TIM SWARENS

Swarens: With Hale, John Gregg makes a smart choice

Tim Swarens
tim.swarens@indystar.com

Two days before she was introduced as John Gregg’s running mate, Christina Hale and I sat down to talk over coffee at Hubbard & Cravens on the north side.

Our Monday morning conversation didn’t focus on her political future, potentially as Indiana’s next lieutenant governor, but rather on the horrific rates of sexual violence and exploitation that girls and women endure in our state.

Hale’s smart work on such critical issues has defined her less than four-year tenure in the Statehouse and had made her a rising star on state Democrats’ severely depleted team even before Gregg called her name.

On the first day she took her seat in the Indiana House, Hale had four strikes against her. She is a liberal. A Democrat. A woman. And she represents Indianapolis. None of which endears her to legislative colleagues who are largely conservative, largely Republican, largely male and largely from outside the Indy metro area.

Yet faced with those political challenges, Hale began to carve her niche, primarily with several much-needed pieces of legislation designed to better protect women and girls from sexual violence. She also began building solid working relationships with fellow lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, a fact Gregg trumpeted at the Wednesday morning press conference where her selection was announced.

It was telling that the state Republican Party, not noted for withholding unfriendly fire, issued a benign press release noting Hale’s place on the ticket. The GOP statement did point out that she has embraced education reforms, but many of us see that as a plus.

A spokesman for Mike Pence said the governor “has a lot of respect” for Hale and noted that the two of them had worked together on five pieces of legislation this year.

In the still early stages of what’s expected to be a bruising campaign, the Hale pick earned bipartisan nods of respect. Not bad, Candidate Gregg.

I’ve been openly skeptical of John Gregg’s second run for governor. At age 61 and out of office for 14 years, Gregg has been desperately, and somewhat sadly, trying to reinvent himself in recent months.

Gone, or so he would have us believe, is the decades-old version of The Man with Two Last Names, the one who proudly promoted himself as late as his failed 2012 bid for governor as a Bible-quotin’, gun-tottin’ good ol’ boy. Now showing is the 2016 edition, a John Gregg who is trying hard to appear more up-to-date, more urbane and finally ready to lead a state that these days is just as likely to attract jobs in the tech and life science sectors as in ag and autos.

I haven’t bought into the New John as the real version, the authentic iteration. And — based on conversations with many Democrats, independents and moderate Republicans — neither have other Hoosiers whose support Gregg will need in November.

That may start to change now that Gregg has shown the good sense to pick someone as his second who naturally embodies many of the qualities he wants to project.

Still, the No. 2 can carry the team only so far if the No. 1 isn’t built for speed. Gregg has to win this race on his own vision and leadership, and there’s still ample reason to question whether he’s ready for the test.

John Gregg is long past the days of deserving a second look. He’s at the sixth or seventh glance his way at this stage in his political life. But the strong choice of Christina Hale as his lieutenant does make me wonder if Gregg himself really does have something new for us to see.

Contact Swarens at tim.swarens@indystar.com. Follow him on Twitter @tswarens.

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