Does Indiana have a mini-Dick (as in Cheney) holding high office?

In 2001, Vice-President Cheney's energy task force secretly met with representatives from Big Oil, despite denials by industry officials testifying before Congress. The obvious conclusion: the Administration was playing favorites, big-time.

Now it appears that something similar may be unfolding in Indiana, where three prominent non-profits have gone on record charging the administration of Governor Mitch Daniels (R) with having an excessively cozy and secretive relationship with Duke Energy, the North Carolina-based energy giant with over $15B in annual revenue.

Last week, the Sierra Club (Hoosier Chapter), Indiana's Citizens Action Coalition, and Valley Watch filed a public disclosure request to compel the production of all documents and other records detailing the "actions, public or non-public, that Governor Daniels and his Administration may have taken" to promote a new Duke Energy coal gasification plant in the village of Edwardsport in western Indiana.

Essentially, the groups contend that there appears to be an unhealthy three-way relationship among the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC), the Daniels Administration, and Duke Energy. In the words of Greg Smith, executive director of Citizens Action Coalition, "Public statements make it appear the IURC may be acting as an advocate for the Governor's energy plan, which itself appears to be tied to advancing Duke Energy's business plan."

It is probably no coincidence that these accusations were levied a week before the gubernatorial election, which pits Daniels against challenger Jill Long Thompson. A heavy favorite, the Republican achieved modest national notoriety when he somehow missed three Sarah Palin rallies in his battleground state within twelve days, but did manage to spend an hour chatting up voters in the parking lot at one of her events.

The unhappy non-profits have two issues here. One involves the relationship between the Daniels Administration and Duke Energy. The other involves the proposed power plant itself. According to Smith, "Investments in coal and nuclear power are the Countrywide Financial subprime mortgages of the energy world … It makes no sense to make 50-year investments in new coal-fired power plants. Energy efficiency and renewable technologies already have overtaken, in many instances, or will soon overtake, in other instances, coal-fired power in terms of direct cost and are far superior in terms of financial risk, economic benefit, and the ability to address global warming."

I write this at 5:30 PM Eastern Time on Election Day, 2008. Though the final outcome isn't clear, we appear to be on the cusp of a dramatic change in the status quo. There is more than a little talk of a green New Deal. Are the days of covert collusion between government and industry numbered? Is the era of Big Dick and mini-Dick coming to an end? That may be too much to hope for.

But hey: here's to hoping.

PS. Filed the morning after: Governor Daniels won a double-digit victory in his bid for re-election.