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Sunday, May 14, 2006

Ind. Gov't. - "Daniels' emphasis on ethics opens the door to scrutiny "

The Louisville Courier Journal's Sunday column by Leslie Stedman Weidenbener is titled "Daniels' emphasis on ethics opens the door to scrutiny." Some quotes:

[W]hat links the two incidents [the FSSA contract and the criminal justice institute firings] is not the seriousness of the violations but that they occurred under a man who defeated former Democrat Gov. Joe Kernan by repeatedly calling his a scandal-laden administration.

Even after Daniels took office, he spent much of his first year -- and already part of his second -- highlighting examples of mismanagement from previous Democratic governors.

He made much of his "new crew" of state officials, whom he said would bring higher ethical standards to all of state government.

So it's no surprise that problems within Daniels' own administration have generated a flurry of news stories. * * *

[J]ust as Daniels held previous governors accountable for problems that occurred during their administrations, he will be held responsible for the mistakes, the scandals, the ethical lapses in his own.

He has dished out years of criticisms about his predecessors. Even his defense of the controversial FSSA contract focused less on the actions of his administration and instead on the state of the massive agency when he took over.

Even last week, as he was discussing the criminal justice institute problems, Daniels said more than once that the first 42 inspector general investigations referred to prosecutors came from problems under previous governors, not under him.

But as Daniels' administration moves through its second year, that will likely be changing. The inspector general undoubtedly will be focusing more and more on allegations inside the current state government regime.

And the governor will have no choice but to live with the resulting publicity. He set himself up for it.

State government is incredibly hard to manage well, as the Governor is finding out.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 14, 2006 07:57 AM
Posted to Indiana Government