Media Isn’t Giving You Whole Story

A recent story in the media reported the Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith wants to double his office’s budget. This, during a time when Gov. Mike Braun is asking for state agencies and departments to tighten their belt.

Doesn’t sound like very responsible government, does it?

Remember Paul Harvey? Miss him? Yeah, me too. So let’s think back fondly of him while we dive into the rest of the story.

Beckwith did not come into the lieutenant governor’s office the traditional way. Instead of smoke-filled back rooms, political skullduggery, overt and covert favors and so on – Beckwith went after the job the old-fashioned way. He rolled up his shirt sleeves and hit the bricks. I don’t know how many miles he traveled, but if he wore Weejuns like some journalists I know, he likely wore a few pairs out.

Beckwith didn’t go to the power brokers – well, OK, he probably did. But more than anything, he went to see Hoosiers. And see them. And see them. He talked to them in their homes, in their coffee shops, in halls and lodges and on street corners.

He made the case that we need better.

Better effort from those we elect. Better results from our government.

It worked. By the time the Republican convention rolled around, he had the grassroots support to all but secure the job of lieutenant governor – even if there wasn’t much support from the upper echelons of the party.

So the Braun-Beckwith team hit the general election trail and rolled easily past their Democratic challengers. Was it a match made in heaven. Ironically – Beckwith is a pastor – no. But it’s worked so far and anyone who thinks Beckwith isn’t a political force to be reckoned with isn’t paying attention.

Did I mention he’s a pastor?

And a conservative?

And that he is well acquainted with Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA?

Think all that drives liberals nuts? Heck, it drives some of the old guard GOP nuts.

Good. Just one worn-out reporter’s opinion, but we need something different in politics. I don’t care even a little if you are a conservative, liberal, Democrat, Republican, RINO or on the finance committee of the bridge club . . . how can anyone not see the tremendous waste in government spending. It’s astounding that people are more focused on who shares the news instead of what the news is. I could care less if Elon Musk or Barack Obama says it – when someone tells us that the USDA spent $20 million to advance fertilizer use in Pakistan, Vietnam, Cambodia and Brazil . . . well, I smell something funny . . . pun intended.

C’mon, aren’t we all tired of politicians – who make $174,000 (which in itself is an outrage) – and end up with a net worth in the multi-millions? Wow! They must all be investment geniuses, huh! And if you believe that, I have some smelly land I’d like to sell you.

So Beckwith comes along and has the audacity to say we the people deserve better. For that, and for who he is and who he represents, he’s under attack. False report after false report surfaces – sadly for me to say – often from the media.

Which gets us to the rest of that story. Beckwith told the House Ways and Means Committee that he wants more money to work on the mental health side of crime, homelessness and such. He said that faith has a role to play.

To be fair, there’s a slippery slope there. The Founding Fathers separated church and state for a reason. But still, can anyone really argue that we’re winning the war on drugs? Or that downtown Indianapolis is a safe haven for an evening out with family and friends?

Maybe that’s an argument for another day. But the story for today is how much Beckwith is spending – and that’s where the rest of the story got left out. Critics focused on one specific area. However, Beckwith is responsible for not just his office, but four other agencies – the state Department of Agriculture, OCRA (Office of Community and Rural Affairs), the Destination Development Corp. and the Housing and Community Development Authority.

Before Beckwith took office, the budget for all that was around $43 million. Beckwith and his staff proposed a budget of $31.5 million. My math skills aren’t great but that’s a cut of more than a quarter – or around 26 percent. It begs the question: what’s more important – the cost of programs, or the overall amount spent?

None of the stories I read shared that.

It never ceases to amaze that our political climate continues to worsen – that substance matters less and style and source matter more. It’s well past time we stop caring about who and start caring about what.

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically on Wednesdays in The Paper. Timmons is the publisher of The Paper and can be contacted at [email protected].