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At this writing, Gov. Mike Braun is dangling before us an $800,000 audit of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. This confused and confusing organization was the proud work product of former Gov. Mitch Daniels. And what did Braun emphasize about the upcoming report? He was proud to state that under his reading there was no need to report any conduct as being criminal.
Press reports of self-dealing apparently do not get over this low hurdle and might not require much of a response. Wow, what an achievement for Daniels’ proudest invention: A successor has taken a careful look and finds that the IEDC has not turned into a criminal organization. This is what one-party rule has brought us to.
Daniels campaigned and acted as an unabashed capitalist and a man insistent on competence in governing. What can we make of his successors? In the present decade, Republican officials attacked Indiana businesses for insisting on protecting public health during the pandemic. They tried to tell hospital corporations how to invest their money. They are now busy telling our pension funds how to invest our employee savings.
On the competency side of things, we are seeing repeated failures to project both revenue and expenses. Thus, we were shocked by a $2 billion anticipated budget shortfall not long after failing to catch a $1 billion increase in expected expenditures for Medicaid.
We spent much of the 2025 session of the Indiana Legislature tinkering with our property tax system. The professed goal was to reduce homeowner property taxes. The maneuverer that would allow this was to stick local government with the choice between diminished services or increased local income taxes.
We are beginning to see how this will work out. Our well-off neighbors in Hamilton County have had to pause plans for a domestic violence shelter—a worthy goal undercut by a lack of foresight. At the same time, our very favorable bond ratings are in some jeopardy because of the complex provisions of Senate Bill 1, which dealt with property tax reform. This has the potential to injure the budgets of multiple communities that have issued debt based upon projected income tax revenue.
Two of our statewide elected officials deserve special attention when it comes to the issue of ethics. The Lieutenant Governor’s Office seems to have become a place for chicanery, to use a nice word—or for harassment, to use a more popular and current word. Our secretary of state takes pride in hiring his relatives, scattering unscheduled bonuses around his office and letting contracts without bidding. On that last point, even the Republican-dominated Legislature had enough and tried to draw a line.
The current Republican leadership is incapable of moving forward on important fronts. Two examples come to mind. First, under relentless pressure from the minority, the General Assembly finally began to do something about increasing the ability of parents to get aid for preschool costs. That was undercut in this year’s budget. By the same token, after years of pressure about public health and with the assistance of retired Sen. Luke Kenley, we began a statewide program of enhanced local public health services, which was adopted by all 92 counties. This year’s budget cut the support for that effort from $150 million to $40 million.
Being able to build a reform program and carry it out should be a hallmark of good government. That is lacking in Indiana.•
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DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to [email protected].
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