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Saturday, February 12, 2005

Ind. Gov't. - [Updated] More on "the Governor shall reside at the seat of government"

Thursday, in this entry in which I quoted from Ruthie Holladay's column pointing out that the Indiana Constitution requires that "the Governor shall reside at the seat of government" I set out the relevant language thusly:

Art. 6, Section 5. The Governor, and the Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of State, shall, severally, reside and keep the public records, books, and papers, in any manner relating to their respective offices, at the seat of government.
However, Holladay's column identified the constitutional requirement as Art. 6, section 5 (b). That should have caused me to look further, as the section I quoted did not have subsections. But as the language I posted was taken from the Indiana Constitution on the Indiana Supreme Court's website, I assumed it was correct.

I should not have.

Today's (Saturday's) Indianapolis Star has a story by political reporter Mary Beth Schneider headlined "Daniels shelves Carmel home: No 'For Sale' sign will be placed on governor's residence, either, he tells media." A pull-quote on the front-page story again quotes from Article 6, Section 5 (b).

So I checked the version of the Indiana Constitution on the General Assembly's website. It reads:

Section 5. (a) The Governor, and the Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of State, shall severally keep the public records, books, and papers, in any manner relating to their respective offices, at the seat of government.
(b) The Governor shall reside at the seat of government.
(History: As Amended November 3, 1998)
Since November of 1998, therefore, only the Governor has been required to reside at the seat of government. One could conclude from the amendment that the citizens of Indiana really mean it, as they ratified (re-ratified?) this requirement only six years ago. The voters eliminated the requirement that the Secretary, Auditor, and Treasurer of State "reside at the seat of government, but reaffirmed it for the Governor.

Notice that the Lieutenant Governor is not mentioned in either version. Until the 1930s the (then separately elected) Lieutenant Governor did not have any constitutional or statutory responsibilities other than to preside over the Senate during the few months it was convened in session, once every two years, and to succeed the Governor, if necessary.

Note: In the past I have relied on the Court's version of the Indiana Constitution because it sets out the entire document at once. This means I can use the "Find" function on my browser to search the entire document at once. The General Assembly's version, on the other hand, is divided up into a separate document for each Article.

[Update 2/13/05] Lesley Stedman Weidenbener writes today in her Sunday Louisville Courier Journal column. Some quotes:

Gov. Mitch Daniels may not be moving after all -- at least not right now, not to a pricey spread that he and the first lady were planning in Carmel.

The Republican said on Friday he asked his attorney to research the meaning of a constitutional requirement that the governor "reside in the seat of government." * * *

And on Friday, Daniels acknowledged that he hadn't known about the constitutional provision that may restrict where he lives.

"I'm going to be in full compliance with the constitution, whatever it means," Daniels said Friday. "If it means the residence must be in Marion County, then, by gosh, mine will be."

Daniels also said he plans to fix up the official residence and he acknowledged that many of the so-called repairs may not have to be done at all. The report said the home needed $1 million in security upgrades, about which Daniels sounded a bit circumspect. Some of the money included in the report would pay for curtains and other cosmetic changes. The house will need a new roof -- at a cost of $371,000, according to the report. Daniels said the repairs that need to be made will be -- but not with taxpayer money. He said he'll find another way.


My thoughts are that given the recent reaffirmation of the requirement by the voters of the State, and given the fact that "seat of government" is pretty much a term of art, as in this quote in an earlier entry from the 1813 State Capital Act:
That from and after the first day of May next, the seat of government of the Indiana territory shall be, and the same is hereby fixed and established in the town of Corydon, in the county of Harrison, and the said seat of government shall be and remain in the said town of Corydon, until altered by law ...
any effort to reinterpret this provision will have difficulty meeting the straight-face test.

Weidenbener refers in her column today to the "$2.6 million in repairs" that may be needed on the current Governor's residence. The Indianapolis Star today, in its "Behind Closed Doors" column, has some details from the report:

Gov. Mitch Daniels' administration last week publicized a report it said called for $2.6 million in repairs on the governor's residence on Meridian Street, which was built in 1928.

The report, however, is a master plan -- a wish list of all of the needed improvements to the stately home.

The plan does call for some expensive steps -- such as some roof repairs and window replacement. But there are some smaller, less urgent projects that add up, too:

• $5,000 to kill and remove ivy growing on the residence.

• $4,000 a year to clean the gutters.

• $29,000 for new interior wall paint (the plan says many of the walls have not been painted since the beginning of the O'Bannon administration, in 1997).

• $38,000 in new window treatments, such as curtains, valences and sheers.

• $14,000 in new kitchen appliances.

Of the $2.6 million in upgrades, $740,140 is allotted for long-term capital projects -- such as a complete re-do of the home's pipes, which the report says do not appear to represent any immediate concern.

As a long-time owner of a large, old, high-maintenance home in a preservation district, I'd urge -- get some competitive bids on these figures! And you might get better bids if you don't announce what you expect to have to pay in advance.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on February 12, 2005 06:05 PM
Posted to Indiana Government | Indiana Law