NW Times Picks Daniels For Governor
This cannot be good news for the Jill Long Thompson campaign.
The NW Times of Indiana has endorsed Mitch Daniels for Governor over JLT. While I never think newspaper endorsements do much to move voters, it does show something when the premiere paper in an area where JLT should do well and Daniels not so well chooses the latter over the former.
Here are some excerpts.
Each has experience at the federal level, Thompson as a former congresswoman and Daniels as a former director of the Office of Management and Budget.
What separates them most is that Daniels has detailed plans and ideas without adding taxes, while Thompson has plans that lack specifics, including how she would pay for her generalist ideas.
Thompson, always on the attack, has tried to link Daniels to President Bush and the national budget deficit, but Daniels is no longer the president’s budget director. In fact, as governor, Daniels has pulled Indiana out of the red ink left by his predecessors and placed the state solidly in the black.
Here’s another on the lease of the Toll Road…
A key issue that Thompson has attacked Daniels over time and again is the long-term lease of the Indiana Toll Road for $3.8 billion. She is wrong, for the facts are on Daniels side. That lease, the centerpiece of Daniels’ Major Moves transportation initiative, generates more interest on the state’s invested money in just one year than the previous 50 years of tolls collected under the state’s operation.
Thompson says a new analysis she spawned shows the road was worth more than $11 billion over that time if the state would have increased tolls it charged.
In other words, she would have passed along a quasi tax increase.
Here’s what they said on jobs…
For economic development, Thompson proposes a complicated three-tier system for counties that would move away from tax incentives and reward companies for such things as hiring at least five new employees, providing half the cost of premiums for group health insurance and making other investments. But she provides no specifics.
Daniels helped create the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority to leverage economic development money to get more bang for our tax dollars. It is already helping attract jobs to the region and holds great promise for future job growth. And while it has helped bring jobs to the region, the program is being guided by local people.
Thompson hammers Daniels over the state’s rate of job losses, yet the fact is that Indiana’s unemployment rate is less than any of its neighbors and the state has been recognized nationally for its business climate. This during a time of economic crisis in the nation.
Here’s the bottom line…
In all three gubernatorial debates this fall, Horning proved the comedian and Thompson the vicious attack dog — neither of which Indiana needs for a governor. Daniels has been the sole voice of sanity and reason, offering solid ideas with the details showing they can work.
The bottom line is that Daniels has proven himself to be an out-of-the-box thinker who gets good things done for the people of Indiana. He was honored this year by Governing Magazine for his accomplishments and for being a strong state leader.
Like I said, newspaper endorsements don’t move voters, but they can certainly catch attention at times.
Editor’s note: A number of my friends in the newspaper business reminded me that the NW Times is a right-leaning newspaper. In that light, I also promise to post the endorsement of the Gary Post Tribune.
