Working together is a concept lost in many political races, but not the campaign trail of former Speaker of the House, John Gregg, as he moves toward the Governor’s mansion in the 2012 race.

“I want to be (your) Governor”, Gregg told those gathered at the Jefferson-Jackson annual dinner at the Sherman House in Batesville Saturday evening, October 22. The evening was sponsored by Ripley County Democrats with Martha Dramann and Janice Wittich coordinating the dinner event.

The meeting had a positive ring as Gregg spoke of his time in the legislature from 1996 to 2002, when he was Speaker of the House. He said at that time it was a 50/50 political scene in Indianapolis, but “things got done.” He said there was a need for Republican and Democrat votes to make things happen. The two political parties came together to make some strong decisions, according to Gregg.

He talked about what the Democrat Party can be proud of such as things like overtime for workers, workman’s compensation, safe work place environment, health care, medicare, social security and more. He said Democrats are patriotic, faith based, and respect the family.

Gregg was emphatic when the said “we need to quit sending jobs overseas”. He talked about the state’s abundant natural resources such as water, clean coal, wind, solar panels, oil and more. He said the middle class has taken a hit, one that needs to be reversed, along with making college affordable.

“The road to the Governor’s office goes through Batesville,” Gregg noted, asking those attending to support Mayor Ric Fledderman in his bid for another term in the Mayor’s office.

Another speaker was Jim Crone who is running for Congress 6th District seat. Crone is a professor of sociology at Hanover College and believes state government needs someone with his field of expertise. He said he has studied and written about why we have social problems and what we can do about them. He wants to put that knowledge to work.

Mike Baker, Ripley County Democrat chairman, emceed the event and thanked the local politicians who were in attendance. He said there are good things in store for the local party. He announced that Tim Sutton, who was in attendance, would be running for sheriff in 2014.