Pence communications director Denault stepping down

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence’s communications director will leave the administration next month, the governor's office announced Wednesday.

Christy Denault, who started with Pence during his campaign for governor in 2012, said in a resignation letter that the “time has come for me to devote my energy and time to my family.”

Denault has four children – an 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old triplet sons.

“I’m not sure who was crazier – you for offering me the job or me for taking it,” Denault wrote in her letter.

She also told Pence that she thought it would become easier to balance her work and family lives as the kids got older. But, she said, “it has not.”

Pence said in a written statement that Denault has “served this administration with selfless dedication and professionalism.”

“Christy set a standard for communicating Indiana’s success with integrity and she will be sorely missed,” he said. “I will always be grateful for her service and wish her every blessing as she takes time to focus on her family following this season of service to the people of Indiana.”

Her resignation comes during a controversial year for Pence. He and the communications staff drew flack for a plan to create a news service that some interpreted as an attempt to go around the media. Pence eventually canceled those plans.

He fought with federal officials for approval of a health care program for low-income Hoosiers only to have conservatives decry it as a Medicaid expansion. He’s been engaged in a long battle with the state superintendent of public instruction, a Democrat.

And Pence was attacked nationally last month for signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law. He said it would protect individuals from government intrusion into their faith-based decisions but critics said it was meant to make discrimination against gays and lesbians legal. The backlash has led some to predict Pence could face a tougher re-election – in the 2016 general election and maybe even in the primary.

A new communications director will pick up the effort to repair not only Pence’s reputation but the state’s as well.

Denault, who was paid $92,340 in 2014, said she plans to stay on through the transition to a new communications director – but no later than May 22, when the school year ends.