Beckwith: I would be check and balance on governor
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — An insurgent candidate for lieutenant governor told News 8 he would take a more active role than his predecessors if chosen for that office.
Micah Beckwith, a pastor, has been campaigning for the past year to convince delegates to June’s Indiana Republican Party convention to nominate him for lieutenant governor. His campaign, unusual in a state where conventions pick nominees for all statewide offices other than governor, has put him at odds with Mike Braun‘s campaign for governor. The day after he won the primary for governor, Braun announced he was endorsing first-term state Rep. Julie McGuire for the job.
In an interview for Sunday’s “All INdiana Politics,” Beckwith said he wasn’t surprised Braun passed him up. He said he’d long expected the winner of the primary to pick someone closer to the party establishment.
“We suspected that whoever won the nomination was going to typically go the status quo route,” he said. “I do think we’re forcing the question of, who does this office belong to? Does it belong to the governor, or does it belong to the people? And so it’s a good conversation that we’re having all around the state now.”
The lieutenant governor’s primary role is as president of the state Senate, where the holder of that office can cast a vote only to break a tie. Historically, the role has been largely ceremonial, with senators electing a president pro tempore from among their ranks to manage the day-to-day functions of that body. Beckwith said he would take a more active role in setting the Senate’s agenda. He said he would advocate on behalf of legislation he believes advances conservative principles and lobby against anything he believes does not.
“For too long, (legislators) tend to say the lieutenant governor doesn’t have any influence over legislation,” he said. “I don’t buy that. I think anybody can have influence over legislation. I mean, what do you do when you call your senator or your rep?”
The lieutenant governor also serves as the state’s secretary of agriculture and chairs the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority‘s board of directors. Beckwith said he has a background in agriculture that makes him well-suited to the former role. As for the latter, he said he would use the office to push for limitations on purchases of homes by out-of-state corporations and to advocate for property tax relief. He said skyrocketing home values, coupled with rising property taxes, have made home ownership unattainable for many Hoosiers.
“All INdiana Politics” airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on WISH-TV.