WHO WILL BE THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE?

Who will rise to the top as the cream of the crop? 

As the Democratic party sets the stage for a true Democratic Primary to lead up to the Governor's race against the likely battle scarred, Mike Pence, it is time to address some questions and issues the eventual Democratic nominee must answer for Hoosiers.  Currently, three Democrats (John Gregg, Karen Tallian, and Glenda Ritz) will seek the nod from the Democratic Party.  Each one has been battle tested in their own way, each has more experience in their little finger than Pence has in his entire political career.  All three will bring something to Hoosiers that the GOP has not been able to deliver in years, economic stability and basic equal rights for ALL.  Let us first discuss each potential candidate and their strongest probable platform item.  Then let us look at what a Democratic platform must include going forward in order to impact the most Hoosier voters in a general election against the the probable GOP candidate and wounded incumbent, Pence.

The Democratic Primary Candidates

John Gregg, 2012 Democratic candidate, is a supporter of the now repealed common construction wage law.  The "man with the mustache" had been a champion of labor unions and a strong proponent of maintaining state recognition of labor unions as a means of supporting the middle class worker.  This is a strong base, but proved not enough to get past Pence in 2012.  How will he increase his voter base, answer questions truthfully about his ties to ALEC and Wall Street, and address the issues below?

Karen Tallian, the Democratic Party's "Marijuana Princess" of the Indiana Senate, supports legalization of medical Marijuana and possibly farther reaching expansion of legalization in the future, as well as a perspective on women's issues regarding healthcare access and abortion rights.  Senator Tallian has also come out as a strong supporter of Democratic Superintendent Glenda Ritz due to the constant attacks on public education during the recent legislative session, but one may wonder if that support was her setting up possible voters for a potential primary run.

Glenda Ritz, Superintendent of Public Instruction, was elected in 2012 as the only Democrat voted into State office.  Ritz garnered more votes than Pence with 1.3M plus supporters on election day over incumbent Superintendent Tony Bennett.  Superintendent Ritz has been a strong proponent of public schools, has cleaned up the messes and mistakes of the Bennett administration,  and weathered many attacks from the appointed State Board of Education and the GOP supermajority.  She has proven time and again to be a steadfast supporter of children and families when it comes to Indiana's Public schools, has displayed a welcoming acceptance of the Hoosier LGBT community, and has a focus on jobs and economic growth, but is her platform multifaceted enough to tackle the issues a Governor will need to address?

Issues they MUST tackle

1 - The number one issue all candidates will need to address is RFRA and LGBT protections statewide.  The disaster created by this unnecessary and discriminatory law stirred up many Hoosiers who call the supposed "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" nothing more than bigoted discrimination against the LGBT community.  The public outrage and business push forced a "fix" to the law, but that fix was a mere bandaid over a wound much larger than recognized, and the bleeding still has not stopped.  A Democratic platform, MUST contain a true goal and push for securing equal rights and protections for all LGBT Hoosiers in State law.

2 - Transparency and true ethics reform are issues facing elected officials across the country, and Indiana is not immune.  There must be clear laws calling for transparency in dealings of elected officials and reforms calling for stiff punishments for ethics violations that go beyond a simple "slap on the wrist".  It is time our elected officials are held accountable as normal citizens are for violating the laws of the state.

3 - Education related issues are always a must to be addressed, and 2016 is no exception.  After the onslaught of attacks on Indiana's Public schools over the past 12 years it is time to stop the destruction of public schools to the benefit of private and charter schools, and put appropriate financial support back in the hands of our public schools more equitibly and with more focus on teaching and less emphasis on testing and privatization.

4 - Reforms of the BMV, Department of Transportation, and infrastructure of highways and interstates is another major issue facing all candidates.  The BMV has faced questionable financial issues of late, the Department of transportation faces much scrutiny over leased toll roads and questionable response times to snow removal, and wasted time on upgrades and improvements to existing roads as well as financing new highways like the nearly $3 billion dollar I-69 project.

5 - Balancing a budget that will meet Hoosier needs and not the pet projects of select legislators.  The budget needs to be one that is less of a spending burden on tax payers yet puts needed resources back into public schools, public housing, welfare assistance, and healthcare expansion as well as cutting frivolous spending on pork barrel projects proposed by ALEC and Wall Street CEOs.

6 - Job growth and economic stability are important factors in maintaining the Hoosier population, as many young families move away to find more economic stability securing better incomes.  A strong and knowledgeable candidate must have a clear cut plan for growing jobs and increasing economic growth across the state to keep Hoosier families in Indiana and avoid more relocation out of state.

Other issues will need to be addressed to secure the nomination of either party, like stopping attacks on employee unions, women's rights to healthcare choices, and affordable education for all, but the main issues above are MUST agenda items for the Democratic Party to secure a win over the stagnant, bigoted, and discriminatory GOP in 2016.

TUESDAY TATTLER : WHO ARE THESE "Hoosiers for Quality Education"?

Formerly known as Hoosiers for Economic Growth, this Fred Klipsch group appears to be a false front for Quality Education in favor of stripping true PUBLIC schools of much needed funding in support of vouchers and private corporation profits through their "false advertisement" of being supportive of Indiana's school children.  Hoosiers for Quaility Education sits in the front line of attacks against State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz.  They endorse most all of the attempts of the House and Senate leaders, and Governor Pence, to strip Superintendent Ritz of her powers as an elected official and to siphon more financial support from Indiana's PUBLIC schools into the pockets of private and charter school leaders.  

The Institute for Quality Education, a partner with Hoosiers for Quality Education, has gone so far as to "steal" the Hoosier-Voices title for a section of their website. Both of these groups list Fred Klipsch as their CEO/Chairperson and Founder.  This move blatantly confuses true supporters of Indiana's traditional PUBLIC schools, by leading them to believe Hoosier Voices agrees with these bills and the support of the GOP agenda to further destroy our educational system by over testing, under funding, and stripping the ELECTED Superintendent of the duties and powers 1.3 million plus voters put her in office to see through.

Looking further into this group you find that none other than Tony Bennett, the man who lost to Glenda Ritz, acting as a "consultant" to them on matters of quality education.  Hoosier voters, both Republican and Democrat, saw through his inabilities and together voted him out.  Why would any group claiming to support quality education and the children of Indiana choose this man as a consultant in any manner.

Onto other matters with this group, their name and economic status, there are major questions and issues bordering on legality.  Public School supporter Justin Kuhnle points out...

"Hoosiers for Quality Education was formally known as a 501(c) group, Hoosiers for Economic Growth, who as of 2013, has contributed over $2.3 million dollars in 7 years to 99.4% of Republican candidates.  In that time frame, one lobbyist of interest emerges -- Lindsey Brown.  While your group claims in one point to have only spent $274k in the 2014 election, what's troubling, that according to filing, expenditures totaled $338k.  What's equally troubling that according to the filings with the Secretary of State's page in Indiana, your group is past due in it's Business Entity Reports.  Now, according to some filings, your chairman is Fred Klipsch, who entertains interesting ties to certain groups (Koch Bros. to name one specific.) Wait, isn't he also Pence's treasurer?  One particular agenda item of this group is "projects that explore how the principles of free enterprise and classical liberalism promote a more peaceful and prosperous society" and are issued for education grants.  What's lost on these groups, is free market, as an economic idea, is lost due to risk mitigation to be used at the expense of the taxpayers, with a potential ultimate goal of increasing standardized testing (with projections of 14 hours 30 minutes this year alone for 3rd graders -- thank you GOP mandated at the state level to let CTN/McGraw do their will unabridged) and when standardized tests don't completely destroy public education, privatization will.  So in the end, without releasing all your little secrets, Hoosiers for Quality Education, you are promoting this agenda under the guise of a new, "cheerier" name. "

This is the beginning of a series of posts to call out those who claim one thing and then act contradictory to their statements and goals.  This is part one of our mission to point out the discrepancies of this particular group and who they truly are.  There is so much more information to point out there needed to be a starting point.  Now we must continue to alert true "friends" and "supporters" of Indiana's PUBLIC schools as to who these characters are and what their ultimate purposes include.  We must stand up to, not only our legislators and Governor, but also to these "false support" groups and make sure our PUBLIC schools and our children are no longer harmed by their desire to make money for their friends and cronies across the country.


WE ARE HOOSIER VOICES FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION. THERE IS NO OTHER!!

#WeAreHoosierVoices

Just IN: Pence takes aim at liberating Hoosiers from oppressive and cumbersome freedoms

And Its About Time Already

By: Candace Shaw

Presidential hopeful #MikePence 'winning'
this week as he liberates Hoosiers from their
First Amendment rights.

In a strong arm maneuver with the goal of further emancipating Hoosier voters of their thoughts, choices, and time, Governor Pence and his education reform minions in the State House Education Committee passed legislation that would remove Glenda Ritz as the duly elected Chairman of the State Board of Education in favor of granting control of the Board to one of his political appointees.

And thank goodness, because I was beginning to think that Governor Pence just wasn’t getting all of those letters I wrote about how un-American it is to be bothered with voting, that most of us backwoods rednecks just aren’t educated enough to choose leaders at the State level. After all, I did attend and matriculate from the Indiana public school system, the great failure that it is: what could I ever know about freedom, representative government, and education? 

From a strategic standpoint, it is a heck of a lot easier to move indiscriminately forward with the Koch, Bush, and Walton family’s education reform agenda without having even one person in power that might actually know a little bit about public education. Really – who wants to get in the way of egregious political pandering to well-moneyed interests of such contemporary geniuses as those that brought us all-day pay one price passes on a flying luge, Texas oil-men accents for New Englanders, and lead-based toys imported from China? America would be stuck in a cultural abyss if it weren’t for the likes of these elephantine children that were born with a silver-spoon in their mouth.

At the end of the day, we all know that those wily Founding Fathers must have been wearing their powdered wigs a little too tightly when they ascribed to archaic and misguided philosophies from the Age of Reason that advocate robust debate, freedom of speech, and an elected representative government. Now if we could just convince Pence to solve this liberal media problem, we all would be able to breath a little easier knowing that we don't have to worry our pretty little heads about the First Amendment anymore.

WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE?

Where is the outrage?! Where are the 1.3 million voters who elected Glenda Ritz now?! We cannot sit back and allow the GOP to continue their assault on PUBLIC education by stripping power from the only Democrat elected to state office, just because their golden boy Tony Bennett lost. This is their blatant attempt to bring Bennett back to continue the destruction he started. Get fired up, become outraged, stand up, and be heard! There is NO time to wait!!!!

As early as election night 2012, when Tony Bennett fell to the mighty Ritz Army, Mike Pence and his corporate GOP cronies started planning for the perfect time and manner to throw out 1.3 million votes and oust the ELECTED Superintendent of PUBLIC Instruction.  Their attempts have been futile, to say the least.  They have gone after her in so many ways from a variety of directions, but she has remained strong in her convictions to serve the electorate and the children of Indiana.  

It is time once again for the Ritz Army to stand up, be heard, and be counted.  We must make calls, write letters, and send the message that 1.3 million voters cast their ballots for many reasons to Elect SUPERINTENDENT Ritz.  Those votes were not just as a referendum of Tony Bennett and his misguided reforms.  Those votes sent a message that Hoosiers want what is best for our children and their education.  The message was to step back the reforms, back down from the corporate push of Mitch Daniels, and to rise above the greedy profiteers of so called "reform".  The Ritz Army marched to the polls and declared freedom from ALEC, Bennett, Daniels, and from the corporate profiteering of the GOP campaign backers.  Now we must lace up our marching boots and take back control of our children's education by becoming even louder than Election night 2012.  

As you go through the next few days, take the time to rattle a few cages.  Make some noise and apply some pressure.  Call your legislators, call committee members, call the Governor's office, write letters to newspapers, talk to all your family and friends, and make every effort to inform the public around you what is happening and how it needs to be addressed.

Remember, Glenda Ritz IS the Indiana Superintendent of Public Instruction