The Mother of All Posts Thus Far: Why Yes, As A Matter of Fact, We Did Spend Our Lunch Hour Kissing Governor Mitch Daniels.

Today started out as a regular ordinary kind of day, mediocre actually, and then it became one of the most spectacular days – if not THE most spectacular of 2009 thus far.  We’ve been keeping up with the local news happenings through www.frugalhoosiers.com, and found out that the public was going to be invited to comment on Mitch Daniels’ budget proposal.  As is typical, said public was invited to this hearing with approximately 2 minutes of notice.  And as is even more typical, this hearing was taking place during work hours, precisely when the least number of tax-paying citizens could actually come.  But be that as it may – Mock and I felt it was our civic duty to go and be heard.  We prepared 90 second schpiels to present and everything.  You know – to practice that whole democracy-in-action thing.   Even though that meant using our own vacation time/extended lunch hours to do it. 

Expediting Mitch’s budget is something we would like very much to see.  After all, our adorable Governor is one of the few in the country with a budget that will not raise our taxes, yet he’s still managing to do some cool things like increasing spending in education.  This can actually be done, people.  Go figure.  It’s like he’s David friggin Blaine.  Maybe someone should notify our federal administration of this magical feat…

Mock and I dutifully met up at the State House, and we watched the hearing on a TV monitor outside of the main legislative chamber with a gazillion other people, passing the time by mocking women’s Papagallo-type ensembles and a dude who chomped his gum like a hippopotamus.  We waited, mocked, and waited some more, only to find out that three of the legislators threw a fit shortly before we arrived, because the pesky public was getting them behind schedule.   They threw SUCH a fit, in fact, that they stormed out. 

Just let that sink in for a moment.  They walked out of the meeting, instead of listening to their constituents.  I mean, the NERVE of us for wanting to have a say in the very government that we give power to.  That we would want to actually have 90 seconds of THEIR precious time – the people that get their salaries from US - to give our opinion.  Of course, we got the names of the Dramatic Diva Trio, who included  Bill Crawford, Scott Pelath, and  Terry Goodin.  Lo and behold – all Democratic Representatives (SHOCKER). 

So, after the Dramatic Diva Trio had their little hissy fit, and we realized that by the time our names would actually be called it would be dark outside, and due to the fact that we were TAKING TIME OFF WORK to attend this meeting, we let one of our buddies in the Governor’s office know that we had to go.  As much as we wanted to be heard, we have that pesky personal sense of fiscal responsibility, and needed to get back to our jobs.  Our contact – who shall heretofore be referred to as “E” walked us down the stairs toward the exit, only to interject a “Hey…have you guys ever seen the Governor’s office?” 

To which we replied, after refraining from losing all bladder control, “No.”

“E” led us into the Governor’s office, which was exactly like you’d think a Governor’s office should look.  It was all mahogany-like and official with pictures of old, famous political people on the walls and decor you’d only see in places like the Lincoln bedroom.  “E” motioned for us to wait for a second, at which time we saw Governor Daniels talking to someone in the next room. 

Bladder control at this point – on high failure alert.

Then, the inexplicable, now-fuzzy moment happened.  We were motioned in to meet the Governor.  At this point, I vaguely remember saying something about it being an honor, blah blah blah, and before I knew it, Mitch Daniels – the friggin GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF INDIANA – was politely pulling chairs out for us in his insanely huge office.  We sat down.  We chatted.  We laughed.  At one point, we spoke of meeting Newt Gingrich in the same building, and I believe I knocked our love for Newt off the main pedestal when I referred to Governor Daniels as “the holy grail.”  I do believe I said this.  To his face.  Mock and Mitch exchanged facebook stories.  And here’s the best part.  Mitch THANKED US for taking the time to come down and be heard.  He said, “You know – I’ll tell you the same thing I tell the schoolkids who tour through the office here – I work for YOU.”  Mock said, “Well, I wish the folks upstairs in that meeting felt the same.”  And he agreed, and we chatted some more.  In total, the Governor of our state took probably 10-15 minutes with us, unscheduled.  The three Democratic legislators?  Yeah – they couldn’t be bothered.

After our lovely conversation, we asked to get a picture with him.  And the Daniels-staffers got THEIR camera and took some pictures as well.  And as we moved to the fancy mantle between the American flag and the Indiana State flag, Mock said, “I’m afraid we’re going to need to kiss you on the cheek.”  And everyone chuckled, probably not believing her sincerity about the matter.  But you see, Mock and I have wanted to kiss Mitch Daniels on the cheek for a really long time, and we weren’t about to let this opportunity pass us by.  So in case it’s not clear from all of this build-up, we stood on either side of the GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF INDIANA, and planted kisses on his face.  Naturally, we have photographs.  Then, as we were leaving his office, Governor Mitch Daniels outstretched his arms to HUG us goodbye.  I repeat.  Governor Mitch Daniels initiated hugs with us. Can you even stand it??

What did we learn today?  We learned that our Governor is just as sincere and wonderful and brilliant as we thought he was before marching into that State House today.  We learned that divas are everywhere – and especially in politics – and some of those politicians actually believe that they’re not working for US.  They are.  Or at least, they should be.  Governor Daniels pointed that out right away and put his money where his mouth is by inviting us to sit down, chatting with us for about 15 minutes, and giving us photo ops.  The legislators couldn’t give us 90 seconds.  But our Governor?  He MADE the time, extra time even, and during that time, we learned that our Governor is pretty kick ass.  It’s kind of neat when you meet a sincere politician.  In fact, it restores your faith in the system a bit and makes you remember that democracy still exists and there are still politicians out there who believe in our Constitution and the notion that government is only as strong as the people who support it. 

Now if we could just convince him to run for President.

More photos (you know you wanna see them) are after the jump.