welcome to Politically Speaking.

I'm Jeff Frey, filling in for Elizabeth Bennion this week with the Indiana primary just a few weeks away.

On Tuesday, May 7th, the race for governor on the Republican ballot is heating up.

Joining us today to talk about their candidacy and vision for the state is Suzanne Crouch, the 52nd lieutenant governor of Indiana.

Thanks for joining us today.

It's good to be with you, Jeff.

Always.

it's good to see you, too.

Thank you for being up here.

I know you're super busy and so we're grateful for you being stopping by and giving us a chance to get to know you better.

Obviously, we know you some, but we want to use this opportunity to help our viewers get to know you a little bit better.

Let's start.

Talk to us a little bit about your journey ahead of Lieutenant governor.

You have a life of service.

Talk to us about that journey up to your time as lieutenant governor.

You know, I didn't grow up in a political home, but my parents raised me kind of with the kind of values that led me ultimately to public service.

A couple of things they taught me is that, you know, you believe in God.

You believe it takes hard work to get ahead.

They taught me to believe in equality and opportunity, not equality of outcome.

But they also raised me with a strong sense of personal responsibility.

But to accept that I have a responsible value to help others who are less fortunate.

And so I graduated from Purdue University.

I was a stockbroker realtor, a small business owner.

And while those professions were rewarding in many ways, I didn't feel like I was helping people.

And so I decided to get involved in politics and government, because government permeates every aspect of our lives.

And I thought that was a great opportunity for me to really serve.

And I served as county auditor down in Vanderburgh County, one of the regional cities awardees along with South Bend.

And then, of course, I was a county commissioner, and then I decided to run for state representative because at the time I was in local government, the state was in horrible fiscal condition.

I mean, we had structural deficit budgets.

We delayed payments to schools, universities and local governments because we didn't have enough money to pay our bills and make those payments on time.

And that's why I ran for state representative and a state representative, auditor, state, and now lieutenant governor.

I played a key role in turning this state around.

We're today we're number one in the Midwest.

We're sixth in the nation for our business environment, Forbes says.

We're one of the best places in the country to start a business, a small business.

We have some of the best infrastructure in the country.

And so I want to take that next step as governor and take the experience that I have at the local and state executive and legislative branches and be able to deliver results for Hoosiers.

Unlike my opponents, I'm not going to need on the job training.

I'll be able to hit the ground running and as lieutenant governor, have more duties and responsibilities than any other lieutenant governor in the country.

Because I head up for agencies, I'm secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development, also head up our Housing Community Development Authority, the Office of Community Rural Affairs, and then the Destination Development Corporation, which encompasses tourism.

And we all experience that once in a lifetime.

Tourist experi ence.

On Monday with the solar eclipse of the Sun.

But then a couple of initiatives that I'm really engaged in, I chair the Intellectual and Developmental Disability Task Force.

We have 100,000 Hoosiers who have Down's syndrome, cerebral palsy or autism.

So we work to enable them to live, work and play in safe, accessible, affordable environments.

And it's why when FSA made $1,000,000,000 a year in December and their budget forecasting, I stood up to FSA and called for them to pause the delay in services and to not put it on the backs of those parents who are caring for their severely disabled or medically complex children.

And it is also why I try to be a voice for the voiceless.

Those Hoosiers that can't afford the high paid lobbyists that roam the hallways of the statehouse.

And then, of course, I co-founded the Indiana Mental Health Roundtable.

Helping those Hoosiers with mental illness and addiction is such a passion of mine.

And hopefully we can talk about that a little later.

Absolutely.

And we'll get into a couple of policy.

Just one more quick on the so.

So you make this decision to run for governor.

Give us a little insight into the life of Suzanne Crouch over the course of the campaign.

Yeah, obviously, every time I see you, you're in a different city visiting the Hoosier.

Just tell us a little bit about the insight into the campaign.

Yeah, well, today I started in Indianapolis and went to Peru and then went to Warsaw and now in South Bend and going to be in Elkhart and ended up in Marion, Indiana today.

So, you know, I've been doing that for ten years.

You know, I have an apartment.

I live in Indianapolis during the week, but then I go to Evansville every weekend because that's where my home is.

So I travel the state extensively, in fact, to share a little funny story with you.

April Fool's Day was our 46 wedding anniversary.

I probably been married longer than you are.

And so I was speaking at a dinner in Greencastle, and I said to them, I said, you know, I apologize, but the minute I get to speaking, I'm going to get my car and go to Evansville because it is our 46 wedding anniversary.

46 years ago, my husband would have stayed up all night to see me and I got to get home before he goes to bed.

Exactly.

Well, yeah, but I do travel and I get to hear what is really on Hoosiers minds and what is really bothering them and what they're struggling with.

And I will say, you know, the the cost of living inflation and by nomics is really hurting Hoosiers today.

I mean, they cost $11,400 more today than it did three years ago just to meet basic household needs and people are people are hurting as a result of that.

And it's why I think we need to eliminate the income tax.

Yeah.

Let's stay in that space.

A that may maybe one of the things we've heard most from you, I think, on the campaign trail is this.

You highlighted earlier that Indiana already has one of the best tax and fiscal climates in the country.

But you have a goal to do better.

Talk a little bit about your plan to ax the tax.

Yeah, absolutely.

As I mentioned, Hoosiers are really struggling today and we have an opportunity to put thousands of dollars back in your pockets every year.

I mean, it's money that the government takes that you could keep, you know, into the average Hoosier.

That's $2,000 of their money we let them keep every year.

Now, my opponents are screaming bloody murder and saying it can't be done.

In fact, I'm the only one proposing an income tax cut for Hoosiers.

But what they're really saying is government needs more of your money and you need less of it.

You know, and quite honestly, you will spend your money better than the government will.

So, you know, we can do it.

It has to be phased in.

We have to have triggers in place to protect against economic downturns.

But as former vice chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, as former auditor state, we can absolutely do it.

If we limit government growth, if we end wasteful government spending and we find efficiencies in government, we can do it.

So here's how.

Now, my my person tells me I should never get into the weeds, but I know you want to understand how it's going to work.

So in the past year, ten years, we have increased government spending in the state by 50% from the 21 budget session to the 23 budget session.

We increased government spending by 19% before we passed the 23 budget.

We had a $6 billion surplus, so we had 2.9 billion back in our surplus.

The other 3.1 billion we put in the government spending.

Not all bad because we pay down on debt, we pay down on pensions, we pay cash for capital projects.

But if eliminated, the state income tax was a priority.

We could have put that surplus towards that and we'd be that much closer to getting there.

You know, so moving forward, what we do is we take in 25 our $44.5 billion budget based that we have currently.

And then let's let it grow, not at 19%.

Let's let it grow at the cost of limiting the rate of inflation, whatever that factor is.

And then when we have excess surpluses and revenues, let's put it towards eliminating the income tax.

And we accomplish three things.

One, we put money in your pocket, which, by the way, where are you going to put it into the economy?

Because 78% of your pretax income goes into the economy.

So we eliminate the income tax, we give you money, you put it in the economy, growing our revenues.

We also allow small business to grow because the National Federation of Independent Businesses said the number one tax that is hurting small businesses is the income tax.

And then we make Indiana a no income tax state eventually, where we will be able to attract people.

Because where are people moving to today, Jeff?

Tennessee, Texas, Florida, South Dakota.

No income tax states who, by the way, their GDP and population is growing at a greater rate than Indiana's.

You know, the Tax Foundation, the think tank in Washington, D.C., says that Indiana is 10th in the country for our overall tax environment.

So we're not bad.

But seven of the states ahead of us have no income or sales tax.

So to me, we get rid of the income tax.

It's a win win win for Hoosiers for our families and for our businesses.

I want to thank you for sharing that and I appreciate the detail because I think that that helps.

Just to push back a little and not push back necessarily, but so at the same time as as a candidate for governor, you're traveling the state and people are saying we need more money for schools and we need more money for roads and we need more money for basic stuff.

How do you combat some of that?

When people say fix my roads, do more for my schools?

How do you help them understand that?

Well, first of all, we're not talking about cutting anything.

We're talking about the budget that we have currently and then just limiting how much we allow it to grow.

But then another important part of what I want to do as governor is modernize state government.

We have 100 state agencies.

I want to get them down to a third that size.

So when we consolidate our agencies, when we consolidate government, we realize cost savings and efficiency that end up freeing up money for new programs and additional services.

So we eliminate the income tax.

We modernize state government, downsize our agencies, remove unnecessary rules and regulations, and then let us have outside independent audits of our major agencies, which is what I called for with SSA.

And what I want to do with all of our major agencies so we can realize those efficiencies and cost savings and free up money for new programs and new services for Hoosiers.

Right now.

You got to have a you got to have someone who understands how government works.

Right.

Having the local and state executive and legislative experience.

I know how government works.

I know what it can do to work better.

And I have the relationships in the General Assembly to make a bold vision a reality.

And I'm the only only candidate that has the experience and has the relationships to get the job done and deliver results for Hoosiers.

I love that.

I want to build on that for a second.

So talk about.

So this idea to make to get this reality, it takes a lot of people to make it happen.

You mentioned the General Assembly.

What what has to happen after you propose this to sort of get it to the finish line?

Well, obviously, there are some agencies that can be downsized and consolidated, probably due to executive order or just the governor saying we're going to do it.

Some will require legislative action and so we will hit the ground running and have a full legislative agenda to be able to present to the General Assembly on day one after the election.

You know, it's one of the things from having served in the General Assembly.

I understand how it works.

But then having the relationships from being a state rep for eight years and now having finished my eighth year as president of the Senate, I have those relationships to make those bold things happen because we have an opportunity to do great things here in Indiana.

You know, we have a great foundation upon which to build and to do new things for Hoosiers and deliver results for them.

But it takes a leader who has the political courage to be able to do that and then the relationships to make it a reality.

Great.

So you talk about building a little bit on success.

So let's move into the economic development space.

Right?

So Indiana has had some terrific success in recent years with major job announcements, great business and tax climate, I think record setting under the eye the last couple of years.

So.

So help us give that perspective.

I think of the governor as that being an important responsibility for the governor's role.

Talk a little bit about your experience and some thoughts.

Related economic development.

Well, I as lieutenant governor, I've been helping to grow our economy by leading the effort to expand broadband throughout Indiana.

And to date, we have invested $273 million, and that will connect 75,000 whose your families and businesses now.

So we're unlocking economic opportunity in rural Indiana through that connection.

But I want to continue as governor to grow our economy by axing the tax and eliminating the state income tax.

But in addition to that, I would I would tweak a little bit and change kind of how we do economic development in the state of Indiana, because we've had a very top down, state driven, paternalistic attitude towards economic development for the past 25 years.

As governor, I will empower and I will build capacity with our local and regional economic development organizations so there can be better collaboration with the state and true partnership with the state rather than the state dictating and taking the lead.

We now have a joint effort where we're taking the leads together so that we don't leave any part of Indiana behind.

I think that's absolutely critical is to really start changing the focused a little more on empowering our local and regional economic development organizations.

Because when you look at those states that are real powerhouses in economic development, they have that kind of equation in addition to that.

I would look at how we can support our existing businesses because 75% of jobs that are created here in Indiana come from small business.

You know that better than anyone.

And so having more of a shift to be able to support and grow those businesses here in Indiana would be a tweak, another tweak that I would make to our economic development strategy moving forward.

You touched on READI real quick.

We'll give you a chance to talk about READI just real quick.

So the state made an important announcement yesterday to help spur economic development around the state.

Any comments on on READI in that program and really the importance of quality place in the state?

Well, you know, absolutely.

You know, I mentioned that I was in local government when we were not in good shape and we now are in good shape.

And we have a sound economic foundation here in Indiana.

But the next step in our history is going to be quality of life.

Why is that important?

It's how we attract talent.

It's how we grow our population.

It used to be that people followed businesses.

Today, businesses are following people.

People want to live where they have that quality of life.

And Indiana gets it.

And that's why back in 2016, South Bend, along with Evansville and Fort Wayne, were regional cities.

And I will tell you this, I'm not sure about the numbers here in South Bend, but I will tell you in my hometown of Evansville, the 42 million that was invested ended up attracting almost $1,000,000,000 of local and private investment.

You know, and so we then followed that up in 2021 with 500 million that the state is investing in 17 regions around the state, and that 500 million will attract 12 billion of local and private investment.

And now we followed that up with READI 2.0, which, by the way, congratulations to the South Bend region for getting the highest amount, 45 million, along with my hometown of Evansville.

And there were six regions that got that amount.

But that 500 million that was invested in 2023 is going to attract 12 billion more.

So we have got this kind of explosion of these quality of life projects taking place all over Indiana that's going to help to attract talent and to grow our population.

And then when we eliminate the state income tax, we better be prepared for the people that are going to move here because they are going to realize that Indiana is the only state in the country that has a program like READI where we're really investing in transformational projects that are going to attract talent and build population.

You see, Jeff, I, I believe it's the private sector that drives economic development.

It drives our economy.

Government can be a catalyst.

Government can be a willing partner, but it's the private sector that drives progress.

That's what we saw with the regional cities.

That's what we saw with READI government was the catalyst government put in the seed money and that in turn attracted private and local investment.

Great.

All right, let's shift because our time is going fast.

So let's go education.

So I think of you know, every city's got schools all the schools look a little different around the state.

It's the state's biggest budget item.

Give us just some perspective from the governor side or governor candidate side on education.

Well, absolutely.

You know, as governor, I'll make sure parents have choices in their children's education and I'll make sure that parents control what's being taught to our children.

I want to create a lifetime education experience where we focus on the 4 hours reading, writing, arithmetic and reasoning.

We're going to teach our children how to think, not what to think.

And what I want to do is take the five agencies that have to do with education and workforce training, consolidate them into one.

Remember me talking about consolidate?

This is an example.

Consolidate them into one agency where now everyone is on the same software system.

Everyone's on the same page working together to prepare our children for that next step in life, whether it's enlistment, employment, enrollment or apprenticeship.

So I want to be able to kind of totally transform education.

And I think when we do that, I truly believe that we will be preparing our children in a better way because it will be a seamless kind of movement through that education experience.

Yeah, And as you're thinking about preparing children, because I think the questions come up, whether it be at the state House or others, about early preparation.

Right.

Whether it's pre-K, whether it's early childhood education.

Can it can you speak to a second just about just thoughts really important so that, you know, in 2013, I was a coauthor on the bill that established the early my way pre-K. You know, the early childhood education program in Indiana.

And it was a pilot program that in what early childhood education does is it gives every child a chance for success in life.

And what it also does is it prepares our workforce for the future.

And so, you know, I truly believe that we need to move from a pilot program and we need to move towards making sure that every child has access to early childhood education throughout Indiana so that we can truly prepare our children for the workforce, but we can ensure that they have a chance for success.

You touched briefly on mental health, and I wanted to get back to that.

This has been an important issue for you.

I know personally, as we've been together, you've shared this share a little bit about why that issue is so important and what you as as governor can do to help address that.

Yeah, you know, since COVID, we've seen a 20% increase in anxiety and depression among our population, but we've seen a 60% increase among young people.

Suicide is the second leading cause of death among our youth, and they are the future of Indiana.

And so during COVID, I saw how we were all struggling, you know, because we all went through a mental health crisis, whether it was isolation or fear or loneliness.

You know, we all went through that.

The good news is we all went through it.

So now there's more of a sense of urgency and awareness and some removal of the stigma.

And so I've often shared that.

For me, it's very personal.

My mother struggled with depression.

My brother Larry, was an alcoholic and drank himself to death.

My my younger sister, Nancy, died in early twenties by suicide.

And then our daughter Courtney, 16 years sober.

So I have lived with Hoosiers that have struggled through no fault of their own because of the genes they've inherited.

And we have to do more for those who shares.

It's why I co-founded the Indiana Mental Health Roundtable to be able to help them.

But we have to realize it's not just that individual that's affected.

It's the whole family unit and it's also the workplace because 6% of absenteeism can be attributed to employees who struggle with mental illness or addiction.

The cost of untreated mental illness in this state is over $4 billion annually.

And so we can afford not to do something.

It's why I was such an advocate and testified, which is unusual for a lieutenant governor to testify before the Senate and the House committee on behalf of Senator wrote Act One in 2023 that put in place the infrastructure and the funding for the 988 suicide hotline, because today people now have a number to call where they're connected with services.

And we can even send a response, a crisis response team to them if they're in crisis.

We have to work in this Governor.

I'll work to make sure that our health care, including mental health, is more accessible and affordable to Hoosiers, and we get the help to those that are struggling.

Right.

So so as we're getting into our last 3 minutes here and I apologize, I've got 82 more topics I want to talk about, but I want to hit on a couple.

So.

So in in campaign ads, like every is talking a little bit about like National Guard and border security and the governor made a decision on the National Guard down there.

This important issue that Hoosiers talk a little bit about your perspective related to kind of the National Guard border security.

well, you know, due to Biden's failed illegal failed immigration policies, we now have 9 million illegals in this country.

And last year we stopped at the border, almost 200 people on the terrorist watch list.

Those are the ones that we stop.

But with these illegals and the drug cartels come deadly fentanyl that is ravishing our communities and killing our children and killing Hoosiers.

And so it's it's it's about protecting the border, sending them.

And as governor, I would send National Guard to the border to help protect them.

But it's also about protecting Indiana's borders.

And in 2011, I voted as a state representative to prohibit sanctuary cities in Indiana.

And so it's about protecting our borders and keeping that deadly fentanyl in the human trafficking out of Indiana.

But at the end of the day, it's also about protecting our land.

And that's why, as secretary of Agriculture, I played hard ball to prevent China from buying up of homeland.

You know, we want them to buy our crops, but we don't want them to buy our farmland.

And when I saw that land near Crane Naval Warfare Center could be bought up by foreign adversaries, I was able to get money in the budget to be able to protect that land.

So that we can protect our military bases.

So as governor, yes, it's about protecting helping to protect our border, because every state is a border state today, including Indiana.

But it's also about protecting our borders here in Indiana and keeping Hoosiers safe from that deadly fentanyl that is really destroying our communities.

Great.

Our final minute, just a last chance to sort of sheriff, final remarks, final thought vision for your should we be elected governor?

You know, the battle for the heart and soul of America isn't going to be won in Washington, D.C.

It's going to be won state by state.

And I'm running for governor to make sure that Indiana doesn't become a California and New York and Michigan or in Illinois.

I'm running for governor to protect our conservative values.

As governor, I'll make sure that parents control what's being taught to children.

We'll stand shoulder to shoulder with the police and enforce our crime laws to the fullest.

We're going to ax attacks, live within our means, not settle our children with a mountain of debt.

But we will also never cast aside.

Our most vulnerable Hoosiers, the unborn, the elderly, the disabled, those struggling with mental illness and addiction because they are our family, our friends and our neighbors.

I'm Suzanne Croft, running for governor.

I ask for your vote and everyone else's vote on May 7th and we can build a better Indiana together.

Great.

Lieutenant Governor, thank you so much for being here today.

Really appreciate it.

Well, that's all the time we have for this week's politically, politically speaking.

I want to thank our guests, Lieutenant Governor Suzanne Crouch.

I'm Jeff Rea And from all of us here at PBS Michigan.

Thanks for watching.

This WNIT Local production has been made possible in part by viewers like you.

Thank you.