Gregg, Holcomb air their views: Candidates have contrasting visions

Both brought their political views and experience to the conversation, laying out their contrasting visions for the state.

Holcomb, a Republican appointed to his lieutenant governor’s post in March, has been only been in the race only since July. He was picked by party leaders to replace Gov. Mike Pence who dropped out after joining the GOP presidential ticket with Donald Trump.

The Democrat Gregg, a lawyer and former legislator who served as House speaker for six years, narrowly lost his bid for governor in 2012, finishing behind Pence by less than 3 percentage points.

Here are excerpts from their conversations with the editors:

On the economy

Holcomb believes a key to boosting the state’s stagnant wages is improving Hoosiers’ skills to better fit high-wage jobs of the future. But he also said 12 years of Republican leadership has made Indiana a “jobs magnet.”

“Going back to 2005, we were a state drowning in red ink to the tune of $800 million. We had a twin deficit on our infrastructure, and no money to pay for roads promised to citizens for decades. So we set out to tighten the belt and to live within our means, to start to pay off our debts and become attractive to the job creators of the world to look at as an attractive place to locate or expand, and to date we’ve done that.

“And of course we need to do more, but now today we have a record number of Hoosiers working in the private sector. We’re celebrating our bicentennial, our 200th birthday, on Dec. 11, and that’s a nice present to ourselves to say we have more people working than ever in our 200 year history.”

Gregg contends that 12 years of Republican leadership hasn’t done enough to help people on the lower end of the economic scale, and he argues that the state’s 4.5 unemployment rate may be deceiving.

“We have low unemployment, which I don’t deny, but the employment rate doesn’t tell the whole story. We’ve still slid further in per capita income. We’re down to 38th in the nation. For a family of four sitting down for supper, that means they’re making $7,000 less than that average American family.

“So in our economic program, we talk about targeting with a laser-like focus, on five key areas. They’re high-growth, high-wage jobs - life and bio sciences, information technology, advanced manufacturing, 21st century logistics, and agribusiness. It’s about staying focused on the economy and not social issues.”

On education

Holcomb, the son of a retired public school teacher, says the state’s education system needs to be focused on getting students ready to enter the workforce or college. On the key issue of whether Indiana should expand pre-kindergarten, he favors a measured approach.

“I am all for expanding pre-K. Gov. Pence started, on his watch, the first pilot program for pre-K (for low-income children.) I want to scale that up. I want to make sure we’re starting with the most disadvantaged students among us. I want to move the folks at the back of the line to the front of the line.”

Gregg supports a broad expansion of pre-kindergarten. He argues the state can afford it, at up to $250 million a year, through unspent appropriations in the budget and future savings in remediation costs. He also says partisanship should be removed from education policy.

“There are 80,000 4-year-olds (in Indiana). I’ve studied the budget along with (Superintendent of Public Instruction) Glenda Ritz and others. We have enough reversions (unspent appropriations) where we could bring it in in three years with no extra tax dollars.

“The second thing: Take the politics out of education, for heaven’s sake. There should never be a liberal idea, a conservative idea, a Democrat idea, or a Republican idea when it comes to education. It’s got to be about the student.

On civil rights law

Holcomb said few people raise the issue -- of expanding the state’s law to cover sexual orientation and gender identity -- as he travels the state. He also cites the General Assembly’s failure to pass legislation to address the issue statewide. He argues local communities already have this power.

“In Indiana, we have this balance where local communities can address this issue through their local HROs (human rights ordinances) and not infringe on anyone’s religious beliefs or constitutional rights from the state. So that’s why I think Indiana is in a good place right now in terms of not being a state that discriminates but a state that is welcoming. Speaking for myself, I do not discriminate against anyone for who they love.”

Gregg has a different point of view and pledges to act as soon as he’s elected, arguing such lack of protection has harmed the state’s image.

“As governor, I’ll sign an executive order giving civil rights protections to members of the LGBT community who are state employees. And because we’re going to lead by example, we’ll also make sure that companies doing business with the state do not have discriminatory policies.

“The other thing we’ll do is work with the Legislature to pass it. This isn’t a Democrat or Republican issue, as much as my Democrat friends like to tell you it is. There are many Republicans that feel this way, too. We’ll get it done, in time.

On redistricting

Holcomb said he supports the idea of putting redistricting of congressional and legislative districts into the hands of a non-partisan commission, removing it from the General Assembly.

“I want to make sure we get it right. I would be proud if it occurred on our watch. The trick is to make sure you truly get a non-partisan body. Computer technology can go a long way on this front. I think we can get there. And I think it would be a huge sign of success for our citizen Legislature and executive branch to say, we’ve done something that’s never been done before here.”

Gregg also supports an independent redistricting commission to end the gerrymandering of districts to favor one party over the other.

“It’s something the Legislature has to do, but I intend to encourage it. Redistricting, because of computers, has become a science. You can cut the districts in the state of Indiana in a way where you’re always going to have 67 or 68 Republican seats. When you do that, you’ve empowered their base to control that nominating process, and thus you get involved in these social issues, and we know where that goes. It’s long overdue.”

On road funding

Holcomb supports the efforts of a Legislative study committee currently looking at a wide range of options for future road funding, including more toll roads and gas taxes, though he hasn’t committed to any solution.

“We’ve agreed we’re not going to start taking revenue streams off the table at the beginning of the discussion, pinning us into one corner or another. Because if our goal is to get to a truly, not rhetorical, long-term, sustainable, data-driven and not politically driven, infrastructure program, then we are going to have to pay for it.”

Gregg doesn’t support a gas tax increase to pay for road projects but instead proposes a mix of other funding mechanisms, including tapping into a highway trust fund with revenues from the Indiana Toll Road or using some of the state’s budget surplus.

“You can’t ask Hoosiers to pay any more money when all they hear is that we, as a state, have a $2.4 billion surplus. I can stop anybody on the street and they know the state’s got a big surplus.”

On the presidential race

Gregg supports Democrat Hillary Clinton, with reservations given that she’s more liberal than he is.

“Well, I didn’t take her to the prom. That’s been sort of my standard line. I do support Mrs. Clinton for president, but we’ve stayed focused on our race. The truth of the matter is, in Indiana for me to get elected, I have to Republican support. The one biggest attack they can say against me, is to say I’m a Democrat and say it in horrible, gnarly way.”

Holcomb supports Donald Trump, though with reservations given his disparaging remarks about women, minorities and others during the campaign.

“I don’t agree with any disparaging comments toward anyone. I tend to focus on my conduct, and I’m running for governor in a 100-day campaign which is unprecedented. So I’m pretty focused on running for governor not running someone’s presidential campaign.”