Indiana State Politics
Bayh was elected Secretary of State of Indiana in 1986 and served from 1987 to 1989.
Bayh was first elected Governor of Indiana in 1988, defeating former Kokomo Mayor Steve Daily in the Democratic primary. Evan Bayh was the first Democrat to serve as Governor of Indiana in 20 years. (Frank O'Bannon's name also appeared on the ballot, but he had previously withdrawn to accept the lieutenant governor nomination.) Bayh defeated Republican John Mutz in the general election. Bayh was re-elected governor in 1992 with the highest percentage of the vote in a statewide election in modern Indiana history. He defeated State Attorney General Linley E. Pearson, a Republican, to win his second term. His administration was considered cautious but successful by Republicans as well as Democrats, creating a large budget surplus and permitting him to cut taxes. "Mr. Bayh's record is one of a genuinely fiscally conservative Democrat," reported the Wall Street Journal in 1992.
Stressing fiscal responsibility, lower taxes, job creation and lean government, Bayh's tenure as governor was highlighted by eight years without raising taxes, the largest single tax cut and largest budget surplus in state history, "welfare-to-work" policies, increasing annual school funding, high academic standards and new college opportunities, the strengthening of law enforcement and improved environmental quality. He signed the 21st Century Scholars Act in 1992, legislation that states that every child in Indiana who is eligible for the free lunch program in a public school, graduates from high school and signs a pledge not to experiment with illegal drugs is entitled to a full tuition scholarship to an Indiana public university of his or her choice. By the end of his second term, Bayh had an approval rating of nearly 80 percent.
Bayh was a vocal supporter of capital punishment.
When his second term as governor ended in 1997, he accepted a lecturing position at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in Bloomington. From 1997 to 1998, while he was campaigning for U.S. Senate, Bayh was also hired as a partner at Indianapolis law firm Baker & Daniels. In 1998, his Baker & Daniels salary was $265,000, according to Senate financial records. Indiana University paid him an additional $51,000 that year.
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