Braun Backpedals on IEDC Foundation

Alright. We’ve got to talk about more nonsense from Braun. And I keep coming back to what I’ve said for a long time. Braun writes checks with his mouth that his actions can’t and won’t cash. He does this all the time. You can trust him as far as you can throw him. Braun is a liar. A dirty, rotten liar. And we’re seeing it play out again in real time. Look at how he handled property taxes. How could you look a thousand people in the eye and promise to fight for them — and then do what Braun did? Look at utility bills. But today we’re talking specifically about the IEDC — the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. This is basically a shadow, quasi-government entity. The General Assembly takes money from you, gives it to this entity, and then they hand it out to businesses. There have been article after article about the lack of oversight, the lack of transparency, and how the people making the decisions were sometimes benefiting from those decisions. Hundreds of millions of dollars being spent. Ridiculous purchases using taxpayer money. Last year Braun said he was so concerned about it that he spent $800,000 on an audit. The audit confirmed what reporters had already been saying. There has been no meaningful reform at the IEDC. Braun got rid of the board and installed a new one. And guess what? The new board basically does the same things the old board did. Which brings us to yesterday. Braun announced he’s going to allow the IEDC to spend $1 billion to attract agriculture and life sciences companies. Now I actually feel a little bad about promoting this guy, because historically I haven’t been a huge fan of his. But Michael Hicks, the Ball State economist, absolutely shredded Braun’s plan yesterday on Twitter. Hicks pointed out that Braun is claiming this billion-dollar plan will create 100,000 jobs. Hicks walked through the numbers and basically said that’s ridiculous. The number of jobs created historically in those industries doesn’t come close to what Braun is claiming. It’s fantasy. And the bigger point is this: Braun is handing another billion dollars to the same group he supposedly audited and promised to reform. That reform never happened. This is Braun’s pattern. He says he’s going to do something. He gets a headline. Then nothing changes. Which brings us to another layer of the IEDC. The IEDC Foundation. Yes — there’s the IEDC itself. And then there’s a nonprofit foundation connected to it. A 501(c)(3). If you want to read about this, the Indiana Capital Chronicle has a big article about it. The foundation has drawn a lot of criticism in recent years. Why? Because it raises huge amounts of money from donors and uses that money to fund travel for elected and appointed officials. Remember when Holcomb went to Egypt and posed on a camel in front of the pyramids? That kind of stuff. According to the Capital Chronicle, from fiscal years 2019 through 2024 the foundation spent more than $13 million. About $11 million** of that went to travel, meals, and entertainment. So here’s how the system works. The IEDC gives out the money. The foundation pays for all the travel and perks. So technically the IEDC can say: “We’re not paying for travel.” But the foundation is funded by big corporate donors. And when you start looking at who benefits from the IEDC’s spending, things start to look pretty suspicious. For example, the foundation lists the state’s big five investor-owned utilities as donors. Why would utilities donate to the foundation? Well, think about it. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission — which approves utility rate increases — is appointed by the governor. The IEDC board is also appointed by the governor. The more economic development projects there are, the more electricity those companies use. And guess who benefits from that? The utilities. When Braun took office and launched his audit, all these red flags were already out there. The Capital Chronicle reported: About $2 million from the foundation went to administration. Another $300,000 went to “other spending.” About $200,000 went to sponsorships. Sponsorships? What exactly does a government-connected entity need to sponsor? We’ll get into more of that next week when Indy Reporter joins us. He’s done a ton of document digging on this. But the point is, Braun said he was going to shut down the foundation. He said it was a red flag. He said it didn’t pass the smell test. People were asking: Why are corporations funding this foundation? Why are politicians taking these trips? Why do some of these donors end up benefiting from IEDC spending? So Braun said he’d it down. Well, according to the Capital Chronicle… The foundation showed no signs of shutting down. Last year it spent nearly $500,000. Half a million dollars. This is after Braun publicly criticized the foundation for failing to file six years of required audited reports. As of November, the Chronicle reported: $290,000 was spent on events. $130,000 on travel. $70,000 on administration. $1,000 on bank fees. So much for shutting it down. One of the foundation executives gave this quote: “These investments enable Indiana to participate in major conferences and engagements that elevate the state’s visibility, attract investment, and deepen relationships across key industries.” Let me translate that. The foundation pays for politicians and bureaucrats to travel around the world making deals with foreign companies. Those companies come to Indiana. They receive massive tax incentives funded by taxpayers. And many of them hire foreign workers. That’s what she’s really saying. And once again Braun goes out and talks about how concerned he is about the foundation. Then the foundation spends another half-million dollars the next year. Nothing changes. Multiple news outlets have reported on this. Braun even chaired the IEDC board meeting where this came out. And where is the lieutenant governor — Micah Beckwith? He campaigned heavily against the IEDC. He promised reforms. He promised to gut it. Now? Not a word. In fact, he seems fully supportive of Braun’s $1 billion plan for the IEDC. And not a word about the foundation spending half a million dollars. This is why I got that message earlier from the conservative activist. He said, “What do we do?” And I told him, "There’s not much you can do." Watch the show. Get mad. Get activated. Because these politicians are liars. They tell you whatever they think you want to hear. That’s what con men do. A reporter once told me something that stuck with me. They said, “A good con man is great at figuring out what you need to hear — and making you believe he can deliver it.” That’s what politicians do. That’s Braun. That’s Beckwith. That’s Diego. They figure out what voters want to hear. And they promise it. Did they deliver? No. What did I want to hear? I wanted to hear property taxes were going to be fixed. I wanted to hear we’d stop people from losing their homes because they couldn’t pay their property taxes. They never intended to fix that. They told conservative activists they had an ace up their sleeve. That they’d come back for more next year. Well, the next year came. What happened? Nothing. Because they’re con men. And this is why our show keeps growing. Because we actually fight for you. Think about it. If politicians actually did the things they promised… Imagine how popular they would be. We don’t have any power here. We can’t force anyone to do anything. But imagine if the people who do have power actually fought for the public. We’d all be better off.