Gilroy Sees Education, Taxes As Top Issues

Secretary of State Sue Anne Gilroy, who is seeking re-election this year, visited Warsaw on Tuesday.

Gilroy said her top priorities are education and tax reform.

"Education reform must come about," Gilroy said. "People may not want to hear this, but Indiana's not doing well. We are not preparing our young people to take jobs of the future. We need young people that can read and write plus have a strong work ethic. That latest ISTEP+ test said we're not cutting the mustard."

Gilroy wants to get back to basics, saying that taxes can be lowered, education improved and the government can be open and accessible. But without strong families, she said, "we're not going in the right direction."

Gilroy believes the best approach to education is to take a business point of view. The need for businesses to create "zero-defect" products that will compete with the world will require a zero-defect workforce. The consumers of the education system, employers and parents, are not getting what they pay for, she said.

She also said that a partnership between schools and families needs to exist. If the parents have authority and responsibility, the teachers have authority and flexibility, and are held accountable, "the better off we'll be."

She also said that Washington D.C. and Indianapolis can't do it. The only way to get it done is to deregulate, which, according to Gilroy, Gov. O'Bannon was elected to do.

Accusing O'Bannon and Speaker of the House John Gregg, of "biding their time, waiting to get out," Gilroy said the lack of leadership is the main problem facing legislation today.

"If we're going to have real property tax relief, two people could have gotten it done, the governor and speaker of the house, and they've made a decision not to," said Gilroy. "The clock is ticking."

In fact, Gilroy claims O'Bannon came in with two priorities - education and tax reform - but he "squandered a honeymoon period."

Noting the $1.8 billion surplus, Gilroy said she doesn't understand why the talk about tax reform includes a raise in taxes instead of a reduction.

"I've found that when the government gets your money, it's going to spend it," Gilroy said. "There's no discipline in spending when you've got a growing and huge surplus. They've just forgotten whose money it is in the first place."

Gilroy, who launched her 1994 campaign in Kosciusko County, said that it "feels like a second home" because she knows so many people here.

She said many of her changes in the way government deals with business were because of one businessman, who told her, "If there's one thing you can do, Sue Anne, when you get to the state house, it's convince the state government that we (small business) are not the enemy."

While she cannot remember the individual's name, she has remembered the request for four years.