Just a few days later Indiana Governor Mike Brown sworn in in Indianapolis, the former Republican senator officially rid state government of its equity and inclusion (DEI) apparatus.
Instead, Braun — who built a small Jasper truck body company called Meyer Distributing into a major player with 700 product lines — said Friday that it takes a politician who has “signed the front of the paycheck” to figure out what economic priorities really matter, and DEI is not one of them.
“On [Indiana] Inauguration, which was over the weekend for me, there was so much excitement knowing that something is coming up even in a good red state like Indiana, mostly because of what’s going to happen in DC and the partnerships that can happen between enterprising states like ours have always Braun said on Fox & Friends.
“We’ve never had someone from Main Street … be our governor here.”
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Braun contrasted the conservative economic vision with that of President Biden and other Democrats, whose platform is “built on big government.”
“Rahm Emanuel said ‘never let a crisis fail,'” he said in that regard, referring to the motto of former President Barack Obama’s confidants during the 2008 financial crisis. The line was seen as a suggestion to use difficult moments to implement the principles of one’s personal plan.
In comments to Fox News Digital, Brown said that in almost 40 years of running a company, he knows what works and what doesn’t.
Instead of DEI, Indiana needs “MEI” – or merit, excellence and innovation – to be a priority, he said.
“Government should be laser-focused on one thing: getting results for the people they serve. We’re replacing DEI’s divisive ideology with MEI’s level playing field — for the same reason we’re eliminating college degree requirements where they’re non-critical and adding a key performance metric for accountability,” Braun said.
“[That is] because everyone should be judged by what they do, not by who they are.”
Braun highlighted his business experience and reiterated that his guiding principle in developing Meyer into the expansive company it is today is “results above all else.”
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The state capitol building in downtown Indianapolis. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
“That’s exactly what we’re putting first in my administration.”
In his order, Braun cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard — which found that affirmative action programs violate the Equal Protection Clause — and said state resources will not be used to “support [DEI] positions, departments, activities, procedures, or programs if they provide preferential treatment based on a person’s particular race…”
It also prohibits requiring Native Americans to disclose their personal pronouns or employers requiring job applicants to provide a statement related to DEI.
“We’ve brought the federal government to a place that I hope DOGE will … bring down because you have a lot of concerned governors who want to double down [DOGE] – we’re going to do it anyway, Braun said separately on the Fox News channel.
Brown said that since COVID-19, too many Indiana bureaucrats are still working remotely, and that the DEI-nixing effort is also another way to streamline government to make it more efficient, just like Meyer.
The DEI state office was established by Brown’s predecessor, Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb.
After the George Floyd incident in Minnesota, Holcomb addressed Native Americans on the issue of “getting to the root causes of inequality, not just responding to the symptoms.”
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Holcomb, who first became governor when Mike Pence became vice president in 2017, appointed then-University of Notre Dame Director of Public Affairs Karrah Herring to lead the new DEI division.
Braun also received some criticism for his decision:
The minority leader of the Indiana Legislature said he respects Brown’s right to set up his new administration as he wants, but questioned the hierarchy he has chosen.
“Yet, considering the myriad of issues facing Hoosiers, I cannot understand why this is a top priority,” state Rep. Phil GiaQuinta, D-Fort Wayne, said in a statement.
GiaQuinta added that the recent caucus meeting with the DEI office was “insightful and beneficial” to their work to address Native American needs and called the department’s sunset “a distraction from the real issues.”
