Name: Dick Posthumus (R)
Age: 52
Hometown: Alto
Occupation: Michigan lieutenant governor
Family: Married to Pam; four children
Political background: Lieutenant governor, 1999-present; state Senate majority leader, 1991-98; state senator, 1983-98
Web site: www.dickposthumus.com
Stance on the issues:
Overcoming the state‘s budget difficulties: Opposes raising taxes to balance the budget; pledges no new taxes and continued tax cuts; protect income tax and single business tax cuts; believes continued spending and tax cuts should increase Michigan‘s long-term tax revenue and protect jobs.
Higher education affordability: Create incentive to keep tuition increases down by repealing tuition tax credit and distributing those funds only to institutions that keep tuition rates at or below inflation; reduce funding to universities that raise tuition beyond inflation rates; create a constitutional amendment on the ballot to cap higher education tuition rates at inflation or 5 percent, whichever is less.
Environment: Create extensive plan for preserving, protecting water; opposed to Great Lakes oil drilling; remove nuclear waste from state and away from shorelines; install real-time water quality monitoring system at Lake St. Clair; protect hunting, fishing rights, expand urban green spaces; move government toward use of renewable energy; work closely with land conservancies and other local groups.
Transportation: Increase road funding by $300 million without raising taxes on families; fight for more federal transportation dollars; eliminate transfer of road funds to other departments; increase the diesel tax to be in line with the gasoline tax.
Abortion rights: Pro-life; opposes public funding for abortions; supports parental consent for teenagers; supports promoting programs to counsel pregnant women against abortion, prepare for motherhood; supports ban of partial-birth abortion.
Affirmative action: Supports equal opportunity and affirmative action; pledges hiring, contracts will be based on qualifications, and only when bidders are qualified should other factors be taken into consideration.
Gay rights: Believes people should be treated equally under the law.
