No longer “the guy behind the guy,” Holcomb revisits familiar turf

SHELBYVILLE, IND. - A black SUV with tinted windows and accompanying security detail pulled alongside Grandma’s Pancake House at 5:20 p.m. yesterday and Gov. Eric Holcomb stepped out. It’s a far cry from my 2016 meeting with Holcomb, then a U.S. Senate hopeful, at the same restaurant. That day, Amy and Van McQueen hosted an unceremonious table where a few party faithfuls lobbed questions at the candidate.

For years, Holcomb, a former state Republican Party chair and staff member for Gov. Mitch Daniels and U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, routinely visited our county. Someone even commemorated Holcomb’s background roles with a t-shirt that read, “The guy behind the guy.” That’s all changed now. He was appointed Lt. Gov. last February, and then won the Indiana gubernatorial election in the fall when Gov. Mike Pence ran for vice president.

But the new title seems unlikely to reduce the number of trips to Shelby County, as the energetic governor relishes a hectic road schedule.

“(Traveling around the state) makes you so much better at the job; more equipped,” Holcomb said. Following last night’s Shelby County Republican Party Lincoln Day dinner, he’s headed to New Albany, Gary, and then back to Indianapolis, all by the weekend.

With standard diner sounds of clattering silverware and golden oldies in the background, Holcomb spent an hour with me, recapping the recent Indiana legislative session. “I was really proud of them and the progress we’re making,” Holcomb said. “Many bills had unanimous support.”

In his 2012 book, “Leading the Revolution,” about Mitch Daniels’ campaigns, Holcomb quoted the old adage, “Pioneers take the arrows; settlers take the land.” Despite the current political vitriol on display nationally, Holcomb seems content as a lower-key settler, pushing through all or part of 26 out of his 28 legislative agenda items, according to Indiana Public Media.

The governor cited expected talking points - finishing the legislative session a week early while some states head to special session, as well as protecting the state’s triple-A credit rating - but acknowledged challenges ahead.

“We live in a world that is changing so fast,” Holcomb said. “We’ve been forever good at growing things and making things; manufacturing.” But noting automation trends and projections for 1 million Hoosier Baby Boomers to retire within the next decade, Holcomb added, “We have to be thinking not just about today, but twenty or thirty years from now. We have to not just train the workforce, but retrain them.”

He also expressed concern about the drug epidemic, another area addressed in the legislative session. “We need to be preventing, in every way possible, people from getting into this slippery slope of addiction,” Holcomb said.

He also discussed the Regional Cities Initiative, an approach that Shelbyville Mayor Tom DeBaun supported in past comments.

“I hope one day the whole state of Indiana is thinking regionally,” Holcomb said. “Not everyone has a state park, not everyone has the dunes.” By promoting and connecting the state, Holcomb sees opportunities to attract out-of-state talent.

“They’ll get something here that they can’t buy there,” he said. “No three hour commutes. It’s the quality of place in Shelby County, when you factor in cost of living and how much farther your dollar goes. But, we have to get them here. We have to expose them to what we sometimes take for granted.”

Despite years in politics, Holcomb said he’s open to ideas for solving these challenges.

“I was raised to value different perspectives,” he said, “and my service in the Navy only added to that. You need others. If there’s not room at the table for (dissenting opinions), we need to make more room.”

Some Hoosiers seem to think Holcomb can solve anything. A man recently approached the governor at an NCAA event and said, “You could do a lot of things wrong, but if you hire Steve Alford, you have my vote for life.”

Of course, the governor doesn’t hire university basketball coaches, but that doesn’t stop people from making requests. Hearing them out is just part of his new job.

“Things have changed,” Holcomb said, laughing.

An aide appeared at our table, noting the time, so I pushed my coffee away. “I’m in no hurry,” Holcomb said, launching into a new topic. When the aide returned later, the governor remained comfortable in the booth. Despite role changes and the passage of years, it’s an aspect of Eric Holcomb that remains the same.

“You have to be a people person (to be in politics),” Holcomb said.