The Return of the Mitch?

 

Mitch Daniels
Photo: Purdue University

Purdue President Mitch Daniels has been in the news a lot lately. 

First came the somewhat surprising news that he would be retiring from his post as President of Purdue University. Then, nearly immediately, the speculation began about what the former Indiana Governor and Federal Budget Director under George W. Bush might do in his retirement.

Hint: the speculation is that he's not moving to the Villages in Florida.

Politico's Adam Wren, one of Indiana's finest political reporters, has reported that friends of Daniels say he is "fascinated" by the idea of returning to the Governor's Mansion that he never lived in when he was Governor of Indiana from 2005-2013. Daniels defeated incumbent Governor Joe Kernan in 2004, and he easily won reelection over former U.S. Representative Jill Long Thompson in 2008. The term-limited Daniels left office and quickly was named the President of Purdue University in 2013. Since then, he's been the head Boilermaker.

Wren also floated the possibility on Twitter that some Republicans are trying to convince Daniels to challenge Joe Hogsett for Mayor of Indianapolis in 2023. Hogsett, a former U.S. Attorney, is also a possible Gubernatorial candidate in 2024. Many forget that Hogsett was once Indiana's Secretary of State back in 1989. He won election to his own term by beating Bill Hudnut in 1990. He also lost statewide races in 1994 for U.S. Senate and in 2004 for Attorney General. Hogsett definitely has been around the block a time or two of Indiana's 92 counties and is also a former Indiana Democratic Party Chair.

Whatever Daniels decides to do, it should be an interesting time as the statewide GOP becomes more and more another agent of Donald J. Trump's hostile takeover of the party. Trump loyalist Diego Morales bounced Secretary of State Holli Sullivan at the Republican Convention on Saturday. He'll be their statewide ticket leader in November. The GOP also passed a very far right platform on Saturday signaling the continued movement away from a guy like Daniels and his former Chief of Staff and curent Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb. There's not a guarantee that Daniels, who by most accounts would be far more to the center than to where his party now sits politically, would win a primary against a Trumper like Jim Banks or Mike Braun or Todd Rokita.

Personally, I think Mitch is enjoying the attention having been out of the political spotlight for a while. It must be nice to still be wanted by some in the party. The next few months will reveal much about Daniels' future plans as well as those who might run against him. 

Joe Kernan (1946-2020)

Joe Kernan
Photo: United States Naval Academy

There will never be another Joe Kernan.

Never. 

Indiana's 48th Governor, Kernan passed away today at the age of 74 after a battle with Alzheimer's Disease. The Indy Star's Justin L. Mack reports that there will be no public services due to COVID-19.

Born in Chicago on April 8, 1946, Kernan's father, Joseph E. Kernan, Jr. was a veteran of World War II and worked in government roles and so did Kernan's mother, Marian. The Kernan Family moved to South Bend when Joe was 10. He graduated from St. Joseph's High School in 1964. From there, he matriculated to Notre Dame and graduated four years later with a degree in government.

In 1969, Joe Kernan answered his country's call in Vietnam and joined the Navy. Shot down over North Vietnam in 1972, Lieutenant Kernan became a prisoner of war in Hanoi. For nearly a year, he was imprisoned there. The Indy Star's Jason Kelly wrote this touching piece about Kernan and detailed some of his time as a POW. For his service, Kernan was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Purple Hearts and the Navy Commendation Metal.

Kernan got married to his wife, Maggie, and returned to private life after the military in 1974. In 1980, the became South Bend city controller. He was elected Mayor of South Bend in 1987. Kernan served two terms as the Mayor of South Bend. He was in his third term when asked in 1996 to be Frank O'Bannon's running mate. The O'Bannon/Kernan ticket defeated Stephen Goldsmith and George Witwer in a tight race. He and O'Bannon enjoyed a productive four years in office, and they were reelectd in a landslide in 2000. The great economic conditions from their first term began to slow, and so did the Indiana economy. The state began to struggle. Tragedy then struck.

O'Bannon attended a trade conference in September 2003 in Chicago. On September 8, O'Bannon suffered a massive stroke in Chicago and died five days later. Kernan moved from Lieutenant Governor to Governor and comforted a grieving state through the loss of its popular leader. One of Kernan's first decisions as Governor was to name Kathy Davis as his Lieutenant Governor. Davis became the first woman to serve in that post.

In his short time on the job as Governor, Kernan did his best to help the Indiana economy, and things were beginning to turn around. In his only legislative session with the Indiana General Assembly, he championed educational reforms such as all-day kindergarten that ultimately did not pass.

Initially, Kernan decided not to pursue a term of his own as Indiana's Chief Executive, but he changed his mind and ran into the buzzsaw that was the 2004 election in Indiana. Led by George W. Bush at the top of the ticket, Mitch Daniels was elected Indiana Governor, and Kernan returned to South Bend.

In retirement, he became one of the owners of South Bend's minor league baseball team, and he served with Chief Justice Randall Shepard in authoring the Kernan-Shepard report on how to streamline and reform government in Indiana.

I met Kernan for the first time in 2004. I attended a fundraiser for the Governor's campaign that was geared toward young people. After he arrived, I watched as the Governor worked the room. I lost track of him because I was in conversation with other people at my table.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and it was the Governor.

"Hi, I'm Joe," he said.

"Of course you are!" I thought.

Joe Kernan embodied humility. He never became filled with the ego and self-importance to which some politicians at his level often fall victim. I talked with him a few more times over the years, and I always found him engaging and giving of his time.

Governor Kernan is survived by Maggie, and his siblings.

According to the Indianapolis Star, you can make memorial contributions to the Veterans Fund at the University of Notre Dame, Kernan's beloved alma mater.

This may be the understatement of the decade, but Indiana will miss Joe Kernan.

Spartz Caught in Lie While Pulling Age-Old Tactic of Failing Campaign

Victoria Spartz
Official Indiana Senate Photo

In politics, it's usually conventional wisdom that the candidate who is behind challenges the incumbent/leading candidate to a debate. If you're the incumbent or the candidate in front, a debate, conventional wisdom says, only gives the challenger a venue to hack into your lead and record.

That's where we are in the 5th District Congressional race today as Indiana state Senator Victoria Spartz challenged former Indiana state Rep. Christina Hale to three debates in a tweet.

The action took many by surprise, including me. The 5th District is an open seat in November because Susan Brooks is retiring from Congress. The Republican legislator was first elected to the seat in 2012. Her decision to not pursue election was a bit of a surprise. The district rates a +9 Republican district according to Cook Partisan Voting Index.

Makes you wonder if Spartz has some sort of damaging internal polling in her hands showing her behind Hale. While Indiana's 5th District Congressional race has recently been rated as a toss-up by many of the prognosticators who look at polling data, it's clear Spartz, the Republican nominee, believes she's behind Hale, the
Democratic nominee.

Christina Hale
Campaign Photo

That's not all. Spartz flat out lied about Hale's record while laying down the challenge. In her tweet thread, she accused Hale of being a liberal and accused her of opposing the reforms of Governors Daniels, Pence and Holcomb, but Spartz's timeline doesn't match up. Hale didn't serve with anyone other than Pence.

Hale defeated a five-term Republican incumbent named Cindy Noe by 51 votes in a then-Republican 87th District to become a member of the Indiana General Assembly. She was sworn in in January of 2013. She then was reelected to the seat in 2014 with another narrow victory over a well-funded GOP opponent. She was on her way to a third reelection in 2016 when she was asked to join John Gregg as his Lieutenant Governor candidate. She left the legislature to pursue that office.

Given the razor-thin margin of the 87th District when Hale represented it, it's laughable that Spartz, who in May just ran her first real race versus voters for elected office, would say today on Twitter that Hale has "reliably liberal" policies.

So, to review, Spartz, who was spotted just a few days ago campaigning without wearing a facemask, lied about Hale's record in the process of pulling a classic move of a failing campaign in challenging an opponent to a debate.

It's not been a good couple of weeks for Senator Spartz.

Lucas' Controversial Post on Social Media Draws Scrutiny

Stop me if you've heard this one before...

Barely two months after he was demoted from leadership posts by the Republican House caucus for what many considered to be a racially-charged Facebook post, Jim Lucas, the District 69 State Representative, has again posted something controversial.

Lucas, who has been a frequent critic of the state's pandemic response, took to Facebook to express his outrage over the mandate asking Hoosiers to wear a mask. This picture of the post is circulating on social media. 

Lucas met with almost immediate backlash and even some praise on the post. After the outrage began to outweigh the praise with many people seeing the post as a potential threat against Governor Eric Holcomb, Lucas added an addendum to the post:

For those that are blowing this out of proportion (again), this picture IS NOT a threat against anyone! 

It is a picture that I have used countless times for years that best exhibits our FREEDOM and Constitutional rights and IS NOT A THREAT!

History shows that the posts from yesterday were right in character for Lucas.

Lucas once posted a letter he wrote to an Indy Star reporter who had written a story about rape suggesting a follow-up story about women "learning how not to be a victim." Lucas apologized.

Another time, he also shared a meme with a picture of a woman in the trunk of a car with the caption, "Wanna know who loves you more: your wife or your dog? Lock them both in your trunk and see who's happy to see you when you let them out."

On WISH-TV's Facebook page, Lucas once shared a photo of two nooses under a story where a black man had confessed to raping three women in Indiana. Lucas claimed the photo posting had nothing to do with the race of the man who admitted to the rapes.

Then, that post I mentioned earlier in this post from last May that caused him to write this (ahem) apology

In almost every case, Lucas accuses those who take umbrage with his posts as making a mountain out of a molehill. He also has claimed multiple times that the pictures or memes he posts have been used by him in other ways before in trying to excuse the use. You can almost set your watch by it.

One has to truly wonder what Lucas' intentions were in this case. Does he think he can intimidate Governor Holcomb? Holcomb, who has polled strongly since taking office, is a longtime GOP insider and former Indiana Republican Party Chair with inside ties to Dan Coats, Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence. He's Donald Trump's honorary campaign chair in Indiana.

Lucas is a State Representative who has managed to get catty-wompus with his own party.

Holcomb's not intimidated. He's right on masks. He may have taken a little time to get there, but action had to be taken to help slow the spread. Masks don't violate anyone's rights. They protect your health.

One thing's for darn sure, Lucas' history shows that he's clearly not changing the way he goes about his social media activities. Some would say that it's been the minimal consequences that he's faced that emboldens him. He seems to believe he's untouchable politically. Perhaps he's too comfortable in his seat, but it's his seat until someone defeats him at the ballot box.

Just so you know, voters of District 69, Jeffery Prewitt is running against Lucas, and there's also an independent on the ballot named Katrina Hardwick. You have a choice.

For now, I'll mark the tape because I am quite sure there will be a new, controversial Lucas post sometime soon. When it happens, I'll even use the same headline.

Education On Ballot in 2020 Gubernatorial Race

Woody Myers
Campaign Photo

I rarely post about my day job on this blog because I try to be like the old McDonalds McDLT.

For those of you who might have forgotten, that sandwich was marketed as keeping your cold ingredients on a completely opposite side as the hot burger. I try to keep politics and education apart on this blog because I am a teacher in my day job. Sometimes, though, it's unavoidable especially when the gubernatorial race is making news in our state.

On education policy, I could not disagree on policy much more than the Republicans and Governor Eric Holcomb. Indiana ranks near the bottom in spending per pupil and teacher pay, but teachers in the Hoosier State rank dead last in income growth since 2002. Indiana also has one of the most robust voucher systems in the United States taking money out of the public schools and putting it in the hands of private schools. Indiana is one of the top states for charter school laws as well.

Traditional public schools, especially in Indiana's most populated areas, typically have found themselves struggling. Indiana's major cities have been shuttering traditional public schools and have been trying to make ends meet financially as the money has been squeezed away from them.

Through all this, Indiana remains in the top half in outcomes and school rankings. USA Today placed Indiana schools 18th. US News and World Report ranked Indiana schools 24th. So, despite all the struggles, teachers are doing their jobs.

That's why it was disappointing this morning to wake up and hear Woody Myers, the Democratic nominee for Governor describe Indiana education as "poor" and grading it as a "D+". He made these comments in an Instagram video on his Educators for Woody Myers Instagram page.

Eric Holcomb
Official Indiana Photo

Myers goes on to talk about many of the challenges that I've detailed here in this post, but I find it hard to get past that first statement in his video where he talks about the quality of education in Indiana as poor.

Maybe it's just me being too invested, but I think Indiana teachers deserve better than a D+. There's no question Indiana schools need to do better especially for our most vulnerable students. We do have many challenges, but, in my biased opinion, I believe teachers do what they can in traditional public schools despite the hand their districts are dealt by the Republican-led state government.

Listen, I'm voting for Woody Myers. Eric Holcomb is just wrong on education policy altogether. He and the Republicans that control education policy value State Fairgrounds Swine Barn renovations over teacher pay. Holcomb and his friends put in ridiculous 15-hour externships in as part of professional development and license renewal. Yeah, he isn't right on any of that.

The next Governor will also appoint the next Superintendent of Public Instruction and eight of the 10 members of the State Board of Education. With the Superintendent, that's NINE of the eleven seats. This is critical to understand. The voters, thanks to Republicans, have lost any voice on that board except through the Governor they elect. I know that a Governor Myers Administration wouldn't believe Indiana teachers are bad, but we need to hear more uplifting messages on how are schools and our teaches are succeeding and a clear message placing the blame for where we are right now with funding, teacher pay, and other issues right where it belongs. Imagine how much better we could be doing with a Governor who valued teachers and traditional public schools.

That's on the desk of Governor Holcomb, his predecessors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence and the Republican supermajority.