Daniels defends donated recreational vehicle, plane trip

INDIANAPOLIS -- Gov. Mitch Daniels said using a donated recreational vehicle and accepting a free private plane trip to Washington did not fall under a strict gift ban for state employees he imposed when he took office.\nDaniels said the items were not personal gifts to him, but donations to the state that allowed him to conduct state business.\n"I won't say I resent the question, but I find it very misguided," Daniels told reporters Friday.\nOne of Daniels' first moves upon becoming governor was to initiate new ethics standards that prohibit state employees from receiving gifts, meals or trips from those who do business with the state.\nSince then, Oregon-based Monaco Coach Corp., which has plants in Indiana, has donated the use of a $175,000 RV as a mobile governor's office for a year. The Indiana Soybean Board, which promotes the industry, donated free soy biodiesel fuel to keep the RV running.\nIndianapolis banker Michael Maurer, who heads the new quasi-public Indiana Economic Development Corp., loaned the governor his private jet for a trip to Washington last week.\n"I think people who step forward and out of good citizenship do something to save their fellow taxpayers money and help pursue a public purpose probably ought to be encouraged," Daniels said.\nDaniels and legislative leaders also received autographed footballs from Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning at a time when the team was lobbying for state funding for a new stadium.\nAsked where he draws the line between accepting something that saves taxpayers money and refusing something because it might have been given to influence a decision, Daniels responded that the line was clear: No gifts from people who want something from the state.\nThe State Ethics Commission's staff counsel has said the loan of the RV does not violate ethics guidelines, and the panel does not have jurisdiction over the governor's office.\nIt does have jurisdiction over state employees such as Rodger McKinley, superintendent of the Madison Correctional Facility. He recently was fined $100 for accepting a $20 hat and two meals worth less than $10 from employees of the public health contractor for the state's prison system.\nJay Stewart, executive director for the Chicago-based Better Government Association, said appearances matter.\nThe average citizen "doesn't understand the finer points of ethics laws" and will not see why a state employee gets fined for taking a baseball cap while the governor gets to accept an RV, he told The Indianapolis Star.\n"Gifts just create problems," he said, adding that in some states they have led to scandals. "That is why people are skeptical. It's well deserved," he said.\nDaniels' deputy chief of staff, Ellen Whitt, said the office declines gifts from people who show up with them and sets aside those mailed to the governor in a "gift unit" that includes items such as books and Girl Scout cookies. Some of the gifts are slated to be returned, whereas others are temporarily on display.