Daniels, M gov

alec-kopylypse?

In an interview with the Washington Post, one of Donald Trump's former Surgeons General expressed frustration with the path his career has taken due to his ties to the former president that took place during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

As the report notes, Dr. Jerome Adams and his wife have pinned his struggles to find a landing spot commensurate with his experience on what they call they call the "Trump Effect" which is not abating now that the former president has launched a third run for the presidency.

According to the report, "It followed them from Washington to their home in the Indianapolis suburbs. They felt it when he was exploring jobs in academia, where he would receive polite rejections from university officials who worried that someone who served in the administration of the the former president would be badly received by their left-leaning student bodies. They felt it when corporations decided he was too tainted to employ."

In an interview, he explained that Trump is “a force that really does take the air out of the room,” before adding, "The Trump hangover is still impacting me in significant ways.”

As the Post's Manuel Roig-Franzia wrote, "The former surgeon general’s predicament underscores one of the givens of today’s political environment: Association with Trump becomes a permanent tarnish, a kind of reverse Midas touch. Whether indicted or shunned or marginalized, a cavalcade of former Trump World figures have foundered in the aftermath of one of the more chaotic presidencies in modern American history."

Saying he is not complaining, Adams stated, "People still are afraid to touch anything that is associated with Trump."

The Post report adds that Adams did finally land a spot in September 2021, when "Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, a former Indiana governor and Republican stalwart, hired Adams as the first executive director ofhealth equity initiativesat the school."

However, as Roig-Franzia notes, the spectre of association with Trump still haunts the doctor.

"Even as Adams was seeking to define the next chapter of his life, he was engaged in an almost constant battle on social media. His frequent tweets about everything from his personal life to public health issues have invariably drawn attacks from both the right and the left. Rather than ignore his critics, he has often punched back, engaging in Twitter spats that stretch for days," the journalist wrote.

Most of us have a growing sense that something’s deeply wrong with the way that digital data is used to track and monitor us. But most of us don’t realize that the poorest among us are particularly vulnerable. Virginia Eubanks argues that such data is used to criminalize and turn the poor away from public resources to which they are entitled.

Resources:

Virginia Eubanks, Automating Inequality: How High-Tech Tools Profile, Police, and Punish the Poor St. Martin’s Press, 2018

https://kpfa.org/episode/against-the-grain-july-18-2018/

partner attacked, hurt, ER bills, days later told had no coverage, no start date (a new policy) not married, painkillers, red flag for insurance fraud, suspend.

mitch daniels (pence mentor) billion? $ IBM contract to automate snap b/c public sector workers make decison, thus collusions: church indianapolis fake acc'ts anecdote, ibm

sever connection to person, aplly online (1/2 have PC) call ctr i mill failure to cooperate in est'b eligibility 7-14 days, ppl in hosp w/ cancer missed appt

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/19/mitch-daniels-howard-zinn_n_3625599.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

Mitch Daniels: I Just Wanted To Keep Kids From Reading Howard Zinn

By TOM LoBIANCO 07/19/13 06:50 PM ET EDT

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Purdue University President Mitch Daniels on Friday stood by his efforts to keep liberal historian Howard Zinn's work from being taught in Indiana schools, saying the actions he took while governor were meant to keep the book out of the hands of K-12 students.

Meanwhile, the university's board of trustees threw their support behind the former politician, approving a $58,000 bonus to reward him for his first six months on the job.

Daniels told reporters after a meeting of the board that a statement he made as governor that Indiana should "disqualify the propaganda" he saw being used in Indiana's teacher preparation courses was meant only to keep Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" from being taught in the state's K-12 classrooms.

"The question is, would this lead to this material being taught to innocent school children? I promise that if the parents of Indiana understood what was in the book in question, 99 if not 100 out of 100 would want some other book used," Daniels said after the trustees' meeting on the West Lafayette campus.

Daniels has come under fire in academic circles for the 2010 emails, which were obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request.

After learning that Zinn's book was being used in a summer teacher training course at Indiana University, Daniels signed off on education adviser David Shane's proposal to review university courses across the state to determine what should count as credit.

"Go for it. Disqualify propaganda and highlight (if there is any) the more useful offerings. Don't the ed schools have at least some substantive PD (professional development) courseware to upgrade knowledge of math, science, etc.," Daniels wrote.

After being told Zinn's work was being used at Indiana University in a course for teachers on the Civil Rights, feminist and labor movements, Daniels wrote:

"This crap should not be accepted for any credit by the state. No student will be better taught because someone sat through this session. Which board has jurisdiction over what counts and what doesn't?"

Critics say the emails support their contention that he is not qualified to lead a major university.

But supporters say Daniels was right to challenge the use of Zinn's work, which addresses American history from the viewpoint of those whose plights he said were often omitted from most history textbooks. It has been widely criticized by many conservatives and scholars and characterized by historian Eugene D. Genovese as "incoherent left-wing sloganizing."

The American Historical Association, a nonpartisan group that sets academic standards of review and publication for historians nationwide, on Friday issued a statement saying it "deplores the spirit and intent" of Daniels' emails. The association said it considered any governor's effort to interfere with an individual teacher's reading assignments "inappropriate and a violation of academic freedom."

"Whatever the strengths or weaknesses of Howard Zinn's text, and whatever the criticisms that have been made of it, we believe that the open discussion of controversial books benefits students, historians, and the general public alike. Attempts to single out particular texts for suppression from a school or university curriculum have no place in a democratic society," the statement read.

Daniels says he is a firm supporter of academic freedom.

Keith Krach, who stepped down as chairman of Purdue's board of trustees Friday, said he was unaware of the 2010 email exchange when trustees appointed Daniels president in mid-2012 but said they wouldn't have changed his decision.

"One of the big things that we talked with Mitch about during the search and selection process is academic freedom, as we would any other president. And he not only believes in it wholeheartedly, but he's demonstrated it as president," Krach said.

Since taking over at Purdue, Daniels has hosted a lecture on speech suppression at universities nationwide, and he sent an "open letter" to the Purdue community in January saying universities have squashed free speech rather than encourage it.

Daniels appointed a majority of the Purdue trustees, including Krach.

https://www.facebook.com/ZinnEducationProject

Turns out Mitch Daniels also did not like James W. Loewen's (author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong) book Sundown Towns: A Hidden Dimension of American Racism, so he had Loewens' Indiana speaking engagements cancelled in 2007. They had been co-hosted by a state agency, the Indiana Civil Rights Commission. Daniels was Governor. Read here: http://bit.ly/1dPsZdO Read more about the book, published by The New Press, here:http://bit.ly/1dPt7KD

Anne Shane, 61

*Division Chairwoman,

2012 Super Bowl*

In addition to her current responsibilities with the Super Bowl, Anne Shane serves on the steering committee for the Mayoral Archive Project at the University of Indianapolis as well as co-chairing the campaign to raise funds for the Indiana University School of Medicine’s program in Eldoret, Kenya. Shane is a state trustee and chairwoman of the board of trustees of Ivy Tech Community College.

Shane formerly served as the vice president at both The Mind Trust, an organization focused on K-12 education reform, and at BioCrossroads, where she helped to strengthen K-12 math and science instruction through the development of the I-STEM Resource Network at Purdue University. Through BioCrossroads, she also worked with the University of Notre Dame to provide a stronger statewide focus on math and science Advance Placement.

Before joining BioCrossroads, Shane served as Community Development and Education consultant to the Lilly Endowment Inc. She also previously served as chief of staff under Mayor Steve Goldsmith.

Shane is former board chairwoman of Develop Indy and was the first board chairwoman of Teach for America/Indiana and a state trustee of the Nature Conservancy of Indiana. She holds many additional leadership and advisory positions on the boards of other Indiana-based organizations. She is a recipient of the Trailblazer award from the Indiana Commission on Women. She is former president of the Junior League of Indianapolis and a 2010 Indiana Academy appointee. She and her husband, David (below) were awarded the Thomas W. Moses Good Scout Award in 2011 for their signification contributions to Indianapolis.

Shane earned her bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and her M.S. in education from Indiana University. She and her husband have two children, a son in Minneapolis and a daughter in Chicago.

David N. Shane, 63

*President and CEO,

Lacy Diversified Industries*

David Shane joined LDI in 1997 as vice president and corporate counsel and today manages the daily operations of the holding company and works with the leaders of its operating companies. Prior to joining LDI, Shane spent 20 years with Baker and Daniels.

In addition to law, Shane’s passion has always been education. In 2005 and 2006, he served as Gov. Mitch Daniels’ senior policy advisor for education and employment, working in the areas of workforce development, higher education and K-12 education. He was appointed to his current position, as a member of the Indiana State Board of Education, in 2006. In 1996 and 1997, he was president of Community Leaders Allied for Superior Schools.

In addition to his membership on the Indiana State Board of Education, Shane serves as a trustee of Wabash College, on the board of advisors for the Center of Inquiry and Liberal Arts, the TechPoint Foundation and on education committees for both the Indiana and the Greater Indianapolis Chambers of Commerce. He also sits on the board of directors of The Mind Trust and on the board of trustees for Wabash College.teagle fdn= exxon 2 ken p cohen;http://www.academicroom.com/users/richard-light

Shane sits on the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership board and executive committee; the Capital Improvement board of managers; and the board of governors of the Economic Club of Indiana.

In the past, he has served on the Indianapolis Mayor’s Charter School Board, the K-12 Subcommittee, Indiana Government Efficiency Commission, the Butler University Business Accelerator board of advisors and Park Tudor School’s board of trustees.

Shane is a 1970 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wabash College and a 1975 Order of the Coif graduate of Duke University School of Law. He and has wife Anne, who is profiled above, have two grown children. Shane is an avid reader.

Hailing from Harvard University's John F Kennedy School of Government, Richard J. Light is the Walter H. Gale Professor of Education. Dr. Light's work explores challenging problems in American higher education. His most recent book, Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds, won the Stone Award for the best book on education and society. Light has served as President of the American Evaluation Association, on the National Board of the American Association of Higher Education, and on the National Board of the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education. He has chaired the Panel on American Education for the National Academy of Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and chairs its project to explore changing demographics in education. At the Kennedy School, Light is Chair of a university-wide program called the Young Faculty Leaders Forum, designed to expose faculty from 16 leading American universities to leaders from both business and government.

Professor Light is the author of By Design: Planning Research on Higher Education (along with Judith D. Singer and John B. Willett, Harvard University Press, 1990), Summing Up: The Science of Reviewing Research (with David Pillimer, Harvard University Press, 1984) and Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds (Harvard University Press, 2001, 2004), among others.

#### Category

Education

wiki

Mitchell Elias "Mitch" Daniels, Jr. (born April 7, 1949) is an American politician who is the president of Purdue University and former Governor of Indiana. A member of the Republican Party, he served two terms as governor from 2005 to 2013.

Born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania, Daniels is a graduate of Princeton University, studied at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and received his Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. Daniels began his career working as an assistant to Richard Lugar, working as his Chief of Staff in the Senate from 1977 to 1982, and was appointed Executive Director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee when Lugar was Chairman from 1983 to 1984. He worked as a chief political adviser and as a liaison to President Ronald Reagan in 1985, before he was appointed President of the conservative think tank, the Hudson Institute. Daniels moved back to Indiana, joining Eli Lilly and Company, working as President of North American Operations from 1993 to 1997, and Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Policy from 1997 to 2001. In January 2001, Daniels was appointed by President George W. Bush as the Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, where he served until June 2003.

Daniels announced his intention to run in Indiana's 2004 gubernatorial election after leaving the Bush administration. He won the Republican primary with 67% of the vote, and defeated Democratic incumbent Governor Joe Kernan in the general election. Daniels was reelected to a second term, defeating former U.S. Representative and US Department of Agriculture undersecretary Jill Long Thompson, on November 4, 2008. During his tenure as governor, Daniels cut the state workforce by 18%, cut and capped state property taxes, and balanced the state budget through budget austerity measures and increasing spending by less than the inflation rate.[1][2]In his second term, Daniels saw protest by labor unions and Democrats in the state legislature over his policies regarding the Indiana's school voucher program and the Indiana House of Representatives attempt to pass right to work legislation, leading to the 2011 Indiana legislative walkouts. During the legislature's last session under Daniels, he signed the state's controversial right-to-work law; with Indiana becoming the 23rd state in the nation to do so.[3]

It was widely speculated that Daniels [4][5][6] would be a candidate in the 2012 presidential election, but he chose not to run.[7] He is the author of the best selling book Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans. Daniels was selected to be President of Purdue University after his term as Governor ended on January 14, 2013.

Contents [hide]

1 Early life

1.1 Family and education

1.2 Early political career

1.3 Eli Lilly

2 Office of Management and Budget

3 Governor

3.1 Election campaign

3.2 First term

3.2.1 Budgetary measures

3.2.2 Daylight Saving Time

3.2.3 Highways

3.2.4 Economic development

3.2.5 Healthy Indiana Plan

3.2.6 WGU Indiana

3.2.7 Property tax reform

3.2.8 Voter registration

3.3 Reelection campaign

3.4 Second term

3.4.1 2011 legislative walkout

3.4.2 Education

3.4.3 Abortion

3.4.4 Immigration

3.4.5 Budget cuts

3.4.6 Energy

3.4.7 Right to Work

4 2012 presidential speculation

5 Purdue University

5.1 Selection

5.2 Student interactions

5.3 Tuition freeze and fee reductions

6 Board service

7 Electoral history

8 Authorship

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

Early life[edit]

Family and education[edit]

Mitchell Elias Daniels, Jr., was born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania (south side of Pittsburgh), the son of Dorothy Mae (née Wilkes) and Mitchell Elias Daniels, Sr.[8] His father's parents were immigrants from Syria, of Greek Orthodox Antiochite descent.[9] Daniels has been honored by the Arab-American Institute with the 2011 Najeeb Halaby Award for Public Service.[10][11][12] His mother's ancestry was mostly English (where three of his great-grandparents were born), as well as Scottish and Welsh.[13] Daniels spent his early childhood years in Pennsylvania, Tennessee,[14] and Georgia.

The Daniels family moved to Indiana from Pennsylvania in 1959 when his father accepted a job at the Indianapolis headquarters of the pharmaceutical company Pittman-Moore. Then 11-year-old Daniels was accustomed to the mountains, and he at first disliked the flatland of central Indiana. He was still in grade school at the time of the move and first attended Delaware Trail Elementary, Westlane Junior High School, and North Central High School. In high school he was student body president.[15] After graduation in 1967, Daniels was named one of Indiana's Presidential Scholars—the state’s top male high school graduate that year—by President Lyndon B. Johnson.[16]

In 1971, Daniels earned a Bachelor's degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. While there, he was a member of the American Whig–Cliosophic Society, where he overlapped with future Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, who was a year below. He initially studied law at the Indiana McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis. After accepting a job with newly elected Senator Richard Lugar, he transferred to the Georgetown University Law Center, from which he earned a Juris Doctor.[11]

In 1970, while an undergraduate student at Princeton, he and two roommates were arrested for possession ofmarijuana, LSD, and illicit prescription drugs.[17] He spent two nights in jail.[18] In a plea bargain, he pled guilty to "maintaining a common nuisance" and was fined $350.[17] Daniels told The Daily Princetonian in 2011 that "justice was served,"[19] and has disclosed the arrest on job applications, and spoke about the incident in columns in The Indianapolis Star[20] and The Washington Post.[21]

In February 2013, Princeton honored Daniels with the Woodrow Wilson Award, which recognizes an alumnus whose career embodies the call to duty in Wilson's famous speech, "Princeton in the Nation's Service." The award was presented during Alumni Day activities on February 23, 2013.

Early political career[edit]

Daniels had his first experience in politics while still a teenager when, in 1968, he worked on the unsuccessful campaign of fellow Hoosier and Princeton alumnus William Ruckelshaus, who was running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Birch Bayh.[15] After the campaign Ruckelshaus helped Daniels secure an internship in the office of then-Indianapolis mayorRichard Lugar.Daniels worked on Lugar's re-election campaign in 1971, and later, in 1974, he worked on Lugar's first campaign for Senate via L. Keith Bulen's Campaign Communicators, Inc, a political consultancy where Daniels served as vice president. Daniels joined Lugar's mayoral staff in December, 1974.[22] Within three years, he became Lugar's principal assistant. After Lugar was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1976, Daniels followed him to Washington, D.C. as his Chief of Staff.[20]

Daniels served as Chief of Staff during Lugar's first term (1977–82); and, during this time, he met Cheri Herman, who was working for the National Park Service. The two married in 1978 and had four daughters. They divorced in 1993 and Cheri married again; Cheri later divorced her second husband and remarried Daniels in 1997.[11]

In 1983, when Lugar was elected Chairman of theNational Republican Senatorial Committee, Daniels was appointed its Executive Director. Serving in that position (1983–84), he played a major role in keeping the GOP in control of the Senate. Daniels was also manager of three successful re-election campaigns for Lugar. In August 1985,Daniels became chief political advisor and liaison to President Ronald Reagan.[20]

In 1987, Daniels returned to Indiana as President and CEO of the Hudson Institute,a conservative think tank.[11][23] In 1988, Dan Quayle was elected Vice President of the United States, and Governor of Indiana Robert D. Orr offered to appoint Daniels to Quayle's vacant Senate seat, but Daniels declined, fearing it would force him to spend too much time away from his family.[15]

Eli Lilly[edit]

In 1990, Daniels left the Hudson Institute to accept a position atEli Lilly and Company, the largest corporation headquartered in Indiana at that time.[24] He was first promoted to President of North American Operations (1993–97) and then to Senior Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Policy (1997–2001).[10][11][20] During his time at Lilly, Daniels managed a successful strategy to deflect attacks on Lilly's Prozac product by a public relations campaign against the drug being waged by the Church of Scientology. In one interview in 1992, Daniels said of the organization that "it is no church," and that people on Prozac were less likely to become victims of the organization. The Church of Scientology responded by suing Daniels in a libel suit for $20 million. A judge dismissed the case.[25]

Eli Lilly experienced dramatic growth during Daniels' tenure at the company. Prozac sales made up 30–40% of Lilly's income during the mid-to-late 1990s, and Lilly doubled its assets to $12.8 billion and doubled its revenue to $10 billion during the same period. When Daniels later became Governor of Indiana, he drew heavily on his former Lilly colleagues to serve as advisers and agency managers.[26]

During the same period, Daniels also served on the board of directors of the Indianapolis Power & Light (IPL). He resigned from the IPL Board in 2001 to join the federal government, and sold his IPL stock for $1.45 million. Later that year the value declined when Virginia-based AES Corporation bought IPL.[10] The Indiana Securities Division subsequently investigated the sale and found no wrongdoing, but opponents brought up the sale and questioned it during his later election campaign.[25]

Office of Management and Budget[edit

In January 2001, Daniels accepted President George W. Bush's invitation to serve as director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). He served as Director from January 2001 through June 2003. In this role he was also a member of the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council.

During his time as the director of the OMB, Bush referred to him as "the Blade," for his noted acumen at budget cutting.[27] The $2.13 trillion budget Daniels submitted to Congress in 2001 would have made deep cuts in many agencies to accommodate the tax cuts being made, but few of the spending cuts were actually approved by Congress.[15] During Daniels' 29-month tenure in the position, the projected federal budget surplus of $236 billion declined to a $400 billion deficit, due to an economic downturn, and failure to enact spending cuts to offset the tax reductions.[20]

Shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan, Daniels gave a speech to the National Press Club in which he challenged the view of those who wanted to continue typical spending while the nation was at war. “The idea of reallocating assets from less important to more important things, especially in a time of genuine emergency, makes common sense and is applied everywhere else in life,” he said.[28]

Conservative columnist Ross Douthat stated in a column about Daniels time at OMB that Daniels "carried water, as director of the Office of Management and Budget, for some of the Bush administration’s more egregious budgets."[29][30] But Douthat, while calling Daniels “America’s Best Governor,” defended Daniels against accusations that Daniels inaccurately assessed the costs of the Iraq war.

In the final days of 2002, when an invasion of Iraq was still a hypothetical question, Daniels told the New York Times that the cost of war with Iraq “could be” in the range of $50 to $60 billion. It was not clear whether Daniels was referring to the cost of a short invasion or a longer war, but he did indicate the administration was budgeting for both. He also described the “back-of-the-envelope” estimate by Bush Economic Advisor Lawrence B. Lindsey that it would cost $100 to $200 billion as much too high.[31] Two days later, after the New Years Holiday, an OMB spokesperson clarified Daniels’ remarks, adding that the $50 to $60 billion figure was not a hard White House estimate and “it is impossible to know what any military campaign would ultimately cost. The only cost estimate we know of in this arena is the Persian Gulf War and that was a $60 billion event.[32]

Three months later, on March 25, 2003, five days after the start of the invasion, President Bush requested $53 billion through an emergency supplemental appropriation to cover operational expenses in Iraq until September 30 of that year.[33] According to the Congressional Budget Office, Military operations in Iraq for 2003 cost $46 Billion, less than the amount projected by Daniels and OMB.[34] Douthat and other Daniel’s defenders accuse Daniels' critics of mischaracterizing the six-month supplemental appropriation as a request to fund the entire war.[29][30]

Between September 2001 and October 2012, lawmakers appropriated about $1.4 trillion for operations in both the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.[35]

Governor[edit]

Election campaign[edit]

Main article: Indiana gubernatorial election, 2004

Mitch Daniels during Indianapolis Navy Week in August 2006

Daniels' decision to run for Governor of Indiana led to most of the rest of Republican field of candidates to drop out of the race. The only challenger who did not do so was conservative activist and lobbyist Eric Miller. Miller worked for the Phoenix Group, a Christian rights defense group. Daniels' campaign platform centered around cutting the State budget and privatizing public agencies. He won the primary with 67% of the vote.[36]

While campaigning in the General Election, Daniels visited all 92 Counties at least three times. He traveled in a donated white RV nicknamed "RV-1" and covered with signatures of supporters and his campaign slogan, "My Man Mitch."[37] "My Man Mitch" was a reference to a phrase once used by President George W. Bush to refer to Daniels. Bush campaigned with Daniels on two occasions, as Daniels hoped that Bush's popularity would help him secure a win. In his many public stops, he frequently used the phrase "every garden needs weeding every sixteen years or so"; 16 was the number of years since Indiana had had a Republican governor.[36] His opponent in the general election was the incumbent, Joe Kernan, who had succeeded to the office upon the death of Frank O'Bannon. Campaign ads by Kernan and the Democratic Party attempted to tie Daniels to number of issues—his jail time for marijuana use; a stock sale leading to speculations of insider trading; and, because of his role at Eli Lilly, the high cost of prescription drugs.[37] The 2004 election was the costliest in Indiana history, up until that time, with the candidates spending a combined US$23 million.[36] Daniels won the election, garnering about 53% of the vote compared to Kernan's 46%.[36] Kernan was the first incumbent Governor to lose an election in Indiana since 1894.[36]

First term[edit]

On his first day in office, Daniels created Indiana's first Office of Management and Budget to look for inefficiencies and cost savings throughout state government. The same day, he decertified all government employee unions by executive order, removing the requirement that state employees pay union dues by rescinding a mandate created by Governor Evan Bayh in a 1989 executive order. Dues-paying union membership subsequently dropped 90% among state employees.[38][39]

Budgetary measures[edit]

In his first State of the State address on January 18, 2005, Daniels put forward his agenda to improve the State's fiscal situation. Indiana has a biennial budget, and had a projected two-year deficit of $800 million. Daniels called for strict controls on all spending increases, and reducing the annual growth rate of the budget. He also proposed a one-year 1% tax increase on all individuals and entities earning over $100,000. The taxing proposal was controversial and the Republican Speaker of the House, Brian Bosma, criticized Daniels and refused to allow the proposal to be debated.[36][40]

The General Assembly approved $250 million in spending cuts and Daniels renegotiated 30 different state contracts for a savings of $190 million, resulting in a budget of $23 billion. Annual spending growth for future budgets was cut to 2.8% from the 5.9% that had been standard for many years.[40][41] Increase in revenues, coupled with the spending reductions, led to a $300 million budget surplus. Indiana is not permitted to take loans, as borrowing was prohibited in its constitution following the 1837 state bankruptcy. The state, therefore, had financed its deficit spending by reallocating $760 million in revenue that belonged to local government and school districts over the course of many years. The funds were gradually and fully restored to the municipal governments using the surplus money, and the state reserve fund was grown to $1.3 billion.[41]

Two of Daniels' other tax proposals were approved: a tax on liquor and beverages to fund the construction of the Lucas Oil Stadium and a tax on rental cars to expand the Indiana Convention Center. The new source of funding resulted in a state take-over of a project initially started by the City of Indianapolis and led to a bitter feud between Daniels and the city leadership over who should have ownership of the project. The state ultimately won and took ownership of the facilities from the city.[42]

In 2006, Daniels continued his effort to reduce state operating costs by signing into law a bill privatizing the enrollment service for the state's welfare programs. Indiana's welfare enrollment facilities were replaced with call centers operated by IBM. In mid-2009, after complaints of poor service, Daniels canceled the contract and returned the enrollment service to the public sector.[43]

Daylight Saving Time[edit]

One of the most controversial measures Daniels successfully pushed through was the state adoption of Daylight Saving Time, which Daniels argued would save the state money on energy costs.[42] Although the state is in the Eastern Time Zone, Indiana's counties had adopted their own time zone practices, and in practice the state effectively observed two different times, and the central part of the state maintained a single time—Eastern Standard—year round.[42] Interests for both EST and CST time zones had prevented the official adoption of daylight saving since the 1930s, and had led to decades of debate. Daniels pressed for the entire state to switch to Central Time, but the General Assembly could not come to terms. Ultimately after a long debate, they adopted Eastern Daylight Saving Time in April 2005, the measure passing by one vote, putting all but northwestern and southwestern Indiana on the same time for the first time.[42]

Highways[edit]

A controversial plan, known as the Major Moves plan, was passed in 2006. The Indiana Toll Road was leased to State Mobility Partners, a joint venture company owned by Spanish firm Cintra and Australia's Macquarie Infrastructure Group for 75 years in exchange for a one time payment of $3.85 billion. The measure was opposed by most Democrats, who began an advertising campaign accusing Daniels of selling the road to foreign nations.[44][45] The income from the lease was used to finance a backlog of public transportation projects and create a $500 million trust fund to generate revenue for the maintenance of the highway system.[41]

Daniels' support for such controversial legislation led to a rapid drop in his approval rating; in May 2005, a poll showed a 18-point drop in support and that only 42% of Hoosiers approved of the way he was doing his job. In the following months, many of his reforms began to have a positive effect; and his ratings began to improve, and his approval rebounded.[46]

Economic development[edit]

Main article: Indiana Economic Development Corporation

When Daniels was elected, he stated his number one priority was job creation.[10] To achieve that goal, he created the public-private Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), became chairman of its board, and ordered it to “act at the speed of business, not the speed of government,” to attract new jobs. During its first year, the IEDC closed more transactions than similar efforts had during the previous two years combined. Between 2005 and 2008, 485 businesses committed to creating more than 60,000 new jobs and invest $14.5 billion into the Indiana economy.[10]

During a 12-day trade mission in Asia, Daniels visited Indiana soldiers serving on the border of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. On the 56th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, he laid a bouquet of white flowers at the base of a plaque listing 900 soldiers from Indiana who died in the war. During the visit he met with Asian auto executives and successfully promoted the expansion of facilities in Indiana.[47]

In 2006, the IEDC topped its 2005 results. It landed three high profile automotive investments from Toyota, Honda, and Cummins. In 2007, the IEDC announced its third consecutive record-breaking year for new investment and job commitments in Indiana with its largest deal being made with BP to construct $3.2 billion in facilities to assist in recovery of fuel from the Canadian tar sands.[10][41]

Healthy Indiana Plan[edit]

In 2007, Daniels signed the Healthy Indiana Plan, which provided 132,000 uninsured Indiana workers with coverage. The program works by helping its beneficiaries purchase a private health insurance policy with a subsidy from the state. The plan promotes health screenings, early prevention services, and smoking cessation. It also provides tax credits for small businesses that create qualified wellness and Section 125 plans. The plan was paid for by an increase in the state’s tax on cigarettes and the reallocation of federal medicaid funds through a special wavier granted by the federal government. In a September 15, 2007 Wall Street Journal column, Daniels was quoted as saying about the Healthy Indiana Plan and cigarette tax increase saying, “A consumption tax on a product you'd just as soon have less of doesn't violate the rules I learned under Ronald Reagan."[48]

The plan allows low to moderate income households where the members have no access to employer provided healthcare to apply for coverage. The fee for coverage is calculated using a formula that results in a charge between 2%–5% of a person's income. A $1,100 annual deductible is standard on all policies and allows applicants to qualify for a health savings account. The plan pays a maximum of $300,000 in annual benefits.[49]

WGU Indiana[edit]

Western Governor's University of Indiana is the eighth university in Indiana and was formed with the support of Gov. Mitch Daniels in 2010.[50] The purpose of the new on-line university is to increase education opportunities for working adults across Indiana. In December 2012 WGU Indiana celebrated its 500th graduate.[51]

Property tax reform[edit]

See also: Taxation in Indiana

In 2008, Daniels proposed a property tax ceiling of one percent on residential properties, two percent for rental properties and three percent for businesses. The plan was approved by the Indiana General Assembly on March 14, 2008 and signed by Daniels on March 19, 2008. In 2008, Indiana homeowners had an average property tax cut of more than 30 percent; a total of $870 million in tax cuts. Most money collected through property taxes funds local schools and county government. To offset the loss in revenues to the municipal bodies, the state raised the sales tax from 6% to 7% effective April 1, 2008.[52]

Fearing a future government may overturn the statute enforcing property tax rate caps, Daniels and other state Republican leaders pressed for an amendment to add the new tax limits to the state constitution. The proposed amendment was placed on the 2010 General election ballot and was a major focus of Daniels' reelection campaign. In November 2010, voters elected to adopt the tax caps into the Indiana Constitution.[53]

Daniels' successes at balancing the state budget began to be recognized nationally near the end of his first term. Daniels was named on the 2008 "Public Officials of the Year" by the Governing magazine.[54] The same year, he received the 2008 Urban Innovator Award from the Manhattan Institute for his ideas for dealing with the state's fiscal and urban problems.[55]

Voter registration[edit]

Main article: Crawford v. Marion County Election Board

In the 2005 session of the General Assembly, Daniels and Republicans, with some Democrat support, successfully enacted a voter registration law that required voters to show a government issued photo ID before they could be permitted to vote. The law was the first of its kind in the United States, and many civil rights organizations, like the ACLU, opposed the bill saying it would unfairly impact minorities, poor, and elderly voters who may be unable to afford an ID or may be physically unable to apply for an ID. To partially address those concerns, the state passed another law authorizing state license branches to offer free state photo ID cards to individuals who did not already possess another type of state ID.[56]

A coalition of civil rights groups began a court challenge of the bill in Indiana state courts, and the Daniels' administration defended the government in the case. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled in favor of the state in late 2007. The petitioners appealed the bill to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and that body upheld the State Supreme Court decision in the case of Crawford v. Marion County Election Board. Upon appeal the United States Supreme Court also ruled in favor of the state in April 2008, setting a legal precedent. Several other states subsequently enacted similar laws in the years following.[56]

Reelection campaign[edit]

See also: Indiana gubernatorial election, 2008

Mitch Daniels (left) talking to members of the Indiana National Guard.

Daniels entered the 2008 election year with a 51% approval rate, and 28% disapproval rate. Daniels' reelection campaign focused on the states unemployment rate, which had lowered during his time in office, the proposed property tax reform amendment, and the successful balancing of the state budget during his first term.[57]

On November 4, 2008, Daniels defeated Democratic candidate Jill Long Thompson and was elected to a second term as Governor with 57.8% of votes.[58] He was reinaugurated on January 12, 2009. Washington Post blogger Chris Cillizza named the Daniels reelection campaign "The Best Gubernatorial Campaign of 2008" and noted that some Republicans were already bandying about his name for the 2012 presidential election.[59] Daniels garnered 20 percent of the African American vote and 37 percent of Latinos in his 2008 re-election campaign. He won with more votes than any candidate in the state's history.

On July 14, 2010 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, Daniels was on hand to help announce the return of IndyCar Series chassis manufacturing to the state of Indiana.[60] Dallara Automobili will build a new technology center in Speedway, Indiana and the state of Indiana will subsidize the sale of the first 28 IndyCar chassis with a $150,000 discount.[61]

Daniels has been recognized for his commitment to fiscal discipline. He is a recent recipient of the Herman Kahn Award from the conservative think tank the Hudson Institute, of which he is a former President and CEO, and was one of the first to receive the Fiscy award for fiscal discipline.[62] A November 2010 poll gave Daniels a 75% approval rate.[63]

Second term[edit]

Democrats won a majority in the Indiana House of Representatives in the 2006 and 2008 elections. This caused Indiana to have a divided government, with Democrats controlling the Indiana House of Representatives and the Republicans controlling the Governor's office and the Indiana Senate. This also lead to a stalemate in the budget debate, which caused Mitch Daniels call a special session of the Indiana General Assembly. The state was faced with a $1 billion shortfall in revenue for the 2009–11 budget years. Daniels proposed a range of spending cuts and cost-saving measures in his budget proposal. The General Assembly approved some of his proposals, but relied heavily on the state's reserve funds to pay for the budget shortfall. Daniels signed the $27 billion two-year budget into law.

2011 legislative walkout[edit]

See also: 2011 Indiana legislative walkouts

In the 2010 mid-term elections, Republican super-majorities regained control of the House, and took control of the Senate, giving the party full control of General Assembly for the first time in Daniels' tenure as governor. The 2011 Indiana General Assembly's regular legislative session began in January and the large Republicans majorities attempted to implement a wide-ranging conservative agenda largely backed by Daniels. Most of the agenda had been "dormant" since Daniels' election due to divided control of the assembly.[64] In February, Republican legislators attempted to pass a right to work bill in the Indiana House of Representatives. The bill would have made it illegal for employees to be required to join a workers' union. Republicans argued that it would help the state attract new employers. Unable to prevent the measure from passing,Democratic legislators fled the state to deny the body quorum while several hundred protesters staged demonstrations at the capital.Minority walkouts are somewhat common in the state, occurring as recently as 2005.[65]

While Daniels supported the legislation, he believed the Republican lawmakers should drop the bill because it was not part of their election platform and deserved a period of public debate. Republicans subsequently dropped the bill, but the Democratic lawmakers still refused to return to the capital, demanding additional bills be tabled, including a bill to create a statewide school voucher program. Their refusal to return left the Indiana General Assembly unable to pass any legislation, until three of the twelve bills they objected to were dropped from the agenda on March 28. The minority subsequently returned to the statehouse to resume their duties.[65]

Daniels was interviewed in February 2011 about the similar 2011 Wisconsin budget protests in Madison. While supporting the Wisconsin Republicans, he said that in Indiana "we're not in quite the same position or advocating quite the same things they are up in Madison."[66]

Education[edit]

Following the legislative walkouts, the assembly began passing most of the agenda and Daniels signed the bills into law. Written in collaboration with Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett, a series of education reform laws made a variety of major changes to statewide public schools. A statewide school voucher program was enacted.Children in homes with an income under $41,000 could receive vouchers equal to 90% of the cost of their public school tuition and use that money to attend a private school. It provides lesser benefits to households with income over $41,000. The program will be gradually phased in over a three-year period and would be available to all state residents by 2014.[64][67][68]

Other funds were redirected to creating and expanding charter schools, and expanding college scholarship programs. The law also created a merit pay system to give better performing teachers higher wages, and gave broader authority to school superintendents to terminate the employment of teachers and restricts the collective bargaining rights of teachers.[67]

WGU Indiana was established through an executive order on June 14, 2010 by Daniels, as a partnership between the state and Western Governors University in an effort to expand access to higher education for Indiana residents and increase the percentage of the state’s adult population with education beyond high school.

In July 2013, the Associated Press obtained emails under Indiana open record laws in which Daniels asked for assurances that a textbook, "The People's History of the United States," written by Marxist historian Howard Zinn "is not in use anywhere in Indiana." Daniels wrote in 2010, "This crap should not be accepted for any credit by the state." In a separate and unrelated round of emails composed in 2009, Indiana Education officials shared concerns with Daniels about the lobbying resources and activities of the Indiana Urban Schools Association. Daniels asked that the administration "examine cutting them out, at least of the [funding] 'surge' we are planning for the next couple yrs." The executive director of IUSA is Charles Little, a professor of education, who had criticized him. Daniels has said he doesn't know who Little is.[69][70][71][72]

Abortion[edit]

On April 27, 2011, the Indiana legislature passed a bill authored by State Rep. Eric Turner that prohibited taxpayer dollars from supporting organizations that performed abortions. The legislation also prohibited abortions for women more than 20 weeks pregnant, four weeks sooner than the previous law.[73] Although Daniels would later say he supported the bill from the outset, it was not part of his legislative agenda and he did not indicate whether he would sign or veto the law until after it passed the General Assembly.[74] Daniels signed the bill on May 10, 2011.[73]

Planned Parenthood and the ACLU subsequently brought a lawsuit against the state alleging it was being targeted unfairly, that the state law violated federal medicaid laws, and that their Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated. A May 11 ruling allowing the case to move forward, but denied the request from the petitioners to grant a temporary injunction to restore the funding;[75] however, a June 24 ruling prohibited the state from enforcing the law.[76]

Daniels also signed at the end of the 2011 session a bill banning synthesized marijuana.[64]

Immigration[edit]

On May 10 Daniels signed into law two immigration bills; one denying in-state tuition prices to illegal immigrants and another creating fines for employers that employed illegal immigrants. Several protestors, at least five of whom were illegal immigrants, were arrested while protesting the law at the statehouse when they broke into Daniels' office after being denied a meeting. Student leaders called for their release, while some state legislators called for their deportation.[77] Daniels' only significant legislative defeat during the session was his proposal to create new toll roads, which was opposed by a majority of his party.[68]

State Democratic Party leaders accused Daniels and the Republicans of passing controversial legislation only to enhance Daniels image so he could seek the Presidency. Daniels, however, denied the charges saying he would have enacted the same agenda years earlier had the then-Democratic majority permitted him to do so.[64]

Budget cuts[edit]

The state forecast continued revenue declines in 2010 that would result in a $1.7 billion budget shortfall if the state budget grew at its normal rate. Daniels submitted a two-year $27.5 billion spending plan to the General Assembly which would result in a $500 million surplus that would be used to rebuild the state reserve funds to $1 billion. He proposed a wide range of budget austerity measures, including employee furloughing, spending reductions, freezing state hiring, freezing state employee wages, and a host of administrative changes for state agencies. The state had already been gradually reducing its workforce by similar freezes, and by 2011, Indiana had the fewest state employees per capita than any other state—a figure Daniels touted to say Indiana had the nation's smallest government.[78][79]

The legislative walkouts delayed progress on the budget passage for nearly two months, but the House of Representatives was able to begin working on it in committee in April. The body made several alterations to the bill, including a reapportionment of education funding based more heavily on the number of students at a school, and removing some public school funding to finance the new voucher system and charter schools.[79]

Energy[edit]

Daniels announced in October 2006 that a substitute natural gas company intended to build a facility in southern Indiana that would produce pipeline quality substitute natural gas (SNG).[80] The lead investor was Leucadia National, which proposed a $2.6 billion plant in Rockport, Indiana. Under the terms of the deal endorsed by Daniels, the state would buy almost all the Rockport gas and resell it on the open market throughout the country. If the plant made money from the sale, excess profits would be split between Leucadia National's Indiana subsidiary, Indiana Gassification, and the state. If it lost money from the sale, then 100% of the losses would be passed onto Indiana consumers. Leucadia agreed to reimburse the state for any losses, up to $150 million over 30 years.[81] Gas from the plant would make up about 17 percent of the state's supply. Critics feared that if gas prices fell over the next 30 years, the costs of the lost profits would get passed onto the bills of residents once the $150 million guarantee by Leucadia was used up.[81] The deal also received criticism due to government intrusion in the energy markets.[82] Questions were also raised due to Leucadia National hiring Mark Lubbers to promote the deal. Lubbers is a former aide and close friend of Daniels.[83] The Daniel's administration maintained that the plant would create jobs in an economically depressed part of the state and offer environmental benefits through an in-state energy source.[28] The project was ultimately panned by the state legislature in 2013.[84]

Right to Work[edit]

Indiana became the first state in a decade to adopt Right to Work legislation.[85] Indiana is home to many manufacturing jobs. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. has reported that 90 firms said the new law was an important factor in deciding to move to Indiana.[86] Gov. Daniels signed the legislation on Feb 1, 2012 without much fanfare in the hopes of dispersing labor protesters before the Super Bowl in Indianapolis.[87]

2012 presidential speculation[edit]

Although Daniels had claimed to be reluctant to seek higher office, many media outlets, including Politico, The Weekly Standard, Forbes, The Washington Post, CNN, The Economist, and The Indianapolis Star began to speculate that Daniels may intend to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012 after he joined the national debate on cap and trade legislation by penning a response in The Wall Street Journal to policies espoused by the Democratic-majority Congress and the White House in August 2010.[88][89] The speculation has included Daniels' record of reforming government, reducing taxes, balancing the budget, and connecting with voters in Indiana.[90][91][92][93] Despite his signing into law of bills that toughened drug enforcement, regulated abortion, and a defense of marriage act, he has angered some conservatives because of his call for a "truce" on social issues so the party can focus on fiscal issues.[citation needed] His "willingness to consider tax increases to rectify a budget deficit" has been another source of contention.[94]

In August 2010, The Economist praised Daniels' "reverence for restraint and efficacy" and concluded that "he is, in short, just the kind of man to relish fixing a broken state – or country."[95] Nick Gillespie of Reason called Daniels "a smart and effective leader who is a serious thinker about history, politics, and policy," and wrote that "Daniels, like former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, is a Republican who knows how to govern and can do it well."[96] In February 2011, David Brooks of The New York Times described Daniels as the "Party's strongest [would be] candidate", predicting that he "couldn't match Obama in grace and elegance, but he could on substance."[97]

On December 12, 2010, Daniels suggested in a local interview that he would decide on a White House run before May 2011.[98]

Different groups and individuals pressured Daniels to run for office.[99] In response to early speculation, Daniels dismissed a presidential run in June 2009, saying "I've only ever run for or held one office. It's the last one I'm going to hold."[100] However, in February 2010 he told a Washington Post reporter that he was open to the idea of running in 2012.[101]

On March 6, 2011, Daniels was the winner of an Oregon (Republican Party) straw poll. Daniels drew 29.33% of the vote, besting second place finisher Mitt Romney (22.66%) and third place finisher Sarah Palin (18.22%), and was the winner of a similar straw poll in the state of Washington.[102] On May 5, 2011, Daniels told an interviewer that he would announce "within weeks" his decision of whether or not to run for the Republican presidential nomination. He said he felt he was not prepared to debate on all the national issues, like foreign policy, and needed time to better understand the issues and put together formal positions.[103] Later in May, as the Republican field began to resolve with announcements and withdrawals of other candidates, Time said, "Even setting aside his somewhat unusual family situation, Daniels would need to hurry to put together an organization" and raise enough money if he intended to run.[104]

Daniels announced he would not seek the Republican nomination for the presidency on the night of May 21, 2011, via an email to the press, citing family constraints and the loss of privacy the family would experience should he become a candidate.[105]

Purdue University[edit]

Selection[edit]

The Purdue University Board of Trustees unanimously elected Mitch Daniels president of Purdue University on June 21, 2012. As governor, Daniels had appointed 8 of the 10 Board members and had reappointed the other two, which critics claimed was a conflict of interest. A state investigation released in October 2012 found that the circumstances did not violate the Indiana Code of Ethics.[106] Other critics of his selection pointed out that unlike previous Purdue presidents, he lacks a background in academia.[107] His term as president began upon completion of his term as governor in January 2013. In preparation for his term as President of Purdue University, Daniels stopped participating in partisan political activity during the 2012 election cycle and focused instead on issues related to higher education and fiscal matters.

In order to avoid the financial cost of a formal inauguration, Daniels instead wrote an "Open Letter to the People of Purdue" in which he documented the challenges facing higher education and outlined his initial priorities such as affordability, academic excellence and academic freedom.[108]

Student interactions[edit]

Daniels works out weekly at the student gym and eats frequently with students in student dining facilities.[109] In March 2013, he joined forces with a group of engineering students to create a viral music video promoting engineering and Purdue University. Within 24 hours, the video had received over 50,000 views.[110]

Tuition freeze and fee reductions[edit]

On March 1, 2013, Daniels announced that for the first time since 1976, Purdue would freeze tuition on its main campus for at least the next two years. The announcement occurred before the state had determined Purdue's funding for the next biennium. Amidst questions about the timing, Daniels argued that he didn't need to wait because "it doesn't matter what the General Assembly does. This is the right thing to do and we are going to do it...the same way families do; the same way some governments do and all businesses do. We are going to adjust our spending to what we believe is the available and in this case the fair amount of revenue. I know often with good reason there has been an opportunity in higher education to adjust tuition to match what the place wanted to spend, and I just think we've reached the point where we ought to break that pattern."[111] Less than two months later, Daniels also reduced the university's cooperative education fees which had increased every year prior on record. He also cut back the fees for students to participate in university meal plans. These also had increased every year since 1974. The meal cost reduction and fee cut affected 10,000 students and saved them and their families $3.5 million.[112] The tuition freeze required Daniels to find over $40 million in savings or new revenue. Three months after the tuition freeze, Daniels said he had found ways to make up most of the loss in tuition revenue[113] while still having funds to spend an additional $25 million to expand the school's highly-ranked engineering department.[114] To help make up the $40 million in lost tuition revenue, Daniels initially proposed freezing the salaries of administrators making more than $50,000 a year. That plan was scratched following faculty feedback in favor of a plan that allowed all Purdue employees to compete for a limited pool of funds set aside for raises.[115]

Board service[edit]

In February 2013, Daniels was asked to co-chair a National Research Council committee to review and make recommendations on the future of the U.S. human spaceflight program. The appointment to the Committee on Human Spaceflight runs through June 30, 2014. In March 2013, Daniels was elected to the board of Energy Systems Network (ESN), Indiana’s industry-driven clean technology initiative.

Electoral history

MITCH DANIELS

cheney's cheny?

Role In Going To War: Mitch Daniels was the director of the Office of Management and Budget from January 2001 through June of 2003. In this capacity, he was responsible for releasing the initial budget estimates for the Iraq War which he pegged at $50 to $60 billion. The estimated cost of the war, including the full economic ramifications, is approaching $1 trillion. MSNBC, [3/17/06]

Where He Is Now: In 2004, Daniels was elected Governor of Indiana. In June 2007, Daniels announced that he was running for re-election. USA Today, [11/3/04; ABC 6/16/07]

Key Quote: Mitch Daniels had said the war would be an “affordable endeavor” and rejected an estimate by the chief White House economic adviser that the war would cost between $100 billion and $200 billion as “very, very high.” Christian Science Monitor, [1/10/06]

grist:

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels says he'll decide by April 29 whether to run for the Republican presidential nomination. While he's pondering his prospects, let us ponder his views on climate change. Turns out they're a lot weirder than you thought.

It's well-known that Daniels has voiced skepticism about climate science and bashed cap-and-trade. But in a little-noticed May 2009 speech, he went further -- warning of fatwas issued by the "climate change theocracy," claiming that discussion of climate science has been dominated by "the University of Hollywood and the P.C. Institute of Technology," and reverently quoting climate skeptic and sci-fi author Michael Crichton.

http://www.grist.org/election-2012/2011-04-15-mitch-daniels-shares-quacky-climate-views-with-michael-crichton

grist:

Mitch Daniels (R-Ind.)Photo: Republican ConferenceMitch Daniels [UPDATED, 4/15/11]

Governor of Indiana

Daniels hasn't out and out denied climate science, but he's made no bones about his skepticism, nor about his opposition to cap-and-trade.

On climate science: In May 2009, Daniels suggested that cutting carbon dioxide emissions might not be the worst idea in the world. "[Indiana has] embarked on an aggressive energy-conservation program, indubitably the most cost-effective means of limiting CO2," he wrote.

But just a couple of weeks later during a commencement address, he slammed what he called the "climate change theocracy," claiming that discussion of climate science has been dominated by "the University of Hollywood and the P.C. Institute of Technology" and quoting at length from climate skeptic and sci-fi author Michael Crichton.

And in April 2010, apparently in response to "Climategate," he said, "There's been nothing but dubious news about the science on this for about a year."

On climate policy: In an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal in May 2009, he bashed the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill in the House, saying it "looks like imperialism" and would "double electricity bills in Indiana" and send jobs to China. "This bill would impose enormous taxes and restrictions on free commerce by wealthy but faltering powers -- California, Massachusetts and New York -- seeking to exploit politically weaker colonies in order to prop up their own decaying economies," he wrote.

Other affiliations

Trustee Emeriti, Fund for American Studies

Contact details

Office of the Governor

Statehouse

Indianapolis, Indiana 46204-2797

Phone: 317-232-4567

Web: http://www.in.gov/gov

Resources and articles

References

↑ Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. profile, The Washington Post, accessed January 2011.

External articles

Nicholas Thompson, "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney. Meet OMB Director Mitch Daniels: The most powerful man in the Bush administration you have never heard," Washington Monthly, July/August 2001.
Brendan Nyhan, "Mitch Daniels' fuzzy math. The Bush budget director has a little problem with the truth," Salon, February 12, 2002.
Report: Mitch Daniels Among 32 Subpoenaed in Securities Probe, Associated Press (truthout), May 7, 2003.
"The Architects of War: Where Are They Now?" Think Progress, July 2007.