Jobs take center stage in governor's race

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

INDIANAPOLIS | Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Jim Schellinger painted discordant portraits of the Indiana economy Wednesday in competing campaign messages.

Schellinger stressed the 27,700 manufacturing jobs Indiana has shed since 2005 while debuting a "Pick Up Indiana" economic development plan focused on workforce training, small business incentives and environmentally friendly "green-collar" jobs.

"Together we can pick up Indiana because we can and should be doing better," said Schellinger, an Indianapolis architect making his first run at public office.

Meanwhile, the Daniels re-election campaign began airing a 30-second television spot that highlights the incumbent's job-creation efforts. The ad features a photo of Daniels, state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, and Gary Mayor Rudy Clay -- chairman of the Lake County Democratic Party -- wielding ceremonial shovels during an October 2006 runway expansion groundbreaking at Gary/Chicago International Airport.

Schellinger's jobs plan includes roughly $50 million in new or expanded worker training and employer incentive programs. It includes boosting state funding for adult education programs from $14 million this year to $21 million by 2011.

"These ideas aren't bad; we're working on some of these ourselves," Cam Savage, a Daniels campaign spokesman said of Schellinger's proposal. "This is what candidates do, but no one else doubts that Indiana is turning itself around."

Jill Long Thompson, a former northeast Indiana congresswoman who will square off against Schellinger in the May 6 Democratic primary, released an economic growth proposal dubbed "Reinvest in Indiana" earlier this month.