Democrat gubernatorial candidates: It's the Indiana economy

BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana 
pguinane@nwitimes.com

INDIANAPOLIS | The slumping economy continues to shape the race for Indiana governor, with both Democratic primary contenders touting their personal experience and job-creation platforms.

Former U.S. Rep. Jill Long Thompson unveilled Friday her plan to target employment tax incentives to struggling counties. The Argos Democrat, who later served six years as a federal undersecretary for rural development, noted the more than 1,000 jobs that will be lost to the plant closing of Union Tank Car Co. in East Chicago and Indianapolis-based ATA's abrupt plunge into bankruptcy.

"I recall a time when Indiana had jobs that were preferable to jobs in other states. We had personal income that ran ahead of the rest of the country ... ," Long Thompson said. "But as I travel the state, I see many counties that are struggling just to basically stay even."

Indianapolis architect Jim Schellinger, the other Democrat in the race, paints a similarly bleak economic picture in a new television ad launched Friday.

"There is no more important issue facing Hoosiers right now," Schellinger said in a statement. "People are hurting, and we're at the back of the national pack for job and personal income growth."

The commercial begins with a narrator declaring "an economy in trouble. Hoosiers losing their jobs, their homes, their pensions." The ad goes on to cite Schellinger's leadership as president of CSO Architects, an Indianapolis design firm, and promotes his plans to invest in workforce training and small business incentives.

Long Thompson proposes a tiered system of tax breaks that would offer greater rewards to companies that invest in counties with high unemployment and low property values, population growth and personal income. Employers could earn a tax credit of $3,500 per job in the most distressed counties, $2,000 in the middle tier and $1,000 in counties that pace the state economy.

Schellinger and Long Thompson will square off in the May 6 Democratic primary. The victor will face Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels, whose array of re-election ads includes a TV spot heralding his job-creation efforts the past three years.