Pence keeping feet in both state, national political debates

Gov. Mike Pence has kept to his largely hands-off approach to dealing with the Indiana Legislature, even as he has stepped into the middle of some high-profile issues during his third year in office.

Pence has cited his involvement with the legislative session as the reason for putting off a decision on joining the Republican presidential race until at least April. But he's keeping himself in that mix with upcoming speeches to influential conservative groups.

The Republican-dominated General Assembly reaches the midway point of its 2015 session this week and has been advancing several key items from the governor's agenda. Those include increased funding for the charter school and private school voucher programs, adding a balanced budget amendment to the state constitution and eliminating various tax credits in the name of simplification.

Pence has been out front on the drive to allow his appointees on the State Board of Education to replace Democratic state schools Superintendent Glenda Ritz as the board chairman—and called two Statehouse news conferences in a three-day period this month to push for steps shortening the ISTEP+ standardized tests for some 450,000 students.

That's in contrast to his detachment on other policy debates swirling around the Statehouse, from the nitty-gritty of fairness in school district funding to the question of whether proposed casino law changes would violate his definition of an expansion of gambling.

Pence told reporters last week he believed House Republicans' $31 billion state budget plan was "in the ballpark." He hinted that it might be spending too much, then wouldn't go into details.

"I just want to urge caution," he said. "Revenue was off forecast in the month of January. I think while the Indiana economy is growing, the American economy is growing, I think that commonsense says we ought to be cautious about the commitments that we make."

Pence said he didn't have a position on the proposal lawmakers are considering to end the state's 80-year-old ban on Sunday carry-out alcohol sales—a subject that nearly everyone seems to have an opinion about.

"It is not on my agenda," Pence said. "If the bill reaches my desk, we'll give it a fair look."

Such use of the influence that comes with the governor's office is puzzling and leads to lawmakers not knowing whether Pence might veto legislation, said House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath of Michigan City.

Pence seems content to make grand pronouncements and then leave legislative leaders to their own devices, Pelath said.

"That's a formula for being able to say the right things and not being overly concerned with whether you actually get them or not," he said.

Pence, however, has garnered his most national attention in the past month for two issues that had little involvement with the Legislature — federal approval of his blueprint for expanding the state's health care program for low-income residents and the lambasted plan developed by his administration for a state-run news website.

Pence scuttled plans for the "Just IN" website a few days after word about it became public, starting a flurry of social media ridicule.

That matter has faded into the background but drew attention away from Pence's rollout of the Healthy Indiana Plan expansion, which uses Medicaid funding to possibly extend coverage to 350,000 uninsured residents while requiring co-pays and monthly fees into health savings accounts.

Pence is certain to tout that program during speeches Friday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference in suburban Washington and Saturday at a gathering of the conservative Club for Growth in Florida.

Both events will feature several potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates, but Pence still says he hasn't decided whether he'll jump into the campaign.

"Whatever the future holds for me and for my family, I have every intention of talking about the progress we've made here in Indiana and the policies and the approach that I think our party should embrace in the years ahead, whoever is leading the party," he said.

Pelath, the House Democratic leader, said Pence's continued flirting with presidential aspirations only complicates the governor's dealings with state issues.

"I still consider whether he's talking as a governor of Indiana or whether he's talking as a prospective national figure," Pelath said. "I wish he'd slam the door on it—or open the door to it. I could live with it either way. I'd just like to know."