Schellinger's plan details his vision (Gary Post-Tribune)

Jim Schellinger has a plan for Indiana, and that's what makes him the best Democrat in the state's Tuesday primary for governor.

The Indianapolis architect has a detailed plan called "Pick Up Indiana" that's almost 50 pages long, covering jobs, health care, education and government reform.

Jill Long Thompson, who has had an impressive public service career, just doesn't compete with the details Schellinger offers.

Schellinger, a South Bend native, says Indiana can improve its environmental image and create jobs at the same time. Among other job plans, he wants to increase help for small business, which accounts for two-thirds of job growth.

To increase health care in the state, he says he'll increase preventive care plans, push for expanded coverage for children -- in a state where 123,000 are uninsured -- and increase health workers.

Schellinger's plan to reform government revolves around a commission that, like the Kernan-Shepard Commission, would gather information from across the state to streamline government and make it more open to the public.

Finally, he calls his education plan the catalyst to all other components of what he would do as governor. The most intriguing of his ideas is building an education trust fund in good economic years that will stabilize school budgets in bad years.

Read the full endorsement here.

Posted on May 5, 2008