Connie Lawson, who has served in the state senate since 1996, is Indiana’s new secretary of state. Gov. Mitch Daniels named her as his pick to replace Charlie White this morning, and she was sworn-in by Lt. Gov. Becky Skillman in a brief ceremony in his Statehouse office. Daniels called Lawson — who has been Senate Republican floor leader, chairwoman of the Senate local government committee, a member of the elections committee and a former Hendricks County clerk — the “obvious” choice to take over as the state’s chief elections official. “I don’t know when I’ve felt so good or confident about a decision as the appointment this morning of Senator Connie Lawson as Indiana’s new secretary of state. I doubt the state has ever been served by someone better prepared for her duties than Connie will be.”
He said he offered her the job Thursday afternoon. While he had considered other names, he said, she was the first person he thought of and that no other possibility ever topped her.
Lawson said she takes “very seriously” this new opportunity to serve all Hoosiers in a job that she “never dreamt” she would have. While it is too early to decide if she would run for election in 2014, the next time the office is on the ballot, Lawson said she would “position myself to run.”
Full Article: Gov. Mitch Daniels picks Connie Lawson as new Indiana Secretary of State | Indianapolis Star | indystar.com.