Indiana is going in the wrong direction, Indiana Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Miller said this week while visiting the Kosciusko County 4-H and Community Fair, and if elected, Miller plans to return the state to its former greatness.

"We're back visiting the Kosciusko County Fair today because we are letting people know who I am and it's time for a change. That Indiana is going in the wrong direction and with their help and support, we can get Indiana moving again. We can start creating jobs. Indiana is No. 1 in job loss, 50th in job creation, No. 1 in home foreclosures and No. 1 in personal bankruptcies. We're going in the wrong direction. Because of my work with Advance America for over 22 years, I've got a proven track record for bringing people together," Eric Miller said.

"We started with just 10 people. Now we have a grassroots network that reaches over 700,000 Hoosiers. That grassroots network is made up of over 30,000 families, 1,400 businesses and over 3,500 churches. I've got a proven track record of working with the General Assembly. We've got to be able to work with Republicans and Democrats and I've done that over 22 years."

Miller set up his exploratory committee to run for governor in September 2001.

"One of the first counties I came to was Kosciusko County and that's because this county is very important to me as a candidate and as a state because of your economic base up here, because of jobs, you have a success story up here because people pull together, that's unlike the rest of the state," said Miller. "And also because of our top supporters are from up here."

But traveling the state, not just in Kosciusko County, Miller said he's talked to a large number of Hoosiers, many who share the same concerns.

"The biggest concerns that I find as I criss-cross the state of Indiana ... are probably taxes and jobs. People are really concerned about what is going to happen to their property tax bill, and they ought to be," said Miller. "Indiana used to have a $2 billion surplus. Over five years ago, I asked the Governor to support the measure that Doc Bowen, Sen. Adams and I came up with to slow down the growth of government spending. Had the Governor and the Democrat House supported what we did in the Republican Senate, we'd still have money in the bank to protect homeowners from massive property tax increase."

Also, Miller said Hoosiers want to know what happened to the $2 billion surplus.

"The short answer is, they spent it. During the current administration, spending will have gone up, by the time the current administration leaves office, by over 50 percent."

The solution for Indiana to get out of the red and into the black is to create jobs, Miller said.

"But you can't blame businesses for leaving the state because we still have an inventory tax. Property taxes are skyrocketing. Spending is out of control. You can't blame a business that's out of state in Ohio or Michigan for not wanting to come to Indiana because of the shape we are in. And you can't blame someone who is in Kosciusko County, who would like to have their family raised here, but they can't find a job maybe, or they'd want their son or daughter to come back home from college and find a job," he said. "Kosciusko County is unique. You are creating jobs. You are kind of holding your own in this county. That's not the case in many other counties."

To create jobs, everyone in the government from the federal to the local, as well as local business leaders, must work together and plan ahead and to create good-paying jobs.

"We want the best and brightest in Kosciusko County to stay here and raise their families. But that's not happening with a lot of families," Miller said.

Seventy-five percent of Indiana's graduates in science, math and technology are leaving the state because the state is not creating the jobs that they need to stay here in Indiana, he said.

"So we've got a brain-drain problem. If we work on that together - local, state and federal government, business and industry, community leaders - we can turn that around. The governor's the one that can pull people together," Miller said, "and that hasn't happened."

In regards to education as a whole, he said the state needs to support the teachers in the classroom and understand that the decisions in regards to education need to be made "right here in Kosciusko County. We need help, yes, financially, from the federal and state government. But the decisions need to be made at the local level."

Miller has two children - Katie, 17, a high school senior, and Matt, 14, an eighth grader. He is married to Vicki, a Wawasee High School graduate.

For more information on Miller, call toll free 866-259-2004; Indianapolis, 317-267-3570; fax 317-684-3414; or e-mail [email protected] [[In-content Ad]]