| Cam Savage is Mitch Daniels' communications director. Wait, let me be clear: Cam Savage is the communications director for Mitch Daniels' re-election campaign. It's right here on his My Man Mitch website if you don't want to take my word for it.
It's important to make that distinction, of course, because we all know that politicians are required to keep their taxpayer funded public service separate from the political activities of their election team. To mix the two is at best a major lapse of ethics, and in some cases it can be illegal.
Now, what if I told you that the same Cam Savage who has been the My Man Mitch communications director since May was paid $70,000 of your tax dollars during the same period of time in order to direct communications at the Governor's state office? Wouldn't you have a few questions about just what the hell was going on?
Luckily for you, and unluckily for Governor Daniels, Taking Down Words has unearthed a personal services contract for Cam Savage that saw him rake in $70,000 between May 1 and October 31. You can check out the contract for yourself here, but the listed work duties of Savage as a public employee consisted of the following: "The Contractor shall serve the Office of the Governor as a Communications Consultant. His duties will include, but not be limited to: work with agencies on content for their newsletters and other publications, draft talking points, work with constituent services to develop and approve language to respond to mail and or inquiries made to the Governor's office, attend meetings to assist in the effective communication of the message of the Governor's office and the administration, assist in the content development for the Governor's website, and all such other duties as assigned to him from time to time.
"Contractor shall be provided with all the necessary computer equipment, email service, phone service, and workspace needed to complete the duties set forth herein. Contractor shall report directly to the Governor's Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of Intergovernmental Affairs." While Savage was supposedly helping craft a new public image for the Governor on your dime, he was also moonlighting as the aforementioned campaign spokesman. Here are some examples over the course of his contract where he spoke on behalf of Mitch the Candidate:
July - August 9 - September 9 - October 6 - October 14 - October 21
All of this begging a few questions: Was Savage being paid by the campaign as well as for his supposed "state services" in the Governor's office, or were taxpayers subsidizing the My Man Mitch campaign? What exactly did Savage do while drawing one of the largest salaries in state government during that period of time? What the hell were they thinking?
And most importantly: Is this the leaner, cleaner government that Mitch Daniels told us he stood for?
A lot of this should be a matter of public record, so expect to see some documents flowing forth after Monday. This is a real story in the making, and I refuse to believe we will hit mid-week without some sort of media inquiry.
What are your thoughts? |
