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Candidate Shipley addresses local Democrats at Elks Lodge
During a July 11 gathering the Greencastle Elks Lodge, Sherry Shipley -- one of at least four announced 2018 Democrat candidates for the Indiana District 4 congressional seat -- spoke on a variety of topics during an informal meeting.
Shipley, who was born and raised in Cass County, is the “proud product of a public school” and received a PhD from Indiana State University in industrial technology management. She has served as an adjunct professor, but currently serves as dean of Ivy Tech in Lafayette.
As an ally for the LGBT community, Shipley congratulated the Putnam Pride Initiative group on its successful inaugural picnic in the park.
Attendees were able to ask questions on a variety of topics. Shipley began by outlining her priorities, ensuring everyone in attendance that she is not a one-issue candidate. She stated that prenatal care is very important. Early diagnosis and intervention must be a feature of our healthcare. We must also invest in pre-K education and kindergarten should be mandatory.
She said Indiana also must support the ancillary parts of a good education, such as funding school nurses, counselors, art and music programs. We must end high-stakes standardized testing, she said, and invest in career and technical education programs.
Everyone must be afforded the opportunity to attend college with a low or no-cost provision, Shipley said. In exchange, students would be required to complete a service component by performing work in the community where they attend college or agree to work in an area experiencing a shortage of workers. There should be no barriers to completion or success in earning a degree.
Shipley went on to explain that when Indiana does not offer pre-K programs for all of our children in all counties, it greatly impacts growth, especially in rural communities. Expanding the services of Head Start is also needed, she said.
Shipley encouraged everyone to consider the possibilities should legislators put technical education into math programs. Shipley hopes to win the 2018 Democrat primary to run against current Congressman Todd Rokita, a Republican who serves on the Education Committee.
Shipley said she would love to have the opportunity to impact education.
The discussion moved to topics such as the legalization of marijuana. Shipley noted that veterans have repeatedly asked for this because it helps relieve some symptoms of PTSD they experience when they return from combat.
Shipley spoke of how teachers need to have a salary scale that encourages them to remain in a school until they reach the top of the salary schedule. Indiana is suffering a teacher shortage in many states due to the treatment of teachers by the current legislators, she said.
Shipley realizes that the job market is desperate to find employees who can work in agriculture, technology, healthcare, logistics and supply chain management. Indiana also needs to ensure that a public transportation is available to get people to work. Shipley referred to public transportation as “the great equalizer.”
On the topic of healthcare, Shipley favors universal healthcare with funding for Medicaid and Medicare. Contraception should be free. America also needs to raise or eliminate the Social Security cap, she said.
Finally, Shipley discussed solar energy and other environmental concerns. She stated that instead of building a wall for Mexico and immigrants, “we need to build a firewall to protect our electric grid.” The vulnerability of our electric grid means imminent danger.
The meeting ended with Shipley asking, “Why are we electing people who have enough money to quit their day jobs to run for office? These are not working class people, who although should be able to run for office, cannot because of having to work a regular 40-hour week instead of campaign.”