INDIANAPOLIS (NETWORK INDIANA) — Each candidate for Indiana lieutenant governor shares the same basic ideas regarding rural Indiana, but each party’s ticket has a different approach.
Property taxes, water management, economic development and government regulations dominated the debate Tuesday between Republican Micah Beckwith, Democrat Terry Goodin and Libertarian Tonya Hudson. The debate was held at the Indiana State Fair and hosted by the AgriInstitute and Hoosier Ag Today.
Goodin, representing gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick, said the Statehouse needs a Democrat overseeing operations because the state has been ran by Republicans for too long, “a government that does not let folks know what’s going on in our state. In other words, what we have with fixes is ‘band aid’ fixes.”
Goodin says the whole reason McCormick is taking a “wait and see” approach in developing a property tax plan is that replacing local tax revenue isn’t as easy as allowing the state to intervene. He calls the plan proposed by Senator Mike Braun a “knee jerk” plan that will result in the defunding of local police, fire fighters, and other local government bodies.
Republican Beckwith responded, “last time I checked the Democrat Party is the party of ‘defund the police’, not the Republican Party. We will make sure you have all of the money necessary to carry out the duties of local government.” Beckwith continued to argue state level bodies like the Economic Development Corporation focuses too much of it’s yearly effort on Indiana’s largest cities and not enough time and resources in small towns.
Libertarian Tonya Hudson, representing gubernatorial candidate Donald Rainwater, often got lost in the shuffle Tuesday while Beckwith and Goodin continued to argue back and forth in the later half of the hour-long debate.
Hudson laid out the basic ideals of the Rainwater ticket, “we need to roll back the rules and regulations, cut taxes, property taxes need to be abolished. You need to have more money, which will put a boost to the economy.”
You’ll get to choose which ticket is right for you on Election Day, which takes place November 5th.
