Mitch Daniels

AP Story on Daniels Statement on I-69

Please take a couple of minutes and contact Mitch Daniels, and write letters-to-the-editor, thanking him for being open to reconsidering Gov. O'Bannon's I-69 route selection. As you may know Daniels has already been attacked in an editorial form the Evansville Courier & Press and you can bet the new-terrain boosters are contacting him also.

The best way to send a note of thanks is to e-mail it to Christie Luther at the Daniels campaign office at: christie@mymanmitch.com. She will forward the messages to Daniels.

Also please write a letter-to-the-editor of the Indianapolis Star and your local newspaper. Instructions for submitting a letter to the Star can be found at : http://www.indystar.com/help/contact/letters.html

For reference purposes I've pasted below the AP story on Daniels' statement on I-69. Thank him for being open to reconsidering the route and for his statements about a cost/benefit analysis. Urge him to support the fiscally responsible I-70/US 41 route.

Daniels is open to review of I-69
On 100-day state tour, gubernatorial hopeful says he still must learn more about extension.

Associated Press
July 13, 2003
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- The early front-runner for the Republican nomination in the race for governor says he is open to reconsidering the selected route for the I-69 extension.

Mitch Daniels resigned last month after two years as White House budget director and formed a campaign committee to raise money for the gubernatorial race.

Daniels began a statewide tour last week, pledging to visit all of Indiana's 92 counties during the next 100 days. About 200 people heard Daniels speak before a lunch crowd at a cafeteria Friday.

A member of Citizens for Appropriate Rural Roads, which opposes the selected I-69 route, asked Daniels if he would be willing to reopen the debate if elected.

Daniels said he must learn much more about the project but would be "open" to bringing the issue back up for discussion. He added that an I-69 decision would have to be made on "hard dollars and cents for where we get the most public benefit for the most people."

Earlier this year, Gov. Frank O'Bannon selected the proposed route in Indiana that would link Indianapolis and Evansville. The route takes the Ind. 37 corridor from Indianapolis south past Martinsville and Bloomington, then southwest to near Washington, and then roughly follows Ind. 57 to I-64 north of Evansville.

Indiana's proposed route must be approved by the Federal Highway Administration and likely will face continued opposition.