What you won’t hear
Posted by Indiana Democratic Party | 01/10/2012
Gov. Mitch Daniels will give his final “State of the State” address tonight.
There will be plenty of self-congratulatory applause lines and pats on the back for jobs that don’t exist, prosperity that’s just out of reach for working Hoosiers.
Here are seven topics you won’t hear Daniels touch on that have defined his administration over the past seven years:
- Fewer jobs. Since Daniels took office, Indiana has lost nearly 150,000 jobs, and our unemployment rate has nearly doubled. Republicans have failed to articulate a jobs plan or grow our economy, but they continue to insist that we lower wages and reduce worker safety by pushing policies like “right to work.”
- Lower income. Compared to when Daniels took office, Hoosiers make five cents less per dollar than they used to. That adds up, and it doesn’t match up with the Governor’s rhetoric that we’re somehow doing better now than we were seven years ago.
- Sweetheart deal for political pals nets pain for Hoosiers. The Governor spearheaded a project to outsource critical FSSA services to a private company connected to his administration. It failed, and it cost Hoosiers their lives. We’re still paying for Daniels’ botched deal, and he still won’t talk about it.
- Toll Road bait and switch. The Governor promised that the long-term lease of the Indiana Toll Road would net jobs and solve our transportation woes for decades to come. Six years later, the money is gone, the jobs never showed up, and the projects are unfinished.
- So many scandals. From GOP scam artist Tim Durham to corrupt real estate broker John Bales to a pair of incorrigible Hoosier Lottery directors, Daniels’ appointees and allies have made shame and scandal an everyday part of state government and the political process.
- Degrading hard-working Hoosiers. Daniels never misses an opportunity to practice his talking points at the expense of working Hoosiers. Last session, he and fellow Republicans pushed education reform proposals that vilified teachers, and from the outset of his administration, he’s made it clear that public employees are Public Enemy #1. Now he’s moved on to unions and members of organized labor.
- Passing the buck. Nothing is ever Mitch Daniels’ fault. The economy wasn’t a product of his own failed leadership and financial prognostication in Washington, D.C. He blames President Obama. Jobs that don’t show up aren’t his fault. It’s just the way things work out. Daniels believes there’s only one right answer to every question: his. And that’s the way he’s governed our state for seven years.
You won’t hear any of this during tonight’s speech, but we know all too well how much damage Daniels and his friends have done over the past seven years, and we know that Hoosiers are ready for change.
That’s why we’re working hard to make sure dangerous policies like “right to work” don’t become law and hard-working Hoosiers have a voice at the Statehouse and in Washington.
After three years of leadership, President Obama has begun to right the ship he inherited from George W. Bush and Mitch Daniels. We can’t let anything stand in the way of that momentum.
