By Hannah Troyer
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS – Democrats are calling on Gov. Mike Pence to cancel a trip to New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary, and to release documents about his decision not to apply for a federal pre-kindergarten grant.

But the governor’s press secretary said Pence’s presence is needed to help other GOP leaders with issues in their states.

Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody, left, and Republican Gov. Mike Pence
Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody, left, and Republican Gov. Mike Pence
Pence is scheduled to campaign this month with Republican gubernatorial nominee Walt Havenstein and to make other campaign stops in Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

“With all of the success Indiana has been having and his leadership role at the Republican Governors Association, Gov. Pence is in high demand to assist others in their efforts to bring conservative solutions to their states,” said Kara Brooks, a spokeswoman for the governor. “And he will continue to work on behalf of Republican governors as his schedule allows.”

But Indiana Democratic Chairman John Zody said Pence needs to stay home.

He called for the governor to spend his time searching for other creative ways to pay for an expansion of preschool rather than campaigning on the East Coast. Last week, Pence opted not to apply for as much as $80 million in federal funding for pre-kindergarten over the next three years, saying there were too many strings attached to the money.

The state is preparing to launch a pilot program that will make state-funded preschool available to children in five counties. No expansion is currently planned.

Democrats have been critical of the decision not to seek federal money. They say it’s a sign Pence is trying to appease conservatives who are influential in the GOP presidential primary and dislike federal intervention in education.

Pence has insisted his focus is on Indiana but he has not ruled out a presidential bid in 2016. And Pence recently traveled to Iowa – another early primary state – to speak at a Midwest-Japan economic conference and at a fundraiser for Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican seeking a second term.

“If he’s willing to take a pass on funding for early childhood education, he should spend all of his time at the Statehouse coming up with a solution that will help ensure more Hoosier children have a healthy and substantive start to their education,” Zody said. “Instead, he’s campaigning in New Hampshire and four other states.”

The Indiana Democratic Party also filed a public records request asking the Pence administration to release all correspondence with groups that lobbied him on the pre-kindergarten grant issue. The conservative group Hoosiers Against Common Core had called for its supporters to urge Pence not to apply for the federal money.

“The governor’s office said they would not be ‘bowed’ by lobbying ­­– so prove it,” Zody said in a statement. “Hoosiers deserve to know if their governor is more beholden to the interests of the tea party or the interests of the thousands of Hoosier children who will go without pre-school because of his political decision.”

Pence said in a guest column last week that “more federal dollars do not necessarily equal success, especially when those dollars come with requirements and conditions that will not help – and may even hinder – running a successful program of our own making.”

Hannah Troyer is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

By Ed Delaney
State representative

Indiana as the Crossroads of America is built around our geographical location and the ways to move about within and across our space.

This is where we invest our dollars, but Indiana’s policy on building roads, transit systems, sidewalks and bike-ways can be summarized in a sentence: Hoard our revenue to build a budget surplus and brag about our bond rating.

Well, you really can’t travel on bank deposits and praise from Standard & Poor’s. You need asphalt or rails. And if you resort to creative financing to do your building, you will pay more now and still more later.

Let’s start by bragging. Indiana is coming out of the Great Recession with $2 billion on hand and our credit unimpaired. Our Republican leaders love to contrast our positive financial posture with their caricature of Washington, D.C., or Illinois. Well, let’s have a big party and celebrate our success, but we need to get serious about our present and our future.

Our transportation situation is grim. The Toll Road windfall is behind us and its management structure is imploding. Gas tax revenues are in decline. Our city streets and rural roads are a mess. In the countryside, they are tearing up roads and returning to dirt. In our cities, we spend money on car repairs, not street repairs.

And how do we react to this? We fight over how to cut up a shrinking pie.

Some demand that all transportation dollars go for yet more concrete, with nothing for rails, sidewalks, or bikes.

Other so-called financial experts tell us that there is a way out. All we need to do is to invite private firms, frequently from abroad, to handle our transportation projects. All that our new partners want is fees (now) and guarantees (for later). The smart money folks have caught on to the risks in public-private partnerships and will make sure the public bears them. The bottom line is that our children may have some new roads, but at a high price now and a high risk later.

Indiana was able to borrow to build in the past. This was true when we had a modest surplus and interest rates were 5-6 percent, not around 1 or 2 percent. What we had then was common sense. We knew that when you have good credit you have choices. You can play games with financial engineering, you can fight over scraps or you can invest at reasonable rates, using your good credit.

Yes, invest. How’s that for an old-fashioned idea? Wouldn’t you like our children to help pay for roads they will use at today’s low rates? Or do you prefer to wait until interest rates return to more historically normal levels?

The state of Indiana could use our part of our surplus to create a revolving fund for infrastructure. It could make grants for innovative projects involving multiple government units. It could even make unrestricted revenue sharing available to local governments that work to meet financial goals.

I like bragging as much as the next person. Let’s brag that we use our surplus and our credit rating to do some good for ourselves and our children. Let us build roads, and transit and bikeways. Let’s do it while rates are low. And let us do it the old-fashioned way: borrow at low rates and pay off on time. We can even use our surplus to leverage this effort. And, if we create jobs and revive our cities and towns in the process, wouldn’t that be something to brag about?

Rep. Ed Delaney is a Democrat from Indianapolis. He is also planning to run for mayor of Indianapolis.