The American Spectator : Blade Runner

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Blade Runner

By RiShawn Biddle on 11.3.08 @ 6:08AM

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels is one Republican who will win reelection tomorrow.

Given his previous stint as George W. Bush' first budget director and ties to John McCain's blundering presidential campaign, Mitch Daniels shouldn't be winning a second term as Indiana's governor. After all, several polls -- including that conducted late last month by SurveyUSA -- shows that the Republican presidential nominee may be the first to lose the Hoosier State's electoral votes since Barry Goldwater's landslide loss to Lyndon Johnson five decades ago.

Daniels' occasionally Spitzer-esque pugnacity and his notoriously sharp tongue often ticks off the many Hoosiers who generally prefer their vicious partisanship to be veiled in rumor-mongering and outward gentility. Newspapers such as the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette gave him the business early on in his tenure after he proclaimed that Democratic legislators "car-bombed" a series of his proposals. Lingering resentment over his successful effort to place the state on Daylight Saving Time should also make him a one-term wonder.

Yet Daniels is one Republican who will win reelection this year. And not by a squeaker. So far, he leads his Democrat opponent, former congresswoman Jill Long Thompson, by as much as 31 percentage points, according to a poll conducted last month by political columnist Brian Howey, and Gauge Market Research, an Indianapolis pollster.

Thompson's lackluster campaign, along with disarray among state Democratic Party leaders -- who all but abandoned Thompson after she beat out their favorite for the nomination six months ago -- has aided Daniels' re-election. So has the tendency among voters to let all governors serve two consecutive terms. But Daniels has also earned respect (if not admiration) from many Hoosiers for effectively managing state government, keeping a tight lid on spending, and challenging the insular political and social culture from which he began his career.

As fellow Republicans such as Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and California's Arnold Schwarzenegger pay dearly for abandoning small government principles, this most unlikely of politicians could compete for the party's vice presidential nod four years from now, if not for the presidency itself.

A PRINCETON, HARVARD, AND GEORGETOWN law grad, Daniels parlayed his father's ties to the political machine of Sen. Richard Lugar into behind-the-scenes stints with the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Reagan Administration, and the Hudson Institute. During his tenure in the Bush Administration, Daniels earned two monikers -- "The Blade" and "Mitch the Knife" -- and the ire of pork-loving congressional leaders for his aggressive spending cut proposals and efficiency efforts such as the Program Assessment Rating Tool.

After winning the Indiana governorship -- and ending a 16-year string of Democratic control -- Daniels lived up to both his nickname and his reputation as he looked to cut an $800 million structural budget deficit and cut back a bloated state government of 74 agencies and 319 different boards. On his first day in office in 2005, he cribbed from Ronald Reagan's playbook by rescinding collective bargaining agreements with government employee unions. He then passed a two-year budget that cut back spending, implemented a plan to base employee raises on performance improvements, and allowed him to be more aggressive in improving government efficiency than he could ever do during his White House service.

An overhaul of the state's notoriously inefficient Bureau of Motor Vehicles later that year, which included shutting down 27 of its branches, angered legislators, who have long-used the agency as a patronage tool. They raised even more flack after Daniels began a wave of privatizations, including handing off prison cafeteria services to food services giant Aramark, contracting Medicaid operations with firms such as technology consulting giant IBM, and leasing the newly built New Castle state prison -- which the state couldn't afford to operate despite spending $135 million to build -- to the Corrections Corporation of America.

Then in 2006, Daniels struck a deal to lease the Indiana East-West Toll Road for $3.8 billion to Macquarie-Cintra, an Australian-Spanish consortium. This enraged Democrats, citizens who lived along the highway in Northern Indiana, and even some Republicans, who accused him of placing a precious state asset into foreign hands. Legislators approved it by a narrow margin. A year later, they rejected his plans to privatize the state lottery and contract with private firms to build and operate another state highway.

Despite facing re-election this year, Daniels couldn't keep himself from riling another faction of the state's political establishment. As part of a property tax reform plan, he proposed to eliminate the state's 1,008 townships, whose officials control the patronage that fuels statewide politics. Although Daniels didn't win that battle, he eventually succeeded in eliminating 964 township tax assessors; on Tuesday, voters in five counties will decide whether to eliminate 44 other such positions.

ANGERING FELLOW POLITICIANS and citizens usually isn't a formula for political success. But a stop at a motor vehicles license office in the tony Indianapolis neighborhood of Nora offers one reason why Daniels is all but assured of winning re-election.

Four years ago, the average visitor could expect as much as an hour-long wait to simply renew a license or take a written driver exam. These days, a customer will zip in and out of the office; others can get vehicles titled at their auto dealership and renew auto registrations at a discounted price. Average wait times at a typical motor vehicle branch declined from 28 minutes in 2006 to nine minutes this year.

Even as states such as Nevada and New York face billion-dollar budget deficits, Indiana remains in the black. The current two-year budget still runs a $192 million surplus, according to data from the state's budget agency. The state has repaid nearly all of the $700 million in subsidy payments to local governments and universities it had delayed during the recession earlier this decade. An effort by Daniels to clamp down on the state's penchant for lavish public school construction spending is resulting in some $127 million in savings thus far.

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About the Author

RiShawn Biddle the editor of Dropout Nation , is co-author of A Byte at the Apple: Rethinking Education Data for the Post-NCLB Era. He can be followed at Twitter.com/dropoutnation.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (8) | Leave a comment

prisonman| 11.3.08 @ 7:38AM

The New Castle prison is run by the GEO Group, not Corrections Corporation of America.

Bob Miller| 11.3.08 @ 11:03AM

I, too, have experienced the newly efficient BMV branch in Nora, on several occasions. This thing moves like lightning, the new wonder of the world. That a Hoosier politician could actually make this happen is mind-boggling.

Dave Heinekamp| 11.3.08 @ 1:27PM

I would be surprised if Daniels is on the national ticket in 2012. He has said on many occasions that this is his last political campaign. He has even based one of his television ads on this premise. It would be a major flip-flop for him to run for any office in the future.

Rantly McTirade| 11.3.08 @ 5:20PM

As a native of Indiana, and still living next-door,
I'll just note that Daniels is the kind of Republican(corporatist & amoral) the keeps me registered independent.

Chris Slade| 11.3.08 @ 6:43PM

Simply put for IN to be in the black while our neighbors: IL, OH, MI are struggling to stay fiscally viable and are shedding jobs is an achievement that can't be ignored. He is governing like a buisnessman and it works.

Ms. Know| 11.14.08 @ 11:14AM

The fact that the left-wing illuminati won Indiana shocked me tremendously. Everyone has fell for this change that the elitist are promising.

angie| 11.20.08 @ 1:14AM

Daniel's endevour to "balance the budget" has put many disabled hoosiers at a substantially increased risk of death due to decreased coverage. Due to pre-existing conditions these people are denied medical insurance - medicaid is their ONLY option. Any one of us, at any time, can become totally and permanently disabled.

Anyone can "balance a budget" when they have no conscience or concern for life sustaining healthcare that determine the difference between life and death.

It seems that Daniel's only interest is in his own "reputation" as "the Governor that balanced the budget" - but when doing so is at the expense of the lives of our citizens - taxpayers - with a surplus to boot - is detrimental to everyone. Any one of us, at anytime, can suffer a permanent injury resulting in a pre-existing condition that negates eligibility for health insurance.

Indiana Medicaid now only pays $600 a year for dental care for those over 21. My 28 year old disabled son has congenital heart disease that requires he receive and had always received ongoing dental care with no cost limits- a tooth infection could lead to a fatal heart infection called Endocarditis. As each day goes by he is at risk for Endocarditis - an infection of the tissue lining the heart. Almost always, the disease involves the heart valves - the bacteria enters the bloodstream from the mouth. Sometimes this occurs when there is a minor dental infection. Because of a stroke at age 2 he has trouble swollowing, and the medicines he takes cause tooth decay.

He has only half a heart and only one heart valve, and the one valve he has leaks. He likely would not survive this infection.

He needs an estimated $3,000 in dental work; I have no idea how I am going to pay for this, and as each day passes he is at significant risk for this fatal infection.

I am his sole caregiver so my income is extremely limited, and I have no assets - I sold what little I owned to take him to Colorado to be evaluated for a heart transplant; he didn't meet the critria in Indiana.

Up until 2 years ago his dental was completely covered. We recently returned to Indiana from Colorado - upon our return we learned that since we left he is no longer covered for dental treatment over $600 a year.

After the transplant evaluation it was determined he could have the transplant at Colorado Children's - but too soon to do just yet. Because of the high altitude his Dr could not get his congestive heart failure symptoms under control so we returned to Indiana until the time comes to do the transplant.

Colorado had NO dental coverage for medicaid and during that period he developed several surface cavities. His cardiologist sent a letter to the dental department at Colorado University Hospital stressing he needed treatment despite no coverage. Was told by the dentist the only way they could fix his teeth is if it were paid for, and that medicaid would cover if done all at once under anesthesia. We agreed that is what we would do - this was in July - but they were backlogged until Oct. When Oct arrived he was severely symptomatic and his cardiologist said it would put him at too high of a risk of stroke to take him off the blood thinner to do the dental procedure at that time.

We returned to Indiana and his symptoms immediately diminished - he could now have the dental work. BUT - learned that since we left he is no longer covered for dental care over $600.

Another problem upon our return - Indiana is one of only 10 states that will not transfer medicaid coverage from another state. A three month wait to go through the entire application process - the other 40 states determine eligibility based on SSI eligibilty which is more difficult to get approval than medicaid.

As a result he had no coverage for his medications or doctor visits - he's on ten different meds. He has received medicaid in Indiana his entire life and has had the same cardiologist.

When I called to transfer his medicaid back to Indiana I was repeatedly given incorrect information. I was told he would need to re-apply and that their records went back only one year. I was also incorrectly told that his Colorado medicaid would have to be discontinued before his app could be processed here. Called my state rep who found this was not true and I was able to have meds shipped from Colorado until approval here.

Upon our return everything had changed - I had a very difficult time finding an internal medicine doctor to accept medicaid - was told "their panels were full; and many no longer accept medicaid because they now pay slow/pay very little". I had never had any problem getting him into see ANY doctor before.

6 months later he received a letter, he needed to re-apply AGAIN. At the interview I asked why, commenting that it seemed like a waste of taxpayer money to pay someone to completely process AGAIN as well as the Dr's time filling out the paperwork AGAIN when he has been permanently and totally disabled his entire life - had never had to do this before - he has Cerebral Palsy. His caseworker said the letter was computer generated, a mistake - and that "it was against the law" to have him re-apply 6 months later. But, she said he would need to go through the entire application process AGAIN in one year; AGAIN, a waste of taxpayer money and Dr's time.

I asked her about the $600 limit on dental and was advised to check into a medicaid waiver. When I asked how to apply, her response was "I don't know - you can try Central Indiana Council On Aging (CICOA)- I don't have their number, I know it's hard to find, but keep trying, it is out there somewhere...."

Shouldn't his "medicaid caseworker" have the information on applying for a "medicaid waiver"? He had always had a waiver before, processed by his caseworker. After contacting CICOA was told they have nothing to do with medicaid waivers.

Also, during his initial interview was advised by his caseworker that he would likely be eligible for food stamps. Said O.K. - every little bit helps. She only asked me what he paid in rent - that was it. Told me he would receive $153/month.

Then received a letter he would receive $40/month. After repeated calls to caseworker, calls were never returned. Called her supervisor -and still no return call - after the fifth call she answered. I was told that the amount was based on his expenses and that "I had told the caseworker he paid ONLY rent". I told her she only asked me what he paid in rent, and nothing more - in actuality what he receives in SSI does not cover all of his monthly expenses. She then factored in utilities, healthcare co-pays, etc. - determined he would receive $94/month.

I then received a letter stating that MY application for food stamps was denied for "failure to cooperate" I DID NOT EVEN APPLY! My name was on the application as a household member, and nothing more! There was a section to fill out to apply for food stamps, I DID NOT FILL IT OUT FOR EITHER OF US - IT WAS SUGGESTED BY HIS CASEWORKER THAT HE WOULD LIKELY BE ELIGIBLE!

This is an example of the problem with privatizing social services. Without competition there is no incentive to be competitive, efficient, competent, and there is no accountability.

I have been in contact with many people experiencing the same lack of access to critically, life sustaining healthcare since these changes went into effect - pre-existing conditions make it impossible to get health insurance at any cost.

My son is lucky that he has me to advocate for him, and even I am at a loss for resolution. I am deeply concerned for those who are disabled and have no help in dealing with these unnecessary obstacles that result in life threatening situations.

I am trying to find a solution but under a constant state of stress. At least I won't have to stand in line at the license branch.

Governor Daniels - BRAVO....

Shawn McIntyre| 11.30.08 @ 1:10PM

I totally feel you on this issue. I suffer from fibromyalgia and see a pain doctor monthly. Until last month everything was fine.
I then went in for my appointment and was informed I was no longer covered by insurance and that I would have to pay to see the doctor.
I am on 10 medications a day, I could not afford to get my medications.
Since I no longer have a caseworker and everything is handled over the phone, I called!
I have called over 10 times and receieve a different story each time. The last call I waited on hold for 45 minutes to be told that everything had been fixed and my case had been reopened. So I called the doctor to only find out.. IT WAS NOT FIXED.AND I HAVE NO INSURANCE..
I do not know where to turn, or what to do!! Who do you call?? I am at a lose, I can see my doctors or get my medication!