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Sandra Chapman/Eyewitness News
Indiana's Bureau of Motor Vehicles is an agency in transition. The day after Commissioner Joel Silverman announced his departure, the Daniels administration shut itself off to public comment.
One day after announcing his resignation, Commissioner Joel Silverman isn't talking publicly. His final thoughts in his memo to the Governor were Bible verses from the book of Second Timothy: "For I am now ready to be offered...the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith."
"I'm sure he's tired and probably a little beleaguered," said Murray Clark, Indiana Republican Party chairman. "He probably didn't have the experience of political diplomacy and wasn't used to being attacked."
By phone, Silverman, who became a political target after the botched computer conversion in July, put it this way: "Everybody judge the work. I've tried to get my message out the last year and a half and it never got through. I don't think it's going to get through now. Assess the work we've done and then decide. That's all I'm going to say."
"It takes the Democrats' whipping boy away," said Clark. "Joel is happy to ride off in the sunset then good for him and probably at least for the moment, good for us, politically speaking."
But Silverman maintains his departure comes with a "stabilized" system, set up for improvement when Ron Stiver takes over October 16th. Already Democrats question whether Stiver is up to the challenge.
"I hope Ron Stivers taking over the BMV; he does a better job than when he first took over Workforce Development when unemployment checks could not get out for eight weeks," said Dan Parker, Indiana Democratic Party chairman.
The backlog was the result of a decision to save $2 million by centralizing all 120 DWD claims deputies to Indianapolis. The problem: half of the employees statewide refused to relocate, creating a severe staffing shortage. Stiver brought in temps to get the agency caught up.
Stiver has no more experience in government than Joel Silverman. Prior to his appointment to Workforce Development, he worked at Eli Lilly as a brand strategy manager. A spokesman from his office says he's very involved with operations at Workforce Development and will reserve comment on the BMV until he takes that post.
In his letter to Governor Mitch Daniels, Silverman wrote, "My passion and enthusiasm to continue in this position has lessened in recent weeks, while it has increased in regards to the service I can render in places outside of Government. In addition, I have family needs that require my personal attention."
"We asked for Joel Silverman's resignation months ago. The governor should have fired because of his lack of performance months ago and finally we have it," said Parker.
There are more changes in the Daniels administration. Secretary of Commerce Mickey Maurer resigned after securing major job commitments from Honda, Toyota, BP, Nestle and Rolls Royce.
"These are part of the natural process," said Maurer's successor, Nate Feltman. "The governor knew from the beginning that he could get some great people from the private sector but he couldn't get them forever."
The governor's chief of staff, Harry Gonso, is also stepping down.
"This is unprecedented, the number of agency heads that are resigning this early in the administration. It's like rats jumping off a sinking ship," Parker said.
