Listen to him, they do see that in him. I think some of the media coverage, they were interested in, what joe pctel that was really funny . After theime spent rally, signing posters, shaking hands. I mean, he loves that. He really enjoys mexican up with people. Mixing itly enjoys up with people. Even when people just want to cover what he tweeted that day, i hope that in the cacophony, folks are getting the essence of donald trump as well. Conway, joining us on the phone from new york. Thank you for being with us. Thank you, steve. All the best. This week on American History tv, on cspan 3. Saturday morning from 9 00 eastern to just after noon. Thousandh luck for a years. None will still say this was our finest hour. We are live for the 33rd International Churchill conference in washington dc, focusing on the former prime ministers friends and contemporaries. We have the author of masters and commanders how four titans won the war in the west. And later on saturday at 7 00, george p. Bush, statement and , and philenendez collins. The memory of that time was that this group of people knew they were going to die, but they went or, they were there. But there was something very noble and very oyou know, romantic. I learned it was not quite as black and white. That is one of the things i think would be good in this day and age, to put it into context. Sunday evening at 6 00 on american artifacts. Macarthur is upfront, and he is not wearing a weapon. He would lead to ta carrying attacks carrying nothing but his riding crop. His men would look at him and realize, if the kernel ca colonn take it, i can take it, too. We learn about the early life of douglas macarthur. And at 8 00. The great leaders also serve with conscience of chief, with the highest level of integrity, with their moral compass locked so we can always count on them to do the right thing when times get talk. The 10 commandments for president ial leadership. What they are and he provides examples of president s who excelled, and each one. For our complete American History tv schedule, go to www. Cspan. Org. The open indiana governors seat are running with mike pence running for Vice President. This debate was held at the university of Southern Indiana at evansville. They comes courtesy of the Indiana Debate Commission. A note to our viewers, there were some audio problems with this debate. Good evening and welcome to the Indiana Debate Commissions third and final gubernatorial debate. This is being televised from the performance center. The three candidates want to succeed governor mike pence, a republican who is Donald TrumpsVice President ial running mate. It is my pleasure to be your moderator this evening. It is great to be back here in evansville where i served for the Evansville Courier press from 2007 to 2012. Our first debate focused on education. The second was on jobs and the economy. We are now turning our attention to health and social issues. For the next hour the candidates will debate issues mostly focused on those topics. Many questions are drawn from those submitted by you, members of the voting public throughout indiana. Some will be asked in person here by members of our audience. None of the questions have been shared in advance with any candidates. Here are our candidates. Eric holcomb is indianas lieutenantgovernor and the republican candidate. John gregg is the democratic candidate and a former Indiana House speaker. Rex bell is the libertarian candidate and owns a Small Business. The candidates position on the stage and the order they answer questions were determined by a lot conducted by the debate commission. After i asked the question, each candidate will have one minute to respond. Each candidate will also have a 30second rebuttal opportunity depending on the need. Before the final question, each candidate will be given an opportunity to address a topic of his choice. This allow candidates to discuss a topic they believe is important but has not been touched on in the questions, or they can elaborate on a topic discussed previously. At this time, each candidate will make a one minute opening statement. We will begin with mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb its good to be back on the campus. Thank you to the Indiana Debate Commission for hosting all three of the debates and thank you to the cubs fan who are tuning in before the first pitch. I would like to say indiana has never been a more prosperous position. Unemployment is 4. 5 lower than the National Average. We have more people working in the private sector than ever before in our 200 year history of the state. A healthy savings account and a triplea credit rating. We have become a real leader nationally and internationally. Logistics, biosciences, manufacturing. To take us to the next level, i believe we are going to have to focus on our people, our people, our people. If we equip our youngest people at the preschool age, when have when they have a ticket to their success going into a college or career, we will take indiana to the next level. Now we will hear from thim mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg i want to thank my opponents for the civility of which we have conducted this debate. It is not like the zoo going on at the national level. I would be remiss if i did not congratulate them on their conduct. I want to serve as indianas 51st governor. I believe indiana can do better. I know all hoosiers deserve better. As governor i will focus like a laser on the economy, on high wage jobs, on attracting businesses, not scaring them away. In education as governor, we will stop teaching to test. We will see teachers as part of the solution, not the problem, and we will have prekindergarten for all students. As a former president of the university, i am ready to govern and im ready to learn. Check out our positions at greggforgovernor. Com. Next we hear from mr. Bell. Mr. Bell i would like to think the Indiana Debate Commission for including us this evening. Thank you for hosting this debate. I have a connection to this institution, my two oldest children graduated from here more years ago than i like to think. My plan for indiana is to get government out of your way. Things we can think individuals do better. We would like to attract more jobs and better paying jobs in indiana. We feel we can do that by a eliminating the property tax. Both for businesses and it individuals. This is what government does to attract jobs already to a few select businesses. We think we should do it for all businesses so we would have more businesses and jobs than we can keep up with. We would like to return control of the schools to the parents and teachers on local boards, get away from washington and the state. Let the people who care most about the children do it. Moderator thank you. Now, on to our questions. Our first question will be asked by danielle my Web Developer here at the university of Southern Indiana. As governor would you support the expansion of Needle Exchange programs, and how would you assist the increasing number of hoosiers who are dependent on illegal and prescription drugs . Our First Response will come from mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb this is an issue that is strangling not just our families but communities across the state and in fact across the whole nation. We need to continue to explore every way we can to not just solve the problem for one community but to kill the drug epidemic itself. Were going to have to focus making sure we are preventing, that we are enforcing and that we are treating most importantly, the families and individuals caught up in this scourge. Yes to the Needle Exchange program. We need to make sure that is more efficient. If we have to change the lot to do it, we will. It will require legislative action. It will require action to make sure locals can identify and act on the problem and not wait on the state to make sure they get the resources they need. This is an all hands on deck effort and it is a top priority in my administration. Moderator thank you mr. Holcomb, now to mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg thank you. If you have checked out the Public Safety plan, the first thing it mentions is about drugs and that crisis. Indiana is first in methamphetamine and fifth in 15th in overdose deaths. The truth of the matter is we have got to change the way we look at drugs. And yes, i support the Needle Exchange. For the dealer and the trafficker, they need to be locked up. To the violent criminals they need to be locked up. But to many hoosiers, we need to realize this is a medical issue and we need to treat it as such. We need to realize that rehabilitation works. For every dollar we within rehab, we save four dollars in Public Health and seven dollars in the criminal justice system. We can do better. We cannot afford just to continue to build prisons. Rehabilitation works. Check out our full program at greggforgovernor. Com. Moderator thank you, mr. Gregg. Now, mr. Bell. Mr. Bell thank you. If we look at what we have accomplished in the last 50 years, we have to say nothing. So, what are we doing . How are we going to continue this . We need to make a change. We need to stop treating drug addiction as a crime. We need to treat it as an illness. We need to decriminalize a lot so that when people need help they can step forward without fear of being arrested. Needle exchange program, a lot of political input on that, a lot of play from both sides. It is not something that cant he done privately. Needles cost seven cents. We have seen the instances in West Virginia and different states where private individuals and private organizations have set up Needle Exchange. At the local pharmacy. It is something we can do. There is a lot we can do that doesnt involve government force. Moderator our next question will also come from the audience and will be asked by amy kelly. She was the regional director for the Mentor Network which provides residential communitybased services for workers with disabilities. The Unemployment Rate for people with disabilities is 80 . Many people disabilities can and want to work. What will you do to create Employment Opportunities to have access to job training and careers that will increase their independence . We will start with mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg the first thing we need to do in indiana is to take a look at how we are doing our training right now. I have employers tell me they never talk about taxes, they talk about needing employees. We are doing training through the governors office. Some sort of Workforce Development office. Some through ivy tech. There is not a lot of communication. I think we can do a better job if we have all of these groups talking to one another so we find out what is working, what is not working, and what we are training people for. Another thing is the states adding processes have been changed where they really work to a detriment of the Small Business owner, people with disabilities and minorities. And veterans. The bids are too big for startups to bid on. We are going to make it easier for those folks to access. Moderator thank you. Mr. Bell, it is your turn. Mr. Bell when we talk about unemployment, and we look at it when everybody is involved, people without disabilities have a leg up on being able to get that job. What we need to consider, are there enough jobs out there . What can we do to create more jobs . As i mentioned before, if we did away with property tax, attracted more businesses to the state, we would have businesses competing for workers, instead of workers competing for the jobs. I think that is something we need to consider. The best thing we can do to help everybody, disabled or not, is make a situation where there are more jobs available. I think we can do that. As i say, with doing away with the property tax is going to solve a lot of the problems try to figure out another way to fix it. I think we already have the answer if we just take it. Thank you, mr. Bell. Now to mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb i agree with both on two issues. People are not talk about taxes because they are a reasonable level in the state of indiana and i take that as a compliment. And mr. Bell is correct in the sense that what we have to do is make sure we are building an economy and a jobs market magnet that lifts all boats. Specifically when it comes to those who are disabled, our work will never be done on this front. We need it to make sure we are focused on what they are able to do in transforming our Workforce Development can go a long way on this front. We need to make sure there are local providers like the Teaching Hotel providing skills to those who are disabled. Creative ways to get folks into the job force, so with the department of Workforce Development and with local partnerships this will go a long way. Moderator let me remind you that tonights debate focuses on health and social issues facing hoosiers. Our next question was supported by mitchell smith, a graduate student in indianapolis. Indiana is ranked 48th and Public Health funding. Just 39 per person. Indiana is ranked 41st and Overall Health and ranks high in the percentage of people who are obese and diabetic. Indiana is also ranked 47th in air quality. Given all of this, what do you plan to do about investing in the health of hoosiers . Let me remind folks watching via television and live stream that this is a question that has particular resonance here in southwestern indiana between local Health Indicators and the presence of coalfired power plants. We will turn first to mr. Bell. Mr. Bell there is a lot of parts to that question. Certainly we expect the government to protect us from fraud. If someone is polluting the air we need to step up and put an end to that. As far as the obesity problem, that is something we have to look at and say is that the role of government or something we can handle as a society . And i say, as a society we have a better shot handling that type of thing. A lot of this is considered how we can steer society towards these areas. Certainly whenever we have a Company Coming in with jobs and they want to keep a healthy workforce, they are invested in that type of a situation. It is what we need the work for, other than government protecting us from somebody, forcing something on us. We need to step back from that. Moderator now to mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb yes, there are many, many parts to that question. Some concern behavior and choices we make. If we are talking about obesity, we need to make sure that there are no food deserts. And that is a local issue we need to get to so folks are not restricted to healthy food options. We need to make progress in 2005 building out our trail systems. We need to make sure our communities are connected. Was a big part of our regional cities initiative, to make sure communities were vibrant, to encourage keeping in shape. If you are smoking, we know there is an adverse connection between smoking and obesity. I would encourage folks to take advantage of 1800quitnow. There are all kinds of Resources Available at our family and social services agency. I would encourage people to call if you are under the grips of smoking. 1800quitnow. Mr. Gregg indiana does rank so badly when it comes to Public Health, you can directly relate that to the priority we put on it. Being one of the five lowest states. We see that in the obesity. We see that in the diabetes. And all of the other issues. I met with people from riley childrens hospital. We talked about the problem we have in indiana. In some cases just basic education would go a long way helping with infant mortality rate. Sometimes it is education. Sometimes it is telling mothers not to sleep with their children and sometimes it is educating them not to smoke. We see problems in indiana caused by Public Health by the lack of priority we put in this area. Like our caseworkers supposed to be dealing with just 12 cases , but in reality, they are dealing with up in the 20s and higher. An Adult Protective Services person dealing with 200300. This is no way to take care of this. Thank you, mr. Gregg. Released many questions on keith cooper, a man who was released after a witness recanted and dna evidence cleared him. Governor pence has refused to mr. Cooper. And has instructed him to go back to the courts. How do you believe the power of the pardon should be used, and would you use it in his case . We will start with mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb reviewing what i have on this case, which as i am not governor yet, i want to make sure i can actually talk to mr. Cooper and review the facts of the case. I understand where governor pence is coming from. This would be an unprecedented pardon. Having said that, knowing the facts as i do now, and wanting to accumulate more, i would look forward to quickly exonerating, quickly pardoning, swiftly if the facts bear that out. Thank you, mr. Holcomb. Now to mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg based on what i have read i would pardon. I would pardon him immediately. I have traveled the state. This has been a huge news item. And a concern. I think any governor would realize this is something you need to do on a casebycase basis and know the facts much like my friend mr. Holcomb said. But there comes a time when you have to make a decision. The facts in this are pretty clear. I take these charges seriously. Ive had these discussion was members of state police alliance, the organization of our state troopers who have endorsed me. Im very proud of that endorsement. As also the members of the fraternal order of police so i take crime and law and order seriously. But when the system has made a mistake we need to correct it immediately and move on. Moderator thank you, mr. Gregg. Now, mr. Bell. Mr. Bell i think he should be pardoned immediately. I follow this case. You have to look at it and say whenever Something Like this comes up, definitely the burden of proof should be on the state always. If there is any question at all, and certainly in a case like this where there is no question the man was innocent, he needs to be pardoned. I cant understand. It is one of those situations where we are saying we need to protect the government instead of the individuals. We should not be doing that. The individual should always be first. If we start worrying about we are worrying about the protocol of what has happened before, what kind of precedent it would set, if we set a precedent for releasing innocent people from prison that would be a good one to set. Moderator we are now going to turn back to the audience. An evansville attorney will ask the next question. What role will your faith play in your decisions you make as governor . Where do you draw the line between your own religious beliefs and what is best for the interest of all hoosiers . Moderator mr. Gregg will respond first. Mr. Gregg im a person of faith. Like many people in our nation i happen to belong to the christian faith. But i also realize there are people of other faiths and some people of no faith and i respect that. I think that is the same way you will find that i will govern. I will respect all peoples. I think that is what we are called to do. I will take an oath to uphold our constitution and treat people equally. My faith is something that is important to me. Im not running to force my ideology or my faith on someone else. Rather than stand on the street corner, i will use a biblical analogy, i would rather people know that im a person of faith by my actions. Moderator very good. Next, mr. Bell. Mr. Bell my faith is important to me. It is not something i want to force on other people. If you have done any reading it all on the libertarian party, that is what we are all about. We look at the individual. Every individual has rights. And you know, if you get 40 individuals together they do not have more rights than a single individual. For me to decide that the bulk of the nation is a christian nation that we should follow christian teachings, that is not for me to say. That is not for me to decide for you. Certainly we would separate our faith from our governing ideals. I hope everybody would do that. Moderator thank you. Mr. Holcomb, bring it home. Lt. Gov holcomb as governor, i too would respect all faiths and those of no faith at all. I consider myself a matthew six christian. Someone who tries to live out my faith. I think there are many lessons in the good book that instruct me privately and i will continue to take that approach as governor. One that would absolutely try to live it and not have to profess it. I understand the power of witness but you can get that in watching how someone actually lives their life. Moderator thank you. Speaking of expressions of faith and values, one voter asked about the indiana ban on the sale of alcohol on sunday. Would your Administration Support modifying or eliminating the ban . Why or why not . We will start with mr. Bell. Mr. Bell i have always maintained anything legal on saturday should be legal on sunday. [laughter] mr. Bell regardless of how i feel about it. Im not a drinker. I am not going to buy it on saturday. I am not going to buy it on sunday. But if somebody wants to, this is left over from the blue laws. You couldnt sell cars on sunday. You could sell cold beer in one situation and in another you cant. You get into situations where a person, a store can be selling warm beer. And if the power goes off and the heat goes out, and the beer gets too cold, all of a sudden he has broken the law. I think that is something we need to look at and do away with the blue laws, and allow sunday sales. Thank you, mr. Bell. Next, mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb i dont favor it. I think alcohol is still a legally controlled substance in the state of indiana. We need to make sure we are able to do that. Making sure our excise police have resources, this doesnt put an undue burden on folks who need to have a drink on a sunday. I think they can plan accordingly six days prior. Now, mr. Gregg mr. Gregg well, when you plan for things, right you didnt plan on a lot of questions, that is not one i thought we would be asked about. How people would decide how they would vote for governor. I would want to see a piece of legislation. Let me tell you why. It is a controlled substance. The idea that anybody can sell it without having proximities and all, there is some concerns on that. I think if the legislature set me a bill to allow sunday sales i would likely sign it. Having given it a lot of thought, i would want to see how that debate played out and i would want to listen to retailers and consumers. But contrary to what my mother is going to say, she is not going to like my answer, i would likely sign it. Moderator we are going to continue on the theme of controlled substances with a question from jason, a retired air force nurse from the indianapolis area. Jason wanted to know, why is it that we have not allowed cannabis to become a medical treatment for children with untreatable diseases . We allow medicine such as ketamine, a derivative of pcp to be used in pediatric surgery, methamphetamine to be used to treat adhd, and oxycodone for pain. But we will not allow patients to even try cannabis. The question is why. We will start with mr. Holcomb. Lt. Gov holcomb having a discussion about legalizing drugs at this time seems to be offkey. When you read about story after story about the drug busts occurring that have marijuana and heroin, this is a great concern. I understand the distinction. Between medical marijuana and legalizing it wholesale. I would want to talk a lot more with the medical professionals who say there are no other alternatives for these children. And make sure that the children are receiving the treatment they need and if only medical marijuana could suffice. Then i would entertain that as an option. But right now in the world were are living in, expanding or legalizing drugs is not on my list. Now to mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg this is a very serious matter. I would support as i did in 2012, i would support medical marijuana. I think this is something that if it would be a benefit to a patient and they should be allowed to use it. Since the last election i lost my father to cancer of the esophagus and it was a very pain ful death. And not a fun one to observe in the last year of dads life. The doctor never said anything about cannabis and medical marijuana, but had they have, we should have had that right to let him alleviate that pain. I would support medical marijuana as i did the last time. Moderator mr. Bell. Mr. Bell i would support medical marijuana and i think, we are going to see after this election, there is going to be states datemore supporting it already. Allowing it. It is a matter if indiana is going to do it. I dont know exactly when by we when, but eventually, are going to allow it. It is something we need to step out in front of and get it done. There is so much we can do, not only helping people that need it for sickness. It has been proven to be a help in alleviating some of the opiate addictions going on around here. That we are having so much trouble with. So there is more the and one reason to legalize it. And you know, along with that, you know, even with the Industrial Hemp that we need to bring back in. It is a plant that has been made illegal years and years ago and we need to relegalize it. Moderator mr. Holcomb, would you like to have a 30 second rebuttal opportunity . Mr. Holcomb i remain where i was standing. I have not flipflopped. Our next question was suggested by a resident of indianapolis. Recently a federal judge put on hold house 37. It was described as the most restrictive antiabortion bill to come out of the state legislature. What is your position on abortion and Birth Control . We will start with mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg i have always been and considered myself a prolife democrat. With that said, i do not believe it is my business to interject myself and issues between a woman and her physician. I do not believe legislatures should be practicing medicine. I have always supported the funding of planned parenthood, even though personally being opposed to abortion, because the truth of the matter is, all of the money that they get from taxpayers goes to providing Birth Control and health screenings. And cutting down on stds and mammograms. I mean, that is what the money is for. If we are talking about birth. If the problem is unwanted children, we need to make that more accessible. I would have vetoed that though. There were many members of the legislature who had been prolife for many years who got up and spoke out against it in a bipartisan fashion. It stops millions of dollars of research on alzheimers and cancer and things like that. It is just wrong. Moderator very good. Mr. Bell . Mr. Bell certainly, i am opposed to abortion. I understand that it is a problem that will never be solved. I think that in a situation like this bill, stepping in between a woman and her doctor, that is wrong. I think one of the best things that we can do about abortion is make sure that we keep the federal government out of it, allow the states to make these decisions. I do not think every state will decide the same. I believe if someone is 100 prolife or 100 prochoice, they will never be satisfied by a decision handed down by a judge anyway. We need to take it back to the states and get the federal government out of it. Moderator we conclude the question with mr. Holcomb. Mr. Holcomb i am prolife. I understand the debate has been going on for decades and there are good people on both sides. Having said that, i personally have the right to take another innocent life. While my agenda will focus on economic development, community development, excellence in education, and Good Government and taxpayer value, if legislation comes down to my desk, i will be working with those legislators before it arrived so we can avoid any misimpressions that may have come along the way. Moderator thank you very much. Now we come to the segment of the debate where candidates speak on a topic of their choice. Mr. Holcomb will go first and can talk for up to one minute. Mr. Bell will follow on the same topic for a maximum of two minutes. Mr. Gregg will also speak on that topic for up to two minutes. And then we will conclude the first round with mr. Holcomb, who can close out the topic with up to one minute of rebuttal. The other candidates will have the same opportunity to speak on a topic of their choice following the normal rotation and format. We start with mr. Holcomb. Mr. Holcomb my topic involves Public Service. I have long appreciated serving a cause greater than myself starting with the u. S. Navy. That took me to service at home and abroad will stop i later went to work for other strong leaders, including former governor daniels and a United States senator and now our governor, mike pence. When he called, i was not seeking the job, but i jumped up in a nanosecond and put aside what i was working on at the time to help a cause greater than myself. Because of Public Service, we are able to do so much when we are focusing, working on leaders throughout my life, i have learned a few things. I have learned to focus and prioritize. That is why i am laser focused on my fourpoint plan to make sure that we get indiana to the next level. Moderator mr. Bell, you have two minutes. Mr. Bell certainly Public Services important. I think a lot of what we need to do is Public Service is designed to put government in a position where it is helpful to everybody. To guide government to a position where it is helpful to everybody, not transferring money from one citizen to another, not making our educational choices for us. I think one of the best things we can do as Public Servants is to lead to the government out of peoples way. That is what i will try to do. I understand there are people who have been involved in politics their entire lives. And you know, you get into a situation where it is the same group of people making the same rules and you know, basically i believe we should not be making rules, we should be removing rules. There is not a law to protect people from forces abroad, it should not be on the books. Moderator thank you, mr. Bell. Mr. Gregg, you have two minutes. Mr. Gregg thank you. I believe in Public Service. I am very proud to have been a candidate for governor. And, i am proud of many years ago when i served in the General Assembly and indiana many years ago. I am equally proud of having been a Small Businessmen, having made a payroll, having been a president of the university. I learned when i was a member of the Indiana House of representatives, not one party had the best ideas. Ideas should not be called democrat or republican, they should be good or bad. I was the speaker for six years and in two of those years, we were tied. Almost all politicians you hear say i can work with the other side of the aisle. Trust me, when youre 5050, you work with the other side of the aisle. The entire time i was speaker, the senate was controlled by the republican party, so every piece of legislation cutting the inventory tax, cutting our excise tax, funding schools and infrastructure, those all landed on the governors desk with democrat and republican support. I am very proud of that. I have traveled the state, i have listened and learned. They are tired of partisan politics. I have a record of reaching across the aisle and i am very proud that in my last speaker of the house, i won a National Award by governing magazine for being public official of the year. But i shared it with the republican speaker of the Indiana House of representatives. We won the award by working together in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation on tax restructuring and doing away with indianas excise tax. Moderator thank you mr. Gregg. Mr. Holcomb, you can close it out. Mr. Holcomb one of the things i am most proud about in my State GovernmentPublic Service, coming to State Government in 2005, was that i saw people who used to be cynics, for used to believe that things could not get done start to believe because there were person after person who never thought i69 would get done in their lifetime. We have made a record investment in education. In the last budget, we increased it by 474 million. Record investments in infrastructure. Record, creative, innovative investments into health care, insuring over 400,000 hoosiers. Under our helping indiana plan 2. 0. These are the things we avenge able to do in the last 12 years in a bipartisan way and get the state moving again. Moderator thank you mr. Holcomb. The next round will begin with mr. Bell. You have one minute on a topic of your choice. Mr. Bell i guess i get to use a microphone now. The topic of my choice goes to the same thing. Everything that we do as a government, we need to look at it, is this the proper role of government . As i pointed out before, should government be taking money from one citizen and forcibly giving it to another citizen . Should government be taking money from citizens and giving it to businesses . And we say, no, that is a decision that people should make. Which businesses they want to which charity they want to support. I think that by eliminating the property taxes, we cannot allow people and society to attract businesses, which is what we should be doing. What government should be doing is taking all of the taxes and using them on the road. We should eliminate incarceration for victimless crime. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Bell. Mr. Gregg i understand the concern about government but there is a very specific role for government in our lives and one of them is on a our state infrastructure. Indiana has got a problem with the infrastructure and we all know it. You do not have to travel to evansville to know the truth of the matter. Because the truth of the matter is we have a 200 billion deficit on infrastructure. My running mate and i put out a Detailed Program with specifics where we go to the next generation trust fund, 500 million, and leverage that while money now, while money as that an alltime low to come up with over 3 billion additional funds for the cities and towns for roads and bridges as we are going over the next 10 years and it creates 56,000 jobs. This is so important that we do that. One in five bridges in our state is going to be obsolete in just 18 years. Now, we take the second pot of money and we create the closure and we create the Hoosier State infrastructure bank. Because there are some things that are very important. Drinking water, green spaces, cultural, broadband conductivity. This money will be so local communities can borrow money and this would allow them to use it to improve the quality of life issues to attract and retain capital. I am concerned about the state advance. 14 of the people in indiana do not have dependable cell service or highspeed internet. And we can operate like that in the future. We need money for infrastructure and our plan will put money aside so we can Start Talking that, double tracking the south shore from south bend to chicago. We can talk about finishing i69, and we can talk about the new bridge between evansville and henderson. Moderator thank you mr. Holcomb. Mr. Bell, you can close out. Mr. Gregg i am mr. Gregg. I finished. Moderator sorry. Weve only spent about 10 million, and you dont even know who is who. Happen when a look at my notes. [laughter] see what happens when i look at my notes. [laughter] it is all yours. Mr. Holcomb if i may. I think mr. Bell brings up a great point and it drives at what kind of state we want to be and what role do you want the State Government to play in your daily life. One of the things i am most proud for as i went through these statistics earlier about our rankings in the country. It does not just represent numbers, it represents opportunities, and we have been able to make so much progress. At the same time we remain a free state. We are ranked the fourth freest in the country. That is something to be said, something to be said for that. And at the very same time we have been providing this government service. We have done it at a 1975 state employee level. We are leaner and cleaner and much more efficient at what we do. Absolutely the infrastructure is a part of state responsibility. How are you going to pay for it . We have an honest disagreement, mr. Gregg and i, on how we are going to pay. I do not want to simply reflexively rain accounts. We want to create a program that was a 3. 8 billion Infrastructure Program that took us from talking about i69 to actually building i69. It took us from talking about completing the heartland to a new bridge in madison. And local projects all over the state of indiana that sat for decades. I69 was talked about during the korean conflict. We finally found a way to not just talk about it but to actually do it. And so, absolutely we need to focus on a longterm, datadriven, sustainable infrastructure system that puts us not just raiding and borrowing. We are still paying on bonds. I do not just want to go down that route. I want a comprehensive, datadriven plan. Not politically driven. Moderator mr. Bell . Mr. Bell a lot of this comes back to the proper role of government. When we talk about bombs that we are paying on and when they tore down the hoosier dome when it cost more to tear down than it cost to build in the first place. It is a matter of when government steps in, things that it should not be involved in. We talk about the roads, certainly everybody wants good roads and bridges. We can accomplish that by applying 100 of road use taxes to the road. You know, we do not need to be taking road use taxes and build walking trails. We talked about the infrastructure in town for water and sewage, certainly that is a necessary item, but it is tied in politically and people are a afraid to raise rates to pay for water and sewage. Instead of running to the State Governments, companies should be taking care of that on their own. Moderator thank you, mr. Bell. And now, for my final round, mr. Gregg. Mr. Gregg thank you. Thank you for recognizing me. [laughter] mr. Gregg you know, you will hear a lot in this campaign about indiana, the state of indiana. I am not one that accepts the status quo. I will grant and concede to both of my opponents that indiana has low unemployment, but it is nothing to brag about. Lets talk about actuality. We do have low unemployment. The actuality is that we have dropped to 38 per capita income. What that means for a family of four in princeton or fort wayne, they make 7,000 a year less than the average American Family we can do better than that. Our wages are growing slower than the rate of inflation and slower than in our neighboring states. They are going slower than what they are in kentucky to the south of us. We need a plan that is in writing and detail that focuses in five main areas which i will explain at the end. Moderator thank you, mr. Gregg. Mr. Holcomb . Mr. Holcomb the status quo is in large part why governor Mitch Daniels got elected in 2015. I do not think that the reforms that we brought about and i was associated with, proud to be a part of that crew that came into the government, we were operating in a sea of red ink, drowning in it, in fact. The status quo was pushed aside and we set out for infrastructure reform. We ushered in a come back. Because of reforms, some of which were controversial. Back to that cynicism point i made earlier. After you Start Building the roads and have paid cash for them, not borrowed, not bonded, not left it for a future generation to pay for, but when you have the ability to have your economy dialed in to the point where we have become a magnet, now we are outpacing the National Average in terms of hightech jobs. We are tripling the National Average. We have Companies Like salesforce saying, we are going to hire another 800. In evansville, indiana, they are thisienced iing renaissance downtown. That is happening because we are not in another status quo. Moderator mr. Bell. Two minutes. Mr. Bell we have been in the status quo with some minor changes over the last several years. You know, we talk about the roads and what each administration has done and maybe one does it a little better than the other. We are still in a situation where we are not doing all that we can do. We talk about being the fourth freest state in the country. You know, i think we should strive to be the first freest state in the country. We talk about jobs and the wages being lower. Well, a lot of that has to do with not having enough jobs, not having companies to have to compete for workers. Certainly if we do away with property tax and attract more businesses here, we are going to have more jobs, not enough people to fill those jobs. That naturally drives wages up. As far as having a lower wage scale in indiana, we need to remember also that we have a lower cost of living here in indiana. My son that i mentioned graduated from usi, moved to san diego, california last year. From, he was down in olive branch, mississippi, at the time and he told me he went from being one of the richest men in olive branch, mississippi, to being one of the poorest men in san diego. I am very proud of the fact that we can live cheaper here than other places. Certainly we want to raise wages every chance we get but i think we need to keep things in our mind in proportion as to where we are. Moderator thank you, mr. Bell. Mr. Gregg . Mr. Gregg hoosiers are working two and three jobs to get by. The number of people that are working two jobs is because we have not focused on high wagepaying jobs in indiana. Information technology, biotechnology, logistics, advanced manufacturing, and the unbelievable changes in agribusiness. If you look at our detailed plan , you will see we have one with great details. We talked about establishing a growth and Opportunity Fund to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit, where people with capital and to need seed capital can come to get money and we certify venture capitalists. We allow that to be increased to 20 and 30 like kentucky and tennessee have done. We allow the transfer and sale of that credit. There are so many things we can do. Study the taxes as to how they affect the momandpop businesses. You know, the Indiana Chamber of commerce says that one thing we have to do is be a welcoming community, and that means we have to pass civil rights protection for members of the lgbt community. Moderator thank you, mr. Gregg. Now, one of the great joys of my life, in addition to being a journalist, is serving as the president of the American Society of news editors. One of our first tenets is open government and the first amendment. The first question is up my alley. Indiana governors of both parties have considered open meetings as vital to the society. The recent Indiana Supreme Court decision refusing to weigh in on whether legislative records were subject to Public Disclosure has been criticized as effectively shielding both the legislative and executive branches from the peoples ability to learn what the State Government is up to. Would you support more robust Public Access to the inner workings of government and Court Oversight . Why or why not . Gentlemen, you have 30 seconds to respond and we will start with mr. Holcomb. Mr. Holcomb well, i would, considering it is the taxpayers that pay for the Office Equipment that we use to interact with the public. Having said that, we want to make sure that if the constituent signs a privacy authorization form, and does not wish their private information to be known, therein lies the balance. Certainly if were using public property to conduct public business, the public deserves the right to see. Moderator the next response will come from mr. Bell. Mr. Bell certainly, this goes back to the pardon we talked about earlier. The burden of proof should always be on the government anytime a citizen asks to know something about the government. They have the right to know that. It goes back to who was in charge. Certainly the citizens should be in charge, not the government. 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