Pence's Picks For Motorsports Commission Look Like Mark Miles' Handpicked Choices

I had absolutely no confidence that Gov. Mike Pence would select any one with any independent judgment to serve on the Indiana Motorsports Commission, which will have responsibility for doling out up to $100 million in taxpayer dollars to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the appointees he named to the Commission today lived up to my worst fears. It looks like Hulman & Company's CEO Mark Miles scratched out his choices on a piece of paper and handed them to one of his aides and Pence simply rubber stamped his picks. They are:

• Tom Kelley, the founder of Kelley Racing, which ran an IRL team at the Speedway from 1998 to 2004. He also operates several car dealership up in the Fort Wayne area.
• Tim Clauson, a vice-president for the Rotary Corporation, a supplier of outdoor power equipment parts. He co-owns a USAC racing team with his son, Bryan, who raced in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 for Sarah Fisher's team and finished 30th.
• Earle Goode, former Chief of Staff and Director of the Department of Administration in the administration of Gov. Mitch Daniels where all sorts of corrupt shenanigans went on to steer state building leases to Johns Bales and company.
• Ryan Kitchell, another crony of former Gov. Mitch Daniels from Eli Lilly who served as Daniels' budget director and now serves as VP & CFO at IU Health.

Gov. Pence could not have gone more out of his way to deliver a big middle finger to the taxpayers of  this state with these appointees. He has essentially given the Hulman-George family a rubber stamp Commission that will do whatever Mark Miles asks them to do. What a joke.