BEDFORD – On Saturday, April 20th, the Lawrence County Republican Party Lincoln Day Dinner was held in the Historic Indiana Limestone Building at 405 I Street.
Five of the six Republican gubernatorial candidates were in attendance – Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch, Senator Mike Braun, Former Attorney General Curtis Hill, Businessman Brad Chambers, and Mike Pence’s Former President of Economic Outlook Eric Doden. Notably, gubernatorial candidate Jamie Reitenour was not in attendance.
WBIW attended the event to ask each candidate a question. The questions were written with the research of each candidate’s political positions, standing in the race, and career history.
Senator Mike Braun was asked, “If you are the nominee for the Republican party, you will likely face off with Jennifer McCormick in the general election, who is running on a platform of education. As of today, only 30% of students pass the ILEARN testing. What are your plans to improve education and state testing in Indiana?” Braun responded with the following answer:
“Number one, I’m going to make sure there are all kinds of choices that parents can choose from to educate their kids. I’m going to be offering even more choices to parents. I’m going to try to make sure that we have certain standards that you’ve gotta meet. I’m going to look at the most entrepreneurial way to do it. I’m also going to make sure that we emphasize when you’re in middle school and high school, building skills, that if you don’t choose to get a further degree, you’re going to have something to take into the marketplace. That’s called career and technical education.”
Former President of Economic Outlook Eric Doden was asked, “On your website, you have committed to fighting for Transparency in Healthcare. You say you will incentivize hospitals to invest in the community rather than Wall Street. How do you plan to do this? You also say that you will fight for transparency in hospital charging. What is your plan for that?” Doden responded:
“Yeah, so globally we have six non-profit hospitals that have $35 billion dollars of cash profits on Wall Street. What we know is that Wall Street invests in the coastal cities in Western United States so we’re calling for $10 billion of that to be put in an Indiana Main Street fund. So, that’s a negotiation we’re going to have with the hospitals when we become Governor. Getting them to re-invest will not only benefit communities but actually benefit the hospitals. As we grow the population and improve communities and make life better for everybody. We’ll actually produce more people in our communities that will ultimately help the hospitals. So it’s a win win, but we really believe that Hoosiers gave them these profits, they really should be re-investing in the people of Indiana. So it’s really going to be us working with them, to collaborating with them, you know? So we’ll go from there and see what they’re willing to do, and we’re excited about that opportunity.”
Former Attorney General Curtis Hill was asked: “In 2020, you were found liable for sexual misconduct. How do you plan to move forward despite your past, and how do you plan to make up for this in the eyes of voters? How do you plan to move the government forward and hold people accountable for their actions?” Here was Hill’s response:
“Well, that was a political attack and we’ve already moved past it. We’ve had lawsuits that were filed that have been dismissed, so we’re moving forward. Our constituency is completely understanding, the people want a Governor who’s courageous, who’s battle-tested and knows how to stand up and fight despite my past history.”
Questions were presented to Suzanne Crouch’s and Brad Chambers’ campaigns for a response at a later date, but the campaigns have yet to respond. A question was also prepared for Jamie Reitenour, however, she was not in attendance.
