>Governor Mitch Daniels and I chatted briefly Tuesday at the Governor’s Reception for Indiana Black Expo.   I asked him about FSSA and the state halting the IBM contract,  changes in Indiana prisons, local government cutbacks and the “Mitch for President” chatter.   You can hear the entire conversation by clicking below.  It’s about 5 minutes long.

Mitch Daniels

In the days following the end of the special session, you would’ve thought Governor Daniels was on top of the world. At least that’s what his people wanted us to think. Legislative victories! School funding kept low! Mitch for President!

Unfortunately, all the feel-good back-slapping came to an end last week, and the past seven days or so haven’t exactly been kind to the Guv and his rose-colored talking points. Here’s a rundown of just a few of the problems that have arisen while Mitch was out of the state on vacation.

• Last Tuesday brought word that despite two years of telling us everything was going just great with the oft-cited FSSA privatization, apparently things are so bad the state is considering pulling the plug on the billion dollar contract with the private companies. You know, the private companies that used to employ the same people who had been telling us everything was peachy. Whoops.
• Wednesday’s news cycle brought word that the current owners of the Indiana Toll Road are quietly looking to sell off the expressway. The Guv says the deal is airtight, but aside from the legal issues that could develop, how will Hoosiers feel about having their road peddled internationally?
• On Thursday, we found out that state officials are facing a lawsuit from voting right advocates who came to the table with some pretty damning statistics that point to blatant violations of the 1993 National Voter Registration Act. The folks at the Statehouse are keeping tight lips over the suit, but should even half of the allegations prove true, the Daniels administration will have some serious explaining to do.
• Sunday brought more condemnation for FSSA, with the Journal Gazette publishing a damning study of the “modernization” program. They also ran an editorial in response, and the opening graf says it all:

Gov. Mitch Daniels likes to say that he inherited “the worst welfare system in the nation.” But two extensive reviews of data by The Journal Gazette suggest it has grown worse under his watch.

• Monday brought yet another critical editorial over the FSSA fiasco, this time from the Indianapolis Star, a paper that had up until this point been a staunch supporter of the privatization scheme.
• The only thing worse than embarassing coverage locally is when that coverage goes national. Enter prison escape, stage left.
• This morning? The Star once again takes aim at their man Mitch, noting that the new BMV regulations will be closely watched as concerns rise over the effect it could have on low-income Hoosiers. Expect more critical examinations from statewide papers in the coming days.