I had the privilege of sitting down with Indiana L.G. Becky Skillman for an interview last week. There will be more thorough coverage of the interview on Veritas Rex later, but I thought I would provide some commentary here.
It's clear to me that Skillman is the most underestimated politician in Indiana. Dem blabbermouth Jen Wagner calls her the Lite Guv and there are more than a few Republicans putting together operations for 2012- disregarding Skillman's intentions to run (or not).
But every time I sit and talk with her I get the strong sense that of anyone in the Guv's administration, she is the one with a finger on the pulse of the state. She's got years of experience on a number of levels as a local elected official, State Senator, and now as LG. In addition, she's not caught up in the Indianapolis-first mentality of so many of our party's leadership (a key quality considering current controversy). Skillman also has worked hard to build relationships with local Republican officials from across the state. It's been evident as I travel.
Last week's interview also indicated that she is fully in command at #2, understanding and advocating for the Governor's agenda more eloquently than I have heard it from anyone but the Governor himself. She rattled off a series of statistics too quickly for me to get them down, covered the highlights of term #1 and expected priorities for term #2.
Sitting down with bloggers is also a challenging task in that you just don't know what you'll be asked or told. When challenged on the Guv's social conservative credentials by Hoosier Access, she responded eloquently. Indy Conservative Hardball's Brian Jessen related detailed information about Lake County. I complained about school spending in my home county. Not only was she aware of each situation, she was able to answer as if she was expecting each one.
I threw at her the million dollar question: "Do you want Mitch's job in 2012?" She also answered that one with believability- something you just don't get very often from a politician. "I really don't know. Five years from now seems like an eternity. You just don't know what will be happening. But I'm not intimidated by it."
We'll see. Skillman's a valuable part of the Governor's team- probably more than even Mitch's people understand. She's not to be underestimated.
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