I enjoyed reading your article on “The right man for a tough job.”
I compliment the Governor on his creation of the Commission and also on the diverse composition. I appreciate his bipartisanship in this effort. But, to think he has always been bipartisan in his management is not completely accurate.
My personal experience with Judge Payne speaks directly in contrast to this philosophy. I gave testimony on behalf of the Governor’s appointment of Jim Payne. I had worked with Jim at the Juvenile Court when NCJW was heavily involved in the Guardian Ad Litem program/CASA. I thought he was very committed to the health and safety of young children. After he received the official appointment, I went to see him and offered to assist him, in a voluntary role, to bring the democrats on board with his future initiatives. He told me straight – “We don’t work with Democrats.” And that was the end of my relationship with the Department of Children’s Services. He was aware that it was under my leadership in FSSA that we developed Healthy Families Indiana – the diamond in the crown of abuse prevention. Getting the public private funding to put HFI in every county in the state took working the Rs and Ds.
And my experience with Mitch Roob also speaks in contrast with bipartisanship. When Mitch looked across the table from me with high level professionals of IUPUI schools of law, health, business research council, Solution Center and Fox 59 in attendance and told me that I was no longer in the majority and my work was not going to be supported by him. It was after that meeting that The Stein Group contract was taken off the table of the Bureau of Child Care.
Perhaps the Governor has learned that we must work together. But, in truth it was not always his operative style.
Keep writing your great articles. You and Morton Marcus certainly make the IBJ an exciting paper to read.
Thanks,
Carole
The article written by Mr. Maurer in the IBJ is below:
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| IBJ Staff | ||||||
| Mark Miles returned to Indianapolis last year to take over as CEO of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership because he sees this as a city where leaders “can get things done.” That’s what Miles told reporter Peter Schnitzler in a profile that ran in IBJ last week. We hope the city doesn’t disappoint. Much has changed here since 1990, when Miles left Indianapolis and a 16-year career in politics and business to lead the men’s professional tennis tour. There’s plenty to brag about, no doubt. The transformation of downtown into a magnet for residents, tourists and convention-goers took off with the opening of Circle Centre mall and continued with more than one convention center expansion and millions of dollars in hotel and residential development. The NCAA moved here, the city’s sports star continued to shine, and the country’s largest publicly traded health insurer (WellPoint) and retail developer (Simon) now call the city home. Universities are collaborating to help build our life sciences economy. We have a lot to be proud of. Yet the seeds for much of what Indianapolis accomplished while Miles was away were sewn in a different era. Maybe this is still a city where leaders can get things done, but bold achievements have been in short supply in recent years. No one has been able to both propose and sell solutions to our most vexing problems:  Our city has grown to cover a nine-county region, but the competing interests of local governments pit counties and neighborhoods against one another and stifle our ability to efficiently and fairly fund government services that people region-wide depend upon. Only strong leadership can persuade people to look beyond their narrow interests. Our region lacks the public transportation infrastructure most cities take for granted. Economic isolation and clogged roads are the result. The problem has been studied and restudied, but leadership on the issue is in short supply. Public education, especially in Indianapolis Public Schools, has continued its downward spiral. Perhaps the district is too far gone and needs to be merged with its neighboring districts, but no one of influence is willing to champion such a controversial endeavor. It’s likely the city’s inability to solve big problems is a result of today’s more divisive political climate. The gogo days of the 1970s and ’80s were nothing if not politically bland. The mayor’s office and City-County Council were both solidly Republican the entire time and the governor’s office was in GOP hands over most of those two decades. A lack of political opposition gave the leaders of that era more freedom to pursue ambitious agendas. Maybe the problem is that today’s challenges are more problematic than building state-of-the-art sports facilities. Poor public education and the high crime rates that follow are the result of myriad social ills that have stumped problem solvers nationwide. It’s clear we need leaders now more than ever. We hope Miles and other leaders get things done here in the years to come. If they do, it’ll be because of the bridges they build to get beyond politics and paralyzing self-interest—obstacles that barely existed here when Miles left. • |
