Former Indiana House Speaker John Gregg has weighed in on Republican efforts to erode the authority of state school superintendent Glenda Ritz.
In a press release, the Sandborn Democrat criticized the governor and Republican majority in the Statehouse stating their actions are because they did not lke, nor respect Ritz’s hard earned victory over incumbant Tony Bennett in 2012. Gregg said voters did not like what Bennett was doing for education in Indiana and voted him out. Gregg says the current administration can’t undo the results of the election, so through power grab after power grab they are essentially doing the same thing and not accepting the will of the majority of hoosier voters. He called it wrong..and dangerous.
A bill currently working it’s way through the legislature would remove Ritz as chairman of the State Board of Education.
Gregg says if the governor and Republican majority want to make the superintendent an appointed position or make any other changes to the Department of Education, there should be a public discussion among all interested parties.
Gregg added that the tactics on display in the Indiana Statehouse to neuter a duly elected office holder on personal and political grounds are a gross subversion of the most basic democratic principles.
