A Democratic state representative from Indianapolis said he would like legislators to probe deeper into financial dealings involving the Indiana Economic Development Corp.—the state’s lead agency for business attraction and expansion efforts.
Longtime IEDC critic Rep. Ed DeLaney announced Wednesday that he plans to file a resolution that calls for creating a House select committee to investigate the IEDC and “release [its] findings and recommendations for improved transparency and stewardship of public funds.”
DeLaney’s proposal comes about nine months after Gov. Mike Braun ordered a forensic audit of the IEDC and affiliated entities, including the Indiana Economic Development Foundation, or IEDF, Elevate Ventures and the Applied Research Institute, among others. Results were released nearly five months later.
The audit was conducted by Washington D.C.-based FTI Consulting Inc. The firm’s report detailed numerous instances of conflicts of interest involving the IEDC and affiliated entities, inadequate internal policies and lavish travel spending on the part of the IEDF.
Shortly after the audit was released, DeLaney called the report “a good start,” but said it didn’t go far enough in determining whether the lax conflict-of-interest practices led to criminal activity.
“The report released in October made it clear that powerful people were given every opportunity to steal, but the report stops short of saying if they did or did not,” DeLaney said in a written statement Wednesday. “The House of Representatives bears the key responsibility to safeguard the integrity of public funds. We owe it to our taxpayers to follow through on the investigation promised by Gov. Braun to determine whether these funds were misused and how to prevent this misuse going forward.”
Consultants with FTI said investigating criminal findings was outside the scope of its work.
The creation of a House committee to investigate the IEDC would require support from the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly.
A spokeswoman for House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment about DeLaney’s proposed resolution. Braun has said he isn’t opposed to further legislative investigation into the IEDC’s past activities, but no Republican legislators to date have called for such an investigation.
If established, the committee would have 11 members, seven of which would be chosen by Huston and four by Democrats. The committee would have the power to subpoena records and testimony.
Report findings
Braun commissioned the audit in April amid reports regarding potential impropriety and transparency concerns at IEDC and related entities. The auditors’ report details findings related to five organizations: IEDC, IEDF, LEAP/IIP LLC (associated with the LEAP Lebanon Research and Innovation District in Lebanon—LEAP stands for Limitless Exploration/Advanced Pace), Elevate Ventures, and Applied Research Institute, or ARI.
Across the five entities, the audit highlighted the lack of conflict-of-interest procedures that resulted in instances of the IEDC, Elevate and the ARI giving funding to groups affiliated with agency leaders or to groups who had previously donated to the IEDC.
The audit mentions a handful of instances in which entities did not disclose certain documentation, and the report redacts the names of a handful of individuals who donated large sums to the IEDF.
Braun has already made some changes to the IEDC. In June he appointed nine members to the IEDC board, essentially dismantling and replacing its entire roster.
In September, he announced that votes must be taken by the full IEDC board, not in small committees, and that future investment activities must stay in Indiana. Braun has also said he will “wind down” the IEDF.
The contract for the FTI Consulting audit cost $800,000.