V24, N39 Thursday, July 18, 2019 Holcomb prepares for his reelect Governor talks of his plans for teacher pay, combatting addiction, his marijuana policy By BRIAN A. HOWEY NEW ALBANY – The road to the Clark County Fair in Charlestown took Gov. Eric Holcomb and myself past State Rep. Jim Lucas’s town of Seymour, past the heroin-HIV torn city of Austin in Scott County, past the sprawl- ing River Ridge development between Jeffersonville and Charlestown as we conducted this inter- view. When we arrived at the fair, Hol- comb and Indiana Republican Chairman Hupfer will manage the campaign; Noel is the chairman. Kyle Hupfer were met by Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel. This will be Holcomb’s first gubernatorial campaign de- This will be the nexus of the governor’s reelection bid. Continued on page 3 Dems take the bait By JACK COLWELL SOUTH BEND – They took the bait. Just as Presi- dent Trump knew they would. Just as he made it almost impossible for them not to snap back, snap at the bait. Just as he planned. “Today, I voted to condemn the So, there they were on television, all four of them, racially offensive remarks the the ultra-progressive Demo- leader of our country made.” cratic congresswomen who stir controversy in their own - U.S. Rep. Susan Brooks, voting party caucus. There they were for a House resolution with saturation coverage for days, appearing as the face of condemning President Trump the Democratic Party. And right after House for ‘racist’ tweets. She was Speaker Nancy Pelosi had just one of four Republicans somewhat successfully to do so. Page 2 Howey Politics Indiana WWWHowey Media, LLC 405 Massachusetts Ave., Suite 300 Indianapolis, IN 46204 pushed them farther from the spot- go beyond the attacks on them. They www.howeypolitics.com light, portraying them as rogue rather avoided scary “socialist” rhetoric that than representative of the Democratic the president no doubt hoped they House caucus. Pelosi did so out of would spiel. But two did take the bait Brian A. Howey, Publisher concern that their strident calls for im- to call for impeaching the president, a Mark Schoeff Jr., Washington peachment and insistence on pushing call he welcomes as a sign to his sup- Cam Carter, copy editor for what now is politically impossible porters that Democrats are scheming Joel Weyrauch, copy editor could endanger chances of Democrats to overturn the 2016 election before Mary Lou Howey, Editor retaining control of the House. awaiting a new election. Trump baited a Twitter trap, The president knew exactly Jack Howey, editor emeritus insulting the four congresswomen of what he was doing. Same tactics he color and telling them to “go back” to used to win the presidency. Same Subscriptions the “totally broken and crime infested” tactics he has used throughout his countries “from which they came.” presidency. HPI, HPI Daily Wire $599 He clearly was targeting Con- He says the outrageous to HPI Weekly, $350 gresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez draw attention. Often it’s to distract Ray Volpe, Account Manager of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minneso- from some of his administration’s 317.602.3620 ta, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts problems and failures, usually it’s to email: [email protected] and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan. All are provide red meat for his base. Fre- American citizens. Three were born in quently it’s to bait outraged critics to this country and the other came here respond in ways that he wants. Contact HPI as a child. Some analysts are saying [email protected] While there was nothing funny that Trump made a mistake this time, about the president’s racist attack, it bringing Democrats together just Howey’s cell: 317.506.0883 was humorous to hear some talking when there were signs of friction be- Washington: 202.256.5822 heads on news channels questioning tween the speaker and the outspoken Business Office: 317.602.3620 the next morning whether the presi- progressives. dent would take back the outrageous Sure, all the House Democrats © 2019, Howey Politics comments or address it at all with the were unified in deploring the racist news media at the White House later attack on the progressive congress- Indiana. All rights reserved. that day. women. But that doesn’t mean Photocopying, Internet forward- Take back anything? Of future agreement on whether to seek ing, faxing or reproducing in course not. Never. impeachment now and to push for any form, whole or part, is a Address it at the White changes that cannot come until after violation of federal law without House? Of course. And he doubled the next election. down on his attack, saying they hate And the president was suc- permission from the publisher. America and are dangerous socialists, cessful in getting the four congress- maybe communists. women to appear as the face of the He goaded them into respond- Democratic Party. Many Democrats ing. They had to. looked proudly at the four congress- At their news conference live women as proof of the diversity of the on television, the congresswomen de- party. plored the president’s racist ways that The Trump base didn’t look Page 3 fondly at that diversity. And all the allegations that the four nominee is even scarier than he is, he can win reelec- are scary socialists – or “a bunch of communists,” as Sen. tion. That’s why he put out the bait to get the face of the Lindsey Graham said – is what Trump wants to spread Democratic Party pictured just the way he wants it. v beyond his base to others, especially in the key Middle America states where the election will be decided. Colwell has covered Indiana politics for the South The president knows he isn’t widely popular. But if Bend Tribune over the last five decades. he can again convince enough voters that the Democratic manager Mike O’Brien likened to building an airplane in Holcomb Interview, from page 1 mid-flight. It was the “100-day campaign” that ended with signed with structure and order. It comes as a new Morn- Holcomb’s stunning 7% upset of Democrat John Gregg, ing Consult Poll released this morning put his approval at who had been favored over the embattled Pence, who 50%, disapproval at 28% with 22% having no opinion. passed along only a fraction of his total war chest to Hol- Noel said of Holcomb, “He can relate to anybody comb. he’s talking to, no matter what the subject. I’ve seen him The 2016 Holcomb campaign was like shoveling handle people who have walked up and in my view to be coal in the engine to keep it running. This campaign is confrontational. I’ve seen some of those people vastly different. Holcomb sits on a $7.2 million war chest. wanting to pick a fight walking away scratching their heads. He relates well with everybody, wheth- er they’re a congressman, a state senator or state rep, or some kid walking up.” Minutes later, while at the Clark County Fair, Holcomb found himself surrounded by teachers wearing red ISTA shirts. Some governors and many politicians might have shied away from what would be perceived as a confrontation. Holcomb spent almost 15 minutes in an animated and sometimes emotional conversation with the educators. Holcomb told the teachers the state used $150 million to retire local school corporation debt freeing up funds for pay raises, adding that in addi- tion, “We designated $37 million for teacher appre- ciation grants. So is it not getting to you?” One of the teachers wearing a red ISTA T-shirt responded, “It’s not getting to us.” Holcomb turned to another teacher, saying, “Someone told me you were the local bargainer.” The man responded, “Yeah. It goes to the district, then we have to bargain for it.” The exchange signals a coming reckoning Gov. Holcomb with Indiana Republican Chairman Kyle Hupfer (left) who will for local school boards, who were also supposed run his reelection campaign, and Clark County Sheriff Jamey Noel (center), to benefit from an additional $763 million in K-12 who will chair the campaign. (HPI Photo by Brian A. Howey) funding increases in the biennial budget passed in April and extend the funding for teacher pay raises. It’s His approval in internal GOP polling is 61%. Only one designed to provide some immediate pay raises to teach- Democrat challenger, Dr. Woody Myers, has emerged. Indi- ers while the administration conducts a two-year study ana Republicans control 80% of all county offices and have to come up with a comprehensive strategy to increase a vast network in place. Indiana Democrats are confined to teacher pay. Holcomb told HPI after the exchange that the Indianapolis, Lake County and the university communities. state will seek metrics to determine how much of the $187 So, this conversation took place as we drove down million in new monies actually ended up in teacher pay- I-65. Around Seymour, there was about 20 miles of con- checks. struction as the interstate expands to six lanes, emblem- In 2016, Holcomb didn’t receive the nomination atic of Holcomb’s 20-year, $20 billion plan to revive the until late July when the 22-member Indiana Republican state’s crumbling infrastructure. I asked Holcomb about his Central Committee voted on a replacement after Gov. Mike vision for the state when he might leave office in 2025 if Pence resigned to run with Donald Trump on the presiden- he fulfills his heavy, front-running status. We talked about tial ticket.