City of residence
Chesterfield Twp.
Age
47
Family
One Daughter
Education
Saginaw Valley State University M.Ed. Leadership
Michigan State University B.S.
Wayne State University Teacher Certification
Vehicles owned
Jeep Cherokee
Professional Experience
Teacher, East China School District 22 years
Political Experience
L'Anse Creuse Public Schools Board of Education Trustee 2010- present
Race/ethnicity
American
Incumbent?
false
The state should work with these municipalities and school districts to find a solution which meets their needs, strengthen their solvency and make all efforts to avoid a state level bailout.
Our state funds cities at an appropriate level, what the cities do with those funds is a decision of the elected officials of that city. I do not wish to have the state dictating how cities should spend their money.
The state already has many tools to assist cities, and should work with the cities in question to determine the best course of action. Every situation is different and should be treated as such.
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The Flint water crisis is a failure of government at all levels. The only good aspect was how quickly the state legislature appropriated money to help once the crisis was discovered. At this point, our State has an obligation to help the people of Flint regardless of who is at fault. It is important to continually reassess the plan to fix the water problem and make any necessary adjustments for improvement as soon as possible. The State need to play an ongoing role in monitoring and addressing the water issues and any health issues of community members.
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Not only was the federal government part of the failure of government at every level, after the crisis was known the Feds drug their feet and refused to accept responsibility for their failures.
No
No
Michigan’s tax system has become fairer in recent years. That said, I believe there are areas we can reexamine such as the tax on pensions and the recently passed gas tax increase.
No. I do not believe in creating an unelected bureaucracy with the power to open and close schools at will. DPS should be responsible for their schools, and the charters should be responsible for theirs.
Michigan should ensure charter schools are held to the same standards our public schools are held to. Whatever we can do to ensure this should be done.
I would want to see the specific wording of any proposal to ensure it protects those who need protecting without opening a Pandora’s box of unintended consequences.
The state has the protections of the 1990’s era Restoration of Religious Freedom Act through Michigan Supreme Court rulings, however, if it is demonstrated legislative action is needed I would be open to it.
NO
I would want to review any proposal is put forward to do this. I do not believe we should set up an unelected board to draw district lines. The people who do this important work should be responsible to the voters directly.
No
If my parties Presidential nominee comes to my district and my schedule permits I will appear at their event(s).
I do not generally support mandates. I do believe renewable energy has a place in our State's future as long as it can be produced and provided at a similar cost to the energy our State now has.
I do believe too many of our fellow Michiganders are incarcerated. There is a multitude of changes we can and should make in our criminal justice system. We should work to keep non-violent first offenders away from hardened criminals in prisons. We should look at raising the age of automatic adult treatment from 17 to 18, and treating non-violent drug use as a medical problem, not a criminal one.
City of residence
Chesterfield, twp
Age
66
Family
Wife Annette
Sony Justin
Daughter Andrea
Education
High school
Some college
Vehicles owned
Ford f150
Ford edge
Professional Experience
Lab tech
Builder
Political Experience
Worked on different political campaigns
Race/ethnicity
White
Incumbent?
false
I believe that retirees should be able to rely upon the promise of these employers to honor the obligations they have made to them. If the state has to help out the school districts the help should be given.
Every city has different financial needs, some of the cities have adequate funding some don't.
We will have to look at every city individually to decide what their needs are.
The emergency manager law has proven to be a failed system. It failed Flint, it failed Detroit and it has failed the DPS, obviously we need something different, we need to see how other places have solved the problem and tweak it to our needs.
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The state should have responded much earlier to this crisis, instead of covering their backsides they should have stepped in and started finding an exceptable solution to the problem.
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When the crisis was recognized the federal government stepped right in to give the people of Flint as much support as necessary.
No
No
No! The people who have the most generally pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes then the lower income people, closing the tax loopholes would be a good start.
No
I don't believe charter schools should be allowed to operate in Michigan, our state dollars should never be used in the support of a former profit school. Public dollars should only be spent for public schools.
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes! We spend on average of $25,000 per year to keep a person in prison while we spend $7,000 to educate our children. I would review the laws for minimum sentences for non violent crimes to help lower our prison population.