Published: May 14, 2008 06:55 am         

Sen. Appropriations Chairman Meeks dropping re-election bid

INDIANAPOLIS — State Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Meeks, who often opened discussions about drafting a new state budget by saying, “There is no money,” announced Tuesday that he is not seeking re-election this year.

The LaGrange Republican, who has served Senate District 13 in northeastern Indiana since 1988, cited health concerns as a reason that he would withdraw his name from the general election ballot. He will continue to serve out his term, but GOP precinct committee members in District 13 will slate the new Republican candidate.

Meeks, 74, suffered a partially blocked artery in 2007 that required stents to be implanted. He then suffered a stroke in February, and said he initially thought there would not be residual effects.

But he said his left leg is getting weaker and he is losing sight in his right eye. He said his body would not allow him to perform his job at the level his colleagues and the people deserve.

“My doctor told me if I wanted to live, get out, if I stayed in I would probably die,” Meeks said to a crowd of relatives, current and former legislators, and staff members who were packed in the Statehouse room where he conducted his committee meetings.

“I want people to remember me as I was, not what I could be,” Meeks said, at one point choking back tears.

Meeks has played an instrumental role in drafting the last several two-year budgets, first as chairman of a budget subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee. After longtime Senate Finance Chairman Larry Borst was defeated in the 2004 primary, the committee was split into two panels — Appropriations and Tax and Fiscal Policy.

Meeks, who was a state trooper for 21 years, was named chairman of Appropriations. Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, became chairman of Tax and Fiscal Policy.

Meeks said one of his most difficult tasks was helping draft the two-year budget in 2005, when the state had a $600 million deficit and owed about $750 million in back payments to schools, universities and local governments. The state was able to erase the deficit in the first year of that budget and began to make good on its back payments.

Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and Republicans who controlled the House and Senate in 2005 were able to balance the budget in part by freezing funding for most areas of state government at current levels; capping property tax replacements credits used to provide local tax relief; and giving small spending increases for schools that relied almost entirely on local property taxes.

Meeks said he took a strong stand against most requests for spending increases that year.

“I learned how to say no in about nine or 10 different languages,” he said.

Daniels issued a statement saying Meeks had been “a rock for taxpayers.”

“We could not have brought Indiana from bankruptcy to today’s strong fiscal position without him,” Daniels said.

Meeks also played a key role in getting controversial legislation passed in 2006 that allowed Daniels to lease the Indiana Toll Road to a foreign consortium for 75 years in exchange for an upfront payment of $3.8 billion.

Part of the tollway runs through Meeks’ district, and Meeks said many of his constituents opposed the legislation. But he said then and again Tuesday that it was a good move because much of the money is being used to build highways.

Kenley, the Senate tax chairman, said Meeks would be missed.

“He always listened to people and thought carefully about what he wanted to do,” Kenley said. “He would work and work and work.”

State Rep. Matt Bell, R-Avilla, said he was seriously considering seeking to replace Meeks on the general election ballot for Senate District 13. It includes LaGrange and Noble counties and parts of DeKalb, Kosciusko and Steuben counties.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, said a decision on replacing Meeks as appropriations chairman would wait until after the election.