Republican Mike Pence is winning the money race in the campaign for governor, but Democrat John Gregg is holding his own in numbers released today.

Pence has raised almost $10 million in his bid to succeed Mitch Daniels.  That’s considerably more than John Gregg has raised but Gregg is also raising millions.  The addition of running mate Vi Simpson helped boost Gregg’s fundraising $1.8 million in in the second quarter.  It less than the $3 million raised by Pence but the Gregg campaign is expressing confidence.  “We’ve tripled our fundraising pace over the last three months,” says spokesman Daniel Altman, “and we feel like we’re in the position that we need to be to run our campaign.”

Money is less of an issue for Pence and his running mate, Sue Ellspermann, and that’s why the Republican campaign has been spending at a faster rate.  The cash on hand numbers tell the story.  Gregg has $3 million dollars in the bank.  Pence has $5.5 million.  There’s no telling how high the numbers may go.  “No, we don’t have a fundraising goal,” says Pence campaign spokeswoman Christy Denault. “I think many a candidate has said it takes what it takes to win an election and that’s what we’re hoping for is to raise, what it takes to win this election.”

If it’s a money race Pence will win.  But the Gregg campaign believes it has enough money to be competitive.
Most of that money is spent on TV ads and Mike Pence has been on TV for eight weeks already.

Democratic candidate for governor John Gregg introduced his running mate to the public this afternoon.  Vi Simpson is giving up a seat in the state Senate for the chance to become Lieutenant Governor.  She’s also helping John Gregg rally support that was lacking in some traditional constituencies.

There was no suspense left by the time John Gregg and Vi Simpson walked out of the Statehouse together but both did their best to create some excitement.  “Didn’t have to look long,” said Gregg, “didn’t have to look hard, because it was just a shining star.”

Gregg did consider others for the running mate post but decided on Simpson last week.  She embraced the role in a speech that included thinly veiled jabs at Congressman Mike Pence, the Republican candidate for governor.  “We both know how to reach across the aisle to reach out to Republicans and to Democrats alike and to get things done,” she said.  “That’s the Indiana way.  That is not the Washington, DC way.”

Simpson is pro-choice, Gregg is pro-life.  In fact, their politics on social issues are far apart, though Gregg tried to downplay it when asked if needed a more liberal running mate.  “Well, about everybody’s more liberal than me,” he said.  “No, I needed a running mate who was qualified to serve”

When asked if it is her job to energize the Democratic base, Simpson said, “I hope I can and I do think that we appeal to different constituency groups and that’s a good match.”

As for energizing the base here are two examples:  A labor leader says that Gregg’s labor support just went from 60% to 100%.  And the Stonewall Democrats, a gay and lesbian organization, had labeled Gregg a DINO, Democrat in name only.  It is now calling on its members to give his candidacy a second look.

Demorat candidate for governor John Gregg has settled on his choice for a running mate and will annouce it tomorrow afternoon.  That’s when he will name state Senator Vi Simpson as his choice for Lieutenant Governor.

Vi Simpson once ran for governor herself.  The Ellettsville lawmaker is now the Minority Leader in the state Senate.  She is a lawyer with business experience, credentials that will compete with those of Republican Sue Ellspermann.

Ellspermann was named as Mike Pence’s choice for Lieutenant Governor today and then immediately fielded questions about voting as a Democrat in the 2008 primary when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were on the ballot here.  She won’t say who she voted for.  It was a time when Rush Limbaugh was asking Republicans to go and vote for Clinton.  “No, it had nothing to do with Rush Limbaugh,” she said.  “This was a personal decision as a Hoosier and as an American.”

“Her decision to take a Democratic primary ballot in the last election is something that I respect,” said Mike Pence.  Pence says it proves that she’s not a career poltician which he called refreshing.

Ellspermann is a first term state Representative who leads a business incubator at the University of Southern Indiana.  She also has a PhD and private business experience.

There’s another case of misplaced money in state government and the state Auditor issued an apology today.

The office of State Auditor Tim Berry recently disclosed mistakes of more than $500,000 in the distribution of auto excise tax money to counties.  Berry sent out an e-mail to county auditors around the state with a subject line that reads “Apologies.”

Berry is taking the rap for mistakes that led some counties to receive too much money in the April distribution and others too little.  It follows two software mistakes in the Department of Revenue that resulted in more than half a billion dollars being discovered in the wrong accounts.

In the e-mail Berry tells auditors that “controls failed in this circumstance.  “As a result,” he says, “we have modified these controls.”

Governor Mitch Daniels addressed the matter by saying, “No government that ever was was 100% perfect and that’s why we build systems to catch problems and fix them as fast as we can.”

“The good news,” Daniels said, “is there’s lots of money these days to keep track of and we’re gonna make sure it all gets in the right bag, all the beans get in the right bag, very quickly.”

Democrats, meantime, say the executive branch needs more oversight.  State Senate Minority Leader Vi Simpson is calling for more checks and balances and an audit that would include what she calls “process analysis” so that future problems can be avoided.  She says taxpayers deserve better.

A bill that creates a statewide smoking ban is on its way to the governor’s desk. It won approval in the state Senate this afternoon after a debate that lasted over 90 minutes, one that was dominated by opponents to the smoking ban.

“I understand that we’re trying to stop smoking, or exposure to secondhand smoke,” said Sen. Phil Boots (R-Crawfordsville,) an opponent, “but I think the smokers have a right to know what their rights are as well as non-smokers.”

It produced a watered down version of the the bill sought by clean air advocates. One that bans smoking in public places, including restaurants, but smokers can still light up in bars and taverns, private clubs, tobacco shops, and casinos.

The final vote in the Senate was 28-to-22, closer than the 29-to-21 vote last week for an even weaker smoking ban.

“There are plenty of places after this bill passes for people to smoke,” said Sen. Vi Simpson (D-Minority Leader,) “but we have to protect everybody’s rights.”

Because this bill permits local governments to pass more restrictive smoking legislation, it means that smoking debates here in the Statehouse over the last 6 years may now shift to the local government level.

“It will result in the protection of the health of hundreds of thousands of Hoosiers from second-hand smoke,” said Sen. Beverly Gard (R-Greenfield.)

Look for the governor to sign the smoking ban as early as next week.

The proposed statewide smoking ban is still alive in the General Assembly but it faces an uncertain future.

The vote was 29-to-21 in the state Senate for a version of the smoking ban that, one Senator said, has so many holes in it, it’s not really a smoking ban.  That vote will send the smoking bill to a House-Senate conference committee where key lawmakers will try to produce a compromise that the governor will sign.

Much of the debate this afternoon centered on government intervention into private lives.  “It’s just a matter of time before we’ll have government tell us what will be on our menus,” said Sen. Jim Tomes (R-Wadesville,) “how much we’re allowed to weigh.  Sugar is going to be regulated like tobacco and alcohol.”

Sen. Vi Simpson (D-Minority Leader) responded by saying, “We have a responsibility, absolutely, Senator Tomes, to protect individual rights, but,” she said, “we also have to make sure that one person’s individual rights doesn’t impose on somebody else’s.”

As it stands now the smoking ban has exemptions for bars and taverns, nursing homes, mental health facilities, private clubs and more.  Indiana is one of just 13 states with no comprehensive statewide smoking ban.

The right to work bill will be signed into law before the Super Bowl, if G-O-P leaders in the Indiana General Assembly get their way.  The bill has been put on a fast track designed to end with a final Senate vote on the right to work bill next Wednesday.  “There shouldn’t be much to talk about,” says Senate President pro tem David Long.  “It should be a fairly smooth process.”

It’s all about ending the Statehouse protests before the Super Bowl.  “The concerns about action during the Super Bowl have now become bona fide threats, open,” says House Speaker Brian Bosma.

Democrats object but, in the Senate, there are too few of them to break a quorum and derail the plan which the minority leader calls shameful.  “I think there’s an effort to shut down debate and dissent,” says Sen. Vi Simpson, “and get these people out of the Statehouse and that’s too bad.”

Labor leaders, meantime, dodge questions about potential Super Bowl disruptions.  “Our focus right now is on defeating this legislation,” says Nancy Guyott of the AFL-CIO.

Meantime, there’s word the White House is interested in this right to work battle.  24 Hour News 8 has learned that Vice President Joe Biden attempted to reach House minority leader Pat Bauer yesterday to offer his support for what was then a Democratic walkout.  Bauer says he didn’t take the call because he had already decided to end the walkout.

Indiana’s billion dollar state budget surplus just got bigger and it could lead to a tax refund for you.

Since 2007 a portion of corporate income taxes has gone into a fund that was accidentally kept separate from the state General Fund.  The mistake was just recently discovered.  It means that state government has $300 million it didn’t know it had.

“And I don’t know any better way to start than to say that Christmas came early,” said Governor Mitch Daniels as he revealed the mistake. At the same time he suggested that a new automatic tax refund may now be possible.  If the state budget surplus exceeds 10% of the budget (that’s $1.4 billion) the extra money is to be split between teachers pensions and taxpayers.  Daniels projects that the surplus will be at $1.7 billion at the end of the fiscal year next June.
If so, the average taxpayer would see a $50 refund in 2013.

Either way the budget picture is solid.  “Indiana’s strong fiscal position looks even stronger,” said Daniels, “and the surplus that we have and that we expect to be there to protect us in the future is even larger.”

But lawmakers will be back in January and Democrats will seek to pass an immediate tax cut.  “The last thing we need is for the governor to have a large surplus,” says House Democratic spokesman John Schorg, “so (Daniels) can swim around in it like Scrooge McDuck.”

And there will also be new efforts to give money to schools who, ironically, endured cuts of $300 million last year.  “So I think there will lots of pressure from the legislature to find ways to spend this money,” says John Ketzenberger of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute.  Even so, they are the kind of problems the governor wants.

Meantime, state Senate Democrats aren’t buying the governor’s story.  Minority Leader Vi Simpson says the Daniels administration may have intentionally misled lawmakers and taxpayers about the $300 million, or she says, the administration may be guilty of incompetence.  She wants an investigation.

Maybe you heard there was a fire at WISH today.  If not go to wishtv.com for full coverage.  Either way I’m a little late posting today because of the unexpected need to return to early ’90′s technology on short notice.  So…

-Mitch Daniels faced reporters today for the first time since he dropped out of the race for the White House.  He was low key, upbeat, and seemed comfortable with the decision.  Also seemed unwilling to offer advice to others who are still in the running.

-Vi Simpson formally announced she is out of the race for governor.  John Gregg made the announcement for her last week so her social media splash is not what it could have been.

-Luke Messer is running for Congress.  Oh, I told you that weeks ago?  He really means it.  Bad day for a formal announcement, though, with the governor talking for the first time since leaving the national spotlight and all.  He’s still the favorite in the 6th District.

-Look for John McGoff to step up in the 5th District against Dan Burton.  Like Messer, he thinks the 3rd time running for Congress is the charm.

Finally, the newscast was smooth.   Do we need computers?

Fishers businessman and dark horse GOP candidate Jim Wallace will formally announce his bid for governor tomorrow.

Wallace joins Mike Pence in the Republican field.  Meantime, Democrat Vi Simpson is reportedly calling supporters to say she’s out of the race.  Look for Democrat John Gregg to make a formal step forward in the near future.