City of residence
Utica
Age
51
Family
Husband Jeff
Son Mitch (wife Jaimie)
Son Nick
Education
Attended Macomb Community College & Oakland University
Vehicles owned
Chevy & a Ford
Professional Experience
Mortgage Underwriter & Auditor
Business Owner (w/husband) - staffing firm
Political Experience
None
Race/ethnicity
White
Incumbent?
false
We should speed up the revenue sharing from levels of the past decade. Budgets in Lansing have often been balanced at the expense of our locals. As for schools, as we become a better state for job growth, families will once again provide the growth in student count (and tax revenue) needed for long term sustainability of our schools.
Prioritizing more of the budget toward statutory revenue sharing
The Emergency Manager law is good in that it identifies problem situations sooner, enabling them to be addressed locally and/ or through intervention. With that said, we can re-examine the law now that it's been in place for a few years. We need to not continue sending money at every situation. Good fiscal management is a better choice if given enough time.
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We should have known sooner. The state is not the lone entity at fault (EPA and locals as well), but more questions needed to be asked, by bureaucrats and elected leaders, earlier and more push back to the early responses from the state. Once the Governor signaled his knowledge, I believe the state has provided a good response.
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I find it interesting that people have called for the Governor to resign when the state responded poorly, but no one has asked for the President to resign when the EPA also didn't respond properly. I also believe the Federal government has provided more rhetoric, but less cash assistance for actually solving the problem.
No
No
Yes.
If the Commission truly was equitable between DPS schools and the schools that half the parents have freely chosen - I can support it. As it was structured under the Senate plan, the DEC was not my first option. It should be about educating the children, not protecting the administration of DPS if they're not getting the job done.
Charters and traditional public schools should have the same reporting and accountability. If it's good for one group's ability to educate our children than it should be good for all children.
No
It's not one of my priorities and I haven't studied it's details and repercussions enough to support or push back against.
I pledge allegiance to our flag / country... and if I win - I pledge the oath of office. Nothing more.
The current system has its problems, but even the so called "non-partisan" methods still have humans and their biases making the decisions. The question is who is pulling their string when decisions are made. I'd have to be convinced that there is a better way.
Yes
I won't be attending any of his events. My full focus is on winning my seat.
I support renewable energy. With that said, we should not be subsidizing them.
We have swung the pendulum too far. We need to review our levels of incarceration (non-violent crimes) compared to other states. I believe we have much longer sentences and nothing to show for it except higher prison costs. Make our decisions based on data.
City of residence
Shelby Township
Age
47
Family
My father was Mayor Richard Notte of Sterling Heights for 22 years.
Education
Finance degree from Walsh College
Vehicles owned
1995 Ford F150, 1995 Corvette, 1998 Cadillac Deville
Professional Experience
I have been an auto worker for over 20 years. I have been at Chrysler for 18 years and was at Ford for 4 years before that. I have been a UAW member during that time and currently serve as a Chair for their Community Action Program.
Political Experience
This is my first time running for office, however I was very involved with my father while he was Mayor of Sterling Heights so I am familiar with many of the needs and concerns of this district.
Incumbent?
false
Fewer dollars are going into the pension system because of Republican support for outsourcing non-instructional services and expanding charters. The state could create equity in
funding between charters and public schools by lowering the cap
that requires public schools to contribute to the unfunded pension
liability.
Our cities have suffered for years because of cuts to revenue
sharing. By fully funding statutory revenue sharing, cities would
have the necessary funds to support their police and fire fighters, and other services like trash pick up and recycling and maintain
their local roads.
The emergency manager law is a failure. We need to reform this
law so that officials sent into a city are accountable to residents and
are transparent in their actions. Residents and local elected officials
still need to have a say in decisions when they are working under
an emergency manager.
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Flint residents are still relying on filters and bottled water, but they
have to pick those up at certain distribution sites. State officials
should look into other ways of delivering water. The state also
needs to ensure that wrap-around services are available for children along with nutrition and other services.
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Federal officials should ban the practice of pre-flushing, which
artificially lowers lead levels in samples. The federal
government could also make more funding available for
infrastructure repairs and upgrades in Flint.
No
No
Michigan's tax system favors corporations over families and average individuals. Tax breaks have gone to corporations, while credits and deductions to help families have disappeared or been reduced. We should restore the state EITC to 20 percent of the federal EITC. We should restore credits and deductions to help families such as the child tax credit for families, and we should repeal the retirement tax.
Yes. I believe that a Detroit Education Commission could bring
order to the siting and opening of schools in Detroit. More order
in this process would help create a needed balance between
charter and public schools in the city. The DEC had the support of Republicans, Democrats, the Mayor, the transformation manager and community members. With that kind of support, a DEC should have been part of the final legislation.
We should at least create penalties for charter authorizers who
fail to act on substandard charter schools. Another option would be
to give authorization power to the state Superintendent of Public
Instruction. We should also ensure that loopholes that allow
charters to reopen are closed. Charters that are closed for not
performing well should remain closed.
Yes, because no one should be discriminated against.
No. People should not use religion to discriminate.
No
Yes. I would support putting a non-partisan independent
commission in charge of redistricting. This would minimize the
influence of political parties, and prevent politicians from drawing
lines to protect themselves from serious challenges from other
candidates.
Before we change our laws here in Michigan, I would like to know
more about how decriminalization is working in Colorado and
Washington. I think we should look at laws in those states to see if
anything they have done could possibly work in Michigan. Any
changes we make would have to come after we have made sure
that nothing we do would compromise the safety of the public or
our communities.
Yes.
Renewable energy is an important part of how we meet our
energy needs. Renewable energy has saved money and energy for residential and business customers and created jobs. I support renewable energy and would work with my colleagues to see that we continue these options for Michigan energy customers.
We need to understand that a good education is the best way
to prevent crime. We need to fully fund education so that all of our students can realize their potential and compete for the best
jobs. For high-risk kids, we need to provide wrap-around
services to try and keep them from making poor choices. Violent
crimes should be answered with tough sentences to keep
offenders in jail and keep our communities safe.