Daniels Rewarded With Another High-Paid Corporate Board Position

To read the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star's announcement that Mitch Daniels is joining the board of another corporation that has received large payouts courtesy of Indiana taxpayers it's just another form of public service. The former governor and Purdue president is joining the board of Interactive Intelligence, which pays its board members an average annual compensation of $187,200 to attend a handful of board meetings during the year, many times what the average Hoosier worker earns in a year from their full-time jobs. The $600,000 in base salary Daniels earns as Purdue's president just isn't enough to pay the bills.

According to the Indiana Economic Development Corporation's website, Interactive Intelligence was the beneficiary of more than $16.6 million in EDGE tax credits and $500,000 in training grant money awarded when Daniels was the state's governor. That's not all. Last year, Gov. Pence and the IEDC announced it was awarding up to $8.3 million in additional tax credits and another $300,000 in training grant money for an expansion of its Indiana operations with the promise of adding 430 new jobs by 2016.

In January 2013, Daniels awarded Interactive Intelligence's CEO Donald Brown with the Sagamore Award, the highest honor a state's governor can award to one of its citizens. "Indiana needs more Don Browns," Gov. Daniels said in awarding Brown the Sagamore. "He develops companies that become wildly successful and then comes up with more ideas using Indiana as his base of operations. We couldn't be more proud of Dr. Brown's accomplishments."

This is nothing new. Mitch Daniels has always used public service as a means of attaining enormous wealth for himself. He successfully leveraged his job in the Reagan administration to land a top corporate job at Eli Lilly where he earned tens of millions of dollars as an reward for special interest benefits he helped get Congress write into law that positively impacted Lilly's bottom line at the expense of federal taxpayers.

The Star mentions that Daniels also joined the board of Cerner, a Kansas City-based health care information technology company. Who can't figure out how the president of a major university like Purdue is not in a position to do favors for companies that give him high-paid positions on their corporate boards?

The Star makes no mention of Daniels being named to Hulman & Company's board of directors around the same time a deal by Gov. Mike Pence and key state lawmakers was cut behind closed doors to give the Hulman & Company's Indianapolis Motor Speedway $100 million in state taxpayer dollars to improve their privately-owned race track. Purdue played a role in writing a bogus study to tout the benefits of the IMS to Indiana's economy. The salary paid to Hulman & Company's board members is not public information but it is reportedly very generous since it is primarily occupied by family members who rely on that salary for their spending money. It should also be mentioned that Gov. Pence's son attended Purdue University on very generous scholarships Daniels made sure he got so the Pence household didn't have to incur debt to send their son to college like other ordinary Hoosiers.

So yet another company walks away with tens of millions of our tax dollars while stuffing money in the politicians' pockets who are supposed to be representing our interests but actually earn far more in quid pro quo deals using your taxpayer dollars as the quo. It's disgusting and illegal, but there is nobody on the side of taxpayers to fight for our interest to put these dirty bums in prison where they belong for using our taxpayer dollars as their own personal ATM machine. Instead of reporting real public corruption that exposes the ways of those they seek to protect, our media creates flash mob stories about RFRA, JustIn and other manufactured stories used to advance their own social and political agenda.

So Why Would Mitch Daniels Want To Take Down Mike Pence?

Eric Holcomb announcing his campaign to replace Sen. Dan Coats

The pieces of the puzzle are all coming together now. Former Indiana State GOP Chairman and close Mitch Daniels confidante' Eric Holcomb left his job as Sen. Dan Coats' chief of staff shortly before Coats announced he would not be seeking re-election in 2016 to get a head start on assembling a campaign to replace his former boss. Initially, there was no shortage of potential Republican candidates lining up for a possible bid to replace Coats, including several members of the congressional delegation. Susan Brooks, Todd Rokita, Marlin Stutzman and Todd Young all expressed an interest, along with State Sen. Mike Delph, who got put in the doghouse last year over the Senate leadership's handling of the heated marriage amendment debate last year. Then there was total silence.

It seems the powers that be are wanting Coats to resign from his Senate seat early, allowing Gov. Pence to appoint his replacement. There's one big hitch in that plan. Mitch Daniels wants his boy Holcomb to fill Coats' Senate seat. Holcomb, who lost the only campaign in which he was the candidate against a little-known state representative in Knox County, is a also a darling of the Gannett-owned Indianapolis Star, which as far as I can determine exists solely to write press releases for Daniels and whatever is the flavor of the day for the rest of the bipartisan organized crime syndicate that runs Indiana as if it was a private business they operate for their own profit. Not surprisingly, Pence isn't keen on Holcomb taking Coats' Senate seat. What to do about this problem? Well, if you can't bring him over to your side, then kick him out of the way. And that's what they're doing.

A funny thing happened not quite like we've seen in Indiana in a long time. An issue known as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA"), which passed Congress nearly unanimously in 1993, was handily adopted in 19 states in the ensuing years, including neighboring Illinois with the support of then-State Sen. Barack Obama, and which didn't even draw a single opponent to testify against it when it was first heard in committee this year, exploded as the number one issue of the session after being characterized for the first time in RFRA's more than two decade history as a license to discriminate against gay people. Gov. Pence wasn't even responsible for its initiation but quickly signed on to support it like so many Republican and Democrats alike have supported the law in the past in a bipartisan fashion.

It's one thing to credit gay rights advocates for re-purposing the law's intent for ulterior motives, but that doesn't fly unless the media is willing to run with the meme, which is precisely what happened with the Gannett newspaper leading the charge and the rest of the media simply going along for the ride and piling on in a typical media frenzy fashion. Any enlightened person agrees it's unfair to discriminate against a person simply because of their sexual orientation so branding RFRA as anti-gay was as good as recasting it as a law designed to discriminate against blacks. The Indianapolis Star knew respected legal scholars, such as Maurer School of Law constitutional law professor Daniel Conkle, a supporter of gay rights, had reviewed and signed on as a supporter of Indiana's RFRA legislation, but the newspaper threw aside all rational judgment and intentionally helped lead the state to the dark place it's been since the days when D.C. Stephenson and the KKK controlled virtually every office of any note in the state back in the 1920s through downright false reporting and over-the-top editorializing against SB 101.

By the point the manufactured media hysteria had reached top speed, Gov. Mike Pence had given his word to supporters he would sign SB 101 into law if it reached his desk, and he was a man of his word. Little did Pence know that forces had already been put into motion not just to discredit him politically as either a presidential candidate or candidate for re-election as governor in 2016. The forces have aligned and have a well-orchestrated plan to force him from the governor's office. Have people forgotten Arizona Gov. Evan Mecham and the role the Indianapolis Star's sister newspaper, The Arizona Republic, played in taking him down after he cancelled a paid vacation day for all state employees honoring Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.? Just like it happened this past week, businesses and conventions began a campaign to boycott Arizona over the King holiday issue. The Republic piled on by trumping up what turned out to be unfounded allegations of criminal wrongdoing on Mecham's part for allegedly misusing government money, which led to his impeachment, conviction and removal from office. Mecham was eventually acquitted of all charges at a subsequent criminal trial, but by that point Mecham was dead meat forever tarnished as the disgraced former governor who brought embarrassment and shame to his state.

Pence has always been a media savvy politician, but he looked like a deer staring into the headlights when the anti-RFRA onslaught hit him. Legislation he played no part in writing or steering through the legislature suddenly became his baby. Even House Speaker Brian Bosma and Senate President Pro Tem David Long, whose leadership power allowed them at any point during the process to put the kabash on SB 101 before garnering overwhelming support for it from both of their caucuses and placing it on the governor's desk for signature, seemed more than happy to throw Pence under the bus by laying the blame at his feet, again with the quite willing assistance of The Star and the rest of the media, as Pence became the butt of late-night comedian jokes. To hear The Star's Matt Tully describe it, Pence in one fell swoop had destroyed everything Mitch Daniels had worked hard to build during his two terms as governor. Tully described Pence as "a stunningly ineffective leader" who was "never meant to be a governor," which contrasted quite sharply from earlier columns he penned lauding the governor's leadership on his pet issues like early childhood education. When Long and Bosma brought forward a collection of Daniels' cronies at their press conference this morning to announce their fix to this mess Pence had caused to our great state, you could picture Daniels sitting in his office in West Lafayette with a wide grin on his face.

Daniels may claim he's totally happy acting as Purdue University President and having no part of politics, but everyone who knows him best knows he can't stand not having his hands on the control switch. Coats was more than happy in his multi-million dollar retirement home in North Carolina before Daniels, Lugar, Holcomb, et al. coaxed him into moving back to Indiana in 2010 to reclaim the Senate seat he obligingly vacated to make room for Evan Bayh in 1998 simply to keep someone Daniels and company couldn't control from taking the Senate seat, which was reportedly once his for the asking when Gov. Robert Orr had to chose a replacement for Dan Quayle when he was elected vice president, an offer he turned down so he could build his wealth into a multi-million dollar fortune by trading on his political connections and power. Daniels and company are still stinging from the smashing defeat of his beloved mentor, Richard Lugar, in the 2012 primary election by Richard Mourdock, who now lives in purgatory. It was no secret they were all privately supporting Democrat Joe Donnelly in the November election that year in retaliation for that unexpected loss.

It makes all the sense in the world that Daniels would do whatever it takes to ensure his handpicked choice succeeds Coats in the Senate. If that means taking down Pence to prevent him from having a hand in the decision, then so be it. He knows Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann is in his back pocket should he succeed in forcing Pence from office, a guy he only begrudgingly supported for governor in 2012 after concluding he had nobody capable of beating him in the primary. If you doubt me, look at how abruptly he threw former Secretary of State Charlie White under the bus. Daniels first called White into his office and ordered him to give up the office to which he had been overwhelmingly elected. When he refused, he confidently told White he would be indicted, convicted and kicked out of the office in his typical take-no-prisoner fashion. Mitch was true to his word.

Daniels Joins Neocons For High-Level Confab On Their Treacherous New World Order Aims

Purdue University President Mitch Daniels once again broke his promise to keep his hands out of politics after joining the world of academia, but anyone who knows him knew that was a promise he could never keep. It seems Mitch took part in an elitist confab of some of the most treacherous of the neocons who carry the water of the New World Order that is determined to figure out new ways to start wars to keep the military industrial complex humming and plotting new policies to permanently end the middle class in America. The event sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute at The Cloister in Sea Island, Georgia, a five-star resort, included American politics' filthiest pig, Karl Rove, Dick "Haliburton First" Cheney, former CIA Director David Betrayus, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Scott Carpenter of Google Spy On Us. Prospective GOP presidential candidates including, Gov. Scott Walker, Gov. Chris Crispie Creme, Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Marco Rubio, were on hand to provide the obligatory hand jobs for their masters while interviewing for their future leadership roles in the New World Order. Daniels led a panel discussion on "How to fix the states ... by rewarding your political cronies, shifting more of the tax burden away from business to individuals and creating as many low-paying jobs as possible." Daniels insisted that there was nothing political about the meeting. It was just a coincidence that everyone in attendance is from the neocon wing of the Republican Party. "I went to this thing, as I have for three years, to learn," Daniels said. He also claimed that one of Purdue's biggest donors and another potential donor was in attendance at the event as well. No doubt they were donors tied to the defense industry.

Former Indiana GOP Chairman James Kittle Fingered In Bribe Offered To House Speaker To Block HJR-3

Wealthy businessman and former Indiana State Republican Chairman James Kittle has been identified as the businessman who offered House Speaker Brian Bosma unlimited campaign cash earlier this session if he would kill HJR-3, the proposed marriage discrimination amendment according to the AP's Tom Lobianco. Citing multiple sources familiar with the offer, Lobianco said Kittle withdrew the offer of "unlimited" campaign help after Bosma questioned the legality of his offer.

Jim Kittle offered "unlimited" campaign help to House Speaker Brian Bosma as part of a push to defeat the proposed amendment, according to multiple people with direct knowledge of the discussion. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to disclose the private discussions.

Kittle withdrew his offer after Bosma questioned its legality, and it turns out the money wasn't needed after all. Only four House Republicans targeted by ban supporters face primary challenges, and changes to the proposed amendment's language will keep the issue off the ballot until at least 2016. But the back-room intrigue illustrates how election-year politics and campaign dollars shape some of the state's most important decisions . . .

Bosma also has said a potential candidate notified him that he had been offered $500,000 from an out-of-state source to challenge the speaker in the May primary.

But Kittle's offer is the one that raised some eyebrows. Bosma first announced an offer of campaign dollars in a January news conference but did not identify the potential contributor.

"I received a pledge of unlimited campaign funding if I were to make this issue go away," Bosma announced.

Bosma said he rejected the offer and expressed concern that it might have violated state or federal law. He has worn his decision as a badge of pride throughout the session, telling reporters he does not bow to threats or intimidation.

Bosma told The Associated Press last week that he didn't think the offer constituted a crime. But the speaker, who has never said Kittle made the offer, acknowledged voicing some concerns.

"I did bring to that individual's attention what it sounded like he was saying and I think he was pretty concerned about it after he said it," Bosma said.

Kittle did not return calls seeking comment . . .

This isn't the first time Kittle's name has surfaced in connection with nefarious activities. Kittle, who stepped down as the GOP's state party chairman and Gov. Daniels' finance chairman after before his arrest for drunk driving in Hamilton County in December, 2010, was identified as one of several investors a controversial Chinese immigrant had supposedly lined up to start up a new company that would assist Chinese investors with investment opportunities in the United States. Monica Liang, then a newly-hired consultant to Mitch Roob, the former head of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), became the subject of a complaint lodged by Chinese businessmen after Liang lured a Chinese billionaire, Ao Yuqi, to wire $50,000 into her bank account. According to a written complaint several Chinese businessmen had delivered to Gov. Mitch Daniels accusing Liang of criminal wrongdoing, Liang had identified Kittle as someone with whom she was very close who had tremendous political clout in Indiana.

She advised us that the State of Indiana would set up an office in China and she would be appointed as the manager of that office. She also repeatedly hinted to us that she was connected politically because she was in an intimate relationship with Chairman of Republican Party of Indiana. She advised us that the Chairman was "super rich," owned two large biotechnology companies and was the largest campaign contributor of Governor Daniels' election. As she put it that meant it was no problem for us to meet Governor Daniels when we next visit Indiana.

Sources familiar with an FBI investigation of Liang's business dealings tell Advance Indiana that she had formed a new company, China North American Investment Group, LLC, whose members according to Liang were to include herself, Ao, Kittle, Mitch Roob and Bingham McHale managing partner, Toby McClamroch, a former Indianapolis City-County Council member. Liang used a letter dated February 18, 2011 signed by Roob appointing her as his special assistant for Chinese relations to impress potential investors in China. Liang had also supposedly represented to the Chinese investors an opportunity to invest in a $12 million nursing home project she was trying to develop in a building she had purchased in Marion, Indiana, which she claimed included Gov. Daniels, Marion Mayor Wayne Seybold and Roob as investors according to an expose' on the entire sordid affair by the Indianapolis Star, titled, "The China Letter." Among the supporting documents Liang provided to the Chinese investors was a letter on the City of Marion's letterhead signed by the city's economic development director, Darren Reese, pledging support for TIF incentives for the project.

The FBI dropped its investigation of Liang's business dealings after she died unexpectedly from an aneurysm during a visit to her apartment in Carmel in late October, 2011 from a Chicago attorney, Thomas Gehl, who was advising her on EB-5 immigrant visas, a visa program that allows large foreign investors to obtain permanent resident status in the U.S. in consideration for investing in qualified American investments.  As a result of an internal investigation of the complaint sent to Gov. Daniels, Liang was immediately terminated and Roob stepped down as IEDC's CEO a short time later, although he insisted that the sordid affair was not the cause for his resignation. IEDC also ended its long-term relationship with Pacific World Trade, which had an exclusive contract to assist the IEDC in developing business relationships in China, in retaliation for its perceived role in helping bring the serious allegations of wrongdoing on Liang's part to light. The company's owner, Dennis Kelley, delivered the complaint on behalf of the Chinese businessmen, a fact that irked state officials, even though essentially all of the allegations contained in their complaint had been determined to be accurate based on the state agency's internal investigation of the complaint. Roob had demanded that Kelley retract the allegations set forth in the complaint prior to his abrupt departure from the state agency.

Last December, the Indianapolis Star featured a $2.5 million log cabin home in Carmel owned by Kittle that was being offered for sale. "Detailed craftsmanship is the hallmark of this spacious Carmel home being offered for $2.5 million," the article read. "Jim Kittle's custom log home is filled with signature lines from the family furniture business." "Set in a private, wooded area, the home resembles a mountain retreat, complete with natural interior features such as slate flooring and exposed board and batten ceilings." Watch the Indianapolis Star and other media outlets to bury this AP story since it doesn't fit their meme on HJR-3, not to mention the advertising Kittle's furniture store purchases from them.

FSSA Office Building In Kokomo Owned By Bales Closed Due To Unsafe Conditions

Well, this makes for a fitting postscript to the acquittal of John Bales and his business partner, William Spencer, in a federal courtroom in South Bend. An inspector for the city of Kokomo ordered a building occupied by the Family & Social Services Administration closed indefinitely until its owner, John Bales' Venture Real Estate, addresses persistent water leaks that posed the risk of fire to damaged electrical wiring and falling ceiling tiles, raw sewage in the building's basement and falling bricks. FSSA employees who worked in the building experience respiratory problems and allergic reactions to mold. Other testing by inspectors found elevated levels of lead and carbon dioxide in the building. The Kokomo Perspective has the story:

Daniels' PAC Unloads Cash, But Not One Dime For Fair Finance Investors

The Star's Mary Beth Schneider reports that Gov. Mitch Daniels began unloading the remaining funds in his Aiming Higher PAC just days before Purdue University's Board of Trustees named him as the university's new president. Gov. Daniels pledged to withdraw from his involvement in partisan politics upon the announcement. To that end, Daniels wrote two checks in the amount of $25,000 each to Mike Pence's gubernatorial campaign committee, which has already raised a record amount of money for a gubernatorial campaign, and to State School Superintendent Tony Bennett's campaign committee. After those large contributions and associated expenses, his PAC has a little more than $50,000 remaining. A separate issues fund has about $18,000 remaining. "We'll wind 'em both up by the end of the year," Daniels said. "I don't know exactly. The money needs to be given for the purpose that somebody donated it. We can't take it and divert it to a different purpose."

In other words, Gov. Daniels believes the 5,000 small investors in Ohio who lost more than $200 million they invested in Fair Finance, can all drop dead. Daniels, who is personally worth more than $50 million, could earn close to $1 million a year as Purdue's new president. Daniels accepted more than $200,000 in campaign donations from Durham, more than anyone other than former Marion Co. Prosecutor Carl Brizzi. To date, he has returned a paltry sum of $3,000 to the bankruptcy trustee. Earlier this year the bankruptcy trustee filed suit against the campaign committees of Daniels, who is the only hold out among politicians the bankruptcy trustee pursued to recover generous campaign contributions made by Durham. The trustee has asked Daniels to repay $90,000, or a little under half of what he collected from Durham. The Star article makes no mention of the ongoing litigation against his campaign committees.

Star Makes Light Of Daniels' Residency Problem

I may sound like a broken record by this point, but Charlie White was right when he said Indiana's residency laws were being applied to him differently than other politicians. I'll continue to repeat it as long as his convictions on charges that he violated the state's voter residency laws because he registered to vote at his ex-wife's home for a short period while in between homes continue to stand. I observed an AP report the other day which discussed the question of whether Gov. Mitch Daniels would actually move into the president's home on Purdue University's campus once he become its new president next year since he never resided in the governor's residence as required by law, although the article ignored the law-breaking aspect of the issue. During the debate over Charlie White's residency woes, the Indianapolis Star led the state's media in news reporting and editorializing condemning his actions and calling for his removal from office. An item in today's "Behind Closed Doors" column making light of Daniels' claim that he will reside on the Purdue campus is a testament to the paper's deference to Gov. Daniels' more serious disregard of the state's residency laws:

Daniels said Thursday that once he's president of Purdue University in January, he'll live in the president's mansion.

Though it may depend on what the meaning of "live" is.

After all, in October 2005, Daniels told reporters that after a home show allowing tours of the renovated governor's residence on Meridian Street in Indianapolis was completed the following spring, he and the first lady would "take up residence here."

Asked by a reporter what that meant, Daniels mocked the question.

"It's a common English phrase," Daniels said. "It means 'move in.' "

Which the Daniels never did.

In fact, they eventually moved into a home they built in Carmel.

The issue had dogged Daniels since shortly after he became governor in 2004. People, including in the Butler-Tarkington and Meridian-Kessler neighborhoods that are so proud of having the governor as a neighbor were disappointed. Other people took it as sign that the governor felt the fancy home just wasn't good enough for him.

And since the Constitution requires the governor to live in the state capital, his Hamilton County home didn't fit the bill.

So we'll be waiting to see. Will the Danielses "live" in Lafayette? Does that mean "move in?"

Or does that mean "a nice place to visit?"

Ironically, it was the Star that first raised the issue about the constitutional requirement when word leaked out that Daniels was building a new home in Carmel. I'm not sure why the item claims the issue has dogged Daniels. The newspaper certainly hasn't dogged Daniels like it did White. It dropped the issue almost as quickly as it raised it. After moving into the Carmel home, Daniels switched his voter registration from his former home in Marion County to the governor's residence, even though he resided in his new home in Carmel, a fact the Star has never reported. If you're Charlie White, you should lose your office and go to jail. If you're Mitch Daniels, it's just an item to make light of in the Sunday political gossip column.

But What About Mitch's Residency Problem?

I know people are tired of hearing about the residency issue by this point, but I feel in the interest of fairness to former Secretary of State Charlie White, who was prosecuted for registering to vote at his ex-wife's home for a several month period, forced from office and lost his law license, that the issue needs to be thoroughly vetted with respect to others as well. Gov. Mitch Daniels was highly critical of the decisions White made with respect to his residency claims and called for his resignation early on after he was sworn into office. After yesterday's news about Daniels being named as the new president of Purdue University, reporters wondered whether he would choose to live on campus since he chose not to reside in the governor's residence. The Associated Press reports that Daniels says that he will live on the Purdue campus:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says he'll live in the president's house once he takes over at Purdue University but will go back and forth to his Carmel home.

Daniels was introduced as the university's 12th president Thursday after a unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees.

Daniels and wife Cheri chose not to move into the Indiana governor's residence after his election in 2004. They said the recently renovated home still needed $2.6 million in upgrades and that they planned to build a home in a gated community in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel.

The governor's residence had been empty before. No one ever lived in the second governor's mansion in downtown Indianapolis in 1827, and the house was torn down 30 years later.

White, of course, complained to reporters at the time that the residency issues of others weren't being looked at in the same way his residency issue had been closely scrutinized by the media and prosecutors. The issue did eventually catch up with Sen. Richard Lugar and former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh, contributing to their election defeats this year. The Indiana Constitution is clear that the governor is required to reside in Indianapolis. Daniels hasn't hidden the fact that he chose instead to reside in his Carmel home. White complained that Daniels, nonetheless, registered to vote using the governor's residence as his voting address. Reporters were always dismissive of White's complaint, but it does seem to be a relevant question to ask. Daniels ignored the constitutional mandate to live at the governor's residence, and he got by with using it as his voting residence. White has a legitimate point about double standards and the rule of law not being uniformly applied.

Will Mitch Finally Return The Campaign Contributions He Accepted From Durham?

In a bit of irony, the same week we learn that Gov. Mitch Daniels will become the new president of Purdue University when he leaves office at the end of his term early next year, one of his largest campaign benefactors, Tim Durham, was convicted on all twelve charges that he ran a Ponzi scheme at the expense of thousands of small Ohio investors in the Fair Finance Co. A federal bankruptcy trustee, Brian Bash, has been working feverishly over the past couple of years trying to recover as much of the more than $200 million of their investments Durham and his associates squandered on their mansions, sporty cars, private jet, yacht, Playboy parties and gambling-fueled trips to Las Vegas. Durham also showered politicians like Gov. Mitch Daniels with large contributions.

Daniels received more than $200,000 from Durham, but he has been adamant in his refusal to aid Fair Finance's bankruptcy trustee by returning the ill-gotten funds. State Sen. Mike Delph was one of the first politicians to return Durham's contributions, and his lead was soon followed by a string of other politicians. Daniels has remained the last holdout. His campaign committee has returned only about $3,000 of the contributions he received from Durham. The bankruptcy trustee earlier this year sued Daniels to recover $90,000 from him. Daniels, who is personally worth more than $50 million, has defended his decision not to return the money based on the fact that the money is already spent. Perhaps the trustee of Purdue University should condition Daniels' appointment as the university's president on his agreement to settle up and at least repay the $90,000 the trustee has requested he repay. C'mon, if Jami Ferrell, the Playmate who received more than a quarter million dollars from Durham could repay $55,000 to the bankruptcy trustee, surely Daniels could find a spare $90,000 lying around somewhere.

Daniels Decides On A Different Kind Of Presidential Job

Political observers were caught off guard by today's announcement that Gov. Mitch Daniels will become the new president of Purdue University at the end of his term, succeeding France Cordova. The IBJ reports that Purdue's trustees are scheduled to meet on Thursday to approve Daniels' appointment according to a source familiar with the university's selection process. A press conference to announce the appointment will take place Friday in Indianapolis at the JW Marriott. An interim successor for Cordova is expected to be named to serve until Daniels leaves office next January. This should finally remove any doubts about whether Daniels would be willing to be Mitt Romney's running mate. Daniels has insisted that he was not interested in being Vice President after turning down an opportunity to seek the Republican presidential nomination this year, but political pundits have persisted in throwing his name into the mix. I'm surprised that Daniels would be interested in being a university president. It will be interesting to watch the reaction of Purdue's academic community to this news.

UPDATE: The Star has some initial reaction from the academic community with some questioning his qualifications for the job while others lauded the news:

“I think the faculty would feel more comfortable with someone who has academic experience, someone who’s stood in front of a class of Purdue students after a long party weekend and gained their attention — these kind of challenges,” said Otto Doering, professor of agricultural economics at Purdue, who has advised Indiana governors since the 1970s.

To succeed, he said, Daniels will need to immediately reach out to faculty members and include them in his plans.

Last fall, the board’s search committee asked the University Senate to conduct a survey that asked students, faculty and staff what kind of expertise they wanted in their next president. All groups surveyed agreed it was “essential that the new president have academic credentials equivalent to a tenured full professor,” the committee wrote in its executive summary.

Daniels has an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a law degree from Georgetown University, but he has spent his career in business and government settings, not in a classroom or research lab.

By contrast, Purdue’s presidents have usually been top scholars and lifelong academics, with degrees in medicine, engineering or physics. Córdova, the current president, is an internationally known astrophysicist.

That said, as word of Daniels’ selection reverberated around the campus, some faculty said they were softening their view that the next president must have an academic background.

“It got me thinking here’s an individual who’s been successful in business,” said David J. Williams, a veterinary professor of medical illustration and vice president of the University Senate. “Here’s an individual who’s been successful in the political arena who could harness all this creative energy at Purdue. I find that part of the idea of Mitch Daniels . . . that part of it I find exciting.”

Joe Rust, student government president at Purdue, said many students are excited by news of Daniels’ selection but concerned about his track record with higher education funding. Purdue lost about $45.5 million over two years in state funding, starting in 2009, in part because of Daniels’ instructions to the Indiana Commission on Higher Education to cut higher-education funding.

Still, many observers lauded the choice, calling Daniels a strong executive with a history of guiding large organizations, from Indiana government to his tenure as a senior executive at Eli Lilly and Co.

“It doesn’t concern me that he doesn’t have an academic background,” said Philip T. Powell, associate professor of business economics and public policy at Indiana University. “He’s a proven leader. He can bring a battleship of talent with him.” . . .

Mitch Still Covering For Dick After All These Years

Gov. Mitch Daniels makes a last-ditch appeal to save his long-time political mentor, Sen. Richard Lugar. Daniels cut his teeth in politics working as a young campaign operative under former Marion Co. GOP Chairman Keith Bulen, who according to some insider reports, helped deliver the Republican mayoral nomination in Indianapolis to Lugar after Lugar's mother delivered a check to Bulen for $60,000, which launched Lugar's political career in Indiana politics 45 years ago. Daniels' first campaign working as a paid campaign staffer for his mentor after graduating from Princeton was Lugar's unsuccessful race to unseat former Sen. Birch Bayh in 1974. The Hoosier Hysteria blog reminds us of the role Daniels played in his first government-paid job as Lugar's press aide in the mayor's office. Here's Mitch explaining how he was using his government-paid job to raise campaign funds from city workers for his boss as reported by the Indianapolis Star on January 16, 1975 a little more than two months after Lugar's sobering loss to Bayh:

"Mayor Richard G. Lugar's administration yesterday officially began the GOP Public Employees Fund Drive, a device designed to replace the old 2 per cent patronage deduction from the paychecks of city employees. Fifteen persons, including department heads and most of the mayor's staff, were given the initial opportunity to pledge, a ceremony which resulted in a total annual pledge of $7,420, or almost 3 per cent of the combined annual salaries of those involved. The individual monthly amounts ranged from $30 to $50 . . . Mitchell Daniels, the mayor's press aide, remarked 'We are extremely enthusiastic about this program and expect it to be attractive because of its voluntary nature.' Pledge cards, a misnomer since employes [sic] actually will sign mimeographed sheets of paper, will be distributed to employees through their department or division supervisors next week. UniGov Department heads have been asked to draft a list of employees who should be asked to pledge, and therefore will decide who should be exempted from the program. Daniels speculated that such persons who might be exempted include those whose salaries are derived wholly from Federal funds or who are working in decidedly professional categories. "But that decision rests with the supervisor,' he emphasized. . .It is unknown how many employes [sic] will be asked to participated, but Daniels said the city hopes to raise at least $65,000 , the amount received last year from the payroll deductions. He commented that in some departments, employees traditionally have not contributed and the city hopes to get at least one-half or 1 per cent pledges by virtue of the voluntary nature of the program. He added the payroll deduction program enjoyed marginal success. . .The voluntary program will feature a 'peer-to-peer follow-up effort' in which nonsupervisory coworkers will visit the homes of employees who fail to pledge and encourage the 'maverick' to do so . . . Daniels promised that none of the follow-up consolers will threaten an employe [sic] with dismissal, nor would they be in a position to do so . . . Many city employes [sic], however, are concerned that the program, for all its pretense will be little removed from the payroll deduction system under which some workers were threatened with dismissal for failure to pay."

This is why today's Indianapolis Star reporters refuse to read their own newspaper's archives. It's just shocking what was matter-of-factly reported back in those days in the state's newspaper of record. As Paul Harvey used to say, "And now you know the rest of the story."

Daniels' Illinois Speech Greeted By Thousands Of Protesters

An estimated 5,000 union workers showed up to protest a speech Gov. Mitch Daniels gave to the Champaign County Republicans because of Daniels' support of Indiana's recently enacted right to work law. Earlier this week, a similar number of union protesters showed up at a speaking appearance by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker during a speech he gave to an Illinois Chamber of Commerce meeting in Springfiled. The Champaign News-Gazette has some quotes from Daniels' speech to nearly 500 Republicans who gathered for the party's Lincoln Day dinner in Champaign:

"When you take money away from people, you leave them a little less free," said Daniels . . .

"It leaves more disposable money in the pockets of those who earned it," he said. "When you approach the public mission that way, you maximize freedom."

When government increases spending and increases its debt, Daniels said, the middle class is hurt.

"For the first time in our history, people do not have the hope that has always been there in the darkest hour that my children will live better than I do," Daniels said. "We are seeing an eroding of the opportunity, and therefore the hope, for a vibrant, stable middle class in this country."

One way to improve the business climate, Daniels said, it to keep taxes as low as possible. The governor noted that Indiana corporate income taxes, worker's compensation, unemployment insurance and property taxes are all lower than those in Illinois.

"The lower our taxes are compared to the neighboring states, the more competitive we are," Daniels said.

Daniels said he isn't saying what he has done in Indiana is good for Illinois.

"If you are asking me if Illinois should pass a right to work law, please don't," Daniels said. "We're welcoming businesses every day and would hate to have that advantage neutralized."

Daniels said government must be careful to use the power of taxation prudently and use the money wisely . . .

"When we use the coercive power of the state to take money from people who need it, we need to be careful about it," Daniels said.

"Those folks over there don't think you can cut it," Daniels said, speaking of the Democrats. "They don't think you can possibly make your own decisions about your mortgage or health insurance or health care choices or the light bulbs that are best for you.

"We (Republicans) believe you are fully capable. You are a creature of dignity; not an object of therapy."

Daniels noted that President Barack Obama got elected with a slogan, "Change you can believe in."

"I asked myself, 'What the hell does that mean?'" Daniels said. "It doesn't mean anything, and that was its magic as a marketing device.

"I decided we as Republicans ought to twist that slogan into something that does have meaning. That would be 'Change that believes in you.'"

State Revenue Error Shortchanged Local Governments Over $200 Million

Last December, the Indiana Department of Revenue announced that it discovered over $300 million in misplaced state revenues. Today, the Department announced that it had shortchanged counties more than $206 million since 2011 because of a miscalculation in revenue distributions. The latest blunder cost two senior Department officials their jobs and the ouster of the Department Commissioner John Eckart. The state's budget director, Adam Horst, learned of the error weeks ago but did not tell Gov. Mitch Daniels until he was about to leave on an 8-day trip to Israel. The Star's Mary Beth Schneider explains:

We are taking this very seriously,” Horst told reporters this morning.

Eckart offered to resign immediately, Horst said, but will stay on until tax season is over. No date was specified for him to leave. The two officials who left state employment Wednesday are Chief Information Officer Roy D. Gabriel, who retired after having been with the Department of Revenue since January 2004 and previously worked for the Family and Social Services Administration, and Chief Financial Officer Darrel Anderson, who resigned after having been with the revenue department since June 2005. According to the state’s website, Gabriel was paid $100,000 annually, and Anderson $99,500.

The biggest admission that a change in personnel isn’t enough is the state’s decision to hire an outside firm to conduct an independent audit.

Democrats had called for that very step in December, after the first error was found, but Daniels, Horst and Republican fiscal leaders in the legislature had firmly opposed that. Horst said that the internal reviews after the first error worked, as they found this new error. Both resulted from programming errors, though of a different nature. The first involved electronic checks by corporations that were not properly accounted for in the state’s general fund; the new error comes from miscalculations of how much counties are owed in income tax collections.

Today's announcement will erase a substantial hole recently uncovered in Indianapolis' city-county budget. Indianapolis was shortchanged $33.8 million, which it will now be receiving from the state along with interest. In total, all taxing units in Marion County will receive about $55 million in combined new revenues. About $41 million is payable to the city-county operating fund. Hamilton County will get $17.3 million, Hendricks County will receive $4.8 million and Johnson County will get about $3.8 million.

Daniels Won't Be Bullied Into Naming A Female Supreme Court Justice

Gov. Mitch Daniels had a warning to proponents of naming a female justice to the all male Indiana Supreme Court: he won't be bullied into naming a woman to the court. Quoting Daniels, the Northwest Indiana Times' Dan Carden writes:

"Those who are eager to see it would serve their cause better by not making a whole lot more noise, because it would taint the choice," Daniels said. "Beyond some point it would discredit the person I pick if it looked like it was purely political or an appeal for cheap points." . . .

"If I thought anybody — male or female — was going to make decisions based on gender or some other category, that would disqualify them immediately," Daniels said. "Justice must be blind."

Jewish Federation Footing Bill For Daniels' Trip To Israel

The Star does something this morning it seldom does. It probes a bit deeper into the purpose behind Gov. Mitch Daniels' private eight-day trip to Israel. Daniels is making the obligatory trip to the holy land courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Indianapolis, which will include a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The governor's office would first only tell the Star's Mary Beth Schneider that the trip was not for official state business but little else. His press secretary told her it was a "personal trip" and a "vacation." Yet the trip includes his former economic development director, IBJ publisher Mickey Maurer, and includes meetings with Israeli businesses and aerospace companies. Initially, Schneider says the governor's office would only tell her that the trip was not being paid for by taxpayers. After Schneider probed the Jewish Federation of Indianapolis more deeply about the purpose of the trip, she was referred back to Daniels' office.

Initially, the governor's office said only that the trip was not being paid for by taxpayers. The Jewish Federation referred questions about who was paying the tab back to the governor's office.

Pressed on who was footing the bill and whether state ethics laws allow a governor to accept the gift of travel, Anita Samuel, general counsel to Daniels, issued a statement confirming that the federation was paying for the trip and that no ethics conflicts arose.

"This organization does not have a business relationship with the governor's office, and they are not trying to influence any action by the governor," Samuel said. "Therefore, this does not violate any state ethics rules."

Julia Vaughn, policy director of the citizens watchdog group Common Cause Indiana, said questions about who pays for a governor's trip are legitimate.

"He is the governor. Taxpayers of the state have the right to know who is footing the bill for a trip, particularly one overseas," she said. "Transparency is always the best approach."

Maurer downplayed the significance of the trip.

"This is part of a program that's been going on 20 years," he said. "There have been well over 100 people going. This is a pretty routine type of thing."

These organized free trips to Israel for political leaders have been going on for many decades. Let's call them for what they are. Their purpose is to ensure that people in America who are in a position of power understand why America should provide foreign aid to Israel and side with the nation on disputes within the region with its Arab neighbors. Whether that's a sinister motive is in the eyes of the beholder. Playing hide the ball with a reporter probably doesn't lend itself to disabusing people inclined towards a more sinister notion.

If this is Daniels' first trip to Israel, I would be quite surprised given his former jobs working for Sen. Lugar and the Reagan and Bush White Houses. You can bet Sen. Lugar has taken more than one of these trips to Israel given the high profile role he has played in foreign affairs and how supportive Maurer is of Lugar politically. I believe U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, one of two Muslims in Congress, was ushered off to Israel on one of these trips a short time after he took office. Similar trips were organized when I worked for the legislature in Illinois. I still remember my state representative, a downstate farmer/banker, taking one of these trips a short time after he was elected to office. He had no ambitions beyond being a state lawmaker and found it a bit humorous that anyone cared what he thought about American foreign policy views towards Israel, particularly since he could count on his hand the number of Jews who lived in his district. He had never been to Israel. He said, "Hell, why not?" He pretty much confirmed after he returned that its purpose was indoctrination.

Schneider's story mentions that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is just finishing up a trip to Israel that similarly included a meeting with Netanyahu and the Western Wall. Both Daniels and Christie have been mentioned as potential vice presidential running mates after the two opted against making a run for the Republican presidential nomination this year. Daniels has told reporters that he's not interested in running on a national ticket this year. That probably reflects his current thinking, but I'm not sure he couldn't be convinced to change his mind. I tend to agree with the view Larry Sabato shared with Schneider. "While he wasn't sure whether this would increase speculation about Daniels' political future, Sabato said that 'you have to laugh' at the idea that this is just a vacation for either him or Christie.," Schneider writes. "I've been to Israel a few times, too," Sabato said. "The prime minister's never offered to meet with me."

Daniels Calls Marion County's Judicial Slating System "A Travesty"

Gov. Mitch Daniels has been governor for nearly eight years. During that time, I don't recall any instance where he criticized the political system utilized by the two major parties to slate judicial candidates in Marion County until yesterday. During an interview with reporters following the announcement of his appointment of Mark Massa to the Supreme Court, he called the Marion County judicial slating system "a travesty" under which "these offices are purely partisan" and "purchased by party loyalty." That's pretty tough language. It would have been nice if the Governor had used his enormous political capital to pressure the legislature to enact a merit system for Marion County like Lake County has at some point during his two terms in office. Check out the interview where he made those comments to reporters at IndyPolitics here.

Indiana Supreme Court To Remain All Male After Daniels Names Massa

It's mightily hard for Gov. Mitch Daniels to claim he named another male to the Supreme Court because he was the most qualified candidate. Several other more qualified candidates were passed over by the Indiana Judicial Qualficiations Commission, including two of the finalists from last year, Indianapolis appellate attorney Karl Mulvaney and Marion Superior Court Judge Robyn Moberly, when Gov. Daniels chose Justice Steven David to take the place of retiring Justice Ted Boehm. Today, Daniels chose Mark Massa, his former chief counsel, to fill the very big shoes being vacated by Chief Justice Randall Shepard, whose last day on the job was today. Daniels passed over Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Cale Bradford and the only female finalist, Indianapolis attorney Jane Seigel, both of whom had experience and qualifications that arguably exceeded Massa's. Nobody can argue with the fact that Massa was the most politically-wired candidate of the three finalists. The Indiana Judicial Nominating Commission will now have the task of choosing the next chief justice from among the sitting justices.

The disappointment with Massa's appointment could be felt in the reporting by female reporters like the Star's Mary Beth Schneider. "With Massa’s pick, Indiana remains one of only three states in the nation with no women on the highest court. Daniels chose Massa, who currently is executive director of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, over Jane Ann Seigel, executive director of the Indiana Judicial Center, and Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Cale Bradford." Schneider continued:

Daniels said he would have liked nothing better than to appoint a woman to the court, but giving that diversity did not trump finding the best person for the job.

“I would like nothing more than to appoint yet another woman to the bench or any other high office. I do it when I can,” he said. “But it does not trump the need to get the very best person available. Under our system I don’t get to look all over Indiana. I’m limited to the choices that are brought to me. In this case, I’m 100 percent certain I’ve chosen the best of those three.”

The Indiana Law Blog's Marcia Oddi commented: "[I]t reminds me of the old story about Ginger Rogers, to equal Fred Astaire she had to perform while dancing backwards in high heels. "

Indiana State Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb released a statement lauding Massa's appointment by Gov. Daniels:

"Mark Massa is a thoughtful and respected public servant and member of our community whose guiding principle will be to faithfully protect and follow our State and National Constitutions. 

"His impeccable record of service in Governor Daniels' office, as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as a clerk to then-Chief Justice Shepard, among other assignments, makes him an ideal choice to be our next Supreme Court Justice."

Child Fatality Review Team Head For DCS Resigns, Accusing Daniels Adminstration of Rigging Stats To Show Improvement

A highly-respected forensic pediatrician and professor at the IU School of Medicine resigned in frustration as head of DCS's Child Fatality Review Team. Dr. Antoinette Laskey charged in her resignation letter addressed to Gov. Mitch Daniels that DCS Director James Payne's recent claims lauding "record low deaths" from child abuse under the Daniels administration are a fraud. Dr. Laskey charged in her resignation letter that the improvements touted by Daniels and Director Payne recently reflect "no success story" but rather re-categorizing deaths resulting from child abuse as "not the responsibility of the Department of Child Services." I can no longer participate in a process that is unable to work effectively in this state," Laskey said. "Every death of a child is a tragedy and every preventable death is a lesson that must be learned so that other will not have to suffer the loss that so many of our Hoosier families have endured," she continued.

Laskey charges in her letter that Director Payne is "failing to gather objective data about child fatalities." She accused Payne of "not following best practices." Instead, she suggests the data has been skewed by "political interference." Laskey criticized legislation that has been sent to the Governor (SEA 286) that would establish regional teams to review child deaths, which she claims "have not been shown to be effective nationally."  "I cannot continue to serve in a role that is not able to effectively improve the condition of Hoosier children," Laskey concluded. Ouch. The Star's Tim Evans has more on Laskey's departure here. Payne told Evans he was "surprised by the tone of the letter." Members of the Child Fatality Review Team seemed to corroborate Laskey's concerns.

Whistle Blowers Say Mismanagement At Department Of Workforce Development Contributed To $2 Billion Debt

The state of Indiana's unemployment trust fund that is used to pay the benefits of unemployed workers is $2 billion in debt to the federal government. While the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression contributed greatly to the fund's insolvency, current and former employees of Indiana's Department of Workforce Development say management decisions exacerbated the problem. WISH-TV's Deanna Dewberry had an excellent report last night discussing how management encouraged workers to resolve claims in favor of employees to speed up processing of unemployment claims, leading to many errors. One of the key managers responsible for the bad decision, according to Dewberry's report, was actually honored by Gov. Daniels for a job well done.

Inefficient. Poorly managed. Sloppy. These strong words are being used to describe the agency that pays Indiana's unemployed. Whistleblowers came exclusively to I-Team 8 to expose this story years in the making.

One of those whistleblowers is a former DWD employee who we'll call Ken. He knows the Department of Workforce Development well. He worked there as one of the people who decides whether you're eligible for unemployment. When asked whether the unemployed can be assured their cases will be decided fairly and accurately he answered, "I would not have faith, no. And I don't think a lot of people do."

Ken doesn't want us to identify him for fear of state retaliation. But another former DWD worker, Andrew Gray, shared his story openly.

"It's a poorly run department," said Gray.

The state's unemployment rate skyrocketed from 4.7 percent in January of 2008 to a record high 10.9 percent just a year and a half later. As unemployment reached its peak, internal e-mails obtained by I-Team 8 detail how the Department of Workforce Development - drowning in claims, calls and appeals - may have resorted to questionable tactics that contributed to a $2 billion debt.

He points to an October 2009 e-mail from Ronnie Miller, then the Unemployment Insurance Director of Benefits and Appeals. In it, Miller told DWD employees to get the number of appeals to a "more manageable number" that week. He instructed them to "correct every case based on information provided by the claimant, fix what they say is wrong." He goes on to say, "I understand that this might create some error on these cases, and we are willing to accept that in exchange for getting the case count reduced."

When asked whether he believed some unemployed claimants were paid who shouldn't have been and vice versa, Ken replied, "Oh, I can guarantee that, yeah."

I-Team 8 uncovered memos even more disturbing. An e-mail with DELETE DOCUMENT WORK in the subject line tells employees to delete documents older than 150 days. It went to DWD workers who deal with reports from the public about problems, errors and fraud in the system.

"Remove from your inbox," the e-mail reads. "You do not need to do anything else with them." That means hundreds of people who wrote DWD about problems and waited for a response are likely still waiting. No one ever read your letter or e-mail. It was likely deleted.

"He wanted the number down so he sent an e-mail out department-wide to delete 50 a day," said Gray.

For reducing the caseload, Ronnie Miller was honored by the governor with the prestigious public service achievement award. Miller, who now works in the private sector as an attorney specializing in ethics, refused our request for an interview.

Workers allege it wasn't quality, but quantity and quotas that mattered.

Ken says there was a motto in the department that decided whether unemployed Hoosiers are eligible for unemployment.

"Read it and write it, or read and write for short," said Ken . . .

DWD Commissioner Mark Everson refused to be interviewed by Dewberry for the story. She finally attempted to ask questions of him at a monthly meeting where he made a presentation. He left the room quickly to avoid answering her questions. A spokesperson for the agency told Dewberry to submit her questions via e-mail. She got a response with a general denial and nothing more.

Imagine if Gov. Daniels was running for president right now. The Obama administration would have the national media all over the Department asking questions about why it has the worst error rates in the country. The reporters would also be packed in Judge David Dreyer's courtroom in downtown Indianapolis where the state and IBM are suing each other trying to learn all they could about how badly Daniels privatization of the Family & Social Services Administration failed, costing taxpayers more than $500 million. With no national campaign, it's up to the local news media to scrutinize the Daniels administration, which generally treats it with kid gloves.

Fair Finance Trustee Sues Daniels Campaign Committee To Recover Durham Contributions

The bankruptcy trustee for Fair Finance today filed a lawsuit against Gov. Mitch Daniels' campaign committee seeking to recover $90,000 of the more than $200,000 in contributions he received from indicted Ponzi schemer Tim Durham. Daniels has in the past defended not returning the contributions he received from Durham by saying all of the campaign funds he raised for his two gubernatorial campaigns have been spent. The bankruptcy trustee is seeking to recover only contributions made by Durham to Daniels since 2006. This lawsuit could be laying the groundwork to go after money Daniels' campaign committee transferred to other candidate or party committees. Daniels' committee previously returned about $3,000 to the trustee. Given Daniels' wealth, I don't know why I just doesn't cough up the money himself and end this legal fight instead of forcing the trustee to rack up unnecessary attorney's fees.