Candidates fight for seats in local Statehouse races

Incumbent backs health care for senior citizens, families\nSince 1998, Peggy Welch, the democratic candidate for Indiana State Representative in District 60, has represented portions of Greene, Monroe and Lawrence counties, working to improve the quality of life not only for those residents, but for all of Indiana. \nAs a part of the Local Government, Public Health and the Ways and Means committees, Welch has strongly enforced her platforms of job creation, homeowner protection, Hoosier health and strong education.\nA registered nurse at Bloomington Hospital, Welch said she supports long-term care options for senior citizens and their families, as well as financial management of Medicaid dollars. Welch also said she is an advocate for reducing costs and increasing access to prescription drugs and new medical technologies.\n"As a nurse, I am interested in issues that provide healthier environments and better protection for our citizens," Welch said. "That is one of the reasons I worked so hard for the passage of the .08 bill. However, we must continue to find ways to keep drunk drivers off the road and hold accountable those who break the law."\nShe said she plans to support the current trend of improvement among Hoosier schools. She said she supports a greater amount of parental input and more choices in their children's schools and education.\nCandidate focuses on education, broader school selection\nJim Billingsley (Lib.), an employee of the IU Physical Plant, is running for the Indiana House of Representatives in District 60. \nHe said he wants to focus his campaign on education, because he said financial difficulty prevents each child from attending the most appropriate school. \n"I entered this race to bring the very important issue of educational freedom or 'School Choice' into the arena of public debate," Billingsley said.\nHe also said in order to provide the best education for each child, families should consider all kinds of schools -- including public schooling, independent schooling or homeschooling.\nBillingsley said if families choose to send their children to a private school, they will have to pay taxes to the government for public education as well as to the private school of their choice. \n"They cannot afford the unfair 'double payment penalty' of tuition, materials, or forgone income (in homeschool families) for the non-government school setting they desire, while still paying the full load of burdensome taxes for the government schools they don't desire," Billingsley said.\nTo give each family an opportunity to consider all schools, Billingsley said his campaign backs a $1,750 educational tax credit. He said if tuition for a private school is $5,000, families need to spend $3,250 for the education of their selection. \nBesides the endorsement of broader school selection for children, Billingsley said the state government should limit its spending to the 1998 level and keep the rate of state spending increase lower than that of inflation. \nBillingsley also said he supports the right of people's gun ownership and defends individual property rights.\nHoosier hopes business experience will help leadership\nAfter growing up in West Lafayette, L. David Sabbagh said he believes his business experience in Bloomington and as the current 5th District City Council Representative will help create the leadership he believes is lacking in the state government.\n"I'm running because Indiana in the last several years has had a lack of leadership. The last budget passed was $600 million out of balance," Sabbagh said. "I believe that there is a lack of leadership in the governor's office and the House of Representatives. With my background, I believe I could provide the missing leadership."\nOriginally, Sabbagh was a professor of mathematics at Bowling Green University. He moved to Bloomington in 1982 and has been a businessman since. \nOver the years, Sabbagh said he has helped the community by providing jobs in his engineering analysis software business to graduate and undergraduate students from IU, Purdue University and Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.\nThrough his business, Sabbagh said he has strongly supported the two issues he is most concerned with: investment in education and investment in jobs.\n"Part of my platform is gaming money for education," Sabbagh said. "One of those sub-plots is for supporting college students in return for them staying in the state to work after graduation. There is over $500 million in gaming money each year. I want to use part of that money for education, such as free textbooks for students in grades K-12."\nAs for jobs, Sabbagh said he wants to keep as many graduates in the state as possible to help further economic development. He said he would like to do it with good economic development and tax credits.\n"I want tax credits to increase job creation. I would like to see a sales tax exemption for Research and Development equipment, and have that tax exemption be permanent," he said.