Latest / Tony Katz | Popcorn Moment / Governor Mike Braun

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Governor Mike Braun · Tony Katz | Popcorn Moment

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: So it's been Governor Mike Broun for what is it
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: almost eight months?
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Is it exactly eight months? How do we think it's gone.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: I mean there's a lot of clamor, there's a lot
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  Speaker 1: of talk, but what is the now was settled into
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  Speaker 1: the job, what's the goal?
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  Speaker 2: What is it that we're after in the state of Indiana.
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  Speaker 1: Tony Katz at ninety three WIBC, Good morning, Good to
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: be with you. Governor Mike Brown joins us right now,
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: served in that General Assembly, former US Senator and now governor.
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  Speaker 2: We take a look.
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  Speaker 1: At these past months, getting used to the job, knowing
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  Speaker 1: where the office is, knowing where they keep the stapler.
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  Speaker 2: Things like that.
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  Speaker 1: You said leaving the Senate was about not being able
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: to get anything done in eight months. Do you feel
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  Speaker 1: that you've been able to get more things done as governor?
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: Eight Tony, good to be on the show.
• 0:57
  Speaker 4: And when I said getting anything done, we got more
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  Speaker 4: done as a freshman Senate office than almost any first
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  Speaker 4: termer there and outperformed some of the ones you have
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: to wheel out of there after two to three decades.
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: But you weren't doing large agenda items because that got
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  Speaker 4: caught up in the ideology of needing sixty senators to
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  Speaker 4: agree to it. So in choosing to one to run
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  Speaker 4: for governor, I'm a big believer in term limits at
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  Speaker 4: the federal level. Onen't going to do it more than
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  Speaker 4: two terms. And we've gotten a lot done here in
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  Speaker 4: a sharp time. In these seven months plus, we streamlined
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  Speaker 4: state government. There was a lot of slop in fact
• 1:40
  Speaker 4: in the agencies we asked to reduce your costs.
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  Speaker 3: You couldn't get used to the COVID.
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  Speaker 4: Borrowing and spending spree, and we're getting better performance out
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  Speaker 4: of state government. I've got eight entrepreneurial individuals leading the
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  Speaker 4: policy cabinet silos. Legislatively, we jumped in that in motion
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: and did a lot in education, health care and things
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  Speaker 4: that really count. The big issue beyond I think getting
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  Speaker 4: off to a great start, is how do you deal
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: with the challenges that kind of pop up and even
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  Speaker 4: within your own governing party, having to deal with things
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  Speaker 4: that become distractions to what I think has been a
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  Speaker 4: great team. We've gotten a lot done, and most legislators
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  Speaker 4: would agree with everything I just said, too.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I will be the one to tell you that
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  Speaker 1: certainly you can create a list of things that were done.
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  Speaker 1: Not everybody in Indiana you know this, agrees. They don't
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  Speaker 1: agree property taxes were well done. Certainly as a cigar guy,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: covering a shortfall with attacks on cigar stores and cigars
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  Speaker 1: in general is.
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  Speaker 2: A serious issue.
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  Speaker 1: The tax should be on lawyers and kail sir, not
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  Speaker 1: on cigars. It was a real abuse by the Reportublicans.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: But one of the things that we look at in
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  Speaker 1: the idea of growth is the idea of business growth.
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  Speaker 1: And there's been a tremendous amount of talk regarding data
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  Speaker 1: centers and data centers coming to Indiana.
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  Speaker 2: And we see now the power the.
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  Speaker 1: Electricity issues that come with these data centers, never mind
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  Speaker 1: the question of what kind of jobs are are we
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  Speaker 1: talking about? New Jersey residents have seen a power bills
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  Speaker 1: triple because of well regulation here. These data centers say
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  Speaker 1: so much power. We're also seeing increases in these costs.
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  Speaker 1: Is Indiana a place for these data centers to come?
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  Speaker 1: Are we actively trying to attract them to be here?
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  Speaker 4: They want to come to Indiana because of the business
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  Speaker 4: climate in general?
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  Speaker 3: Do we want to do.
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  Speaker 4: That's a great question, and to me, it's very analogous
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  Speaker 4: to it's in the energy category. They are voracious. They
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  Speaker 4: use one big data center can use up to five
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  Speaker 4: percent of what we currently produce, and there's not hardly
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  Speaker 4: any new generation coming online due to how difficult that is.
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  Speaker 4: And when they came on the scene along with chip factories,
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  Speaker 4: it spiked that and they use a lot of water
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  Speaker 4: to boot, where one of fifteen states has probably got
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  Speaker 4: enough water to do it. But it's very analogous to
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  Speaker 4: wind and solar. You saw where that really did well
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  Speaker 4: for a short period of time until it started getting
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  Speaker 4: involved with local rule versus property owners' ability to do
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  Speaker 4: what they want. Then a desire to do a state
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  Speaker 4: template to make it easy for more wind and solar.
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  Speaker 4: That's kind of found it's water level. Data centers are
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  Speaker 4: worse because they use electricity and it takes four to
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  Speaker 4: five years even to stand up a natural gas facility.
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  Speaker 4: I'm trying to lead on small modular reactors for more
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  Speaker 4: general I usual to do yes, and we've got we're
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  Speaker 4: at the leading edge of it because Purdue is the
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  Speaker 4: place that's spent the most time on and it's the
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  Speaker 4: same process that powers our aircraft carriers in submarines very safe.
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  Speaker 4: It eliminates almost all the concerns in terms of safety,
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  Speaker 4: and the whole nuclear industry has run with a stellar
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  Speaker 4: record Posts Three Mile Island and so forth. Very familiar
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  Speaker 4: with it because we discussed it a lot in the Senate.
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  Speaker 4: That doesn't mean we need to have them all. And
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  Speaker 4: unless they're going to pay for most of the generation
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  Speaker 4: they're going to need, it's going to take away from
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  Speaker 4: others in terms of households and business growth.
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  Speaker 3: So we've got to tread carefully. The school is still
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  Speaker 3: out on it.
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  Speaker 4: I think we're going to need it because AI is
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  Speaker 4: going to be in demand. That's a geopolitical issue and
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  Speaker 4: here we just need to make sure we don't do
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  Speaker 4: something that hampers normal growth and.
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  Speaker 3: Get it right. So I'm going to be careful.
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  Speaker 4: There a lot of people want to come to Indiana
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  Speaker 4: to do them because we've got a good business climate.
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  Speaker 1: Talking to Governor Mike Brown, Governor of Indiana, and I
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  Speaker 1: would agree. I am a fan of nuclear power and
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  Speaker 1: I have been for some time. And if we want
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  Speaker 1: to be a place that has nuclear power and therefore
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  Speaker 1: can provide power to these data centers, I want to ensure.
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  Speaker 1: I want to know from you that we're not giving
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  Speaker 1: away the farm to get the data center.
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  Speaker 2: If we've got the power.
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  Speaker 1: And we've got the land, and we've got the people,
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  Speaker 1: you're lucky to be here.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think we need to be.
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  Speaker 1: Engaging in giveaways for the data center, which leads us
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: to what is it that we're trying to attract. You
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: made changes to the IEDC. You changed that composition, really
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  Speaker 1: changing the outlook. This seems to be much more small
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  Speaker 1: business focused, much more Indiana focused, and not focused on there.
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  Speaker 2: There's nobody in biotech, nobody in AI.
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  Speaker 1: You just brought that up, Nobody in these major growth industries,
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  Speaker 1: in technological industries that right now is part of the IEDC.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't seem to be where you're going to attract business.
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  Speaker 1: Do you view the IEDC as a vehicle to attract
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  Speaker 1: business to Indiana?
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  Speaker 3: Definitely.
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  Speaker 4: It's just that the focus is going to be to
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  Speaker 4: where we see the benefits across the state. And as
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  Speaker 4: I've used the term fertilize the field of entrepreneurs in
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  Speaker 4: main street. That doesn't mean we're going to disregard some
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  Speaker 4: of the best larger companies industries that want to come here,
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  Speaker 4: but we're going to scrutinize it carefully and that's why
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  Speaker 4: we reconstituted the full IEDC board with people with that
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  Speaker 4: general perspective, and I embraced an audit, you know, to
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  Speaker 4: see what has been going on so that we get
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  Speaker 4: legitimacy back into the IEDC and make sure like elevate Ventures,
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  Speaker 4: which is a wonderful purpose of trying to provide capital
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  Speaker 4: to startups and lead as businesses, but it's got to
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: be done to where we can see what's going on.
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  Speaker 4: We've got to make sure we're not spending too much
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  Speaker 4: money to do that, so you take a total look
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  Speaker 4: at it, and this means we'll do the best of
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  Speaker 4: what we think needs to be done so that we're
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  Speaker 4: not overlooking some of the larger opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: But I want to make it to where.
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  Speaker 4: Main street and small businesses have their doors knocked on
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  Speaker 4: in terms of what can we.
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  Speaker 3: Do to help them.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not opposed to knocking on the doors of main Street,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm giving you if you have not heard this,
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  Speaker 1: the IDC makeup makes it look like we're not interested
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  Speaker 1: in attracting big stuff and engage in big ideas. The
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  Speaker 1: idea of building main Street has value, not to the
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  Speaker 1: idea that we're going to forsake larger scale projects that
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  Speaker 1: bring larger scale opportunity, and that's what your id DC
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  Speaker 1: picks look like you're doing.
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  Speaker 4: I want to make it clear that's wrong extrapolation and
• 9:01
  Speaker 4: they're not mutually exclusive. We're going to do both. In
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  Speaker 4: building a business over thirty seven years, you can never
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  Speaker 4: get locked into either this or that. You had to
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  Speaker 4: look at it broadly, and here we got forty nine
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  Speaker 4: other competitors states that want to kind of do the
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  Speaker 4: same thing. I feel well equipped to know the difference
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  Speaker 4: between how we address main street how we address larger entities,
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  Speaker 4: and we're going to do well at both. I'd say
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  Speaker 4: that is a kind of an extrapolation that doesn't make sense.
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  Speaker 4: And I'm telling you officially, we're going after the best
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  Speaker 4: of both. We're going to broaden it out and I've
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  Speaker 4: got a crew there in the IEDC. We're going to
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  Speaker 4: get the audit under our belt and make sure that
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  Speaker 4: whatever we do is done with full transparency going forward
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  Speaker 4: and accountability. And I feel good about that as well.
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  Speaker 1: Talking to Governor Mike Broun, the governor of Indiana before
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  Speaker 1: I let you go, sir, as we all know, the
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  Speaker 1: nonsen is the stuff that buries you. It sinks you.
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  Speaker 1: You've seen it enough to know it.
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  Speaker 2: To be true.
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  Speaker 1: You have a Secretary of State, Diego Morales, that takes
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: hit after hit for travel and maybe how he is
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: representing or misrepresenting himself to other nations. You have this
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: story regarding the Lieutenant Governor Micah beckw with and some
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  Speaker 1: video which nobody has proven to me exists. And I
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: am not calling the man guilty at all until I
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  Speaker 1: see proof of it, and I do not know if
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  Speaker 1: I trust the source that says that the video exists.
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  Speaker 1: What you have, however, are these distractions Your argument has
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  Speaker 1: been and you made this argument to my counterpart timer
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  Speaker 1: Nigel just yesterday that if it was in your office,
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  Speaker 1: you would get to the bottom of it. Sir, with
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  Speaker 1: all due respect to the Governor of Indiana, leadership means leading.
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  Speaker 2: Have you told either one of these.
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  Speaker 1: Offices to get their heads out of their butts and
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  Speaker 1: stop this nonsense, answer the questions and stop making your
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  Speaker 1: life difficult.
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: Meeting with Micah Beck was here later this morning because
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  Speaker 4: that's probably reached the level of and I agree with you,
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  Speaker 4: we don't know the facts underlying it. Definitely side shows
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  Speaker 4: and distractions making headlines for the wrong reasons, been out
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  Speaker 4: there for a long time saying it.
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  Speaker 3: Hopefully.
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  Speaker 4: It reminds me of high school students that get out
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  Speaker 4: of line and you've got to bring them back in
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  Speaker 4: sooner or later, even if you're giving them latitude. They
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  Speaker 4: are their own separate offices, each having its own accountability.
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  Speaker 4: But yes, sooner or later there's an accumulation to where
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: you'll have to weigh in and make sure that it's
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: either fixed and you focus on the good things that
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  Speaker 4: we've been doing as a state government. And if not,
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: it's going to be to your detriment when you come
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  Speaker 4: back into the political arena and you're going to be
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  Speaker 4: chalking up a lot of debts and not credits. And yes,
• 12:01
  Speaker 4: the pressure from my office Leader of the State will
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  Speaker 4: be increasingly so to get back on track, get rid
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  Speaker 4: of the side shows and distractions.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Will there be any pressure on the second day of
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: State's office to show full transparency regarding flights to foreign
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: countries and conversations had with those countries that as well.
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  Speaker 4: When I've been clear, unequivocating on transparency and accountability, and
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  Speaker 4: when you've got companion offices that seem to not be
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  Speaker 4: embracing it. Yes, that'll be a message coming out of
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  Speaker 4: this office. Clear it up, show us quit heighten behind something.
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: If you think that there's nothing there, prove it, and
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: there'll be more emphasis coming from the office because neither
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: office has seemed to self correct. It's getting to the
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  Speaker 4: point where it is too much of a distraction. And
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  Speaker 4: like I say, I'm meeting with the Lieutenant Governor here
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  Speaker 4: in about an.
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  Speaker 3: Hour or so, you'll see more of that. It's a
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  Speaker 3: shame you have.
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  Speaker 4: To weigh in on it, especially when you look at
• 13:02
  Speaker 4: all that we've accomplished in nearly eight months.
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  Speaker 1: Governor Mike Brown, I appreciate you coming on. We will
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: have more of these conversations. Mike bron the Governor of Indiana.