Indiana asks to waive women and minority contract rules.

Jennifer-Ruth Green resigns amid ethics questions.

Plus, Independent Indiana's ad campaign and more.

From the television studios at WFYI, it's Indiana Week in Review for the week ending September 12th, 2025.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations.

This week, the Indiana Department of Transportation wants the federal government to waive its targets on federally assisted contracts for women and minority owned businesses.

Indiana Public Broadcasting's Tamura Cunningham reports.

The state says it's the first to request a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program waiver from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The DBE program requires 10% of federal highway construction funds to be paid out to small businesses owned by socially and economically disadvantaged people, according to the U.S.

DOT That includes women, Black Americans, and Hispanic Americans and other disadvantaged groups.

The program is designed to help remove barriers so qualifying businesses can participate in federally assisted contracts.

INDOTs proposed waiver would eliminate DBE goals based on race, ethnicity or gender on federally assisted highway construction contracts.

If granted, INDOT will move to a race and gender neutral implementation strategy.

Is this a positive step for Indiana?

It's the first question for our Indiana Week in Review panel.

Democrat Ann DeLaney.

Republican Joey Fox.

Oseye Boyd, editor in chief of Mirror Indy.

And Niki Kelly, editor in chief of the Indiana Capital Chronicle.

I'm Indiana Public Broadcasting Statehouse bureau chief Brandon Smith.

Joey, is this going to lead to fewer women and minority owned businesses getting work with the state?

These requirements have been around a long time.

I think what the governor and what President Trump have done since kind of these day, one executive orders in both of their administrations, right, is say we're going to go to pure merit.

We're not going to take race gender into consideration in the awarding of this, which is the request they're going to make to the dot.

I think, though, we need to have enough faith in our small businesses that have been built up in Indiana over a really long period of time.

They're perfectly capable of providing the best service at the best price, all that they can compete in a free and open market.

And so I think that this is going to work out, work out just fine, assuming the federal government approves the waiver.

Yeah, I mean, it I think something we've talked about before, when it relates to like the executive orders, is, diversity, equity, inclusion doesn't mean that getting rid of it doesn't mean that black people are somehow, if they get these jobs or get these contracts, that they're somehow only getting them because they happen to be black people or because there were quotas in place?

Are women and minority owned businesses still going to be getting contracts at the level that they were, with without this?

No, they're not.

And that's what it's designed to do.

You know, this program, as Joey says, has been in place under Republican presidents and Democratic presidents for decades.

And the point of this is that not everybody starts out with a level playing field is hard for small business, whether it's minority owned, women owned or anybody to compete with the large entities that we give hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to bring in to Indiana and to use and one of the biggest, producers of jobs in the country are small businesses.

And we should be encouraging them if the issue is that somehow this one white male has been discriminated against.

Open it up.

Open it up to anybody who doesn't have the resources but has a good idea.

You know, we want to encourage the development of small business.

We wanted to encourage women owned businesses and minority owned businesses.

And the governor and the, attorney general, basically saying you're on your own.

We don't care about you.

And I think that's really unfortunate, because those are jobs that could be created by these small businesses as they grow.

And we're just saying, we're not going to give you that benefit.

I think.

We're saying, Oh, I think we are.

The the governor is probably the most he uses the word entrepreneurial.

And, you know, every single speech, every single speech that he gives and what he's doing around, more rural communities and developing small business, I just don't think that's a fair line of attack.

Well, that's exactly what he's doing.

Do you.

Do you think, though, that by saying we don't want to follow these goals, we don't want to follow these targets?

Trump hasn't even asked for that.

Do you do you think that does send a message, though, to women and minority owned businesses that they aren't as interested in their business?

Maybe a little.

And yeah, we do want to point out these aren't actual quotas.

They are participation goals or, you know, so they're not like if they don't reach the goal, there's no no one's in trouble.

You know, I think as long as they still work on the front end to build up these businesses and make sure they're at the table, I think it'll still be okay.

But it really depends on the effort they put in at the front of the system and making sure we get as many people to, you know, bid on these as possible.

Are you confident that work will happen?

No.

Historically that has not happened.

We have these things in place because historically that was not the case.

white women have been the biggest beneficiaries of any type of affirmative action, plan strategy that we put in place.

So when we talk about merit, I side I, that I actually I roll my eyes at that because merit to who merit.

When, when has that ever just been the case.

There's always been a if you put in people that, you know in position that you put you put your friends, your family, people who look like you in positions and oftentimes that is white men putting other white men in positions of power.

It is not opening up to other people who do not look like them.

So no, I don't have much confidence that it will work.

Jennifer-Ruth Green resigned this week as Indiana public safety secretary, and the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported.

That came as she was under investigation for alleged misuse of state resources and workplace misconduct by the state inspector general.

Sudden resignation fueled speculation she's preparing a congressional bid.

Green ran for Indiana's first district in 2022, and state GOP lawmakers are likely to redraw the state's congressional map to make it more favorable for Republicans.

But the Capital Chronicle reported that green signed a remediation agreement in July related to ethics allegations.

According to the story, those allegations include the use of state resources for personal and political purposes.

And it says that green was under investigation for allegedly making female employees uncomfortable, including discussion of employees bodies and clothing, intimate subjects, and uninvited touching.

In a statement to the Capitol Chronicle, Green called the allegations baseless and said she's exploring legal action about the leak.

But the story also reveals that the remediation agreement showed green admitted to some of the alleged violations Ann DeLaney, if Jennifer-Ruth Green does run for Congress.

Will this hurt that bid?

Oh, I should think so.

And if it doesn't and for Republicans nominate her in the in the first district.

Shame on them because they did try to cover this up.

kudos to the The Capital Chronicle for breaking this story, because they knew in February that they had somebody who if you did a list of all the ethical considerations a state employee ought to have, she was checking each one of them off is violated.

And and in some cases statutes which could result in criminal charges.

I mean, ghost employment when you when you use the time the state pays you to be employed for other things like political purposes or induce your employees to do that, that's ghost employment.

And on the allegations that were made there, that's one of the charges against her.

So they knew in February, and they kept trying to remediate her to make sure she was going to be a viable candidate for that election up in the first district.

And because the Capitol Chronicle broke the story.

Now it's all out there.

Otherwise they would have completely swept under the rug, no matter how many violations she had.

And she had basically the list of all the bad things you could do.

It feels like the the list of alleged violations is there are different levels.

I'm not saying that the misuse of state resources is good, but it's obviously not nearly as serious when we're talking about unwanted touching or making people uncomfortable or discussing personal, intimate top.

I mean, that is a different level of seriousness.

I think for most people.

But she's not admitted to any of the more serious stuff.

And according to at least two, the remediation agreement that the Capital Chronicle reported on, she did admit to some of the misuse of state resources stuff.

If that's all it's will, will any impact on a potential election depend on the level of seriousness of the allegations that are perhaps proven?

Sure.

Right.

I mean, I think that that makes perfect sense.

I think I, you know, I want to wait.

I want to see what else Niki and her team, you know, come up with and, you know, kind of what what the rest of this looks like, right?

I don't want to unfairly besmirch somebody when we don't have all of the information, all the information yet ethics rules are in place for a reason.

people need to have, you know, trust in their public officials.

That's why there's a process.

I think the governor handled this.

Handled this well.

And I do think that the state police superintendent, that's not going to be taking over and doing that job as well, is going to do a fantastic job.

So I just I want to give this a little bit more time to, to to go through.

Is this the sort of thing that can have an impact on that bid?

I'll surely, definitely.

I think, like you, I want to kind of see what's going to happen.

I want to see how they handle these allegations, what what comes of it, what she does to prove these allegations incorrect.

The ghost employment?

definitely.

But that she admitted to that.

Right.

And it was the other things that felt weird and different.

and I wondered, as I, as I read the article, was there misunderstanding of, you know, cultural differences or, you know, what was going on there, too?

I'm complimenting you because and you taking it differently.

I don't know, I just kind of wonder, what are we going to how are we going to handle this?

That will give me a better idea of how of how she will, fare out in the future.

We're assuming that state lawmakers will redraw the congressional map, at this point.

And obviously they're going to do it in a way that's going to make it a lot more favorable to Republicans up there.

But does that even in that, you know, more favorably drawn map, does it make voters in the primary go, do we need a more sure bet?

Yeah, probably.

And I think a lot will come out in the next couple of weeks.

It depends if the state Ethics Commission files formal charges, it depends if anything is forwarded to a prosecutor for criminal charges.

Those are, you know, still set to know.

I do think it's interesting.

You know, she did admit some violations in July with the governor, and they still kept her on.

You know, she served at the pleasure of the governor.

He didn't have any.

He didn't need to keep her on.

But, he wanted to see the rest of the investigation process and at least the personnel part.

So the day before she resigned, the inspector general sent a personnel related thing that basically not ethics issues, not criminal issues.

That report was enough to call her in the next day, and then she resigned.

So I think there's plenty.

More to come for sure.

All right.

Time now for viewer feedback.

Each week we post an unscientific online poll question.

And this week's question is, will an ethics investigation into Jennifer-Ruth Green's time as Indiana Public safety secretary hurt a potential congressional bid?

A yes or B no?

Last week, we asked you whether Indiana State government should devote more money to child care access.

85% of you say yes, 15% say no.

If you'd like to take part in the poll, got a fyi.org email?

We're and look for the poll.

Well, a new group aimed at encouraging independent candidates in Indiana will launch a statewide ad campaign.

Independent Indiana's ad is meant to highlight the appeal of nonpartisan leaders.

Executive Director Nathan Gotsch says the ad features residents of Huntington, a city led by two term Mayor Richard Strick, who ran as an independent.

Letting people know what it feels like to live in a community that's being led by an independent, elected official and the people that we're featuring in this ad, you know, they're very open and honest about how amazing that it is.

Gotsch, a former independent congressional candidate, acknowledges that Indiana's straight ticket voting system, where people can press one button to vote for members of a party rather than looking at each race, is a challenge.

But he says part of independent Indiana's mission is to let candidates and voters know that running as an independent is a viable option.

I talked to elected officials all across the state, and many of them say to me, you know, I don't have the freedom to vote or to legislate or to govern in a way that I think is best for my constituents because I'm feeling the pressure from the parties.

Gotsch says hundreds of independent candidates have run in Indiana over the last two election cycles, and more than half won their races.

Osehe, are independent candidates really all that viable?

Sort of higher up the ballot in Indiana when we have straight ticket voting?

I think we're beginning to see they're more viable than what we once thought.

I didn't realize there were 244 independent candidates, who are in elected office.

Over half.

I didn't realize that because I just I've always felt like, oh, it's just straight ticket Democrats and Republicans.

I think what we're finding out, though, is people are disenchanted with both parties.

people are not happy with either one, and they want a different choice, whether that is, whether people are happy with that or accept it.

That's just what it is.

And I think it's, we'll see that more people will decide to run independently because they have decided that you're not meeting my needs.

And so I think the voters will then say, okay, I want to vote for someone who is not aligned with either party, because both parties tend to be very divisive about topics and issues that people, feel like we are not.

You're not answering me.

You're not.

You're not talking to the issue that I'm concerned about.

We have a lot of problems in Indiana, and, we don't seem to have a lot of good answers from either party.

That's what I'm hearing from a lot of people, A lot of the folks who are independents, who are in elected office in Indiana, tend to be at the local government level, which in many ways makes a lot of sense because they tend to be less politically charged.

And so it's really more about the issues than anything else.

but is something is an organization like this and the work it wants to do, can that make a difference in terms of getting people to even put themselves out as independent candidates?

I think so.

I mean, I will say that some of the and I don't I haven't looked at all 244 of them, but a number of them were longtime Republicans who then decided to run as an independent.

I'm not sure if that matters per se, but I'm just saying they had a long history of being related to one side or even the other.

But I mean, I think it's great to get out the information to show that this is an option.

I do think straight ticket voting, though, makes there's a ceiling on these things because of that.

I think there's a ceiling statewide for the foreseeable future, but it can make a big difference at the local level.

I think, particularly in 2026 when the Christian nationalists try to take over the school boards with the partisan elections.

I think you could see a whole group of independent candidates concerned about that Christian nationalist message of Micah Beckwith and taking control of the school board's come out to vote for independent candidates.

They're on the straight ticket.

Voting isn't the only barrier.

If you think of it that way, to independent candidates, they have to, you know, get signatures to get on the ballot a little bit.

Sometimes a little bit at a higher threshold than than traditional parties.

Fundraising is arguably harder because you don't have sort of the party apparatus to draw on it.

Do.

Do independent candidates need a kind of breakthrough, like at a state House seat.

Level, where the libertarians have been trying this?

They have for, for for a long time.

and I think one of the things Niki said made me think of this.

I think what is so different in politics now from even 2 or 3 generations ago is that political parties used to be top down organizations, right?

And now they are very much I mean, who are politicians, you know, afraid of?

Where are they listening to their base?

Yeah, right.

This stuff comes from the bottom in Indiana at least.

I mean, we are such an overwhelming Republican state that straight ticket or not, people are asking, well, what do you think of President Trump?

What do you think of here?

These are some threshold questions that people go through.

So I'm not sure that this is a libertarian style, whether we call it that or independent, very independent South political party.

I just think this has to do with how people identify in the real world right now.

I don't think they're trying to start a party by any means.

They're just going to be a resource for candidates going in.

And if they're going to poll and they're going to ask young people why they don't vote, and if we can encourage anybody to vote in this state, I mean, we're at the bottom of the states in terms of turnout.

And of course, we make it as difficult as we can.

But, you know, those those kinds of things, if the reasons are there and they can be told through this statewide messaging that their votes can make a difference, which I think is going to be the answer you're given most often, it doesn't make a difference.

To the point Joey brought up about the Libertarian Party, because I have the same thought we haven't seen.

Libertarians have a ton of success, certainly not at higher levels in Indiana.

But is it a very different sort of creature when you just when you aren't affiliated with any sort of party at all versus there's, you know, the libertarians, while they're a third party, they're still a party.

Whereas independents are just going to say this.

Yes, your requirements are very high, especially when you're getting into statewide offices and things like that.

So that's that's going to be hard for an independent to do.

Yeah.

All right.

An Indiana political group that previously tried to boost centrist candidates is shifting its focus as it tries to influence the state's political landscape.

Recenter Indiana is likely best known for billboards it put up last year, urging Democrats to vote in the GOP primary in a bid to boost more moderate gubernatorial candidates chances.

Now, the group has brought on an executive director for the first time, former Fisher City Councilor Jocelyn Vare.

She says the focus must be on Hoosiers and their priorities.

For example, we're really focusing on that 18 to 34 year old young adults, area and learning about those voters to encourage them to be participatory, voters, but also informed.

The group will conduct a survey this fall of 18 to 34 year old central Indiana residents who didn't vote in 2024.

Vare says Recenter Indiana will try to learn why those young adults didn't cast a ballot and what obstacles exist, she says.

The organization will then develop programs to help break down those barriers.

Niki, obviously, their first mission didn't work out.

does this shift make sense to you?

Yeah.

I mean, I think even though they are certainly Republicans and Democrats involved in recenter Indiana and on their board, when most of their endorsements were going to Democrats, I think people were kind of like, You know, so also, they're now not going to endorse and races anymore.

I think they're going to become more of a like support network.

And like she said about the, you know, learning more and to try to get young people more involved and become active voters, that they can carry that through for the rest of their lives.

I mean, it was, you know, and just kind of alluded to this in the last topic, and there was a reason I put these two next to each other in this episode, because I think in a lot of ways they kind of dovetail their connecting, how there are a few organizations in Indiana who try to increase voter turnout.

does how they're describing their work, at least for now, feel like something that's viable to you.

At this point?

Yes, it does, because we know that we need to get more young people voting.

We talked and talked about the abysmal voting rate of Indiana, and a lot of young people just don't vote there.

They're disengaged.

They it doesn't matter.

My vote doesn't count.

So I think this plays well with the whole being independent thing, because that is where a lot of young people are now.

They're just like, I don't want either party.

So if we can get more young people to vote and they can clear that, they declare that they're independent.

I think that goes a long way to getting more, to get more people active civically in our state, which we really want.

But it's kind of hard to have a group that claims to be, you know, nonpartisan or independent or whatever it is, you know, and now their executive director is a Senate, a candidate for a Democratic Senate seat.

But she lost, just a couple of years ago.

And a former.

Republicans.

And what you're doing.

So, yeah.

I think bipartisan that's.

Clear.

What is this sort of work something that folks across the political spectrum can encourage?

Well, I think you've seen the two major political parties doing this.

I mean, look at look at turnout in 2024.

I mean, I can certainly speak across the country, right, with young people, Hispanics, of where all these things change.

I mean, this is effort.

Going back to what I had said during the last segment, though, I think people intrinsically, the vast majority of people either kind of identify this way or kind of identify this way, and they're going to pick one.

It takes a lot of work to be an independent in politics, like we were like we were just saying.

And so trying to figure out figure that out and what this looks like is going to be tough.

If we feel more politically polarized in society than ever before.

is that polarization going to end up with people necessarily choosing one of the two major parties, or is this a moment when that polarization is going to lead to a more fundamental political change?

I actually agree with you on this.

I think that young people don't identify that way anymore.

they, they don't want to have an association with either political party.

And as a consequence, most of the time they don't vote.

If we give them an alternative to that, they don't have to register to be an independent.

They just don't vote in the primaries.

Well, you don't have to register to do anything.

Exactly.

So it isn't as if you have to change your registration or anything to go that way.

All they have to do is focus on something besides primary elections.

And and to do that, it seems to me, gives them another alternative which maybe increase their participation.

I don't think it'll make a big difference, as I said on the statewide level, but it can make a difference in those those very important, school board elections and sometimes in legislative elections and local local elections for mayor or sheriff, for those kinds of things, you could mobilize enough and get enough participation to make a difference.

And that's a good thing.

I tend to agree with the idea that they're trying to get more people out.

It's an easier job to do in terms of affecting races when you're talking about the local level, because I mean, for one thing, it's just easier to I mean, those are the ones that are often decided by one or, you know, a few votes, but I can't think of elections that people pay less attention to than local elections.

Is is a core part of the problem that we can't seem to engage even people who vote with information about their elected officials, government and what's going on.

The irony is these people are engaging.

They're engaging all over social media.

They clearly care about these issues, but for some reason, don't go the next step to actually participate in the electoral process.

And we need to figure out why.

Yeah.

So I mean, that's part of it.

I think that survey that they're talking about doing could at least start to give us that.

Right.

I think this is a much, much more sensible and has has a much better eye, opportunity for success than their first go round.

A great.

Well, finally, the WNBA playoffs begin Sunday with the Indiana Fever heading in as a lower seed.

I believe a sixth seed, battered as they've been by injuries this year, of course, most notably with superstar Caitlin Clark out for the remainder of the season.

So given that Ann DeLaney, what are realistic expectations for the fever in this postseason?

I don't care about realistic.

Okay, I think the sports.

Is not about realism.

I think they're going to do better than you think they're going to do.

I've seen them play without Caitlin Clark, and when they're on fire, they're on fire.

So let's hope that that's how they start the.

Season and that'll be great.

If they can do that, it'll be great for them.

They'll be great for the league.

It is moving as well.

I mean, I was really encouraged.

A friend of mine, went to the fever game just like a week or so ago.

I mean, absolutely packed to the rafters.

Incredible crowd.

And that's all with after the Caitlin Clark announcement.

So as much as obviously she has a huge impact on the team in the league, it's great to see the team getting support.

It's lasting.

Yeah.

It's lasting.

I've been going to fever game since they first came here.

and so I've seen the emptiness and I've been here to see like how full and it's crazy and amazing to see like the crowd now.

So I just hope it lasts and we just keep supporting.

Do you think they can make it out of the first round?

Yeah.

Why not though I got to be honest.

I mean, the fact that they even made the playoffs isn't the half their team hurt.

Yes.

Yeah.

It does feel like it does feel.

No.

It is very impressive.

I, I think what's interesting is their first round opponent, which is the Atlanta dream, have have been inconsistent at times this season, which has been the fever's problem for understandable reasons.

So that series could really go either way depending on who gets hot.

There you.

Go.

That's Indiana Week in Review for this week.

Our panel is Democrat Ann DeLaney.

Republican Joey Fox.

Oseye Boyd of Mirror Indy and Niki Kelly of the Indiana Capitol Chronicle.

You can find Indiana Week in Reviews podcast and episodes at wfyi.org/iwir or on the PBS app.

I'm Brandon Smith of Indiana Public Broadcast.

Join us next time because a lot can happen in an Indiana week.

The views expressed are solely those of the panelists.

Indiana Week in Review is produced by WFYI in association with Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations.