Gubernatorial candidate Eric Doden visited Fishers on April 25 for the regular meeting of the Fishers GOP, to talk with local Republicans about his vision for Indiana.
Doden said his campaign is one of ideas about how to revitalize communities across Indiana, particularly small towns of 30,000 or fewer residents. He told the Fishers GOP gathering that his Main Street Initiative would provide financial incentives of $100 million a year for private businesses to invest in those small communities.
“We cannot be the state with four, five or six counties doing well. We need to be the state where all 92 counties are doing well, but it has to be private-sector led,” he said. “Fishers is doing well because you have phenomenal leadership — both public and private came together, had a vision for your community. We need that all over the state of Indiana.”
That doesn’t mean he would leave the larger communities to fend for themselves, though. Doden also has a Regional Cities Initiative that would provide $200 million a year in similar economic incentives. That program would be a continuation of an initiative that Doden worked on with then-Gov. Mike Pence, when Doden led the Indiana Economic Development Corp..
Other themes in Doden’s campaign are zero-cost adoption to help children in foster care more easily become part of a family, and tax breaks for teachers.
“We have a teacher crisis, especially in rural communities where they are losing teachers left and right,” he said.
His proposal would eliminate state income and property taxes for teachers. Doden said it would mean less revenue for the state, but he noted that Indiana currently has a revenue surplus of about $1.5 billion. He recently said he would consider a similar tax-break program for nurses.
Doden said he wants to hear ideas and suggestions about how to make Indiana better, and he invites feedback from anyone.
For more information about his campaign, visit dodenforindiana.com.
