?Today brings a moment I?ve worked toward for some time.

 

The last two years, I?ve said to all of Indiana that ours will not be a successful state if Northwest Indiana is not successful.

 

I have argued that there is great potential for growth and jobs in the northwest, if we can make the right decisions and investments to unlock it.  And I?ve pointed out that a necessary prerequisite progress is a region-wide commitment to end waste, corruption or even the suspicion of it.

 

These themes come together today.  The NIRDA that we seek to create will bring about regional participation and a meaningful partnership role for the state.  It will do its work in the open, and efficiently.  Taxpayers will know their money is being well and honestly spent.

 

Special thanks to Pete Visclosky, with whom I?ve met regularly to think through these issues.  Thanks to all those officials at both levels in both parties who have come together in an unprecedented way to inaugurate a new era, in which a reform-minded Northwest Indiana is recognized and welcomed as a full family member by Hoosiers everywhere, and accepts the responsibilities that go with that status.?

 

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Media contact:  Jane Jankowski, Office of the Governor, 317/232-1622, jjankowski@gov.in.gov