Back Home Again in Indiana

No particularly fun stories yet... but the summer is young and there will be more time for mischief-making once we turn in those silly notes.

I'm having a brief fling with government work this summer in the Indiana governor's office. I answer directly to the General Counsel, who is also in charge of overseeing a couple of the state agencies. At the end of the day, I'm pretty much splitting my time between legal work and policy research. The legal work is interesting, but it is definitely more mundane than what I thought would make its way through here. Lots of pro se complaints against administrative judges and government property sales. Also, every change to the Indiana Code has to have the Governor's official okay and signature (which boils down to the law clerk signing off with the autopen). Additionally, one of the justices on the Indiana Supreme Court is retiring in the fall, so we're in the process of trying to find a replacement. Not surprisingly in a state like Indiana, the court is currently all male, and all over 70. We'll have to see if that changes.

When I was in college, a friend of mine used to remind me that the KKK was based in Indy during the Civil Rights movement. Unfortunately that's largely true. What's also true is that some of the biggest cover ups in KKK history were run right from my office. Kind of gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling when you walk into work. We're better today, though. As the only state in the Midwest that is currently running in the black, the Governor has succeeded in bringing new business to the state even during the recession. We're all speculating about his potential run for the presidency in 2012. No matter what he's saying to the newspapers, here in the office the UG interns keep a file with every time he is mentioned for the ticket. As for me, though, I will be long gone by then. I'm not political enough to want a job working for a politician.

I just had my first official meeting with Mr. Big this morning. It's sort of funny, because of all the people in the office, Mitch Daniels is probably the most dressed down and relaxed. Of course, he's scary smart, but he still retains a certain "hoosier charm." I'm trying to make my peace with the fact that he used the word "y'all" three times this morning (I counted). But he gets brownie points for indulging me in a decent discussion about protecting citizens' and companies' expectation interests.

A brief note on commute: One of the nice things about living in a medium sized city, as opposed to Chicago, is that it's a 20 minute commute in the morning from my sleepy suburb to the bustling city. Definitely something to keep in mind in the coming years as I try to decide where I want to practice. Getting to work at 8:30 here in Indy is painful enough...

Aside from work, my little brother is graduating next Sunday. I feel old.