Rep. Ed DeLaney: Our elected officials are playing mission creep

Let’s start out on a positive note, a fond farewell to Gov. Eric Holcomb. Holcomb has largely stayed in his lane. He did his job for our state; he hasn’t tried to do someone else’s job. He has not pretended to be what he is not. A key example: He deferred to Dr. Kristina Box when she served as state health commissioner during the COVID epidemic. Hoosiers benefited from his refusal to practice medicine or jump onto the anti-vaccine bandwagon. He paid the price at the Republican State Convention.

Gov. Holcomb recognized the distinct role of state leadership in our federal system. He didn’t pretend that Indiana has a separate foreign or immigration policy. For the most part, he has stayed within the limits accorded to governors. Thus, he has encouraged our Indiana National Guard when it serves abroad. He has tried to help legal refugees get a driver’s license and employment. He may have been more than a bit too responsive to the request of the governor of Texas to send our guardsmen and women to the Texas border. But restraint and respect are still at the heart of his style of leadership.

Other statewide Republican officials have fallen far too short. It is hard to say who is worse: State Treasurer Dan Elliott or Attorney General Todd Rokita. Let’s start with Elliott.

Elliott is our state treasurer. Indiana’s constitution calls for the people to elect him to this historically obscure office. The Legislature defines his duties. Lawmakers have not made him our all-purpose investment adviser for state pension funds but have started to give him piecemeal authority over this area. Elliott is the trustee of a relatively small pension fund for state police that holds some $603 million. He is just one of eight members of our major pension fund, INPRS, which holds more than $40 billion. He is neither the chairman nor vice-chairman of that board. Yet he makes loud noises about foreign investments and has taken on the largest investment fund in the country because he rejects any focus on environmental, social or governance issues in pension planning. Of course, prominent Indiana companies like Cummins and AES care about these issues.

It isn’t clear if Elliott doesn’t understand the importance of these corporate concerns or just wants to play to the crowd. Remember, it is the delegates at the Indiana Republican Convention who control his nomination. Our pensioners are supposed to defer to that amazing group rather than insist on a single-minded focus on a solid return on their retirement funds?

Sadly, Elliott’s financial grandstanding has been abetted by unwise, if narrow, legislative efforts. As of this writing, the state comptroller of all people is endorsing the move away from solid investment principles.

Rokita has a limited role in our state government. The Legislature controls his functions and could even end the statutory requirement that he be elected. He is paid to perform two main functions: handle appeals in criminal cases and provide legal advice to state agencies. He has become a crusader for the national anti-abortion movement and a litigator in courts across the nation. He decides on his own what the position of Indiana is and wanders into fights over illegal border crossings and Colorado election law.

This is mission creep on steroids.•

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DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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