Tag: mitch daniels

Will Paul Ryan Run?

He apparently is being urged from all directions to join the race and bring “substance” to the primary.

Having Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush personally encourage him makes Ryan a more likely candidate. But the same things they like about him — his specificity when it comes to cutting entitlements — seem to make the congressman toxic in a general election. We saw that in New York’s 26th congressional district’s special election this May, when running against Ryan’s Medicare plan allowed a Dem to win the conservative territory, and it’s evident in polls showing the Ryan plan is very unpopular.

Privatized Parts: GOP-Connected Contractors Mess Up Indiana Social Services

The Los Angeles Timesreports that Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, a former top George W. Bush budget official and a rock star among Republican insiders, authorized his government to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts to well-connected companies that so they could privatize the delivery of benefits to the poor, elderly, and disabled.

In 2008, the efforts to put the system in corporate hands — and replace government caseworkers with call centers — more than doubled the state’s “error rate” to 13%, meaning that a record number of cases and claims were inaccurately denied. (The “error rate” has plummeted–privatization advocates point to the number of success, while critics note that caseworkers have returned to the field.)

“People were being dumped off food stamps and Medicaid in large numbers; people with profound disabilities were told they weren’t cooperating,” said a state lobbyist for the elderly and the disabled, in an interview with the Times.

One of the subcontractors that administered the program, ACS, received an 8-year contract in 2009 that was worth more than $600 million.

 

Meet Mitt Romney’s Millionaire Moneymen

Mitt Romney has ramped up his fundraising in recent months in an effort to solidify his status at the top of the Republican primary field and scare off new competitors. Many of the new members of the former Massachusetts governor’s “finance team” are veterans of John McCain’s failed 2008 presidential bid. He’s also locked down the support of GOP fat-cats who were previously supporting the abortive campaigns of Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels.

Also, Romney–who made his millions at the finance giant Bain Capital–has had little trouble attracting checks from the Wall Street crowd, including a 2008 Obama supporter who later complained that he didn’t like how the president was treating bankers. [Washington Post]