Published: January 13, 2009 01:29 pm      

Mitch Daniels returns to Statehouse

Daniels sees ‘brief chill’ as he starts 2nd term as Indiana governor

INDIANAPOLIS — Gov. Mitch Daniels compared the state’s future to a spring after a harsh winter in his inaugural address. Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman used a storm analogy, while the new state schools superintendent likened Indiana’s challenges to a basketball game.

No matter the metaphor, Indiana officials sworn in Monday in a Statehouse ceremony tried to convey a message of hope and progress during tough times.

“These present troubles are but a frost in April, a brief chill before the full flowering of the greener Indiana to come,” Daniels said.

Hundreds of people — including state and federal elected officials — gathered at the Statehouse to watch the inauguration of Daniels, Skillman, Attorney General Greg Zoeller and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett. Daniels and Skillman started their second terms in office, while Zoeller and Bennett were sworn in for the first time.

Daniels said in his inauguration address that Indiana should not retreat to hibernation during the winter, but instead sow the seeds of future growth.

“Unlike the groundhog of fable, we have the outcome in our power,” Daniels said. “If we choose to face forward, into the sun, casting our shadows behind us, we can summon the springtime, and command it to come.”

Daniels said his speech Monday was meant to be a poetic look to the future, while his State of the State address tonight would be a more businesslike look at the immediate challenges Indiana faces.

Skillman said after taking her oath of office Monday that neighboring states have made financial decisions that have “tossed them into a sea of red” and sent them clamoring for economic lifelines.

“But Hoosiers are standing firmly on a bedrock of black — through strong fiscal governance, responsibility and good stewardship,” Skillman told the crowd. “Our choices have given us a strong position to weather the storm around us. We’re getting wet, but we’re not drowning.”

Monday’s festivities were less elaborate than when Daniels became governor in 2005, taking the oath of office before thousands of people inside the Pepsi Coliseum at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

“As a matter of both good manners and necessity, second helpings should be smaller than first portions,” Daniels said.