Q&A: Gov. Eric Holcomb on challenges, hopes and First Dog Henry

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb is facing down his final year in office, and come January, he'll give his final State of the State address.

Before then, he sat down with IndyStar to reflect on his biggest challenges and tensions, the achievements he hopes defines his two terms, and his hopes for his successor.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What's the biggest difference between first-day Eric Holcomb and Eric Holcomb today?

A: Oh, boy. My eyes are wide open. It's truly the barking-dog-caught-the-car scenario. I think the difference is I'm more relaxed in the sense that, when you first get elected, all of a sudden you think you knew everybody, but a whole world opens up and wants to say "Congratulations," or "How can we help," or "Think about this." And so it's just an onslaught of a wave of connections globally. And then you start to settle into, we have a really good team. This is not about me, this is about the state of Indiana doing a job.

Q: Is there an initiative or practice that you most hope continues with the next governor?

A: We've ushered in a number of programs that I'm pretty darn proud of, one of which is a big health initiative that's in its infancy right now, but it is going to positively affect 86 of 92 counties that opted in. When I stop and think about, we're going to be allocating state dollars into one county as much as we did for a whole state ― 92 counties, $6.9 million for the whole state. So that's a sea change.

And I hope our practice of paying for what we need with cash can continue in general. I'm not 100% against, if you have to for certain things, borrowing or bonding; we just haven't had to do that because of our positively cautious approach. It contributes to our triple A credit rating, which has a positive effect on local borrowing rates.

I'm proud of how we've taken care of law enforcement. We took a major step forward on that front.

I'm proud of the infrastructure investments we continue to make. I hope that my successor continues to fund quality of place. This was something early on where there were quite a few skeptics who said, "Why would we want to invest in local trails? Why would we want to invest in local, maybe outdoor amenities or cultural attractions?"

And then I hope we'll lean in very aggressively to all the economies and sectors of the future. It's something that we've really turned a corner in the last few years.

Q: What was your biggest challenge as governor?

A: The elephant in the room is there was a global pandemic on my watch, and that stressed and strained, understandably, relations that spilled over into every other topic. I think when we generalize, whether it's in this building or in life, that's not always productive ... to say "There's a problem over here, therefore, everyone in that profession is bad," or "There was an issue here, therefore, the whole system's broken." That gets in the way, I think, of progress. We were trying to balance lives and livelihoods. We were operating on what knowledge we had access to, and people started to argue about what was truth. Understandably, because you would hear one thing over here and you'd hear one thing over here, and it would maybe change day by month.

Q: There have been two attorneys general during your tenure who have had disciplinary issues. Of course, that's an elected office. But I wonder if you have any comment on that and whether this affects the public's faith in the executive branch.

A: I've always let other offices speak for their own actions, as I have to on mine. If others have brushed up against a tension that calls into question their job performance, then that's for them to answer.

Q: Social issues have never been your favorite topic. Yet our legislature has taken strong stances and actions on several of them during your tenure. How do you feel about that?

A: I understand it, and I mean that. ... I know that different people run for different reasons. And I'm not so egocentric or arrogant to think that everyone should be of my mold. I tend to think about, "How are we going to move the state forward and make it a better place for the most people possible while I'm here?" ... And there are others that are very narrowly focused because they (have conviction) that that is an issue, passionate about that issue, and it got them elected to go further that position. And so I respect that.

Q: Do you think is has affected your agenda?

A: Not in an ultimate way, but certainly in terms of its tempo. Would I have loved to have done health care reform prior to a pandemic, yes. Was it possible? No. And ironically, it might have only been possible because of the pandemic.

We did an infrastructure bill in 2017 that I think has made a huge, positive difference in what we've been able to do. But I caught flack for it. As did some legislators that really pushed it and carried that bill. And so nothing is done in a vacuum, and it has relationships to other issues, whether you think it does or not.

Q: Do you know anything about your plans after your term is done?

A: I don't. And that's the honest answer. If you asked anyone that has said, "Would you ever consider this?" I say, "Number one, my wife has asked me for two months." I am confident that after two weeks she'll say "There's somewhere you have to be, isn't there?"

I've always said that the best way to get your next job is to focus on the one you got. And I'm not disparaging anyone that takes a different course or approach. But we'll see, and meanwhile I'll have no conflict of interest between now and whatever comes next.

Q: Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear brings his dog Winnie to press conferences. When will you start bringing First Dog Henry to more appearances? (The night of this interview, Henry passed away at 13 years old.)

A: We'll see. He's been out and about. He's been a little under the weather, but if I had if I had to say what I'm most proud of, Henry would be on top of the list.

Q: You did say at the Dentons Legislative Conference that your proudest achievement was yet to come. Any hints?

A: Yeah, we're working on it right now.

Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @kayla_dwyer17.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, facing final year in office, recalls tenure