February 10 2023

John Krull commentary: Todd Rokita and a second chance to make things right

People don’t always have a second chance to do the right thing. Neither do professions nor public institutions. Such a second opportunity, though, may present itself with the ongoing trainwreck that is the office of the Indiana attorney general. Marilyn Odendahl of The Indiana “...”

February 06 2023

John Krull commentary: Todd Rokita, tomcats and marriage licenses

Todd Rokita has neither sense nor shame. There seems not to be a stupid fight Indiana’s attorney general won’t pick or taxpayer money he won’t waste to fuel the endlessly running engine that is his ambition to gain higher office. The latest evidence that Rokita isn’t to b “...”

February 02 2023

John Krull commentary: Mitch Daniels’ telling exit

Words matter to Mitch Daniels. They always have. The just-retired Purdue University president and former Indiana governor took pride in penning his speeches and other pieces of writing that bore his name. He wanted to be able to own what he said and have what he said matter. That “...”

January 29 2023

John Krull commentary: Bread, circuses and Victoria Spartz

U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Indiana, made a good point. Her leader—Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy, R-California—has said he plans to prevent U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, from serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and block U.S. Rep “...”

January 19 2023

John Krull commentary: How to seize defeat from the jaws of victory

The early skirmishing over who will be the Republican candidate for Indiana’s U.S. Senate seat in 2024 demonstrates—conclusively—that the GOP of Ronald Reagan is dead and gone. Reagan famously set forth what he called the 11th commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of an “...”

January 11 2023

John Krull commentary: Holcomb, neither poetry nor prose

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb took a risk with his seventh State of the State address. He dared to be boring. Holcomb’s half-hour speech read and sounded like a term paper. It was loaded—almost clogged, in fact—with numbers. At times, it seemed as if the governor were reciting “...”

January 10 2023

John Krull commentary: Mitch Daniels, wooed or wooing

Mitch Daniels likes to be courted. Nearly 20 years ago, a corps of Indiana Republicans waged a prolonged campaign to draft Daniels to run for Indiana governor. They staged events and formulated petitions designed to persuade him to seek the office. It was a desperate time for the “...”

December 19 2022

John Krull commentary: Chamber misses the point

A recent column I wrote about the Indiana Chamber of Commerce must have touched a nerve. In that piece, I took note of the brouhaha raised by the chamber’s recent report, “Indiana’s Leaking Talent Pipeline.” That report noted that the state doesn’t perform well when it “...”

December 11 2022

John Krull commentary: Chamber misses the moment

The Indiana Chamber of Commerce missed a huge opportunity the other day. The chamber had a chance to transform Indiana’s bitter and unproductive battles over education into a discussion that might lead somewhere and help this state and its people. But the voice of Hoosier busin “...”

December 03 2022

John Krull commentary: Indiana’s attorney general and other natural disasters

It’s time to take Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita seriously. I don’t mean that in a good way. I often have made fun of Rokita’s constant grasping for power and political advancement, his increasingly pathetic attempts to win the favor of the rabid alt-right base that h “...”