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Republican candidates debate at MSU

April 21, 2010

The Republican Party candidates running for Michigan governor debated Wednesday night in MSU’s Fairchild Theater. From left to right is state Sen. Tom George, of Kalamazoo, Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, of Holland and Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox.

Photo by Josh Radtke | The State News

The future of the Michigan Promise Scholarship, simplifying state government and reducing business taxes to promote job growth were on the minds of Michigan’s Republican gubernatorial candidates Wednesday at the first public debate leading to the August primary.

The debate, held at MSU on Wednesday before a capacity crowd at Fairchild Theatre, featured all five GOP candidates — Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, state Sen. Tom George, of Kalamazoo, U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, of Holland, and Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder.

While the debate centered on Michigan’s economy, the candidates addressed college students when discussing the future of the Michigan Promise Scholarship, a $4,000 scholarship for qualifying high school graduates that was rescinded by the state Legislature in fall 2009. At MSU, 8,200 students were eligible for the money.

Four of the five candidates were in favor of restoring the Promise Scholarship, citing various ways to cut costs and create money for the scholarship, including privatizing prisons.

“(Students are) expecting a check from the state to help them defray costs and the state says no?” said Hoekstra, a U.S. House of Representatives member since 1992. “The state couldn’t have made a worse decision. I would go back and make sure Michigan fulfilled its promise.”

Snyder, an Ann Arbor venture capitalist and former president of Gateway, said Michigan legislators misled students with the Promise Scholarship. He proposed bringing back the scholarship for lower income students.

“It wasn’t the Michigan Promise, it was the Michigan lie,” Snyder said. “It went away after those kids were already in school. Some of them were probably forced to drop out. That was a terrible thing to do. We do need to support kids.”

Tom George, a state representative since 2002 and clear dark horse in the race, opposed restoring the scholarship because there is no room in the budget. George was the only candidate Wednesday to actively take part in deciding to cut the Promise Scholarship.

“I voted to end the Promise scholarships because I had to, to balance the budget,” George said. “The math doesn’t work. As governor you have to have a balanced budget. … If you want to refund these Promise grants, you tell these people whose taxes you’re going to raise to do it.”

The early focus of the debate was fostering a better business climate in Michigan, which Bouchard said revolved around lowering and simplifying taxes for citizens and companies.

“Our taxpayers, our citizens have left,” Bouchard said. “We cannot ask them for more because they cannot give it. We’re sending them across the border every time we ask.”

Cox, the Michigan Attorney General since 2002, said the state needs to expand tax breaks similar to the system devised in 2008 to bring more film businesses to Michigan.

“We need to cut the tax on all industries to let it grow,” he said.

While the forum started friendly, the candidates took swipes at each other’s weaknesses as the hour-long debate wore on.

Snyder, who has no experience in politics, repeatedly criticized the four other gubernatorial hopefuls as “career politicians” that have been part of Michigan’s governing problem. He said he hopes to use the same business policies he has used to attract new businesses to Ann Arbor if elected governor of Michigan.

“Career politicians are not the answer,” he said. “If Lansing was a business, we would’ve fired them a long time ago. What we need in Lansing are real-world problem solutions.”

Cox then took on Snyder, defending his own political upbringing and chastising Snyder for outsourcing American jobs overseas while running Gateway.

“When I was an 18-year-old fighting for our country, no one called me a career politician,” said Cox, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. “When you were making millions sending 19,000 jobs overseas to China, no one called me a career politician.”

When the debate shifted to the recently passed health care legislation and its impact on Michigan, the candidates found a common ground.

Hoekstra, a vocal opponent in Washington, D.C., said “Obamacare” needed to be scrapped.

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“If you’re going to fix the health care bill, it’s very simple — you have to eliminate it and start over,” Hoekstra said. “This is the heavy hand of Washington trying to tell the states what to do.”

Cox, who championed his lawsuit against the federal government challenging the constitutionality of a federal health care mandate, said he would “undo the lack of focus on cost.”

“I want more competition in the marketplace,” Cox said. “This is America. That’s what works.”

Snyder also agreed that health care needs to be reformed, but added he’s not sure if suing the federal government is the best course of action.

“If the lawsuits don’t work, let’s get a real bipartisan effort and do the right thing,” he said.

The debate often shifted back to Michigan’s economy, which all agreed needed an emphasis on building more jobs and encouraging college graduates to stay in the state.

“When I graduated, I knew there’d be a quality job waiting for me,” said Bouchard, an MSU alumnus.
“That is not the case today. Every day these problems aren’t fixed, another family, another child leaves this state, and that’s not acceptable. I will fix that. This must be about the next generation and not the next election.”

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