Claytor touts experience, balance

The office of Indiana State Auditor may sound obscure to some, but Mike Claytor believes it’s essential to providing balance in the highest levels of state government.
Claytor, a Democrat, made a last-minute pre-election swing through Jay County on Wednesday afternoon, looking for votes and reflecting upon this year’s campaign.
A native of Hartford City and 1970 graduate of Blackford High School, Claytor is both a certified public accountant and an attorney. He’s a graduate of Ball State University and the Indiana University Law School in Indianapolis. He and his wife Debbie live in Carmel.
The office of auditor, he acknowledged, “doesn’t appeal to many.”
“But the two things that have resonated on both sides of the aisle,” he said, “are the fact that he would be the first CPA to hold the office and lingering concerns about the state losing track of half a billion dollars during the Daniels administration.”
“People vote because they’re either excited or mad,” said Claytor, and many are “mad” about the handling of state finances.
A former field auditor for the State Board of Accounts, Claytor has served as a financial adviser and consultant to a number of Indiana communities, including Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Bloomington and Lafayette.
He expressed concern about over-reach on the part of Gov. Mike Pence in the creation and funding of the Center for Education and Career Innovation.
“The board of finance is the state agency that has complete control over state finances when the legislature is not in session,” said Claytor. Composed of the governor, state auditor and state treasurer, “it has complete power.”
“A governor can create a new agency, but he can’t put any money in it. … In order to fund it, he needs that board,” said Claytor, noting that when Democratic governors Evan Bayh and Frank O’Bannon made similar executive changes they had to work with Republicans on the board of finance.
Pence has been accused of creating the CECI as a shadow version of the Indiana Department of Education following the election of Democrat Glenda Ritz as superintendent of public instruction.
“Having a balance is important,” Claytor said in support of his candidacy.
With early voting under way for weeks and election day on the horizon, Claytor said he has been enjoying the race.
“I am having a ball,” he said. “I’ve never been a candidate for anything before. This has been a completely new experience.”