Dist. 30 candidates find little in common
Karickhoff, Williams discuss healthcare, economics, state surplus at Oct. 5 forum
(Editor’s note: Because of the importance of the issues discussed at the Oct. 5 forum, and the depth of the responses from the candidates, The Kokomo Lantern split up the coverage of the event over multiple articles Today, the State Representative Dist. 30 race is featured.)
State Rep. Mike Karickhoff and his opponent, Robin Williams, fielded questions at the Howard County Candidates Forum on Oct. 5. The responses boiled down to Karickhoff describing what he has accomplished in the realms of healthcare, spending, and economic development, while Williams highlighted the problems that state still faces.
Much like the debate between State Sen. Jim Buck and his opponent, Josh Lowry, that preceded this exchange of ideas, there weren’t many points of intersection. There was, however, much for voters to consider.
Panelists from the Greater Kokomo Chamber of Commerce, the Kokomo Tribune, and the Howard County League of Women Voters posed questions to the candidates. Following are the responses to each given by Karickhoff and Williams.
Indiana ranks low on so many health rankings nationwide. How can we improve these rankings?
Williams
We have a serious problem with the abortion ban and women’s healthcare in this state. At this time, it is extremely important to look at the infant mortality rate, which is one of the highest in the country.
We have healthcare deserts where women do not have adequate access, especially in rural areas, to OB/GYN care needed to see healthy births come to fruition. Thirty-two counties, a third of our counties, do not have OB/GYN services available. There is a disproportionate effect on women of color. Data shows that the maternal mortality rate is nearly twice that of white women. This is an essential issue that we have to look at.
I speak about women, but I also should speak about healthcare in general. There are healthcare deserts where we don’t have care for anyone, much less women. We have to look at the economic impact on our social services system, too, and that affects our overall healthcare. At the Statehouse, I will fight for the rights of everyone to have better healthcare.
Karickhoff
Certainly, we have challenges before us. It is true that there are probably 32 counties that don’t have an OB/GYN. But you know what? Indiana is urbanizing. It’s a problem in so many areas. It’s not limited to healthcare. Our small, rural schools don’t have the same curriculum opportunities because they can’t teachers to teach in rural areas.
We see small, rural communities with school corporations that are gone. When I cam to Kokomo in 1985, we had just gone through school consolidation. And one of the most expensive things we have today is the number of school corporations we have. It’s a topic of discussion even now because we are spending so much on overhead.
So, as our state urbanizes, and populations go away, we aren’t able to provide the same level of care in rural areas than we can in urban areas.
Every opportunity I’ve had to increase taxes on smoking, I’ve voted for it. I voted for the smoking ban in Kokomo. I voted for it down in Indianapolis. - Mike Karickhoff
But what have we done? It has been on our radar. It’s not as if we haven’t done anything. One of the best things we did was telehealth. Thank goodness we passed telehealth. I co-authored that bill. I’ve not been in the healthcare arena much, but one of the bills I authored was telehealth, which empowered rural providers to do Zoom calls. We did this before the pandemic hit. We were able to work the kinks out so when the pandemic hit, we were able to provide services to people.
I’ve always been an advocate of HIP 2.0. I think we should expand it if we can get the federal waivers. It is well liked. It’s a good program.
Every opportunity I’ve had to increase taxes on smoking, I’ve voted for it. I voted for the smoking ban in Kokomo. I voted for it down in Indianapolis. Smoking is something that hooks our children at a young age. If we can stop smoking, it’s going to make a difference in our health outcomes.
We need to lower prescription drug prices. One of the things we can do is pressure our congressional folks to allow us to do prescriptions across state lines, and to allow insurance companies to do business across state lines. Those are the main things I worked on the in the healthcare arena.
Do you see a better use of surplus funds than refunding taxpayers?
Karickhoff
I think paying down debt and giving people their money back is an appropriate use of reserves. I’ve been in the General Assembly long enough to see tremendous swings in our revenue stream. We had a structural deficit of over $1 billion when I came into the General Assembly. We committing to spending $1 billion more than we were bringing in.
You don’t have to do that very long before you dig a deep hole. And then when you do have that debt, there is interest tied to it. We passed a balanced budget amendment several years ago. We took the vote to the people and asked if they wanted us to have a structurally balanced budget, and the people said yes.
We have had taxpayer refunds three times. When the pandemic hit, our structural imbalance went to $1.2 billion in less than 12 months. That’s a substantial loss of revenue. But thank goodness we had operating reserves exceeding 15 percent (of the budget). We had several billion dollars in the bank. We didn’t have to do a lot of revisions.
When I came into office in 2010, we had over a period of years operated at a deficit, and the pension plans were in deep holes. But we are now in a position by 2027-2029 to pay off those pension deficits. We are in a position to not dig a deep hole.
In addition, we owed the federal government $2 billion in unemployment. Every dollar we paid back was a dollar we couldn’t spend on education or roads or the courts or the infrastructure. Gov. (Mitch) Daniels had to make some hard decisions. We codified the revisions he made in 2011. Thank God we did. That’s why we have a good credit rating.
I’m not bragging about our credit rating, but it affects every political subdivision in the state. It affects what schools borrow money for, what county governments borrow money for. Anybody that borrows money gets to use the credit rating the state has.
I think giving the taxpayers their money back in important, and the fact we have those reserves enables us to be fiscally prudent. And when we no longer have the debt, we’ll be able to invest it in human capital and fiscal capital.
Williams
I think there is a lot of things we could have spent that money on. Two hundred dollars in somebody’s pocket is nice. That might be a couple dinners at the Half Moon. There’s a lot of things we need in Indiana.
I worked for five years developing before- and afterschool programs at 54 schools in Indianapolis. That program was incredibly needed, not only for the safety of the kids before and after school, but also for the working parent who needed that care. I think if we can fortify some of the program for our youth, it is going to reduce our crime rate and provide more support for parents who need it.
We could use those funds to provide better healthcare programs, increase mental health support and more aid for homeless veterans. - Robin Williams
We want to look also at putting funding into better programs for our veterans. Howard County has the second highest population of veterans per capita in the state. Support is needed beyond simple recognition. Current benefits for veterans at the state are negligible.
We could use those funds to provide better healthcare programs, increase mental health support and more aid for homeless veterans. I think that would be a great use of the $200 in our pockets. We get to enjoy our constitutional freedoms because of the sacrifices of those brave men and women, and now it is time we stand up veterans. I promise to do so when I get to the Statehouse.
I promise to look at programs that really need funding, and to spend money is a wise way to make sure we have the infrastructure, healthcare, childcare, and veterans care that we need.
What is the economic outlook for Indiana?
Williams
This abortion ban has been a big indicator of what could happen. We’re losing talent. When Eli Lilly, one of our biggest, most luminous employers, says they have concerns and don’t like seeing what they’re seeing, that they’ll take their business somewhere else, I think we really have to take a look at that.
In terms of job creation right here, President Biden’s ARPA funds, rebranded by the state as a READI grant, laid the foundation for our new industrial park. We have to take a look at the true benefit of those proposed Stellantis and Samsung jobs. We can’t believe the hype.
If those 1,400 jobs are made available to Kokomo workers, then only 2.4 (percent) of our local population will benefit. Those 1,400 jobs sound great, but when we break it down, it’s 2.4. There is no guarantee that those jobs will go to people from Kokomo.
The 20-year tax abatement given to the plant will also take away much-needed funding for public schools, roads, and other infrastructure. Those tax dollars are really important to us.
And we have to look at the unions. Is it going to be union project or not? To me, unions are the prize fighters of our economy. I will advocate for strengthening support for our workers. Union support is imperative for any new jobs and plants being built in our communities around the state. We need to make sure that unions are strengthened, and their workers feel secure.
Let’s look at women in economic growth. In Indiana, women make almost $20,000 less than men do for the same work. This is not equitable, and it’s not fair. Women have proven to be resilient time and time again as entrepreneurs and skilled trades and as managers and directors of organizations.
At the Statehouse, I will fight for the rights of women to make a fair and equitable wage, and I will fight for legislation that supports new job creation and loans for small businesses spearheaded by women.
Karickhoff
The economic outlook in Indiana could not be brighter. District 30, more than any other district in the state, has announced $3 billion of capital investment, between the stamping plant in Marion, which will be producing EV stamped parts, and the battery plant.
With respect to whether it is union or not, we’ll find that out. They will be given the opportunity to vote, and I’m confident that the workers will make that choice.
I have worked closely with the UAW leadership on the EV commission. In 2021, I authored the bill that was brought to me by my friends at the UAW. I got their endorsement in 2020. I championed that bill. It’s a nine-member commission.
You can go to the IEDC website right now and see our report. It was issued last Friday. It inventories the facilities we have across the state that are based on internal combustion engines, what opportunities we have to transition those facilities to EV production, how workforce needs should be address, whether additional training needs to be done.
We have representatives from Stellantis, GM, Honda, Toyota. We have chamber representation, the Battery Innovation Center, Energy Systems Network; virtually everybody that is at the cutting edge of EV.
Whether or not you think EV is coming, whether you like it or don’t like it, when you’re watching the Super Bowl and you see the advertisement where General Motors says that by 2025, they will have 30 new vehicles that are EV, Stellantis is partnering with Samsung on a $2.6 billion plant, something is going to happen.
Internal combustion engines are going away. EV is coming, and we had better be prepared for it. I, for one, am grateful and thankful it is going to happen in Howard County. Whether the people in the plant live in Kokomo today or not, we’re about growing population. We’re the fastest growing state in the Midwest because of our economic development efforts.
I can remember in 2010 driving past Chrysler, and the parking lots were empty for a month. And every small business was shut down. I can remember when I worked at Ivy Tech in this building. When the layoffs started, we took the entire second floor and converted into an unemployment office so they could handle the number of displaced workers.
I heard a candidate last night talk about how we were able to get $25 million in taxes that Chrysler didn’t want to pay. Our local officials did a good job, but it was those of us sitting in the room who made sure that when the conference committee came down, Chrysler was going to pay those taxes, one way or another, or they were no longer going to be able to self-assess its business personal property. It didn’t happen without some leverage.
I applaud Patrick Munsey and the Kokomo Lantern for the accuracy of our commentary at the forum the other night. I refuse to look at the deficiencies and inequities that still exist in Indiana through rose colored glasses. It’s time to roll up my sleeves and take a big broom to the Statehouse, because “it”s a mess”!