Pence, Gregg display differences on civil rights

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – The two major party candidates for governor both filed the necessary petition signatures to get on the ballot Wednesday.

And in the process John Gregg and Mike Pence both weighed in on the civil rights bill that died Monday in the state Senate.

It will be a campaign issue that Democrat John Gregg will pursue. Republican incumbent Mike Pence would rather talk about other things.

When Gregg showed up at the Secretary of State’s office to officially launch his campaign he started with a call for civil rights protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity. This was the concept that didn’t get a vote in the state Senate.

“This is an issue that was created last year really by the governor,” he said. “I don’t blame anybody other than the governor’s office on this issue.”

A few hours later Mike Pence showed up for the same purpose and when asked about the civil rights bill he said, “I believe in the legislative process and I respect the outcome of the deliberations on that legislation.”

Gregg made it clear that civil rights and the RFRA crisis are high on his list of campaign issues.

“We’re in this situtation with this economic disadvantage that we’ve given, this PR nightmare, but more importantly this economic disadvantage this has given us,” he said, “because of the governor’s lack of leadership.”

“I think that’ll be up to the people of Indiana about what’s a major issue or not,” said Pence while he made it clear that he wants to talk about the economy, jobs, and education.

This will be the first ever rematch in a race for governor of Indiana but it will be a very different race from the one conducted in 2012 and the civil rights debate may well be a big reason why.