Indiana Politics - Indiana - onPolitix

John Gregg for governor... again?

2013-05-24T20:54:18Z

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — We are still 3 1/2 years from the next election for governor of Indiana, but that doesn't stop John Gregg from laying some groundwork for 2016.

Gregg's 2013 schedule looks like the schedule of a candidate. He's been to 17 Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinners and he's spoken to 30 labor groups, and it's only May.

The John Gregg for governor Facebook page is also still active. New postings show school kids posing with the fake mustaches that his 2012 campaign used for props. Supporters use it to encourage him to run again. One claims to have a pledge from Gregg to do so.

Gregg, reached by phone, wanted to talk about how close he came last time.

"We worked real hard," said Gregg. "We were outspent by $10 million and still came within two points."

Mike Pence defeated Gregg by a margin closer to 3 percentage points but it was the closest race for governor in 50 years. That doesn't mean that party leaders will clear the field for Gregg.

"In the spirit of racing and race weekend we're not even on the pace lap for 2016," said Democratic Party spokeswoman Jennifer Wagner. "The field's not set, we don't even know what the cars are going to look like."

Republicans look on with amusement.

"One of his chief criticisms in the last campaign was, (Gregg) said he was running against a career politician," says state GOP Chairman Eric Holcomb, "and for someone to have just campaigned for an office to immediately pivot and start running again. That starts to look like a career."

Gregg won't declare himself a candidate yet, saying only that he has always been active in attending Democratic events around the state.

"After campaigning every day for two years," he said, "maybe it just becomes a way of life."

There are other Democrats testing the 2016 waters. They include former Congressman Baron Hill and Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott.

Party leaders, meanwhile, want to concentrate on making gains in the General Assembly in 2014.

Memorial service honors Gov. Bowen

2013-05-23T19:30:04Z

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There was a memorial service in the Statehouse rotunda Thursday for former Governor Otis Bowen. Former governors Ed Whitcomb, Evan Bayh and Joe Kernan were all in attendance at the ceremony honoring Indiana's first two-term governor.

"The debt this state owes to Governor Otis R. Bowen can only be repaid by relentless imitation of his example," Governor Mike Pence told the audience, "and so on behalf of the people of Indiana we express our deepest sympathies."

Former Bowen aide Ray Rizzo also spoke.

"Doc let me in on his secret, his secret to success," said Rizzo, "by saying 'I just believe in letting other people have my way.' It's really very simple."

Bowen died earlier this month at the age of 95.

General Assembly eyes veto override

2013-05-23T17:30:55Z

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The General Assembly will return to the Statehouse for one day on June 12 to vote on a potential override of a Gov. Mike Pence veto. The General Assembly has never met in a special veto session before.

Leaders announced that decision at a meeting of the legislative council. They say the governor's rejection of a bill that included, among other provisions, local tax hikes in Jackson and Pulaski counties creates problems for both state and local governments.

"It was a bill that needs to go forward," said House Speaker Brian Bosma.

"We're going to have consideration at that time of the veto override," said Senate President Pro Tem David Long, "and we'll take a vote."

The governor will fight the override attempt.

"We took our veto decisions very seriously," Pence said, "and we'll be making our case to members of the General Assembly to sustain our veto."

The Pence vetoes of two other bills will not be considered on June 12.

Statehouse memorial will honor late Gov. Bowen

2013-05-23T15:10:44Z

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and House Speaker Brian Bosma will join several other speakers at a memorial service for former Gov. Otis Bowen.

A Pence spokeswoman says all of Indiana's living ex-governors except for Mitch Daniels will attend Thursday's noon memorial in the Statehouse Rotunda.

Bowen died May 4 at age 95. The Republican was Indiana's governor from 1973 to 1981. He became secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 1985, taking charge of the federal government's response to the spread of AIDS after the Reagan administration was criticized for a slow initial response.

Former Health and Human Services undersecretary Don Newman will be among the speakers. Former Indiana Secretary of State Ed Simcox is to open the memorial.

State lawmakers order ISTEP investigation

2013-05-23T14:47:47Z

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — State lawmakers want to know why computer problems interrupted the ISTEP exam and who is responsible. They ordered an investigation Thursday that will begin in mid-June with a day long hearing at the Statehouse.

Both the test maker, CTB/McGraw Hill, and state education officials will be called on the carpet.

Computer problems first interrupted test taking for students in a variety of schools earlier this month and then forced school districts to reduce the number of students taking the test at one time by half. Lawmakers want CTB/McGraw Hill to explain.

"To come to Indianapolis and explain how the problems occurred," said Senate President Pro Tem David Long, "why they weren't prepared for those problems, what they're doing about it to assure these problems don't arise in the future."

The announcement was made in a meeting of the Legislative Council, a group made up of leaders from both Houses and both parties in the General Assembly.

State Education officials will also be questioned, as will school superintendents. House Speaker Brian Bosma said, "We need to get to the bottom of it."

This was the first time that schools were encouraged to have students take the test online whenever possible and CTB/McGraw Hill is the main target of the probe.

"And for a highly paid vendor to have this occur is totally unacceptable," said Sen. Long. "The schools have a right to be upset about it."

Lawmakers also hope to determine whether the test results are tainted by the interruptions that took place. The Fort Wayne schools have already decided that test results there won't be used unless they can be verified by a third party.

Lawmakers set study plans for the summer

2013-05-23T11:39:48Z

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana lawmakers are detailing their study plans for the summer ahead of their next session.

The Indiana Legislative Council plans to meet Thursday morning to detail which issues will be studied in the coming months. Some issues, including a review of the national Common Core education standards, have already been announced.

Issues have run from the high-profile to the mundane in past summers. Lawmakers took up the highly divisive right-to-work ban on union fees in the summer of 2011. An investigation of troubles at the state's Department of Child Services dominated much of last summer.

Gregg pondering 2nd run for Indiana governor

2013-05-22T20:29:08Z

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Former Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Gregg is pondering another run at the state's top job, but has yet to make a decision.

Gregg narrowly lost to Republican Gov. Mike Pence last November despite the state's Republican tilt. But Gregg said Wednesday he hasn't decided whether it's worth another run.

The Corydon Democrat reported Wednesday that Gregg told Democrats in Harrison County that he wanted to "keep going" following two years on the campaign trail. But Gregg said that was a lighthearted response to the local Democratic chairman's insistence that Gregg should be governor.

Still, Gregg has given every indication he's interested in the job he almost won. He has traversed the state in the last few months speaking at local fundraisers and gauging support among Democratic activists.

Mike Pence still pushing for media shield law

2013-05-22T20:12:42Z

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — There is a new, bi-partisan movement on Capitol Hill to pass a media shield law designed to help reporters protect confidential sources.

It's a reaction to the recent scandal regarding Obama Administration investigations into the Associated Press and Fox News. It is also a bill that was first introduced by Indiana Governor Mike Pence when he was in Congress.

Pence sponsored a media shield bill that passed the House twice, in 2007 and 2009. Both times it failed in the Senate. Now it's back and Pence is still pushing for it.

The governor says that he will encourage members of the Indiana delegation in Congress to vote for the new bill calling for a media shield that would force reporters to reveal sources only under court order.

"I do think the allegations of overreach by the Justice Department in this case argue very strongly for the adoption of a federal media shield statute," he said, "and I strongly support it."

When Attorney General Eric Holder disclosed that the Department of Justice obtained phone records of 20 reporters at the Associated Press over a two month period without their knowledge, it prompted tough questions from Congress.

It also pointed out, says Pence, that current government regulations don't work.

"They did it secretly," said AP President Gary Pruitt on Face the Nation. "Their rules require them to come to us first but in this case they didn't."

When Congressman Pence fought for the law on Capitol Hill he faced opposition from both the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration.

"The bill is not about protecting journalists," he argued on the House floor in 2009. "It's about protecting the public's right to know."

Now, as then, Pence argues that a free press is the only check on government power.

"I think the ability of the press to protect confidential sources," he said, "is essential to the news gathering process."

So, if Pence had been successful in creating a media shield years ago, would it have prevented the current scandal? Pence says we don't know because the Justice Department still hasn't explained exactly what happened and why.

Pence pledges to finish I-69

2013-05-22T18:07:54Z

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Gov. Mike Pence says that the completion of Interstate 69 from Evansville to Indianapolis is his top priority when it comes to road building.

Pence spoke to an audience Wednesday morning that included contractors and others eager to take part in the project.

The state is currently seeking private partners to help upgrade the 21-mile stretch of State Road 37 between Bloomington and Martinsville so that it meets interstate standards.

The first 67 miles of I-69 from Evansville to Crane opened last year.

"I think I-69, completing I-69 to Indianapolis is enormously important to our economy and not just the economy of southwestern Indiana, but all of the economy of the Hoosier state,” Pence said. “We're (going to) continue to work for ways to get that done."

The governor says there are no plans to place tolls on any portion of I-69.

Tighter Ind. drunken driving law seems unlikely

2013-05-20T14:36:30Z

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Some key Indiana legislators say it's unlikely that the state will any time soon go along with a federal safety board's recommendation that the threshold for drunken driving be cut nearly in half.

National Transportation Safety Board says drunken-driving deaths could be reduced if states lowered the current 0.08 blood-alcohol level for driving to 0.05 percent.

State Sen. Tom Wyss of Fort Wayne pushed for more than a decade for the law that lowered Indiana's drunken-driving level to 0.08 percent in 2001. Wyss tells the Evansville Courier & Press it would be "nearly impossible" to win approval for a 0.05 percent law in Indiana.

House transportation committee chairman Ed Soliday of Valparaiso tells The Times of Munster he wants more research showing a lower limit will reduce crash deaths.