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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Ind. Gov't. - "Attorney General Greg Zoeller is arguably Indiana’s second most-powerful elected figure"

That is the caption to a photo of the AG that accompanies this long, balanced story today in the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette, authored by Tracy Warner, editorial page editor. The story, headlined "Big cases put state’s attorney general in spotlight," begins:

Take a conservative lawyer well acquainted with politics, the law and administering a government agency.

Add a political atmosphere in which Republican state lawmakers are more than willing to push a long-suppressed conservative agenda, even if it stretches previously accepted limits of state government’s power.

Mix in a successful – and desirable – public relations effort to keep Hoosiers informed about what their attorney general is doing.

The final touch: A likable personality with a sense of humor and just a slight southern Indiana drawl – the epitome of the kind of person you would vote for because he’s the candidate you’d want to have a beer with.

The result is an Indiana attorney general who has become not only one of the most visible and active in the state’s history but perhaps the state’s most important official after the governor.

ILB: One of the biggest reasons for the power is that although the office of attorney general in Indiana is not a constitutional office, it is a separately elected office. As such, the office has a great deal of independence from the three traditional branches of government. The office is in a position to play a decision-making and policymaking position in many important issues. And legislation enacted in recent years has quietly expanded its authority.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 11, 2011 07:20 PM
Posted to Indiana Government