Saturday, June 26, 2010

Mutz Splits With Daniels And Roob, Wants Clean Job Numbers

In a major embarrassment to the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Republican Lt. Governor John Mutz is demanding that the actual job numbers from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation get cleaned up in the wake of a WTHR Investigates report by Bob Segall that suggested the job numbers touted by the agency were grossly inflated. Mutz sits on the policy committee for the IEDC and formerly headed up Indiana's economic development efforts when he served under former Gov. Robert Orr. Segall reports on what Mutz is saying about those job numbers:

For months, Eyewitness News has been asking IEDC where are all the jobs it's been bragging about? And now, the agency is asking that question, too.


John Mutz is a veteran politician and businessman. The former lieutenant governor now sits on the policy committee of the IEDC, and he wants to know Indiana's real job numbers.

"The transparency issue has to do with whether we clean up our data often enough," said Mutz. "I thought it was important to get it out on the table today and we talked about it."

The discussion took place this week, behind the scenes at an IEDC board meeting. It comes after 13 Investigates showed the agency has been inflating the state's job numbers by continuing to report jobs that never materialized.

"We're going to insist on an annual basis that this takes place; alter those totals every year," said Mutz.

Mutz says IEDC needs to be more accurate and transparent and its annual reports must reflect real jobs, not just a laundry list of promises and projections that may never come true.

"If you have a company that went out of business and they're not going to create the rest of the jobs they committed, so you take them off the list. You got a company that's down a little because of the recession, they don't create the jobs as fast they would, so you alter their estimates. It's those kind of refinements that have to take place," said Mutz.
Each year, IEDC gives away millions of dollars in tax breaks and incentives to help bring companies to Indiana and you're paying for it. This board members says that's why you deserve to get the truth - to see how many jobs you're getting for your money.


"I think it's important for the public to understand what this money has been used for to know if they grants have produced the results that the governor claims. That's a realistic thing to ask," said Mutz.

A few months ago, IEDC released revised job numbers but they still don't add up. That's because the agency does not acknowledge thousands of jobs that fell through at companies that decided to cut back. The former lieutenant governor says IEDC will now begin re-assessing all jobs previously reported by the agency, and that will hopefully result in much more accurate statistics.
Mutz' comments bolsters the efforts of House Speaker Pat Bauer and other Democrats to get IEDC to more fully disclose information it is shielding from public disclosure under claims of confidentiality on behalf of the businesses to which the agency awards incentives. This will also make it more difficult for the Daniels administration to claim the issue being raised by critics is all about politics. I can only imagine how peeved Daniels and Roob are with Mutz, but it's their own fault. Roob has made a complete mess of every management job he has ever held, whether it was during the Goldsmith administration or the current Daniels administration. Republican leaders continue to tout him as some boy wonder despite his horrendous track record and his knack for pissing off people through his condescending ways.

9 comments:

Paul K. Ogden said...

One of the biggest mystries in government is how Roob continues to land one high-level administrative job after another.

Gary R. Welsh said...

When I first met Mitch Roob, he was carrying bags for Gov. Jim Thompson in Illinois. He went with his boss to a National Governors Association meeting and had too much to drink and jumped into the hotel's pool buck naked. I heard this story from people on Gov. Orr's staff at the time who were in attendance at the same meeting. Other staffers fetched him out before he got arrested.

I know said...

Well now that Roob is maybe a little upset about his actions and Daniels has supported him time and time again you might look a little deeper and see where Roob's associates are working and how he is associated with another mess the State of Indiana is trying to cover up to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.

Roob's knowledge of the illegal contracts turned out by the Indiana Gaming Commission would be interesting to see what he will reveal.

God speed to John Mutz. I was around him a few times when Bob Orr was Governor and John Mutz is what the Indiana Republican Party should be all about. A class act, honest and driven and wants the taxpayers of Indiana to be treated fairly.

Governor Daniel's wake up. The other messes you have tried to stay away from will soon raise their ugly head unless you settle the lawsuits against your agencies. The buck stops at your desk just like John Mutz has now reminded you!

Leaders lead by example. You have made very clear and public statements about how you have the buck stop with you. Get the video tape out where you bragged at firing Donald Trump and then let your friends have a self written 40 year contract and then let them default twice and did nothing about it.

What will happen when the next chapter asks for TRANSPARENCY in the Indiana Gaming Commission? It will be far more embarrassing than the IEDC!

interestedparty said...

I have always admired John Mutz. I suppose there are those who think the "old guard" is obsolete and behind the times. Yes, they may be a bit boring with their gentlemanly ways, but their ethics and common sense seem to be intact.

Marycatherine Barton said...

Could John Mutz be more forthcoming about this need for clean job numbers to be presented to the public! Thanks to him, and let us hope that he gets his demands.

Bradley said...

I'm glad someone from the Republican Party is talking about transparency in government. I agree with all comments, especially how Mitch Roob has kept his job (and that's frightening he jumped in a pool starkers like that -- terrifying really).

I cannot accept from anyone who tells me Mitch Daniels is a true "fiscal conservative" or that his administration is reduced in corruption compared to Dems. I apologize, Gary, about constantly talking about DWD, but every time you have an entry about Mitch I see how it relates to DWD (I could go on forever about how that place wastes hundreds of millions of dollars).

I think either you or Paul Ogden once said that one of Mitch's biggest problems is that he does not monitor his department heads very well as they ruin whatever they touch -- Mitch Roob is the king of that category. I also include, of course, Ron Stiver and Teresa Voors at DWD. I thought you and your readers would like to know about the following jobs, too, at DWD:

Gina DelSanto earns $91,000 per year. DWD created a position for her in Jan. 2009, "Senior Deputy Commissioner of Agency Policy and Performance". She was Daniels' "policy coordinator" in his 2004 campaign. Even though at the time she was the newest DC, she was given the moniker "Senior". Her husband is a Republican on the Fishers Town Council.

Michelle Marshel earns $87,000 per year. DWD created her position in 2009, "Deputy Commissioner of Marketing, Communications and Government Affairs. She was the House Republican Caucus Policy Director right before taking her newly-created position for her. How did DWD function without having someone in this position before?!

Marc Lotter earns $75,000 per year. His position, Press Secretary (actually "Communications Director") is under Michelle Marshel's position (he has a staff of one working for him, and he is above a supervisory level while some supervisors (who actually know unemployment, etc.) make less than half his salary and have 100 times more staff. Lotter was previously a spokesperson for the Daniels '04 campaign, the Governor's Office, and the Indiana McCain/Palin '08 campaign. Needing a job after that failed attempt, he started with DWD in Jan. 2009.

Valerie Kroeger earns $40,950 per year. DWD created her position of "Deputy Communications Director". She began at DWD in 2009 and previously was the House Republican Caucus Press Secretary. She works under Lotter.
Since December 2008, DWD has created at least 4 "Broad Band Executive/Director" positions (they earn between $47,000 and $80,000 per year) and 4 Deputy Commissioner positions (who earn at least $85,000). Interestingly, Teresa Voors' 4 newly-created DC positions were all originally given to women.

Marty Morrow, the recently departed "Chief Information Officer" over the failed Unemployment Insurance Modernization (UIM) worked at Lilly when Daniels was there. Dustin Stohler and Voors, the recently departed DWD General Counsel and Commissioner (respectively) both were lawyers at Baker and Daniels. Mark Everson, the new commissioner, was the deputy director of the federal Office of Management and Budget in the early President Bush years. All have links with the Governor's past employers, and none of their records at DWD (save Everson as it is too early to tell and to give benefit of the doubt) were what anyone would call stellar.

On DWD's website: "The DWD Leadership Team is comprised of a strong group of individuals with impressive experience and a strong vision for innovating Indiana’s workforce development initiatives". I wonder if they are serious about this statement 5 1/2 years later?

interestedparty said...

Wow. And that's just one Department.

Paul K. Ogden said...

Bradley,

I'm the one who said Mitch Daniels biggest weakness is the lack of supervision of Indiana's administrative agencies.

People have tried to point out problems with various agencies and have always been met by the Daniels folks with complete disinterest. Some of these agency chiefs are running wild at the departments with no fear of being reigned in by Governor Daniels. Granted it should be subordinates supervisign the agencies, but ultimately the buck stops on Daniels' desk.

Bradley said...

Ok thanks Paul, I was thinking it was probably you who wrote that, but was not for sure. And you were as right then as you are now about the governor and a need for him to control his executive branch departments. The very people he touts as the "cream of the crop" from the private sector are the very same folks destroying and/or humiliating these agencies.

I have a quote I like to use -- "The government that fails the people fails altogether". It was a quote that did not sit well with DWD's Lead Team. Although this government will not collapse or anything, the damage being done now will never be repaired in many instances.

I am glad there are folks out there blogging like Gary and Paul and all the others (regardless of party or how I feel about their views) who expose corruption, tax dollar evaporation and general waste in government. I may not always agree with all of you, but for the most part Indy's local bloggers do a helluva better job of exposing those things than the mainstream media.

I am heavily considering starting my own blog that would generally focus on the hundreds of problems of Indiana's DWD and our state's unemployment insurance program along with other issues I like to discuss. Maybe some day.

Also, I guess if any of the crooks (either past or present) from DWD who read my entries here or elsewhere and who had any part in doing what you have done to my many friends and me, please do two things:

1. Remember the light of day will be quickly shining on what you have done to us and the whole of DWD the last 5 1/2 years; and,
2. Memorize my favorite Latin quote:

Nemo me impune lacessit (and you people know why because your day has since come or will be coming soon).

I don't mean to sound crazy Gary, but if you and everyone else reading knew what DWD personally did to my friends and me, you'd know exactly why I say this stuff.