Pence, Ritz meet for first time since inauguration

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Governor Mike Pence and state school superintendent Glenda Ritz met today for the first time since they both took office.

And, while you might expect the governor to host such a meeting, it was Pence who traveled to the superintendent's office arriving with an entourage just after lunch.  If it was meant to be some sort of bi-partisan outreach, the governor didn't play it up.

After close to an hour, he emerged to give this simple explanation for the meeting location.  "She invited me over," he said.

Statehouse observers expect conflict between the Republican governor and the Democratic superintendent who turned down an invitation to take part in his inaugural ceremony.  However, today's meeting, Pence said, was about finding common ground.  "I don't want to discuss particularities that we covered in the meeting," said the governor, "but it was a good productive meeting, and quite cordial."

And while Democrats still point out that Ritz won more votes than Pence did in the November election she's not seeking controversy at this point.  She passed up an opportunity to bring up the Pence budget which increases school spending by just 1% a year.  "No, we didn't talk about budget at all," said Ritz.  "We spent time talking about students, philosophical programming for students."

So, the governor posed for pictures with passing students, and the superintendent said there will be more meetings. "We actually get long very well," said Ritz.  The honeymoon is still underway.