Monday, August 19, 2013

Pence's State House Lobbyist Out: Embroiled In Tony Bennett Scandal

Gov. Mike Pence's State House lobbyist, Heather Neal, served as chief of staff for former Education Supt. Tony Bennett when his staff rigged the grading system for the state's schools to ensure that the charter school operated by his biggest campaign contributor, Christel DeHaan, received an "A" instead of the "C" it was entitled to receive under the grading system he devised. Upon learning that DeHaan's Christel Academy was going to receive a "C" grade, Neal reacted in an e-mail exchange with Bennett: "Oh, crap. We cannot release until this is resolved." The Journal-Gazette's Niki Kelly reports that she is leaving her job after only seven months on the job. She will reportedly become a State House lobbyist for Limestone Strategies where she will immediately begin lobbying state lawmakers, although she is barred under state law from lobbying the executive branch for at least one year.

Limestone Strategies was founded by Cam Savage, another former employee of Bennett's office. Interestingly, he just penned a column for the State House File, suggesting that AP reporter Tom LoBianco's reporting had it wrong and that Tony Bennett was right.
Bennett’s concern that this particular school registered a “C” grade under initial system trials was well founded. Because the school only served students in kindergarten through the 10th grade, the initial formula penalized the school for not graduating any seniors. This is an obvious problem, because this school, and a few others, didn’t have any seniors. Adjusting the formula to avoid punishing these schools was certainly something Bennett had the authority to do, but unquestionably, was the appropriate thing to do.
Perhaps Bennett's concerns that his grading system was flawed were well-founded. Nonetheless, he declined to make similar allowances for several IPS schools, forcing their takeover by the state. It turned out that the private company that's making millions of dollars operating those schools gave Bennett's wife a very well-paid job after the couple left the state for the Sunshine State where Bennett became the state's top education official until the scandal forced his resignation last month.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

The news was transmitted via her kate spade iphone

Paul K. Ogden said...

Heather Neal was not a popular person, especially among conservatives.. I was really surprised when the Pence administration hired her.

Anonymous said...

Cam Savage and Heather Neal are both heavily connected to Rokita.

What else is out there?

Gary R. Welsh said...

Pence doesn't control who he hires, Paul. He does what he's ordered to do by the same band of thieves who ran the Daniels administration for eight years. The only people who are eligible for hire in the Pence administration are people who are controlled and will continue funneling money to this same racket.

Anonymous said...

Her mailing address as an attorney is still listed as being with the Indiana Dept. of Education, according to the Supreme Court's Roll of Attorneys site.

From 2005 on, has she ever had a private non-governmental (non-political) job?


varangianguard said...

"Limestone Strategies" must be some kind of ghost. Google it and you get a couple of links to Cam Savage's and Ken Ober's LinkedIn accounts. Not much else.

Anonymous said...

What was that sweet gig Savage had with the state a few years ago where he was paid a bunch of money for a short period of work?

Who's funneling money to this "Limestone Strategies" to ensure that the Team Republican bench stays fed?

Can Neal work as a lobbyist for "Limestone Strategies?" Does Indiana permit attorneys to practice under trade names?

By the way, Gary, the group that controlled Daniels warmed up by controlling lesser offices prior to Daniels' arrival.

They're working Indy and State government the way a good major league team works its farm clubs.

Anonymous said...

This whole affair is shameful in that the entire focus of the DOE was on profit making, favors, and enriching cronies. That's it! Who is advocating for Indiana families in all of this bs?! I feel badly for the young people that have to make their way through this educational system. Neals should be ashamed of herself, and instead she's shamelessly turning around and making a quick buck elsewhere. Seemingly, it doesn't get worse than this.Cam Savage is doing what "they" all do: covering. There is nothing we can do about these people; the bureaucracy is impenetrable with plenty of people who know how important it is to misinform the public. Read the Atlantic Cities article last week? Writers like that are a dime-a-dozen in these parts. More needs to be done to unmask the liars and soothe-sayers, but before that can happen, Hoosier voters must first demand the truth.

Gary R. Welsh said...

It's a lobbying firm, not a law firm.

Anonymous said...

So?

What matters is what she's doing, not what they call themselves.

Anonymous said...

What is Todd Huston's connection to this "lobbying firm?"