In response to today's Indianapolis Star article detailing Judge Payne's inappropriate actions as Director of the Department of Child Services in a case involving his own family members, gubernatorial candidate John Gregg issued the following statement:
"I have been speaking out for months about our Department of Child Services, which we all know is broken. The first thing I will do as Governor is start to fix it. In February of this year, I wrote a letter to the editor saying that the department needed to be fixed, and that started with removing Judge Payne as Director. In July of this year, I released my plan for fixing DCS by creating the Office of the Child Advocate, re-instituting preventative mental health care and promoting adoption throughout the state. Again, I called for Judge Payne's removal."
"Let me be clear. Judge Payne needs to be removed from his position today. The well being of our children cannot wait until a new administration takes over in January. I am calling on Governor Daniels to ask for Judge Payne's immediate resignation."