IN guv candidate hearts Teamsters

Gubernatorial candidate John Gregg at Local 142, talking with business agent Ted Bilski on Wednesday.

Rarely is there a choice between candidates as easy as the ones faced by Indiana Teamsters.

The Republican candidate, U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, makes union-buster Gov. Mitch Daniels look like Mother Jones. (Well, maybe that's a teensy exaggeration...)

The Democratic candidate, John Gregg, comes from a family that owned and operated a small business that employed nothing but Teamsters. "They appreciated their hard work," says Aleksandar Markovski, a member of Local 142 in Gary. Gregg stopped by Local 142 on Wednesday to visit with Teamsters.

IBT VP Brian Buhle, Local 716 President Jim Cahill (also a candidate for state Senate), Gregg,  JC69 President Danny Barton.

You won't find Pence in a union hall. He voted for every job-killing trade deal that crossed his path, but against helping workers who lose their jobs because of those deals. He voted for letting employers interfere with workers' right to organize, but against raising the minimum wage. His voting record is considered anti-worker by the AFL-CIO and anti-senior by the Alliance for Retired Americans.

Last week, Pence voted against the Bring Jobs Home Act, which would close loopholes that give corporations a tax break for moving jobs overseas.

Here's Nancy Guyott, president of the Indiana AFL-CIO, on Pence's vote:

When it comes to job creation, Congressman Mike Pence’s record doesn’t match his rhetoric. While campaigning for governor he claims that “jobs” are his top priority yet when given the chance to bring legislation to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives that would help create thousands of jobs for working men and women, Mike Pence voted the wrong way. 

Congressman’s Pence’s vote was a vote to preserve the outrageous practice of giving corporations our tax dollars to help them ship American jobs overseas. It was a vote to block millions of American jobs from coming back home. And, it was a vote that put a higher priority on partisan politics than on creating jobs. 

Mike Pence should be ashamed and all Hoosiers should be alarmed.

Gregg, on the other hand, pledged to reach across the aisle so government works for the people the way it should. He intends to create good-paying jobs in Indiana and put and end to their flight overseas. He believes in investing in education, not in bashing teachers' unions.

Sounds like a no-brainer to us.