prematurely. 4. All debate images and should be available Simultaneously, Mourdock walked off the stage ex- for fair use. When Republican Senate nominee Richard pecting “high fives” from his staff, believing he had won the Mourdock uttered his now infamous “God intends” rape debate. Neither candidate truly understood the implications remark in New Albany on Oct. 23, it made national news. of the event until the minutes between the end of the de- The weeping Mourdock provided the image of the cycle bate and their appearances before the press, with Donnelly and it dominated news coverage and citizen social media. going first, followed by Horning and then Mourdock about The natural progression is that the video and audio would 25 minutes later. By this time, social media was exploding make it into campaign advertising. When Democrat Su- on the Internet in reaction to the remark and as the press per PACs and the Donnelly campaign used it, the Debate peppered questions at both candidates about the quote, Commission cried foul, saying that use of the images and the full weight of the moment began to sink in. v HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 4 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

Reduction program and, for the first time in history, a na- Lugar, Daniels, from page 1 tion dismantled a rival’s military arsenal during peace time. In doing so, Nunn-Lugar dramatically lowered the potential legacy is well known but worth capsulizing. As an Indiana for nuclear, chemical and biological weapons to end up in public school board trustee, he wrote the Shortridge Plan the hands of terror networks. that would have desegregated the state’s largest school The legacy of Gov. Daniels is rooted in the Lugar system, and while it passed, it was rescinded a few years organization. He interned for Mayor Lugar, served as his later as the issue ignited “white flight” into the Marion campaign manager in his 1976 defeat of Hartke and his County townships and suburbs. tough reelection bid against U.S. Rep. Floyd Fithian during Bulen and Mayor Lugar, who defeated Democrat the deep 1982 recession. Daniels would follow Lugar to incumbent John Barton in 1967, responded politically with Washington, where he was Lugar’s chief of staff, teamed “Unigov,” the consolidation of the old Indianapolis into the with the likes of Albert surrounding townships, creat- Mischler in a suc- ing a generational bastion of cessful stint on the Republican dominance. With Republican Senatorial the help of Unigov, Indiana Campaign Committee, Republicans controlled the then moved to the governorship for 24 years Reagan White House (Gov. Edgar Whitcomb’s term where he served as from 1969-73 was before political director. After Unigov), the Indianapolis may- leaving the White or’s office for three decades, House, Daniels would forged hardy majorities in the lead the Indianapolis- Indiana General Assembly, based Hudson In- and took over the state’s U.S. stitute, become an Senate delegation with Lugar’s executive at Eli Lilly defeat of Sen. Vance Hartke in Company, then return 1976 and Dan Quayle’s upset to the White House as of Sen. Birch Bayh in 1980. President George W. Lugar’s Indianapolis Bush’s budget director. would build upon the cascad- Daniels returned ing legacy of Barton, who Sen. Lugar answers takes a question of CHNI reporter Marueen Hayden Saturday morning at the University of Indianapolis, where Lugar an- to Indiana in 2002. helped plot the I-465 belt After Bob Grand, around the the city, and it nounced on Friday he will resume teaching. (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey) Randall Tobias and Jim would be Lugar who would Kittle Jr. engineered a initiate planning on Market takeover of the Indi- Square Arena, the Hoosier Dome, and the city’s emergence ana Republican Party, Daniels ran, strategized, directed and as an amateur sports capitol of the nation. His blueprint wrote two of the best statewide campaigns for governor, would help fuel following mayoralties of Bill Hudnut, defeated an incumbent, won reelection by an 18-percent Stephen Goldsmith, Bart Peterson and Greg Ballard, as margin as Barack Obama carried the state. He forged five each administration worked off the evolving plans of the balanced budgets, accelerated decades of dormant high- predecessor. Indianapolis went from being “Naptown” and way projects with the Major Moves toll road lease, presided “Indiana No Place” to one of the more livable and attractive over telecommunications and sprawling education reforms, cities in America. added 3,000 miles of bike lanes across the state, 50,000 As a U.S. senator, Lugar would play a crucial role in acres to wildlife preserves, and used his political clout to saving Chrysler Corporation in 1979, providing a generation neuter the state’s labor unions. of high paying jobs, innovative technology and a steady Daniels observed on Wednesday, “We ran on a very flow of taxes into the state coffers. He would prompt the explicit and very detailed agenda. We did most of it.” Dan- toppling of the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines, iels cited “70 odd things” he promised to achieve in 2005. convince President Reagan to take steps to end apart- “I was in a hurry. We wanted to get the budget balanced heid in South Africa, write farm bills that leave the state’s and pay back the debts. We wanted to put some money in agriculture economy in perhaps its best shape ever. And, of the bank. And then we wanted to start reducing taxes.” course, there was the epic Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat “When I look back, I have this tattered little report HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 5 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday Dec. 13, 2012

card we kept for ourselves. I may have one of the last ones interest. There was a lot to do and we were not a very around. If you look at those 70 odd things in 2005, there innovative state. There was a time for a lot of action, or so aren’t very many in the ‘Did Not Succeed’ column. One of we thought.” them is, an appointed superintendent of public instruction. As HPI observed a couple of weeks ago, the What is highly ironic is that it was the only . . . position in Daniels governorship can be viewed as “transformative” common between the Republican and Democratic plat- because of its audacious scope and conspicuous use of po- forms. As far as I know they didn’t overlap on anything litical capital. But it will take a decade or more to determine else. As a matter of good government, we should appoint how effective the education and transportation reforms the superintendent.” were. Daniels agreed with that, Asked if there was saying, “Your time frame may be anything left for Gov.-elect about right.” But he said that Luke Mike Pence to take from Messer’s high school dropout bill “good to great,” as he cam- in 2006 produced a 10 percent paigned this year, Daniels drop in those statistics, and recent responded, “Sure there college ‘credit creep’ legislation is. There always will be. I has prompted Purdue University think we always operated to lower degree requirements in around here on the notion two/thirds of its degree program. of continuous improvement. “The question on a lot of reforms If a department reached a is, will they stick or will they be certain target, we tried to subverted,” he said. raise it the next year. There’s The Lugar legacy, with a long, long way to go.” the exception of his roles in the Daniels cited the Bush43 Iraq and Afghanistan “skills gap” – the needs of wars, is already burnished. high tech employers and not enough available work- Lugar’s towering legacy ers as an aspect unfulfilled. As Lugar prepares to leave “Most of the other factors, office, his legacy has been ef- we’re pretty good at, you fusively expressed by leaders in know, cost, infrastructure, both parties. taxes and regulatory climate. Last week, President Gov. Daniels peers into his “roadmap” file at the request of We’re as good as the com- Obama called the Nunn-Lugar reporters on Wednesday in his Statehouse office. (HPI Photo petition or better on most program “one of the country’s by Brian A. Howey) of those. We clearly aren’t smartest and most successful there with match of skills national security programs.” and jobs. It’s become more Obama told an audience at the Pentagon, “Early in visible because of the recession and the non-recovery we’re the Cold War, Einstein warned of the danger of our wisdom in. With that many people looking for work and that many not keeping pace with our technology. And with Nunn- jobs available, you’ve got a real problem.” Lugar, our wisdom began to catch up.” He also cited the various health initiatives that he “And, Dick,” Obama added, “I want to take this op- called uncontroversial but not achieved as he leaves office. portunity to say something else. At times, we’ve disagreed Asked how he has changed the office of gover- on matters of policy. But one thing we’ve always shared nor during his eight years, Daniels said, “We did have a is a notion of what public service should be. That it ought more activist approach, I think it’s fair to say, than our to be more than just doing what’s popular in the moment. recent predecessors. It’s a ‘to-each-his-own’ situation. I That it ought to be about what’s right for our nation, over felt, and it’s the reason I ran in the first place, that Indiana the long term. It ought to be about problem-solving and was drifting and slipping and we needed to get in mo- governance, not just how we can score political points on tion against a lot of big problems. As a matter of personal each other or engage in obstructionism. And where com- approach, every year, and in-between, we had new ideas, promise is not a vice and where bipartisanship is actually we had to define each idea, and present the state and the considered a virtue – to be rewarded, not punished. So, legislature where they were needed action items. We felt Dick, as you prepare to leave the Senate that you love, responsible to push in directions we felt were in the public I think I speak on behalf of everybody here and millions HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 6 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

of people across the country to say that your legacy will the GOP opted for rigid orthodoxy, ideological purity, an endure in a safer and more secure world, and a safer and expressed disdain for the national security blanket Lugar more secure America. And we pray that this nation produc- helped weave and the prosperity that came to the agricul- es more leaders with your sense of decency and civility and tural sector via farm bills he helped write. It prompted a integrity. We are grateful to you. Thank you very much.” scene on May 4 at Lugar’s Broad Ripple campaign head- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell observed quarters that would have been unfathomable just a few on the Senate floor on Tuesday, “He has excelled at every- years ago when Lugar pleaded for votes from farmers, thing he’s ever done. And, most incredibly, he’s done it with veterans, African-Americans, Latinos, independents, Jews perfectly smooth elbows. Walk into any office on Capitol and Democrats. “I believe that right now, if a majority of Hill, and you won’t find a single person who’d say a bad Hoosiers were to vote in an election – that is, all Hoosiers word about Dick Lugar. He’s earned the respect and admi- regardless of party, Republicans, Democrats, independents– ration of everyone who ever crossed his path. I assure you, I would win,” Lugar said. “I’m not asking anybody to cross in the world of politics, that’s nothing short of a miracle. over. I’m just saying positively, ‘Register your vote, because And now Dick has decided to press his luck. He’s moving if you do not, I may not be able to continue serving you. At into the only line of work where the rivalries are even more this point, help.” vicious than politics. He’s becoming a college professor. And it was as if Indiana Republicans shook off sci- To a lot of liberals, he’s a walking contradiction: a Repub- ence and its internationalist bearings that came about from lican intellectual. And he has always worn that reputation the era that produced Lugar, Doc Bowen and Gov. Robert lightly.” Orr, and flung itself into a ditch where “bipartisanship” Former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton told became a dirty word. Howey/DePauw Indiana Battleground HPI, “Dick Lugar had a very distinguished career in the Polling in March showed that Lugar would have had a much Senate and before that. He is a true intellectual. He was a better chance of holding on to the Senate seat that even- conservative who would reach out for an agreement. He’s tual nominee Richard Mourdock not only lost, but blew with leaving a giant hole in the Senate.” his “God intends” rape remark on Oct. 23. Indiana Farm Bureau President Don Villwock told The GOP in a ditch could have long-lasting ramifi- HPI, “Before he was a statesman, before he was a senator, cations. Republican pollster Frank Luntz observed on Tues- before he was a big city mayor; Dick Lugar was a farmer. day in Indianapolis that because of Mourdock and Todd Throughout his long, distinguished career, he never forgot Akin, suffering a similar self-inflicted wound in Missouri that his agricultural roots and remained a steadfast friend and predated Mourdock’s blunder, Republicans are unlikely to supporter of Hoosier farmers and rural Indiana. Much of reclaim a Senate majority in 2014. the prosperity we in American agriculture have enjoyed these past few years is a result of the hard work of Dick Exits tied and comingled Lugar. His untiring efforts to support free trade and open As the 2012 election recedes into history, the tan- up markets around the world have increased demand for dem elective public service exits of Daniels and Lugar are Indiana-grown corn, soybeans and meat products. His intriguing because of not only the origins, but the ending. efforts to support renewable fuels There is an alpha/omega and to wean us from dependence bookend to the surreal on foreign oil has fostered the way the story ends. growth of the ethanol industry in Deep behind the the Midwest and hence increased scenes at the Crystal River corn prices. Senator Lugar’s Walk Yacht Club in Broad leadership in writing the Freedom Ripple on primary election to Farm Bill released farmers from night, there was palpable onerous production controls and tension between Gov. allowed us to respond to market Daniels and Marty Morris, signals. Few, if any, other political Lugar’s chief of staff who leaders have made such a signifi- was chosen for that role a cant impact on modern agricul- generation ago by the for- ture.” mer. In the initial raw flash The stunning aspect of of defeat, the sentiment Lugar’s exit is that his own be- was this: The governor loved Indiana Republican Party Sen. Lugar and Gov. Daniels at the spring GOP dinner in was the one person who turned its back on him in 2012 as Carmel. might have convinced HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 7 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

Mourdock not to challenge Lugar. on the Republican National Committee. But Gov. Daniels’ king-making abilities were not as A key black mark on the Daniels administration, durable as his own gubernatorial policy record. While forg- the loss and recovery of $500 million in state funds, was ing a landslide reelection win in 2008 despite the Obama off limits to the Lugar campaign in its primary race against onslaught, Daniels had failed to coattail in a Republican Mourdock. There was too much of a potential for bleed- House, which delayed his education reforms by two years over into the gubernatorial realm. Mourdock was never and doomed the Kernan-Shepard reforms as time ran out. held accountable as the so-called “chief financial officer” of At the Indiana Republican Convention earlier that year, the state. delegates rebuked his choice of Valparaiso Mayor Jon Cos- Asked by HPI on Wednesday if the governor tas, nominating Greg Zoeller for attorney general, though wished the primary challenge hadn’t taken place between Daniels prevailed in get- ting the previously obscure Tony Bennett the nod for Richard Lugar Election Record superintendent of public instruction. 1964 IPS School Board Won general Daniels could have 1967 Indianapolis Mayor (v. John Barton) Won general, 53-47%, 72,278 votes told Mourdock that a chal- 1971 Indianapolis Mayor (v. John Neff) Won general, 60-40%, 155,164 votes lenge to the patriarch could 1974 U.S. Senate (v. Birch Bayh) Lost general, 46-51%, 814,117 votes have been a career-ending 1976 U.S. Senate (v. Vance Hartke) Won general, 59-30%, 1,273,833 votes proposition. But there was 1982 U.S. Senate (v. Floyd Fithian) Won general, 54-46%, 978,301 votes no such action. While Dan- 1988 U.S. Senate (v. Jack Wickes) Won general, 68-32%, 1,430,525 votes iels endorsed Lugar, as well 1994 U.S. Senate (v. Jim Jontz) Won general, 67-31% 1,039,625 votes as wrote and recorded late 1996 Presidency Lost IA, NH TV ads on his behalf, he 2000 U.S. Senate (v. David Johnson) Won general, 67-32%, 1,427,944 votes also praised Mourdock. The 2006 U.S. Senate (no Dem opponent) Won general, 87-13%, 1,171,553 votes Indiana treasurer garnered 2012 U.S. Senate (v. R. Mourdock) Lost primary, 39-61%, 262,388 votes one of the only name refer- ences in his book “Keep- Total Mayoral general election votes: 227,442 ing the Republic” over the Total U.S. Senate general election votes: 7,135,898 Chrysler/Fiat litigation and Total Senate Roll Call Votes: 13,000 Daniels often cited Mour- Total Senate colleagues: Over 300 dock’s political bravery for Total Senate interns: Over 1,0000 taking that stand. Sources tell HPI that a Wall Street Journal op-ed article penned by Daniels originally was to be Lugar and Mourdock, Daniels answered, “Sure. I wish co-written with Mourdock. something different had happened. Either that he had de- How could even a benign sanctioning of Mour- cided that six terms, that that was the natural time to step dock’s challenge to Lugar take place? aside, or that he’d been renominated and reelected. But Consider the other atmospherics at the time. As really nothing will change, the value of things he did, or the Mourdock announced his candidacy, Daniels was still flirting affection and esteem in which he’ll always be held.” with a presidential candidacy. Mourdock was the emerging But one thing did change: A Republican Senate darling of the Tea Party movement and the two agreed on seat for 36 years is now in the Democratic hands of Joe the Chrysler/Fiat challenge. Daniels had also declared a Donnelly. “truce” on social issues, though months later he would sign The fact that Daniels didn’t implore Mourdock to some of the most far-reaching abortion restrictions in the back off the challenge to Lugar had a vast array of un- country as well as the defunding of Planned Parenthood. intended consequences that were damaging to the Indi- And the Indiana Republican Party, under the clear ana GOP. Mourdock’s debate blunder put the Mike Pence control of Gov. Daniels, played both sides, saying “no” to campaign in a late precarious position, with Pence’s own no one, even after seven of 11 Mourdock endorsers from internal tracking showing significant damage. The Mour- the 2010 Indiana Republican Central Committee were no dock damage extended as far as Mitt Romney’s presidential longer on the state committee in the spring of 2011, due campaign, which lost traction with not only female voters, to either defeat or retirement. There would be even further but Republican women. push back in 2012 when John Hammond III, a Daniels ally, And feeling the wrath of the GOP female defections defeated Jim Bopp Jr. (an early Mourdock backer) for a seat was Supt. Bennett, who was upset by Democrat Glenda HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 8 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

Ritz, in part because of the social media campaign on her Hoosier history – Sen. Lugar. behalf, but also as a rebuke from rural Republicans to Dan- There was a reason there were long lines on elec- iels for his support of Costas in 2008, and Tea Party revul- tion day in places like Carmel, Zionsville, Brownsburg and sion of core curriculum standards that Bennett embraced. Nashville: Normally straight voting Republicans were split- Daniels and Pence had openly embraced Mourdock ting their tickets. There weren’t more people showing up, it after his upset primary win over Lugar in May. But within was just taking them longer to vote. weeks, Daniels would leave the political stage with his ac- There would not only be no Lugar coattails, but ceptance of the Purdue University presidency. He became, a keen, unmistakable Mourdock drag on the ticket that in his own words, politically “celibate.” Mourdock and Ben- came embarrassingly close to becoming an epic Republican nett would not have political access to the most important catastrophe. v Republican voice of the day. They were on their own. And Pence, Mourdock and Bennett would also be running without the most prolific Republican vote getter in

we have not lived up to the expectations of our constitu- Lugar’s Senate floor ents to make excellence in governance our top priority.” Lugar warned, “The potential catastrophe remains of a major terrorist attack on American soil employing farewell includes advice, weapons of mass destruction. If that happens, in addition to the lives lost, our expectations for economic growth and warnings and optimism budget balancing could be set back by a decade or more.” It was a reiteration of warnings he had given since By BRIAN A. HOWEY the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which made the INDIANAPOLIS – U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar’s Senate United States the world’s sole super power for a genera- floor farewell included warnings for Americans on future tion, but also produced asymmetrical warfare, culminating terror attacks and world hunger, and he called for the up- with the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City, the Pentagon per chamber to work in a better spirit of bipartisanship. and civilian airliners. The address came 36 years after he entered the During his 1995-96 presidential campaign, Lugar Senate following his 1977 defeat of U.S. Sen. Vance Hartke, consistently warned of “the destruction of an American city Two years earlier, Lugar had lost to U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh. in our lifetime” by terror networks. Lugar said, “In my experience, it is difficult to The Soviet collapse prompted one of the most conceive of a better platform from which to devote oneself landmark pieces of legislation ever - the Nunn-Lugar to public service and the search for solutions to national Cooperative Threat Reduction Act that allowed the U.S. and international problems.” That remark came less than to systemically scrap a week after South the arsenal that once Carolina U.S. Sen. aimed thousands of Jim DeMint resigned missiles at hundreds in order to take the of American cities and helm of the Heritage military bases. Foundation, believ- Lugar’s Senate ing that the advocacy career ended with group will provide a his defeat by Indiana better format to push Treasurer Richard a conservative, Tea Mourdock last May. Party agenda. Mourdock’s rallying Lugar said cry was to denounce the Senate “is one of “bipartisanship” and the Founders’ most “compromise.” important creations.” Lugar observed, “But,” he “It takes courage to added, “I do believe declare dozens or that as an institution even hundreds of HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 9 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

positions and stand for office, knowing that with each posi- He cited Lugar’s two terms as heading the Senate tion, you are displeasing some group of voters. But we do Foreign Relations Committee. “His signature piece of legis- our country a disservice if we mistake the act of taking po- lation is the cooperative threat reduction, more commonly sitions for governance. They are not the same thing. Gov- known as Nunn-Lugar. His experiences led him to champion ernance requires adaptation to shifting circumstances. It the landmark legisaltion that deactivated nuclear warheads. often requires finding common ground with Americans who It is a contribution Americans can never give enough have a different vision than your own. It requires leaders thanks,” Coats said. who believe, like Edmund Burke, that their first responsibil- Lugar said he will “leave the Senate for new pur- ity to their constituents is to apply their best judgment.” suits that will allow me to devote much deeper attention Lugar continued, “My hope is that Senators will to a number of issues that have been a part of my Senate devote much more of their energies to governance. In a service. Among these are preventing the proliferation of perfect world, we would not only govern, we would execute weapons of mass destruction and developing more efficient a coherent strategy. That is a very high bar for any legisla- ways to feed the world.” tive body to clear. But we must aspire to it in cooperation He announced that he will teach at the University with the President because we are facing fundamental of Indianapolis and the university’s Lugar Academy will changes in the world order that will deeply affect America’s develop an internship program in Washington. Lugar is also security and standard of living.” expected to have his papers stored at Indiana University’s Having served two stints as chairman of the Senate Center on Congress, headed by his long-time friend and Foreign Relations Committee, Lugar sees the emergence colleague, former Congressman Lee Hamilton. of China and India as nations potentially ending the “sole Despite the dilemmas facing the U.S., Lugar, super power” era in the United States. who served with more than 300 Senators, had more than “The list of such changes is long, but it starts in 1,000 student interns, and cast more than 13,000 roll call Asia with the rise of China and India as economic, political, votes, said he remained “optimistic.” and military powers,” he said. “More broadly, we face the “Amidst all these security risks, we must maintain specter of global resource constraints, especially deficien- the competitiveness of the United States in the interna- cies of energy and food that could stimulate conflict and tional economy,” he explained. “We should see education, deepen poverty. We have made startling gains in domestic energy efficiency, access to global markets, the attraction energy production, but we remain highly vulnerable to our of immigrant entrepreneurs, and other factors as national dependency on oil.” security issues…We still can flourish in this global market- Lugar also warned of a “global food crisis,” explain- place if we nurture the competitive genius of the American ing, “Whereas research is opening many new frontiers in people that has allowed us time and again to reinvent our the energy sphere, the productivity of global agriculture economy.” will not keep up with projected food demand unless many “But we must deal with failures of governance that countries change their policies. This starts with a much have delayed resolutions to obvious problems. No ratio- wider embrace of agriculture technology, including geneti- nal strategy for our long term growth and security,” Lugar cally modified techniques. The risks of climate change continued, citing for a potential “failure to restrain current intensify this imperative.” entitlement spending. And no attempt to gain the maxi- Lugar called on President Obama to invite mum strategic advantage from our human resource poten- Republicans into the Oval Office to discuss foreign policy tial should fail to enact comprehensive immigration reform dilemmas. that resolves the status of undocumented immigrants and Lugar said he was “optimistic about our country’s encourages the most talented immigrants to contribute to future.” He said the U.S. will “serve as an inspiration” for America’s future.” peace and economic security.” Lugar offered advice to President Obama. “It is U.S. Sen. Dan Coats spoke after Lugar, citing his vital that the President and Congress establish a closer colleague’s eight years as mayor of Indianapolis. “When I working relationship, especially on national security. This think of the numerous positive changes in Indianapolis over cooperation depends both on Congressional leaders who 40 years, I think of the influence of Dick Lugar.” are willing to set aside partisan advantage and on Adminis- “It was a natural progression after serving as tration officials who understand that the benefits of hav- mayor, Dick Lugar would go to the Senate,” said Coats. ing the support of Congress is worth the effort it takes to “Without question, Sen. Lugar is the kind of lawmaker who secure it.” v brings parites together, find common ground and pass leg- islation.” HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 10 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

of the most affordable housing. That’s a good thing when Daniels conducts his someone is trying to get talent to move here. They usually use pay for entry level jobs and affordable housing. When we lower the cost of doing business, it does lower the cost ‘exit interview’ of living, which tells you you have to take it into account. By BRIAN A. HOWEY It’s not good enough. There are people in Illinois who are INDIANAPOLIS – Gov. Mitch Daniels conducted the making a lot more than people in Indiana and they are a first of his “exit interviews” with Indiana news media on lot poorer. I’m an optimist when it comes to the Midwest. I Wednesday. never thought that would be an easy tanker to turn, and it Here are some of the topics covered: hasn’t been. HPI: You talked about not achieving an appointed HPI: How long do you think it’s going to be before superintendent of public instruction. Would it make sense you know how successful your education reforms have to combine state auditor and treasurer into an appointed been? comptroller position so that all executive branch financial Daniels: Your time frame is probably about right. matters stop at your desk? I never give up that certain things can’t have a near term Daniels: Yeah, I think it very well might. We’ve effect. The drop out bill we passed in ‘06 or ‘07 has made a made changes before. We very immediate impact. I don’t know what else could have used to elect the clerk caused it. We had a 10% improvement of the court not too long in graduation rates. I think a couple ago. I think maybe so. of points of that may be the over use There may be an argu- of these waivers. But mathematically ment for having offices so that can’t explain it. There’s one. Some each watches the other. things you don’t have to take 10 years. But there are states that I’ll give you another one. The credit do have comptrollers and creep bill we passed this year, I’m real they do have combined eager to see all the schools, we don’t functions. have the takes from all the schools yet, Tom LoBianco, but at Purdue University, two-thirds Associated Press (pictured of the degree programs brought their with Daniels): Are there things you didn’t achieve? demands down to 120 hours. That’s going to mean a lot of Daniels: Recently we added the word that I had kids finishing a semester sooner. That means less expense. quickly had to take back. I’ll have to get the list out and That didn’t take 10 years. I hope we’re going to see a see. similar pattern. I think the social promotion bill that says Lesley Weidenbener, Statehouse File: One of that students have to be able to read before passing third the things you wanted to do was raise personal income. grade, assuming it’s not undone, has a chance at making Why do you think that’s been so stubborn? a short term measurable impact. Those are exceptions. I Daniels: We’re swimming up stream. It will be agree with you. We finally got full day kindergarten done awhile before we know if anything substantially is happen- after decades and I think it will make a real difference. On ing. We have been more dependent on manufacturing jobs a lot of the reforms we did, the first question is whether than any state in the nation. That’s a strength in certain they’ll stick or whether they’ll some how be subverted. And times and it’s a challenge and a real problem during a if they stick, they have to be well implemented. So those recession. As you remember, we are well under state and are big ifs. national averages for unemployment in ‘08 and then we got Eric Bradner, Evansville Courier & Press: Where hit as hard as any place by the slow down. Now, I’ve been does I-69 rank on your list of accomplishments? increasingly mindful the need to, in a variety of contexts, Daniels: If I’m in Southwest Indiana, it’s No. 1, qualify these numbers by cost of living. We are a stunningly right? I-69 is the largest but I don’t separate it from the low cost place. This comes to the fore every time we recruit overall problem. The overall achievement of catching Indi- a new business. It’s a positive, not a negative thing. But it ana up and really building infrastructure the state needed means, of course, every newspaper represented here pays and had waited too long for is one that I would rank very, less than what they’d pay if you were in New York City. A very high. No. 1, it’s really important in saving lives, saving lot of what we’ve done is lower the cost, at least a little bit. time, saving money, it is attracting jobs and that’s what it For instance, the lowest property taxes and we have some was all about. Secondly, as Brian just did, I’m frequently asked about what lasts and what doesn’t last, I have no HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 11 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

way of knowing. A great business climate can be undone. sincerity can come to different places on a question like Triple A credit ratings might not last. Education reform that. I never got to the point that never, never, never under might or might not last. But those roads and bridges will any circumstances should the state have that as a possible be there for 100 years. They are concreted public assets - penalty. I never got to that point. If I had, I don’t think it literally - that will pay a return for a long, long time. Sort of would have been for me or any one person to substitute like the conservation we’ve done, the land we’ve protected, his judgment for that of the elected representatives and the wetlands, that is not going to be undone. the public behind them, unless that person ran for office Bradner also asked about the future of transporta- explicitly saying that. At least say that in advance. tion funding. Bradner: Recent polls have shown societal Daniels: The broader question, we’ve spent 10 changes in gay marriage. In 2004 you had expressed some years in the sunshine, so to speak. We’re building at all possible support for civil unions and backed off that a little. time record rates and as people keep noticing, we’re go- Has your attitude changed? ing to rejoin the rest of the other 49 states after awhile Daniels: These are judgments that I believe that at normal funding levels. I think the big part of the an- people of this state have the right to make. I don’t believe swer, as it’s been for us, is other people’s money. Public/ the court should make it for them. Precisely because they private arrangements. Look at how we’re building the East go to basic values. There are no black letter rules about End Bridge over the Ohio. It’s going to get built faster this. I think they are appropriate for the democratic pro- and cheaper and it will be built on someone else’s capital cess. because there’s not enough gas tax money right now. It’s HPI: Give us an overview of the health of individu- going to be paid for with user fees. Sometimes that can be ial Hoosiers? the answer. Only in America do we think the only way you Daniels: This probably belongs on the list of can build a road is with gas taxes. answers ... here is we just didn’t get enough done.Three HPI: Should Indiana end the death penalty? months in we started the INShape program. We had ce- Daniels: It was seven or eight. There was a rush lebrities and athletes. I told everybody that day of all the at the beginning. I’ve said before even though I hadn’t changes we try to bring, and all the initiatives we launch, held office, in a general sense two things you don’t think this will be the least controversial and the hardest. I don’t about are soldiers’ funerals and death sentences. Anybody know anybody who doesn’t think this wasn’t a good thing who says they don’t feel at least some ambivalence about to work on. It’s hard to move large numbers of people to that subject I don’t understand. If you don’t feel conflicted change the habits of a lifetime. The recent data we’ve seen about it on one side or the other, maybe you should think is pretty discouraging. They had smoking at 26%, but the a little harder. Where I came to rest on that one sometime last data we had it was closer to 20%. ago, it was not for me or any one person to make that Susan Guyett, Reuters: Has right to work hurt judgment. That it needs to express the moral sentiments of the unions? the state through the democratic process. For now, at least Daniels: No, I’m not aware that it has. That’s not in this moment, the last I’ve seen, a very large majority its intention. of our fellow citizens feel that at least occasionally, in the Guyett: Has right to work helped Indiana? most heinous of cases that that penalty can be appropriate. Daniels: We’ve talked to a lot of companies and It’s not for me to substitute any view I might have for that. right to work has definitely helped Indiana. I’ve tried to be Everyone has to come to their conclusion. Let me say one careful not to overclaim for this. It’s a plus? more thing: as a practical matter, the subject is diminishing LoBianco: What’s your proudest accomplishment? because . . . I’m not sure when the last time any Indiana Daniels: This is the who’s your favorite daughter court or judge or jury lowered the death penalty on some- question. I think the best way I can answer this is to say body. There are still criminals in the queue, I guess, but the there are several. Opening doors to building a better busi- last one came to us was two years, three years ago. There ness climate. Because that was always the central goal. If is none coming at us that I know of. Future governors may it does have staying power, it will lead to all the other good have none, or few, to deal with. things. It will lead to jobs, therefore to revenues to do the HPI: Is there an inherent conflict in taking life things governments should do. It will underpin the suc- in the beginning with the sweeping abortion restrictions cess of the state. If it lasts, establishing Indiana as more you’ve signed, and the death penalty? of a leadership state at least in certain areas, I hope I’ve Daniels: Yeah, the Catholic Church thinks so. changed the culture inside state government to excellence, That’s their position. I think those who do see the distinc- efficency and good service, and outside, change the culture tion between innocent life and guilty adult lives. I’m back and expectations of higher expectations. An expectation of to the point where honest people with complete and equal innovation. v HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 12 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday , Dec. 13, 2012

that have not been removed.” Hamilton sees Hoosier voters Hamilton said this stacist tide not only defeated Lugar, but also Education Supt. Tony Bennett, who lost to desiring for the ‘old days’ Democrat Glenda Ritz on Nov. 6. “He was calling for change in the education structure and to conservatives, they saw By BRIAN A. HOWEY it as ‘he’s taking away local control from my school board,” BLOOMINGTON - Richard Lugar and Mitch Daniels Hamilton said. aren’t the only recent elected officials who have opted for Another aspect of Lugar’s loss was his willing- careers elsewhere. ness to be a “Member who wanted to make the place work. Former Sen. Evan Bayh is now ensconced in the It was not to put forward an ideological position.” world of finance after deciding not to run again in 2010, Mourdock’s energies came from Republican activ- and former Congressman Lee Hamilton directs the Indiana ists who opposed President Obama’s Supreme Court nomi- University Center on Congress after leaving the House in nees and didn’t want any Republican to compromise with 1998. the president. Hamilton last spent time Gone are the with Lugar in the final weeks of days when two ideologi- the Republican primary when he cal opposites – President was on the ropes against Indiana Reagan and House Speaker Treasurer Richard Mourdock. “He Tip O’Neill – hammered out felt it was drifting against him,” deals. “They understood Hamilton said from his IU SPEA that at the end of the day, office in Bloomington last Mon- you don’t shut the place day. “I was really disappointed he down. And that’s not easy. was beaten in the primary, and There was a trust in each not just beaten. That’s an as- other.” tounding thing. Only about 16 to That is missing 17 percent voted in that primary. between Obama and House It’s a good example of what can Speaker John Boehner, happen in a low turnout election.” and complicated by House Hamilton was a partner Republicans who won big with Lugar on many foreign poli- margins in their individual cy issues during the two decades districts and want to stick they served together in Congress. to their guns on taxes and And he believes Lugar fell victim entitlement reform. to an aspect of the Hoosier con- Former congressman and 9/11 Commissioner Lee Hamilton “Obama is not a dition that has puzzled reformers now heads the Indiana University Center on Congress in shmoozer,” Hamilton ac- and innovators. Bloomington. (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey) knowledged. “In both parties, there Hamilton said that is a resistance to the way the Reagan’s true power was country is evolving,” said Hamilton, who almost became television. When he helped get constituents into a Reagan a casualty himself in 1994 when he narrowly edged out speech, “they almost always came back disappointed. Ron- Republican Jean Leising in what became known as the ald Reagan never spoke to the audience. He spoke to the Republican “tsunami.” cameras. His first question to aides when he entered the “There is a desire for the good old days,” Ham- room was, ‘Where’s the camera?’ He was an actor.” ilton said. “Many Hoosiers see a drift of power to people That story is fascinating because Obama was al- and groups they don’t fully understand or know. So there’s most upset by not playing to the camera in his first debate a theme of ‘let’s get our country back.’ I ran into that in this against Mitt Romney. Obama was looking at the audience, election.” and TV viewers panned him for looking disinterested and Hamilton said he believes there has been a racial out of touch. sentiment with the first African-American president that Obama bounced back in the second debate by “bubbles and seethes beneath the surface.” This is particu- playing to the camera. larly true, he observed, in Southern Indiana “which was And, as they say, the rest is history. v settled by Southerners. There have been those vestiges HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 13 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday , Dec. 13, 2012

the vote on a chemical weapons treaty. I headed home just Working for and before midnight. Across those hours, Lugar spoke on the Senate floor and did the tough political work required to secure a believing in Lugar victory for the weapons agreement. It wasn’t a sexy issue. By MARK SCHOEFF JR. In fact, despite the news releases we launched through the WASHINGTON - Over the two decades that I’ve day, I doubt many reporters – or their audiences – were been in Washington, I’ve encountered scores of students paying particularly close attention to what Lugar was doing. and young people who aspire to a vocation in politics. That effort, however, illuminates the essence of When they ask me for advice on how to navigate Capitol Lugar’s public service. He was putting everything he had Hill, I always begin with the same guidance: believe in the into making the world safer for America. It took commit- person for whom you’re working. ment, diligence, skill and great intellectual capacity – every- I am surprised by the number of congressional thing that Lugar offers to Hoosiers and all Americans every staffers who are lukewarm toward their bosses. It’s clear day. that they’re serving on his or her staff because they love One of my favorite occasions while working for politics and they want to be part of that compelling game Lugar was to be invited into his office when he would tell in a place where the stakes can be the the staff his decision on a particular issue. It would give us highest. Their member of Congress is our marching orders for explaining his stance to reporters, sort of a vehicle to get them to where constituents and colleagues. During those moments, it was they want to be. a privilege it was to see true leadership firsthand. Although that approach can satisfy I had little to do with Lugar’s success during my a political ambition, it also can lead to a time on his staff. I just tried to make a positive contribution cynical place. Instead, I advise them to to helping communicate the importance of his work. One do what I did – join the staff of some- of the ironies of being a press secretary is that it’s best to one whose public service you believe is work for a politician who doesn’t actually need one. critical to the country. The reward of working for Lugar was not what I That’s what I experienced in my accomplished but rather the history that I witnessed. My more than five years on the staff of Sen. Richard Lugar. I rule for a good job is one in which you write something and was hired as Lugar’s deputy press secretary in 1992 and learn something every day. Both goals were satisfied during was promoted to press secretary in 1995. I was in each my Lugar tenure. position for almost exactly two-and-a-half years. One reason that my experience was such a good I was fortunate enough to work for Lugar during one is because Lugar was consistently out in front on is- one of the most exciting times of his career. Among other sues. He would dissect and eloquently describe how to ad- things, from 1992-97, he chaired the Senate Agriculture dress them. That’s how he continues to operate at the end Committee and championed an original and creative farm of his Senate career. In his valedictory speech on Dec. 12, bill that would fundamentally reform U.S. ag policy and Lugar was incisive in analyzing what has gone wrong with reduce federal spending. politics and leadership in Washington. I had a front-row seat as Lugar continued to “[W]e do our country a disservice, if we mistake build the Nunn-Lugar program that has eliminated thou- the act of taking positions for governance,” Lugar said. sands of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet “They are not the same thing. Governance requires adap- Union and around the world. tation to shifting circumstances. It often requires finding In addition, Lugar ran for president in 1995-96, common ground with Americans who have a different vi- when he offered the country a substantive agenda to make sion than your own.” it safer and more prosperous. He was prescient during that Lugar excelled in practicing that type of gover- campaign in warning that we must prepare for a terrorist nance. We can only hope that his congressional colleagues attack on our own soil. listen and do likewise. Protecting Americans against our worst nightmare Lugar said that he hesitated “to describe our cur- was always at the forefront of Lugar’s agenda. One of the rent state as the most partisan ever.” But without Lugar in most memorable moments of my career was also one of the Senate, we’re at risk of devolving further into divisive- my longest days on Capitol Hill. I arrived as usual around ness. 7:30 a.m. near the end of my time on Lugar’s staff in May For Lugar’s University of Indianapolis students who 1997. Lugar, by the way, was always in the office even ear- aspire to work in politics, I have a piece of advice: Choose lier. That particular day was the one that Lugar managed a boss like your professor. v HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 14 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

15. Treasurer Richard Mourdock Time to ponder the 16. Senate Majority Leader Connie Lawson 17. Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard 18. Indianapolis Councilman Vop Osili 2013 HPI Power 50 List 19. U.S. Rep. Todd Young By BRIAN A. HOWEY 20. U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita INDIANAPOLIS - It’s time to begin thinking about 21. U.S. Rep. Marlin Stutzman the 2013 Howey Politics Indiana Power 50 list. 22. State Sen. Carlin Yoder It’s our annual exercise to determine who will likely 23. Chris Chocola have the most clout in the coming year. 24. Democratic Chairman Dan Parker With a new 25. Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. gubernatorial ad- 26. Supt. Tony Bennett ministration, power 27. AFL-CIO President Nancy Guyott realigned in the Gen- 28. Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry eral Assembly, vast 29. Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke changes in the Con- 30. Chris Atkins gressional delegation 31. U.S. Rep. Larry Bucshon and state and national 32. South Bend Mayor Peter Buttigieg budget issues on the 33. Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight front burner, Howey 34. Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold Politics Indiana’s 2013 35. Attorney General Greg Zoeller “Power 50” list will 36. State Sen. Jim Banks be intriguing. As we 37. Dan Dumezich do every year at this 38. Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman time, we invite HPI 39. Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson subscribers to weigh 40. Dr. Woody Meyers in with nominations, 41. U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky observations, or sub- 42. U.S. Rep. Andre Carson mit their own list. 43. U.S. Rep. Dan Burton The new Power 50 will be published in the first 44. Luke Messer and Jackie Walorski week in January. It is designed to weigh who will likely 45. Jennifer Hallowell have access to the levers of power and who will actually 46. Evan Bayh use them. Submit your nominations to us at bhowey2@ 47. Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar gmail.com. 48. Marty Morris Here’s the 2012 Power 50 and as you can see there 49. State Rep. Charlie Brown will be some major changes coming in the 2013 list. 50. State Sen. Mike Delph

2012 Power 50 Honorable Mention 1. U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar Judge Rosenberg & The Supremes 2. Gov. Mitch Daniels Ken Faulk 3. U.S. Rep. Mike Pence Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson 4. House Speaker Brian Bosma Jim Wallace 5. Senate President David Long Susan Brooks 6. John Gregg David McIntosh 7. U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly Dave Crooks 8. House Minority Leader B. Patrick Bauer Tim Roemer 9. Dean White Joe Loftus & Steve Goldsmith 10. Jim Bopp Jr. Monica Boyer Joe Champion 11. State Sen. Luke Kenley Vanderburgh Sheriff Eric Williams Bill Smith 12. U.S. Sen. Dan Coats J. Cameron Carter Curt Smith 13. Ways & Means Chairman Jeff Espich Robert Enlow Gary Welsh 14. Republican Chairman Eric Holcomb Don Villwock Craig Dunn HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 15 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday Dec. 13, 2012

who at election time say, “Vote early and vote often.” Krull and the Lake Strong, by the way, won by 11 votes. And then there was the election to replace Mike Repay on the council. Repay becomes county commissioner County GOP on Jan. 1. By RICH JAMES Since Hammond represents the bulk of that MERRILLVILLE – Republican and Democratic council district, Mayor Tom McDermott, who also is county precinct committeemen made a couple of significant state- Democratic chairman, was the key player in the outcome. ments Saturday when they filled two vacancies on the Lake David Hamm, a former fire chief and three-term member of County Council. the Hammond City Council, defeated Phil Golden, a Ham- South county Republicans embraced the old guard mond committeeman, 35-23. when they selected Eldon Strong to replace Rick Niemeyer The outcome strengthens McDermott’s position in on the council. Niemeyer left last month to take a seat in Hammond. Repay, who has risen quickly in county Demo- the Indiana House. cratic politics, backed Golden as his replacement. The election of Strong, Hamm said coming to grips with the county’s financial situ- who is the Center Township ation will be his priority. And that is where McDermott will (Crown Point) trustee, was a slap play a big role. at the Tea Party folks, including McDermott, as do municipal leaders around the Lake County Republican Chair- county, badly wants the County Council to adopt a local op- woman Kim Krull. tion income tax. Not only did Strong win, Putting the tax in place will result in the lifting of but he defeated Crown Point Re- the levy freeze that has strangled the county’s many taxing publican Chairman James Cuffia. units since 2007. The General Assembly imposed the freeze After the May primary, Cuffia said until such time when the county becomes the last in the that Richard Murdock’s victory state to adopt an income tax. over Richard Lugar represented A few years ago, the County Council enacted the the future of the party. income tax but didn’t have the necessary five votes to Yeah, one win does not make a season. override the county commissioner’s veto. Strong’s win also was a blow to Krull, who more The council hasn’t again tried to enact the tax than likely will face a challenge when county Republicans knowing that Niemeyer and Repay were in opposition. elect a new chairman in March. Strong is basic ally against tax increases, but hasn’t flat-out Krull was one of the first to come out against opposed the income tax. Lugar, who she deemed too liberal for those who regularly Hamm has left the door open on the income tax. gather for afternoon tea to blame everyone but themselves With Hamm pretty well beholden to McDermott, it’s likely for the re-election of President Obama. a pretty good bet that Hamm will become the fifth vote Anyway, Krull was euphoric on primary night when needed for an override. Mourdock sent the finest senator the state has ever had to And, who knows, Strong could become the sixth the showers. vote. v Six months later, Krull cried a bevy of tears when Democrat Joe Donnelly defeated her beloved Mour- James is the former editorial page editor for the dock. Post-Tribune. Clearly, the Strong victory was a plus for Niemeyer, who also has served as a township trustee for many years. There are those within the party who feel Niemeyer might take on Krull for the chairmanship. Niemeyer wanted the chairmanship when the late John Curley was elected to his last term a few years ago. Other than Strong’s election, the biggest news to come out of the Republican caucus centered on the total vote. It seems that 59 committeemen signed in to vote but when the numbers were tabulated, 62 had voted. Apparently Republicans no longer can criticize Democrats HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 16 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

Does John Boehner warn even now about going Don’t fear the fiscal cliff over the Mayan cliff? No. He still blabbers about a fiscal cliff that won’t mean a thing after Dec. 21. Paul Ryan did show some sense. He proposed a (the world ends Dec. 21) budget eliminating Medicare as we know it. Smart move. By JACK COLWELL After Dec. 21 there won’t be many, if any, older citizens SOUTH BEND - Fear not the fiscal cliff. It won’t be around to seek medical care. looming there on Jan. 1. Nothing will be there. The world Doubts about the dire prophesy? Here’s proof: ends on Dec. 21. The government denies the world will end this year. And Warnings abound on the Internet. The end is near, you know you can’t trust the government. with fewer days left than shopping days Federal bureaucrats at NASA actually put out this for Christmas. The certainty of the end statement: “The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has of the world as we know it is proph- been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, esied by the Mayans. and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associ- The Mayans had a great ancient ated with 2012.” civilization somewhere in Central Ha! First, they have the date of creation of the America and Mexico. Before Christ, they world all wrong. And then they cite “credible scientists.” developed advanced mathematical and These are the same “credible scientists” making astronomical skills. Their third-graders up all that stuff about global warming. Instead of whining scored higher on ISTEP tests than our about Arctic ice melting away, they should have been warn- kids today. ing about final days on the Mayan calendar ticking way. Doomsday warnings are based on the Mayan calen- The scientists are as wrong on the Dec. 21 end of the dar ending on Dec. 21, 2012. Like just about now. Calendar world as they are on global warming bringing climate ends. World ends. Simple logic. change. Don’t believe it? That’s your problem. Survivalist Some critics of Mayan culture say it wasn’t so groups are preparing for what could be left at the end of great. Mayans cultivated corn. But critics say they never our so-called civilization. They stock up on guns and gro- turned it into ethanol. Yeah, but importing oil from the ceries, especially guns to kill off other survivalists. Middle East wasn’t so important back then. It’s all President Obama’s fault. Other critics complain that they sacrificed virgins. With all those stimulus funds, why didn’t Obama No big deal. Ancient writings show one of their politicians spend to create a new Mayan calendar? explaining it away as “something that God intended to hap- Why did he never raise the issue of the calendar pen.” and thus the world ending on Dec. 21? Sure, dodging the Critics of the Mayans and the end-of-world issue enabled him to win a second term. But what good is meaning of their calendar are wrong. a new term in a new year that won’t arrive? But don’t look just at the bad in this Dec. 21 cata- Usually when a calendar ends, like at the end of a clysmic end of our world. Think of all the good. year, you have a new one, starting again with January. Now No need to fight mall traffic to buy presents for it’s too late. If only the Mayans had been hired to draw up Christmas. a new one back when their calendar marked their Fourth of No more 30-second political ads on television ever July holiday. again. Obama fiddled with taxingthe super rich while No need to fear the Jan. 1 fiscal cliff or that Notre the days burned away on the Mayan calendar. He never Dame could lose in a bowl game scheduled after the Mayan proposed a cent for a new Mayan calendar to carry us calendar and time both run out. v through this year of doom and beyond. Well, Donald Trump and other enlightened conspir- Colwell has covered Indiana politics over five de- acy theorists know why. Obama was born not an American cades for the South Bend Tribune. citizen, but in the Mayan empire. As a Mayan believer, he will not tamper with their sacred calendar. Republicans also cannot escape blame. Did Mitt Romney ever warn during the campaign about the end of the Mayan calendar? No. He just warned about Big Bird. HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 17 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

If the private sector will not respond with gusto to The fiscal cliff is lower interest rates, if those rates can not fall much further, then the answer to our economic woes continues to be low unknowable terrain taxes and high spending by the federal government. The fiscal cliff is right around the corner. No one By MORTON J. MARCUS wants to take that leap into the unknown. INDIANAPOLIS - Facts about the past or present The President offers a modest proposal raising taxes are often hard to interpret. Facts about the future rarely on only the top 2 percent of earners in this country. His exist, which leaves us with fantasies (forecasts) of pleasant spending cuts, like the proposals from the Republicans, are anticipation or fearful apprehension. spaced into the future to have little impact on the immedi- The fiscal cliff is our best current example. The ate year ahead. Both sides are trying to do as little as pos- facts are if the Congress does not act by January 1, federal sible now and leaving the big issues for later. tax rates will return to higher levels and federal expendi- That may be the best policy. Sometimes wisdom de- tures will fall. mands putting off to tomorrow what you could do today. v The apprehensive fantasy is that a sudden rise in tax rates and a drop in spending will cause consumers and Mr. Marcus is an independent economist, writer and investors to cut back on their economic activities, leading speaker. to worse unemployment. The economy contracts. The cheery fantasy sees investors and consum- ers so delighted with a more balanced federal budget, so relieved that the political impasse is over, that they go on a spending spree that not only overcomes the cutbacks, it exceeds them, stimulating a boom. Poll shows Boehner bungling The economy grows. Which of these two scenarios is WASHINGTON - House Speaker John Boehner is more likely? getting poor reviews on his handling of the fiscal cliff nego- If these were “normal” times, tiations, according to a poll released Wednesday, with even the more optimistic view might be ten- Republicans failing to give him majority support. able. It would work like this: Fifty-four percent of Americans disapprove of A more balanced federal bud- Boehner’s handling of the talks, according to an ABC/Wash- get (not even a surplus) would reduce ington Post poll. While two-thirds of Democrats disagree the need for federal borrowing. This would reduce the role with Boehner’s approach, his support is weak among both of the Treasury in the money market and decrease the independents and GOP voters. A bare plurality of Republi- demand for loanable funds. With loan demand down, inter- cans approve of the Speaker’s approach, 39 percent to 37 est rates would fall and private borrowers (consumers and percent. Fifty-three percent of independents disapprove, investors) would respond positively to the lower rates. They and only 24 percent approve. President Barack Obama would borrow more, spend what they borrow, and stimu- gets slightly better grades from independents: 51 percent late economic growth. disapprove of his approach, and 42 percent approve. But However, increased private borrowing and spend- he has nearly unanimous support among Democrats, with a ing would have to offset the federal reduction in spending whopping 79 percent approving. Overall, 47 percent of vot- and the increase in tax revenues. That requires an almost ers approve of Obama’s handling of the negotiations and euphoric private sector. This might happen, if the fall in 46 percent disapprove. interest rates was a big one. Obama also has a strong claim to the ideological Can interest rates fall further? They now are so low center in the poll. Fifty-three percent of moderates approve that additional declines may be just a happy hallucination. of his approach, while only 22 percent said the same of The more skeptical approach says raising taxes and Boehner’s work. cutting spending will reduce the deficit and ease pressure The poll of 1,018 adults was conducted from Dec. on the rising debt. Yet there is little benefit to this action, 5 to Dec. 9. It has a margin of error of plus or minus four if we want to create more jobs. Instead we should be very percentage points. v selective in raising taxes and most careful about cutting spending. HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 18 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

Maureen Dowd, New York Times: My mom you can, as Obama would say, spread around the wealth. woud periodically call to warn me in a dire tone, “Do you The fact is that in the right-to-work states, unemployment know why the Incas are extinct?” Her maize hazing left is 6.9%. And in the other states the non-right-to-work, it’s me with a deeply ingrained fear of being part of a civiliza- 8.7%. So you can choose to have fewer workers who enjoy tion that was obliviously engaging in behavior that would higher, inflated, unnatural, if you like, wages, uncompeti- lead to its extinction. Too bad the Republican Party didn’t tive wages. Or you can have competitive wages and more have my mom to keep it on its toes. Then it might not have people employed, more people with the dignity of a job gone all Apocalypto on us — becoming the first civilization and less unemployment, more taxation and more activity. in modern history to spiral the way of the Incas, Aztecs I think it’s it the right choice but I understand how it’s a and Mayans. The Mayans were right, as it turns out, when wrenching choice. v they predicted the world would end in 2012. It was just a select world: the G.O.P. universe of arrogant, uptight, Stuart Rothenberg, Roll Call: Luckiest Candi- entitled, bossy, retrogressive white guys. Just another date of 2012: There are a handful of obvious candidates. vanishing tribe that fought the cultural and demographic Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill had no chance of winning a tides of history. Someday, it will be the subject of a Na- second term — until Republican challenger Rep. Todd Akin tional Geographic special, or a Mel Gibson movie, where popularized the term “legitimate rape.” Akin could have archaeologists piece together who the lost tribe spent the entire general election in Finland and was, where it came from, and what happened beaten McCaskill, and even after his self-inflicted to it. The experts will sift through the ruins of injury, he could have resurrected GOP chances the Reagan Presidential Library, Dick Cheney’s of winning the seat by dropping out. McCaskill is shotgun casings, Orca poll monitoring hiero- lucky he didn’t. Similarly, Indiana Democratic Rep. glyphics, remnants of triumphal rants by Dick Joe Donnelly had little or no chance of getting Morris on Fox News, faded photos of Clint East- elected to the Senate this year — until Richard wood and an empty chair, and scraps of ancient Mourdock made yet another campaign error, tape in which a tall, stiff man, his name long forgotten, in answering a question about rape and abortion. Don- gnashes his teeth about the 47 percent of moochers and nelly ran a good race, but he wouldn’t have defeated Sen. the “gifts” they got. Instead of smallpox, plagues, drought Richard G. Lugar or any minimally appealing mainstream and Conquistadors, the Republican decline will be traced to Republican. v a stubborn refusal to adapt to a world where poor people and sick people and black people and brown people and NWI Times: It appears the idea female people and gay people count. As the historian Will William Nangle, of government existing to create jobs is alive and well in Durant observed, “A great civilization is not conquered from Lake County. The Interfaith Federation is the latest voice without until it has destroyed itself from within.” v demanding more local jobs. It wants the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority to fashion its projects to Charles Krauthammer, Fox News: This is assure more Hammond, East Chicago and Gary residents an adjustment to reality. The fact is that, you know, in get jobs. Apparently, never mind qualifications. Or perhaps the glory days the 40s, the 50s, the 60’s, the UAW was never mind rewarding contracts for a level playing field of able to give its workers the highest wages, benefits in bidding. And never mind employment needs in the bal- the world. That was because of an anomaly that we were ance of the region. The Interfaith group has long suffered only industrial country that came out of second World the cause of those less fortunate. It’s been a help in many War intact. Europe was on its knees, Germany and Japan ways. But it appears to now be a steamroller going in one were rubble. So, we thought that was the natural order of direction – favored treatment for residents of the region’s things. It wasn’t. And when the other industrial countries urban corridor. I agree the needs there are great, but the recovered, we got world competition as we have. We ran RDA was formed to benefit the region, not just one geo- into bankruptcies, Chrysler now twice. We see that in the graphic area. Of course, the Interfaith Federation is not southern states where the transplants are without the alone in wanting government to create jobs. Leaders of the unions. They weren’t the ones who went bankrupt last in Gary Fair Share Jobs Project are nipping at Mayor Karen 2008 and 2009. So it really is a choice. It’s a tough choice, Freeman-Wilson’s heels, unhappy more Gary residents and I sympathize with the unions, but the fact is that in weren’t hired for a sewer job in the Glen Ryan subdivision. the global economy where you have to compete on wages Emboldened by his recent re-election, the county official and other elements, of the units of production, you can you made it clear he wants the project – if it ever gets off the either have, you know, high wages with low employment or ground – to favor local tradesmen. v HOWEY Politics Indiana Page 19 Weekly Briefing on Indiana Politics Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012

Indiana. 41% would object to such a Bennett lands change. Carter supports Florida post legalized pot TALLAHASSEE - Indiana’s Indy city fleet to WASHINGTON - Former recently ousted state school super- President Jimmy Carter said he is in intendent was named to a new job go electric, nat gas favor of legalizing marijuana during a Wednesday as Florida’s education public panel that CNN aired Tuesday. INDIANAPOLIS - Indianapolis commissioner, a choice that drew CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux asked is taking a big step in its goal to go applause from Gov. Rick Scott and Carter whether he supported marijua- green. Mayor Greg Ballard says he criticism from the leader of Florida’s na’s legalization during a forum hosted plans to replace the entire city-fleet, statewide teachers union (Associated by The Captain Planet Foundation on including police cars, with electric, Press). The State Board of Education Friday in Georgia. “I’m in favor of it. I plug-in hybrids and vehicles powered unanimously selected Tony Bennett, think it’s OK,” Carter told Malveaux. by natural gas by 2025. Ballard said a Republican who lost a bid for re- the switch will eventually save the city election in Indiana last month, from $6-$10 million a year. a slate of three finalists at its regular Donnelly on ag, meeting in Tampa. “Tony’s experience in being a teacher, a superintendent, Daniels discusses armed services a coach and WASHINGTON - Senator-elect a statewide gay marriage Joe Donnelly received his committee elected leader assignments for the 113th Congress. INDIANAPOLIS - Gov. Mitch brought a lot Senator-elect Donnelly will serve on Daniels said Wednesday he has been more real time, the Armed Services, Agriculture, and hearing from companies that fear that real recent Aging Committees. “I am pleased to a measure that would put Indiana’s experience in have the opportunity to serve the ban on same-sex marriage into the terms of where diverse needs of Hoosiers, especially state constitution might also pre- we need to get to,” board member our men and women in uniform, agri- vent firms from offering benefits to Kathleen Shanahan said. She also cultural community, and seniors,” said gay couples (Associated Press). The cited Bennett’s leadership in the Senator-elect Donnelly. “I look forward measure was approved by lawmakers implementation of Common Core State to working on all issues important to last year and could come up for a vote Standards and a related battery of our state as Indiana’s next U.S. Sena- again next year. If approved twice, it tests. Florida is among 45 states, the tor.” District of Columbia and three ter- would go before voters in 2014. The ritories that have agreed to adopt the language in the constitutional ban national standards. In a statement, would go further than barring mar- Walorski on Scott said, “Tony has a great record riage. It would bar “a legal status of achievement in Indiana, and I am identical or substantially similar to that armed services confident he will be a tireless advocate of marriage for unmarried individu- for Florida’s students.” als,” potentially prohibiting benefits for WASHINGTON - Second Dis- gay couples typically associated with trict U.S. Rep.-elect Jackie Walorski, marriage. Daniels says he heard from R-Jimtown, has been appointed to the companies on the issue as recently House Armed Services Committee for BSU poll shows pot as Wednesday morning but gave little the 113th Congress, according to a specifics. Daniels has never taken a news release. “It’s a privilege to be decrim support position on the issue and declined appointed to such a prestigious com- INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana may Wednesday to say whether he sup- mittee, and I’m confident it will largely be in a mood to ease its marijuana ports the ban. “They wouldn’t want benefit Hoosiers in the 2nd District,” laws. That’s one conclusion from the their ability to offer benefits and that Walorski said in a statement. new WISH-TV / Ball State University sort of thing limited. They think it’s Hoosier Survey. The pollsters found fair. They think it’s important at least 53% of the people surveyed said they in case of some of their employees,” favor decriminalizing marijuana in he said.