INDIANAPOLIS — Elise Nieshalla held back tears Tuesday as Gov. Eric Holcomb announced her as the next state comptroller.
“In Indiana, we enjoy balanced budgets, low debt, low pension liability, healthy cash reserves, and a AAA credit rating. When you compare our fiscal standing with that of our nation, it is a stark contrast,” she said at a Tuesday event in Zionsville.
“With Indiana’s great story of financial stewardship, I am fully on board to write the next chapters for our state in financial responsibility on behalf of Hoosiers.”
Nieshalla will fill the remainder of predecessor Tera Klutz’s term: three years. Klutz left to take an executive position at Gaylor Electric.
The new comptroller is no stranger to the Indiana government. She is currently president of the Boone County Council and also heads the Indiana County Councils Association. She labels herself an entrepreneur who oversees a portfolio of real estate investments.
Klutz is the fourth comptroller (formerly known as state auditor) in a row to resign early. But Nieshalla sidestepped a question on whether the early departures are becoming a problem.
“This is an open door for me and I’m so grateful to walk through it,” she said. “I am looking forward to serving the state of Indiana with the highest standards of fiscal responsibility. And I’m here to serve arms wide open and a heart wide open as well.”
Klutz was appointed in 2017 after then-Auditor Suzanne Crouch was elevated to lieutenant governor. Before Crouch, Dwayne Sawyer lasted only four months before he abruptly quit. Tim Berry served almost two terms before leaving to chair the Indiana Republican Party.
Both Klutz and Berry were at Tuesday’s event.
