|
Governor of Indiana
Mitchell E. Daniels* (R), Governor, State of Indiana
1.
During the next session of the
Indiana General Assembly, a new biennial budget will be developed.
If elected, what priorities would you advocate in the process?
Our first priority is always to maintain an honestly balanced budget. We
worked hard to pay off all of our debts to schools, local governments
and higher education and build up our rainy day funds, and we won’t do
anything to go back to the days of deficits. These are difficult
economic times nationally, and we will monitor revenue and spending
carefully, as we always do.
New spending in the next budget will be limited, but education will
remain a top priority. As in our past two budget proposals, this budget
request will include more money for our K-12 schools.
And earlier this year, I introduced a plan to provide more of our
high school students with the financial assistance many of them need to
continue their education. Our Hoosier College Promise plan would make
available two years of free tuition at Ivy Tech or an equivalent amount
of $6,000 for recent Indiana
high school graduates from families who earn about $60,000 or less
annually. I’m also
committed to making further progress in providing full day kindergarten
for families who want that option for their children.
As always, we’ll have to work hard to keep Medicaid spending under
control. Through careful management and leveraging of federal funds,
Indiana has
served more Hoosiers in the past four years while keeping the growth of
Medicaid spending to 5 percent annually, well below the national
average.
1)
As the
construction of the Interstate 69 has begun in Indiana, will you pledge
to support appropriation of the $700 million designated for the project
through the Major Moves transportation plan?
As a
follow-up, what is your plan to fund the remainder of the Interstate 69
project in Indiana, including the new I-69 Ohio River bridge?
No day was more important to the people of Southwest Indiana and our
administration than July 16, 2008. The official groundbreaking marked
the end of decades of waiting for those who have worked so hard to get
started with the construction of the I-69 from Evansville to
Indianapolis, a project that will not only benefit Southwestern Indiana
but the entire state. Major Moves put the money in the bank, and we’re
committed to seeing this project to completion.
Thus far, we have designated $700 million for I-69, and that commitment
is firm. Additional funding
for the highway is something that we work on all the time. Because we
have a fully funded transportation program through 2016, Indiana has the ability –
if no other new sources of funds are found – to pay for the remainder of
the project with the ongoing budget of INDOT. Without Major Moves, we
couldn’t have thought about doing this because I-69 would have swallowed
most of INDOT’s annual road construction budget.
2)
In 2007, the
bi-partisan Kernan-Shepard Commission made numerous recommendations to
reform and restructure local government in Indiana, such as creation of
a single county executive and legislative body, as well as transferring
the responsibilities of townships to the county level.
Do you support implementation of these recommendations?
Governor Kernan and Chief Justice Shepard acted in a remarkable show of
citizenship by producing a report on local government reform in Indiana. There is no question that our
system of local government is antiquated and must be updated to meet the
needs of the 21st Century. I said last December when the
report was published that we should take the next year to read and
digest it and determine how to move forward. That is starting to happen.
Groups are beginning to formulate their suggestions and proposals, and I
look forward to collecting those and working with the General Assembly
on how to best accomplish constructive changes to the way local
government is organized and managed.
3)
As economic
development becomes increasingly competitive on the regional and
national level, how best can our state position itself to attract new
business and retention and expansion of Indiana-based companies?
Over the past four years, we’ve worked to build the best “sandbox” in America
for economic growth and development. By that I mean creating an
environment that supports the growth and attraction of businesses of all
kinds. We’ve put policies in place that have helped us break Indiana’s
jobs commitment and investment record for three straight years; low
taxes, a well-run state government, reasonable and consistent
regulations, a fair climate for litigation and essential infrastructure
improvements.
Indiana is quickly climbing the list of best
places in the country to do business. We’ve left our regional
competitors behind by becoming a state ranked among the very best for
tax climate, cost of doing business, and in-sourcing jobs. Recently, the
independent credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s raised Indiana’s
credit rating to AAA, the highest possible, citing the stable and
diversifying economic base in the state. Though the state maintains a
strong manufacturing base, Indiana is seeing strong growth in industries
as life sciences and logistics and distribution. We’re doing everything
we can to promote a pro-growth, pro-jobs business climate and are always
on the lookout for the next competitive edge.
4)
As the
national debate continues, what role can Indiana play in the discussion
and development of a new national energy policy?
As a
follow-up, what should the State of Indiana do to address the issue of
increases energy costs?
The country needs more energy and cleaner energy.
And Indiana is quickly becoming a leader in
the development of the cleaner, greener energy of tomorrow. Indiana has already
jumped ahead with biofuels production in the past four years and is now
turning attention toward the next generation of sustainable biofuels
development. We’re building wind farms, including one of the largest in
the country, in parts of the state where it makes sense to do so. But
much of our energy future is tied to the abundant coal in
Southwest Indiana, as long as we can do so in
environmentally sensible ways.
Indiana
is clearly the leader in the development of clean coal technologies. Indiana will be host
to one of the largest clean coal power plants in the world with the
Edwardsport Coal Gasification Plant now under construction, and we
intend to make natural gas from coal in a process that is
environmentally responsible.
The best thing we can do to address the high cost of energy is to be
more efficient in how we use it.
Investments in energy efficiency can reduce energy bills by as
much as 20 to 40 percent. By improving the efficiency of Hoosier homes
and businesses we can dramatically reduce our state’s energy
consumption, lower our carbon footprint, and lower our energy bills at
the same time. I recently signed an executive order
requiring all new state buildings, including at our public universities,
be build to the latest energy efficiency standards.
Energy conservation and the development of new sources of clean
energy will continue to be an important part of my agenda.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jill Long Thompson (D), Former Member of Congress & U.S. Under
Secretary of Agriculture
1.
During the next session of the
Indiana General Assembly, a new biennial budget will be developed.
If elected, what priorities would you advocate in the process?
I would
advocate for measures to create and retain Hoosier jobs through a
supported education system, a simplified tax structure, affordable and
accessible health care, and other measures that are spelled out in our
“One Indiana” Plan, which you can find at
www.hoosiersforjill.com.
As a part of
the plan, Dennie and I will work with members of the Indiana General
Assembly to change state law to encourage businesses and individuals to
pool to buy health insurance to expand access and reduce costs, reform
the state's education policy, and update the state's telecommunications
infrastructure to bring broadband capacity to every Indiana community.'
1)
As the
construction of the Interstate 69 has begun in Indiana, will you pledge
to support appropriation of the $700 million designated for the project
through the Major Moves transportation plan?
As a
follow-up, what is your plan to fund the remainder of the Interstate 69
project in Indiana, including the new I-69 Ohio River bridge?
I support the
appropriation to continue the long-awaited I-69 construction as the most
expedient way to bring interstate access to southwestern Indiana.
To ensure the project continues to completion, I will work to
grow the economy to expand our tax base, and to leverage federal
funding.
2)
In 2007, the
bi-partisan Kernan-Shepard Commission made numerous recommendations to
reform and restructure local government in Indiana, such as creation of
a single county executive and legislative body, as well as transferring
the responsibilities of townships to the county level.
Do you support implementation of these recommendations?
Coming from a
small town in a rural area and having served in local government on the
Valparaiso City Council, I understand that government structures,
functions, and needs in smaller towns are vastly different from those in
our big cities and populous counties.
What works in one township, town, city or county may or may not
be the right solution for others.
I firmly believe that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to
make local governments more efficient and more effective in their
service to Hoosiers.
Some of the
measures presented by the Kernan-Shepard Report deserve consideration,
but local governments should have the opportunity to determine for
themselves what the most appropriate changes are to provide services for
their taxpayers in the most efficient and effective manner.
Local governments understand that they must be responsive to
their citizens, and they realize better than anyone how this can be
accomplished.
3)
As economic
development becomes increasingly competitive on the regional and
national level, how best can our state position itself to attract new
business and retention and expansion of Indiana-based companies?
Dennie Oxley
and I are committed to growing the economy and creating good-paying jobs
in every community throughout the state. Our plan, called "One
Indiana," outlines our vision for putting Indiana back on track for
sustainable growth.
We’ve heard
very positive feedback on our plan to create, attract, and retain
good-paying jobs in the state's most economically distressed areas.
As Governor, I will work with state and local leaders to develop a
"tier" system to guide the state's economic development efforts.
This system will categorize the state's 92 counties into three different
economic tiers based on a variety of factors and then allocate different
tax incentives as a way to create jobs all across the state, focusing on
areas in greatest need of economic revitalization.
As Governor, I
will also work to reform the tax code to help attract and retain better
paying jobs by offering incentives to businesses that provide health
care coverage to their employees, improving efficiency by acquiring new
technology, increasing productivity and reducing their impact on the
environment. I will also create permanent tax deductions for
individuals to help offset their share of health care coverage and
continuing education costs.
4)
As the
national debate continues, what role can Indiana play in the discussion
and development of a new national energy policy?
As a
follow-up, what should the State of Indiana do to address the issue of
increases energy costs?
In 2007,
Indiana ranked 40th in the nation for economic climate and 39th in job
prospects. This is simply
unacceptable in light of the possibilities in today’s economy.
Developing a cleaner, greener, and stronger economy will mean growing
new industries that are developing and producing clean technologies and
renewable energy resources, and that are focused on pollution reduction
and energy efficiency. These investments will lead to new economic
opportunities that will create high-paying “green jobs” making our
communities stronger and more vibrant. Green jobs will offer the kind of
sustainable economic opportunities our Hoosier workforce desperately
needs and replace those jobs that we have lost. They will reinvigorate
our economy and put Indiana on a solid path of long-term economic growth
through greater energy independence.
Click here to return to the Candidate
Survey main page.
|
