Rep. Mike Pence, who is running for governor of Indiana in 2012, told reporters Friday that he stands with current Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' administration in challenging the stance by the federal government that Indiana can’t ban federal funding of Planned Parenthood, contrary to a law banning the funding recently passed by the state. Pence said he’s pleased that the Indiana attorney general will be defending the law.
“I fully support the decision by the Daniels administration to appeal the announcement from Health and Human Services,” Pence told reporters at the Faith and Freedom Conference on Friday. “This seems to me to be, along with the recent decision by the NLRB and others, this seems to be the latest example of the kind of bullying by the federal government of the state legislatures that the American people are tired of. I know I am.”
A Fox News article quoted an email from a spokesperson for the Indiana attorney general saying that the office is reviewing the letter Obama administration official Donald Berwick sent declaring the law illegal, but that “we will continue to defend the statute.”
Much of Pence’s speech at the conference, not surprisingly for someone running for governor, focused on states’ rights and the role states play in balancing out the federal government.
“We must have a renovation of state-based constitutionalism in America,” Pence said. He pointed out federal legislation the states have led in combating: cap and trade, immigration, and ObamaCare.
But Pence also declared in his speech that the GOP needs to put forward a candidate in 2012 that will stand for common sense, conservative values without apology. Pence played coy with specific names, however, when reporters asked about whether anyone in the the current field of candidates fit that description.