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Mitch Daniels

Mitch Daniels
Personal data
Date of birthApril 7, 1949(age 67)
Place of birthMonongahela, Pennsylvania
Birth nameMitchell Elias Daniels, Jr.
Political partyRepublican Party
SpouseCheri Herman, 1978 � 1993, 1997 � present
ResidenceGovernor's Residence
Alma materPrinceton University
Georgetown University
ProfessionPolitician
ReligionPresbyterianism
49th Governor of Indiana
Assumed officeJanuary 10, 2005
LieutenantBecky Skillman
Preceded byJoseph Kernan
33rd Director of the Office of Management and Budget
In officeJanuary 20, 2001 - June 6, 2003
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Succeeded byJoshua Bolten
Preceded byJacob Lew

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Mitchell Elias "Mitch" Daniels, Jr. (born April 7, 1949) is the 49th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana. A Republican, he began his first four-year term as governor on January 10, 2005, and was elected to his second term by an 18-point margin on November 4, 2008. Previously, he was the Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget under George W. Bush. He was formerly Senior Vice President of Eli Lilly and Company, Indiana's largest corporation, where he was in charge of the corporation's business strategy. He is cited as a rising star in the Republican Party, and was widely speculated to be a candidate for President of the United States in 2012 before choosing not to run.

During his first year in office, he proposed a number of controversial plans to balance the state's $24 billion budget through tax increases, budget cuts, and privatization plans. A proposed 1-year, 1% tax increase on people making over $100,000 was not brought to the legislature, but his other budget austerity measures were and they were passed. Spending was reduced by $440 million through budget cuts and privatization plans, and the annual budget growth was cut to 2.8% from the previous 5.9%.

Support for a switch to daylight saving time, the privatization of the Indiana Toll Road, and the closure of many license branches brought him into conflict with Democrats; and, in 2005, his approval ratings dropped to a low of 42%. In 2007, he began pressing for constitutional changes to cap state property taxes at 1 � 3% of value. The caps were approved by the Indiana General Assembly as statute the same year, and added to the state constitution by a 2008 ballot measure. His support for the property tax limits, and its subsequent adoption, helped raise his popularity and secure his re-election bid.

His second term saw a large drop in state revenues, leading to major spending cuts to maintain a balanced budget. He was aided in passing the agenda by the election of a large Republican majority to both houses of the Indiana General Assembly in 2010. In an attempt to block his agenda, the Democratic minority in the Indiana House of Representatives staged a legislative walkout for several weeks, preventing the passage of any legislation. After the return of the minority, most of Daniels' backed agenda was passed; education reform bills were enacted, creating a statewide school voucher program, restricting collective bargaining rights for teachers, and instituting a merit pay system for public school personnel. Immigrations laws penalizing companies who employed undocumented workers and denied in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants was enacted. A stronger abortion regulation law was enacted that outlawed abortions after twenty weeks of pregnancy, state funding was withdrawn from all healthcare providers that offered abortion services, and the corporate income tax rate was lowered.


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