Comments on Advance Indiana™: Pulliam Sizes Up Attorney General's Race

Procynic,I have worked in state government and had...

2008-04-01T12:37:00.000-05:00

Procynic,

I have worked in state government and had almost daily dealings with the AG's office. We dealt with the AG in a number of areas, including regulation and enforcement in state law of a number of professions. To say the AG's office is not active in terms of enforcement of the law is the understatement of the century. We have given them cases on a silver platter and they do nothing. The information gets stored away in a file cabinet and nothing ever gets done.

Recently the U.S. Attorney's Office obtained a criminal indictment against a realtor and an appraiser. The AG's office had that information months if not years earlier and did absolutely nothing.

The AG also represents the state in employment matters. I've represented people in those types of cases. The DAGs I see have a general lack of knowledge of employment law and do a poor job of advising agencies prior to the onset of litigation. Then the DAGs representation in complex litigation is even worse.

The AG is also responsible for investigating notices of tort claim. The idea behind the notice is to give the state an opportunity to settle a case before litigation if the merits indicate it should be settled. I've probably done 50 notices of tort claims over my legal career. Not once have I ever witnessed the AG's office actually conduct an investigation with regard to a notice of tort claim. As a result of the AG's lack of diligence, government gets sued more than they should and we as taxpayers end up paying.

I used to work at the AG's office, for a Republican AG. There is no question, none, that that office is about as ineffective and unresponsive as it has ever been.

Indiana's attorney general's office is one of the ...

2008-03-30T15:14:00.000-05:00

Indiana's attorney general's office is one of the weakest in the country. It's not even a constitutional office. It's really hard to compare our office with Illinois' or New York's, for example, which have far greater power than Indiana's attorney general.

How precisely has Carter's office been "a disaster...

2008-03-30T14:09:00.000-05:00

How precisely has Carter's office been "a disaster" or "the worst run in state government?"

I will be serving as a delegate at the Republican ...

2008-03-29T20:22:00.000-05:00

I will be serving as a delegate at the Republican convention, and an endorsement by Gov. Daniels will not hold much weight with me. I agree with Flynn. I haven't been impressed with Carter, and he has not addressed the concerns of taxpayers regarding the AEPA/Tremco bidding scheme. I'll be wary of any candidate that is currently associated with Carter.

By the way, this is a great blog.

I'm more worried about who would run the best offi...

2008-03-29T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm more worried about who would run the best office over at the AG. Carter's performance from an administrative standpoint has been a disaster. People in the know about state government often point to the AG's office as the worst run department in state government. Zoeller, for better or worse, comes with Carter's baggage.

Certain the Secretary of State's Office is better run than the AG's. But Rokita's performance has been fairly average. I'd like a fresh face in the AG...someone who will not just take the regulary and enforcement role of the AG seriously rather than just grab on to a couple issues like the no call list and so-called gasoline price gouging to get the AG's name in the paper.