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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana Department of Transportation Commissioner Karl Browning submitted his resignation today and will leave his position at the end of the month.
Gov. Mitch Daniels has named Michael Reed, executive director of the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission since 2006, to replace Browning. Reed will join INDOT Feb. 16 and work with Browning on the transition for two weeks.
The governor’s office said Browning is heading to the private sector but wouldn’t provide details.
Browning is the latest in a string of top-level officials to depart state government within the last few months. But Ed Feigenbaum, publisher of Indiana Legislative Insight, said that’s to be expected once an incumbent is elected to a second term.
“A lot of people commit to a governor or a public official for a particular length of time,” he said. “If it’s not for a year or two, it’s for [one] term.”
That Browning left after the General Assembly convened is unusual, though, Feigenbaum said, particularly because legislators are expecting federal stimulus money to fund state road projects. To have an experienced director working with lawmakers would make the process easier, he said.
Browning has been a member of the governor’s cabinet since January 2005. He served as chief information officer for the state’s Office of Technology until November 2006, when Daniels appointed him to lead INDOT.
Other officials who have departed since the governor’s re-election include Commerce Secretary Nate Feltman, Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Ron Stiver, Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission Chairman Dave Heath, Department of Local Government Finance Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave, and Bruce Kidd, director of small business and entrepreneurship at the Indiana Economic Development Corp.
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