TERRE HAUTE —
Come January, for the first time in eight years, someone besides Mitch Daniels will occupy the governor’s office. It will be a challenge for Daniels’ successor. No matter who wins the Nov. 6 election, the next governor faces a daunting assignment. Like him or not — and many people still do — Daniels’ leadership legacy and long list of accomplishments will go down as bold, visionary and significant.
It won’t be fun for the next governor being compared with Daniels. And it’s unlikely either Republican Mike Pence or Democrat John Gregg will completely measure up, at least not in the eyes of most Hoosiers. They are different people with different ideas. And that’s a good thing. The Statehouse could use some new blood, and these two men are both qualified for the job.
Deciding which would be the better choice, and which man gets our endorsement, is an extremely close call. It’s as close to a toss-up as we’ve encountered in recent elections. But we’re coming down ever so slightly on the side of Pence. His Roadmap for Indiana plan, while lacking in specifics, is reasonable and in line with where this state needs to devote its energy and attention. If he stays on course and resists veering off on divisive social issues, we believe he can have a successful stint as governor.
The reason this is such as a close call is because Gregg is equally qualified and a longtime friend of western Indiana. As a Knox County resident, Gregg served for 16 years as a state legislator representing portions of Sullivan, Greene and Vigo counties in the General Assembly. He rose in the ranks of leadership in the House of Representatives, and he eventually served six years as Speaker of the House before retiring, at least for a while, from politics.
Gregg’s experienced and steady hand offers Hoosiers a strong alternative for statehouse leadership, but his prolonged absence from the political scene diminished his leadership edge and name recognition, and his candidacy was slow to develop a serious campaign. His sense of humor and “aw shucks” approach to the race only went so far, and when he finally sharpened his message and began to take on Pence in a more aggressive fashion, his attacks seemed shrill, even petty.
Meanwhile, Pence enjoyed big leads in the polls from the start and was able to project an image of himself far softer than that of the partisan attack dog that came through during his recent years as a Republican Party leader in the U.S. House of Representatives. The longtime congressman was able to craft a serious campaign message and present it without vestiges of partisan rancor. His Roadmap for Indiana lists six goals that build on the Daniels’ agenda: increase private sector employment, build on strengths by investing in them; enhance the quality of the workforce; improve math and reading skills in young learners; raise graduation rates; and improve the health and well-being of Hoosier families.
The devil, they say, is in the details. But we like the Roadmap, and we’ll be anxious to see concrete ways Pence plans to advance his agenda.
Our endorsement of Pence comes with reservations, and our support could quickly diminish if as governor he allows his agenda to drift into social issues and he pursues an extremist agenda. Indiana does not need that. It has suffered through enough divisive political battles and should not be allowed to become a lab experiment for radical conservative causes.
We would trust either of these candidates with the keys to governor’s office, but we give slight edge to Pence over Gregg.
Editorials
EDITORIAL: Governor’s race closest call of all
Both candidates highly qualified to lead state
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The celebration season
Spring has been a bit elusive at times in 2013, which is its nature.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: MVC tourney an event worth having
It’s been a long time since the Missouri Valley Conference chose Indiana State University to host its post-season baseball tournament, but Terre Haute had never been more prepared for an event such as this.
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EDITORIAL: Cleaning up voter rolls
It’s not a lot of money in the big scheme of things, but the $2 million designated in the recent session of the General Assembly will begin the messy but necessary process of cleaning up Indiana’s voter registration rolls.
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EDITORIAL: Waging the ‘readiness’ campaign
Almost every Hoosier who starts college intends to finish. Unfortunately, those who arrive on campus unprepared in key academic areas are far less likely to fulfill that aspiration.
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EDITORIAL: Insult to an independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: Dashing finish for the Sycamores
It’s always thrilling to see Indiana State University’s athletic teams do well in high-level competition, and two specific teams rose to impressive heights last weekend in the Missouri Valley Conference outdoor track and field championships.
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EDITORIAL: Better monitoring needed to prevent local environmental messes
The nasty, hazardous messes lurking in the community raise a bottom-line, red-flag question. Could these environmental problems have been monitored and, thus, prevented?
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EDITORIAL: Memo to U.S.A.: You can ‘SPPRAK’ just as we do in Vigo County
Our kids, truly, are ‘Making a Difference’
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Some words in praise of boring government — Indiana’s
A conservative Republican governor has super majorities in both branches of the legislature. One might suspect such one-party government leads to major changes in public policy. This did not happen in 2013 in Indiana.
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EDITORIAL: Doc’s prescient prescription
Viewed through a 2013 prism, Doc Bowen’s response to the AIDS epidemic looks merely prudent, routine.
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EDITORIAL: Education remains worth the cost
Within the next few weeks, each of the local colleges will have conducted graduation ceremonies. A few days later, a different Class of 2013 will don caps and gowns for commencement — the seniors at five Vigo County high schools. It is still a smart, worthy aspiration for those high school grads to replicate the achievement of those college students by earning a higher-education degree.
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EDITORIAL: Good news for downtown
For decades, it seems, downtown Terre Haute has been in the throes of change
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EDITORIAL: Overall, state budget step in the right direction
For average Hoosiers uninterested in political point-scoring, the budget crafted by the Indiana Legislature inspires only muted, if any, fanfare.
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EDITORIAL: The lessons of organ donation
The range of emotion surrounding life-saving transplantation of a vital organ is extreme. It is the ultimate “good news-bad news” scenario.
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READERS’ FORUM: April 26, 2013
• Pence’s tax cuts benefit wealthiest
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
This does not qualify as a surprise in any way. But the Wabash Valley’s response to widespread flooding of recent days has been nothing short of impressive, even inspirational.
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EDITORIAL: Still waiting for the jobs reward
The forces in control of Indiana government for most of the past decade need to show some results to Hoosiers in one primary category.
Good-paying jobs. -
MARK BENNETT: Littered with irony: Why do people callously discard their trash, and who are they?
Though they aren’t acknowledged by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are basically two demographic groups of people … Those who would dump their old toilet on the banks of the Wabash River or a rural roadside. And those who wouldn’t.
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EDITORIAL: Doing the dirty work to clean up tossed trash
A first-of-its-kind, coast-to-coast project to remove litter from U.S. roadsides brought the Pick Up America crew through the Wabash Valley two years ago.
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EDITORIAL: Keep school security a local issue
The decision to provide armed security inside a schoolhouse should be made locally.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news
Indiana’s parks need your help.
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EDITORIAL: The return of terror
Emotions today remain strong and raw in wake of Monday’s terror bombings near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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EDITORIAL: A solution to distracted driving … stop it … now
You’ve got to stop. You know you do it. It’s a miracle you haven’t caused a tragedy already.
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EDITORIAL: ‘Women of Influence’: 2013 selectees have given much to their communities
For the second year, United Way of the Wabash Valley has teamed up with local sponsors to select and honor a group of women who have made outstanding contributions to their communities, professions and families.
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EDITORIAL: Noteworthy in the news: A new honor for our veterans
A commendation goes out today to state Rep. Clyde Kersey, a Terre Haute Democrat who led the charge this week in the Indiana House of Representatives to pay tribute to the nation’s Purple Heart recipients.
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EDITORIAL: Shifting view on marriage
One could argue, as many have, that Sen. Joe Donnelly did the right thing last week when he dropped his support of government-sanctioned opposition to same-sex marriage. It wasn’t a radical move, considering most Democrats have now made the switch.
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MAX JONES: The American Newspaper: Changing? Yes. Dying? No way!
It happened again this past January when all those “looking at the year ahead” stories started popping up on Internet “news” websites and broadcast “news” programs. Under a provocative headline reading something like “Five industries/businesses doomed to tank in the coming year,” there it was, a prediction based on an unsubstantiated “expert” analysis that the newspaper industry will continue in 2013 to suffer its slide into oblivion.
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EDITORIAL: A chance to change our bad cultural habits
The sight of diligent, eager young people dragging trash out of the Wabash River wetlands is both inspiring and sad.
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EDITORIAL: Maintaining high standards
Standards
It’s the raging buzzword in education circles these days. Everyone insists that higher standards must be met. Anything less is, doggone it, unacceptable. -
Noteworthy in the news
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