The economic debate.

• Author: Dawson, David E.
• Position: The economic policies of the Indiana gubernatorial candidates; includes related article on the Robert D. Orr years as governor

In an election for governor in which each candidate seems to be trying to make the same proposal as his opponent--but make it first--there is no area of greater divergence between Democrat Evan Bayh and Republican John Mutz than economic development policy.

In many other areas, when you stack the Republican position papers of Mutz and his running mate, Marion County Prosecutor Steve Goldsmith, against the Democratic position papers of Bayh and State Sen. Frank O'Bannon of Corydon, the voters appear mainly to have a choice between offset printers and photocopiers. All of Bayh's issue4 papers are run off copying machines. All of Mutz's are printed on slick paper.

Otherwise, both camps have covered much of the same ground: taxes, ethics, days care, state government operations and other issues. There are differences among their stands, but often it's a matter of choosing among shades of gray.

Bayh, a lawyer elected Indiana secretary of state in 1986, won the Democratic nomination for governor easily in a May primary. He has been successful, partly through the name recognition built by his father, former U.S. Sen. Birch Bayh, at raising Democratic enthusiasm and money. For lieutenant governor, he chose in O'Bannon a respected, veteran legislative leader known best in southern Indiana.

The themes of the Bayh-O'Bannon campaign have been honesty and efficiency in government. Bayh says the staff reductions and budget savings he has accomplished in a year and a half in office are models for what he would do for state government. And, he says, there is a need for a higher standard of ethical conduct in state government. "Politics as usual" will not be good enough for his administration, Bayh says.

Mutz is an Indianapolis businessman and former state legislator who has served with Gov. Robert D. Orr as lieutenant governor since 1981. He is the Republicans' hope for continuing the party's unborken hold on the Indiana Statehouse begun in 1969 with the inauguration of Gov. Edgar Whitcomb. As lieutenant governor, Mutz has been director of the Indiana Department of Commerce and architect of much of the state's economic development policy.

It is that policy and the record of its performance that has brought the widest disagreement between Mutz and Bayh. In interviews with Indiana Business, the candidates expressed conflicting versions of the recent record and divergent views of the future.

"My opposition knows the Indiana economy is moving along very nicely," Mutz says. "Booming, as a matter of fact."

"I think that there is no question that we can do better," Bayh says. "We need to do better."

It's predictable that Democrat Bayh would find fault with the results of the last 20 years of Republican rule in the Statehouse. It's expected that he would be particularly critical of the time Mutz has been lieutenant governor.

It's just as predictable that Mutz would defend the Republican record...