Gubernatorial campaign trail brings Gregg to Russellville

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

RUSSELLVILLE -- With fewer than 100 days to go now in the campaign, Democrat gubernatorial candidate John Gregg visited Russellville Monday night, sidestepping any direct reference to his new Republican opponent.

After nearly two campaign seasons of targeting the decisions and policies of Mike Pence, Gregg is now facing Republican Eric Holcomb, a man who went from GOP party chairman to U.S. Senate candidate to Indiana lieutenant governor to GOP gubernatorial hopeful in less than 36 months.

Democrat candidate for Indiana governor, John Gregg chats with supporters Monday night at the Harrison Street Tavern in Russellville. Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE

Calling Holcomb "Pence Light" and "Pence's hand-picked candidate" in talking with the Banner Graphic, Gregg stressed that he is still running against the Pence record.

"What this election is about is a leader that brings people together," Gregg told some 50 supporters during an event at the Harrison Street Tavern in Russellville, an establishment owned by Jason and Stacey Hartman.

Gregg says he's that man, campaigning on his prowess of working across the aisle for bi-partisan cooperation.

"I know you're all thinking, 'Who's he running against?' I'm not going to tell you. I will tell you, if you like Mike Pence, you'll love this guy (Holcomb)."

Still refraining from saying Holcomb's name aloud Gregg continued.

"He thinks the same thing (as Pence) about school teachers. He thinks the same thing about discrimination in the LBGT community. He wants to tell all the women in the state of Indiana what to do and what not to do."

Holcomb, Gregg pointed out, has "never made a budget ... he's never worked anywhere except state and federal government."

Holcomb replaced Sue Ellspermann as No. 2 on the Republican ticket even after Pence called her "the most qualified lieutenant governor in Indiana history," Gregg said.

"Pence took that last train out of town so we couldn't finish beating him," Gregg said of the now GOP vice-presidential hopeful. "What happens? Again he picked him over another well-qualified woman (U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks). I'd like to point that out particularly to the women in the audience."

That aside, the 2016 election is about the economy, asserts Gregg who will be 62 next month.

"You're going to hear how we've got lower unemployment, and we do. Less than five percent."

Making a brief address to his supporters Monday night at Russellville, John Gregg addresses issues abut the economy, infrastructure and education. Banner Graphic/ERIC BERNSEE

But many Hoosiers are having to work two jobs to get by, while others have seen their paychecks go down or at least stagnate during this period, he pointed out.

"If you've got lower unemployment and Hoosiers are working harder and harder and making less and less, that's not a good thing," Gregg said. "We can do better."

And to do that, the former Indiana speaker of the House said "there are five fantastic areas of high-growth jobs" available right now for Hoosiers to tap into.

He listed agriculture, which is "going through phenomenal changes," Information Technology (IT) -- "you can do IT from Russellville," he said, along with life sciences and biosciences, advanced manufacturing and 21st-century logistics.

"We have to do everything we can to make sure that our young men and women are going into these jobs if they want to stay in Indiana," Gregg, a Knox County (Sandborn) resident, said.

As the campaign dwindled to 99 days remaining Monday, Gregg again pointed to the economy.

"We're going to focus on the economy, on the economy, on the economy," he stressed. "And you can't talk about the economy without talking about education.

"We've got to work with our school teachers and advisers, not against them," Gregg said to applause from the several teachers on hand Monday night.

"In the Gregg Administration," he said, educational decisions will be returned to the local educators.

He also addressed a problem near and dear to many Hoosier hearts -- crumbling roads and bridges.

"If we're going to grow this state," he said, "we need to have better infrastructure."

And that can be done over the next 10 years, Gregg said, by allocating $3.2 billion more than what is currently being spent on infrastructure issues, a problem, he said, "that is just as important in Russellville as it is in Carmel."

Meanwhile, state officials also need to acknowledge there is a drug problem in Indiana, Gregg said.

"We've got a drug problem," he assured. "You know how we're dealing with it in Indiana? We're not talking about it."

Drug rehabilitation works, he said, stressing that Indiana needs "more stethoscopes than pistols."

Right now "we're paying $75,000" to incarcerate someone at Putnamville, Gregg said, only to see them return to prison once they get out because of drug-related activity.

Gregg left the Russellville event asking his supporters for three things -- donations (lots of $10 and $20 donations) to help keep his message on TV, a social media presence by texting or tweeting photos or word of his events, and help in sharing his views with independents and "common-sense Republicans."

"Partisanship is crippling Indiana," he added.

Monday's event marked Gregg's third stop in Putnam County this year with earlier visits to the Bainbridge Community Center and Putnam Inn in Greencastle.

Longtime political wags on hand Monday indicated Gregg quite possibly is the first candidate for governor to ever to campaign in Russellville.