January 16, 2009- Governor Daniels removed his socks and shoes during his weekly media availability in the Governor’s Office this Friday to help raise awareness for Samaritan’s Feet, a non-profit relief organization that accepts donations of new shoes and distributes them to those in need around the world.  Members of the Governor’s Office and cabinet donated sixty pairs of shoes, which will be used to help underprivileged children in Indiana through the Wheeler Mission in Indianapolis. 

The governor was joined by IUPUI men’s basketball Coach Ron Hunter and Emmanuel Ohonme, the president and founder of Samaritan’s Feet.  Coach Hunter, Butler University men’s basketball coach Brad Stevens and other high school and college basketball coaches across the country coached barefoot on Saturday to support Samaritan’s Feet.

For more information, visit http://www.samaritansfeet.org/

Biotechnology company to relocate its Cincinnati operations to Indiana

Jan. 19, 2009- PDS Biotechnology Corporation, a developer of disease-destroying nanotechnology, has announced it will relocate its Cincinnati headquarters and laboratory here with the help of a $2 million grant from the state's 21st Century Research and Technology fund.

The biopharmaceutical company, which will locate its operations at a yet-to-be announced site in the capitol city, will bring to Indiana its Versamune™ platform technology that allows scientists to deliver targeted nanoparticles to the body's immune system and then stimulate the immune system to destroy infections and cancers.

"The 21st Century Fund provides critical seed capital to emerging high-growth companies such as PDS Biotechnology that are necessary to ensure our state's economic growth," said Governor Mitch Daniels.

PDS Biotech's technology, which has already garnered financial support from the U.S. National Cancer Institute, will first appear in a therapy the company is developing aimed at combating currently incurable cancers associated with the human papilloma virus (HPV). Toxicology studies are underway now for the cancer-combating technology, and company officials plan to begin clinical trials in the next 18 months.

Toiletries maker to expand its Indiana HQ, manufacturing operations

Jan. 20, 2009- Luxury hotel toiletries company Gilchrist & Soames has announced plans to expand its global headquarters and manufacturing operations in Indianapolis, creating more than 40 new jobs by 2014.

The purveyor of cosmetic-grade bath and body products for luxury hotels and resorts around the world will invest more than $3 million to expand its 125,000-square-foot operation on the city's near southeast side.

"Even in tough economic times, Indiana continues to be a smart place for companies like Gilchrist & Soames to grow," said Governor Mitch Daniels.  "Our low cost of doing business, unmatched infrastructure and aggressive pursuit of new jobs is helping us stand out against our competition."

The company, whose products are found globally in properties such as Mandarin Oriental Hotels, The Peninsula Hotels and upscale Las Vegas hotels will begin adding entry level through managerial positions to its current workforce in the next year.

"We feel fortunate to be based in Indianapolis and able to draw on the city's deep talent pool," said Kathie DeVoe, president and chief executive officer of Gilchrist & Soames. "Our growth has been directly attributable to the type of passionate, dedicated and knowledgeable employees we are able to attract."

Founded in London in 1975, the company has grown from a small supplier to bed and breakfast inns to a global developer, manufacturer and distributer of toiletries for exclusive hotels and resorts across North America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia.

Overheard: Governor Daniels in the news

Editorial: Rough times, right leader

Anderson Herald Bulletin

January 17, 2009

A year ago, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels proudly spoke in his annual State of the State speech of jobs coming to Indiana. Specifically, he referred to IBM in Daleville and Really Cool Foods in Cambridge City, among others.

Records were broken in 2007, he said, for new investment and new jobs in the Hoosier state.

Last week during his updated address, the job news wasn’t as positive.

Indiana, he noted, was facing difficulties.

“But doing so with confidence, and even pride,” he told the crowd in the Statehouse.

This time around, Daniels focused on preserving funding at current levels for schools, although he postponed his hopes to provide complete funding for full-day kindergarten.

He praised the legislature for providing taxpayers with the first steps in property tax cuts. But he mentioned hopes to provide an automatic refund of tax dollars when the state has all the monies it reasonably needs.

“With revenues under pressure, there is no prospect of a refund being triggered any year soon,” the governor said. “But that just makes now an appropriate time to enact it, when we can examine it purely on its merits as a tool for keeping government within reasonable limits.”

Is Daniels jumping back and forth?

Not quite. All Hoosiers are wary of the future. The governor may be equally as concerned, but his speech, and his demeanor during the last four years and the recent election, reflects a Hoosier roll-with-it attitude.

“We must never miss a chance to move, to make improvements, to modernize. Doing so while others are paralyzed will demonstrate yet again that ours is a state where change is much more than a slogan. A state that faces forward, fearlessly. A state to whom the future belongs.”

In his State of the State speech, delivered last week, Daniels was cautiously realistic. Joblessness is rising, likely eliminating gains that he reported a year ago. Programs that he had touted are on hold.

Yet, Daniels’ optimism and candor make us glad he won re-election.

Austerity will be key to the next few months, as will the ability to see beyond the hurdles. We believe Daniels is the right leader for Indiana for these times.

Editorial: Leadership the best thing about governor’s speech

Bloomington Herald Times

January 15, 2009

When it comes to describing the economy, a lot of words come to mind — none of them positive. That made Gov. Mitch Daniels’ task of presenting his fifth State of the State address different, perhaps tougher, than the four in his first term.

He made the most of his opportunity by pointing to the relatively strong position Indiana is in compared to other states.

“Thanks in large part to the people here assembled, we can speak tonight of challenge, but not crisis; issues but not emergencies,” he said.

The challenges and issues are formidable. He has proposed a budget that will mean cuts to many important programs and enterprises. Higher education is one of those areas, and as might be expected from a Bloomington perspective, those cuts strike us as particularly unfortunate.

Pulling back on state support for Indiana University and Purdue University, the state’s leading research universities, could stunt the state’s growth in life sciences, information technology and other emerging job sectors. And what’s more important to the economy than good jobs?

In his speech, the governor said: “Let’s agree right now that, whatever course we take this budget year, higher taxes will play no part in it.” While we have no taxes to advocate, all options should be on the table, including the possibility of taxing nonessentials that might help plug a gap in essential services. The point is, in this difficult time, no idea should be off limits before the discussions truly begin.

But we have not come here to bury the governor’s speech; on the contrary, we’ve come to praise it.

In an economic environment as tough as this one, the easiest thing in the world would be to criticize solutions offered by people in positions of power because none of the solutions will be without pain for somebody.

As Hoosiers have come to expect from Daniels, he described with honesty the reality of the task facing lawmakers on the budget, the sacrifices the state’s citizens could face and some very specific ways he believes the state should proceed in this difficult environment. Voters re-elected him because he governed by doing things. His speech indicated he has much left he wants to accomplish, ideas for how he wants to accomplish them and the desire to continue moving ahead even in difficult times.

“We must never miss a chance to move, to make improvements, to modernize,” he said. “Doing so while others are paralyzed will demonstrate yet again that ours is a state where change is much more than a slogan. A state that faces forward, fearlessly. A state to whom the future belongs.”

It won’t be easy, and it will not happen without compromise and consensus — on the part of the legislators of both parties, and of the governor himself. But Daniels doesn’t intend for Indiana to pull to the side of the road to wait out this storm, and that’s leadership for which we should be thankful.

Editorial: State must heed call to stay course

Muncie Star Press

January 15, 2009

Gov. Mitch Daniels' fifth State of the State address contained nothing Hoosiers haven't already heard over the past few months, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't pay attention. His real message was: Stay the course.

These are grim economic times. Anyone who doesn't know that has been living on a beach in Bali for the past year and just got back to town. Indiana is in better shape than its neighbors, but that doesn't mean we should celebrate. Times are tough.

Fortunately, thanks to Daniels' stewardship over the past four years, Indiana actually has a rainy day fund and should be able to weather the economic storm -- if we don't return to our free-spending ways and use up all of our reserves.

Daniels is optimistic and has said he thinks the economy will turn around this year. But no one really knows how long this recession will last, and fiscal responsibility is essential if we are to avoid the pitfalls that have befallen our neighbors.

Realistically, the governor will have to compromise to get his agenda through the General Assembly, and that means Democrats probably will get their fingers in the kitty. But the governor's desire to hold the line and balance the budget with no new taxes, particularly after past excesses, is in the best interests of the state.

As Daniels pointed out, some of his goals will have to be deferred, including full funding for all-day kindergarten and expanding college-tuition aid to more Hoosier students. That might be one area where legislators disagree with the governor, and for good reason. Education should be Indiana's top priority. New jobs won't come if the state's workforce doesn't have the necessary education or training. Some money can be saved by consolidation, but we should tread carefully, particularly when it comes to college affordability.

Daniels used the speech to promote his plan to protect teachers from legal harassment if they act to maintain order in their classrooms, an idea both he and new Attorney General Greg Zoeller began touting on the campaign trail last fall. His folksy comments on that issue including, "It is time Indiana said to its children, 'Sit down and hush up,' " and "If your child is causing trouble and harming some other student's education, take it up with your kid, and not the teacher or principal," won him both the desired audience reaction and the sound bites on the 11 p.m. news.

He also resorted to his "everyman" Hoosier persona in pushing his agenda for government reform: "It's not just the historians who will need to update their views of our state. As recently as 2007, an essayist wrote, 'More than any state I know of, Indiana suffers from a crippling inferiority complex.. ... Hoosiers struggle desperately to prove to themselves and the world that they have a higher function than simply filling up the space between Cincinnati and Chicago."

Still, Daniels has the ability to take complex issues and distill them down to one or two sentences that get the idea across.

Given the condition of both the state and national economies, the governor's decision to put no new initiatives on the table is a sound one that should give Indiana an edge when the economy improves.

His admonition to stay the course, let voters decide about tax caps, continue down the road to government reform and not burden Hoosiers with new taxes is one the General Assembly should heed.

Editorial: 2 speeches, 1 clear vision

Indianapolis Star

January 14, 2009

On Monday morning, in his second inaugural address, Gov. Mitch Daniels spoke about Indiana's opportunities to grow and prosper in the future. On Tuesday night, in the annual State of the State speech, Daniels confronted Indiana's current problems, which include falling revenues and rising unemployment.

If Monday was the time for lofty poetics, the night after called for prose grounded in the hard realities of a deepening recession. And that's precisely what Daniels delivered, cautioning state legislators about the need to draft a balanced budget free of tax increases and gimmicks and without raiding reserves.

That's not an especially inspiring message, and it won't be popular in some corners of the Statehouse. Already House Speaker Pat Bauer has chastised the governor for refusing to funnel the state's $1.3 billion rainy day fund into a new jobs program.

Bauer should know better, of course. He was a leader in the Statehouse during the last economic downturn, when the state quickly turned a $2 billion reserve into an $800 million shortfall.

It fell on Daniels to clean up that mess in his first term. Now with Indiana, unlike many other states, finally back on stronger financial ground, the governor is right to be cautious about depleting reserves in what could be the early stages of a protracted recession.

Daniels, however, isn't limiting himself or the state to mere fiscal housekeeping. He is pushing harder than ever for an overhaul of Indiana's system of local governments, including the elimination of townships and consolidation of small school districts.

The governor's reforms have gained bipartisan support outside the General Assembly, but are decidedly less popular among legislators, who are loath to upset political friends perched in the offices of local governments.

A good part of sound fiscal stewardship, however, must center on making the best use of taxpayers' money. In Indiana, as Daniels pointed out again Tuesday, taxpayers are forced to support more layers and more overlap of government than is reasonably prudent, especially with budgets already stretched thin.

Taken together, Monday's loftiness and Tuesday's sobriety form a coherent vision for Indiana's future, both near and longer term. Be cautious now, but eliminate excesses. Be prudent amid the hard times, but prepare for better days ahead.