Jim Marcinkowski has waged a campaign focused on change.
The Democratic challenger for Michigan's 8th Congressional District, which includes MSU, says he wants to "put this country back on course" by increasing funding for health care, withdrawing troops from Iraq and improving the country's economy.
After spending more than 30 years in government service, including tenures in the FBI, CIA and Navy Marcinkowski switched to politics and joined the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office where he became Royal Oak's deputy city attorney in 1996.
He says his background in the federal government, particularly in overseas affairs and in the intelligence community, would help him as a congressman. Specifically, Marcinkowski says, he is running to bring an end to the Iraq war, and increase funding for health care and higher education.
Health savings accounts, tax-free government individual expense accounts used by those not covered by Medicare, favored by his opponent Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, is largely irrelevant now, Marcinkowski said.
Those who are in need of coverage don't have the money to invest in an account, he says, because of decreasing income levels. The account requires a minimum monthly buy-in, which is then subsidized by the government.
Drawing on his experiences in the CIA, Marcinkowski sees many parallels to the United States' current occupation in Iraq with the 1980s Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
"We need a timetable for withdrawal," Marcinkowski said. "(It's) important in sending a signal that the U.S. won't be there indefinitely."
He plans to attract student votes by supporting increased higher education funding and job creation.
Part of Marcinkowski's platform is based on creating jobs that have been outsourced due to unfair free trade agreements. These legislative initiatives have had a direct impact on the welfare of college students and graduates, Marcinkowski said. "These guys are voting against you," Marcinkowski said of recent legislation that has slashed millions of dollars to higher education institutions.
In early 2006, Rogers voted in favor of a $40 billion cut in the federal budget. The money was pulled from welfare, child support and student lending programs, according to a report by The Washington Post.
"College students are the country's best customers," he said, adding that recent legislation has left college students disenfranchised and lacking needed federal financial support.
Marcinkowski expressed serious concerns about the direction the country is headed in, and also the conduct of his generation's leaders.
"I'm old enough to be concerned about what I will turn over to my children," he said. "(If it keeps up), my generation will turn over something less than what we were handed."
Marcinkowski is afraid government has become too accommodating of corporations, not the people it was meant to serve.
"You can complain and do nothing, or you can get off your dead ass and do something about it," he said.
