Haubrich

Kyle Haubrich always has fought for his beliefs.

When the MSU law student felt the country was headed in the wrong direction after the 2008 elections, he decided he needed to bring his beliefs to the table and attempt to make the nation a better place for his children to grow up.

Next week, he will face incumbent state Sen. Gretchen Whitmer, D-East Lansing, for a seat in the Michigan Senate. Although he knows fighting an incumbent is difficult, Haubrich said his plans for higher education funding, along with the anti-incumbent and anti-Democratic fervor in the state, will create a close election.

“It’s a really different (election) year than anybody on either side of the aisle has ever seen,” Haubrich said. “I believe that people need a choice.”

However, in a strongly Democratic district, Haubrich will have a nearly impossible time winning the election, said Bill Ballenger, editor and publisher of the newsletter Inside Michigan Politics.

“It’s hopeless for the Republican,” Ballenger said. “It doesn’t really make that much difference how strong or good a candidate you are unless you raise an enormous amount of money, which I don’t think (Haubrich) has.”

On funding higher education:

To help students afford an education, Haubrich said he plans to propose in the state Senate a deal between the Legislature and public universities. If colleges agree to freeze tuition at current levels, the legislature would freeze higher education funding as well.

“I want to make sure the higher education institutions don’t get any more cuts,” he said.

“I want to put a budget freeze on, two year freeze, temporary, in exchange for a freeze on tuition and fees. That would give the new government time to fix the problem.”

On the Michigan Promise Scholarship:

The scholarship could be brought back if it were funded by tax-deductible donations to a fund, Haubrich said. Then, only the interest on the fund would be spent, so the program could pay for itself, he said.

“In addition to college students not having to worry about (the scholarship) being lost once they got it, they would have to maintain a 3.0 grade-point average to receive it,” Haubrich said.

On bringing more jobs to Michigan:

The Michigan Business Tax needs to be replaced with a flat tax, and the government needs to examine business-restricting regulations, Haubrich said.

“(The Legislature) needs to look at the regulations for starting up a business,” he said. “Make the environment more business-friendly and then get out of the way and let the consumers pick the winners and losers, not the government.”

On campaigning:

Haubrich said he has gone door-to-door at more than 60,000 homes in the 23rd district since January, and people generally are responsive because they are tired of the current government.

“I’ll frequently get the comment, ‘Well, you’re young, you’re new, I’ll vote for you because everyone else has been in the Legislature for four years, six years — in my opponent’s case, 10 years. … You’re new (and) I’ll give you a shot,’” he said.

On his idea of relaxation:

In addition to reading and watching sports, Haubrich said music and his two children keep him relaxed at the end of the day.

“I have, at last count, over 2,300 songs on my iTouch, and I listen to music,” he said. “Then playing with my kids, my 3- and 4-year-old. I don’t know how relaxing they are, but they certainly make you smile.”

On his favorite undergraduate memory:

Although he’s from Missouri and attended college in Idaho, Haubrich said he always has admired MSU men’s basketball head coach Tom Izzo and loved coaching the sport at his alma mater.

“I’ve been a huge fan of Tom Izzo for a long time, and I got the opportunity to coach basketball at (Brigham Young University-) Idaho,” he said. “I really studied Tom Izzo’s way of coaching and implemented that (work ethic).”

Whitmer

Gretchen Whitmer began college at MSU hoping to become a sports broadcaster, but an internship at Michigan’s Capitol irrevocably changed her life plan.

Since the state House of Representatives was split evenly with 55 Republicans and 55 Democrats at the time, Whitmer said she got an opportunity to see the legislature at its best, and it inspired her interest in politics.

“It was a time where people got along so well and they had to work together and they had to problem solve,” Whitmer said.

In 2000, at the age of 29, she was elected to the state House. Six years later, she was elected to the state Senate, and currently serves on the Senate Judiciary, Education, Agriculture and Bioeconomy, and Finance committees.

With her experience and name recognition, Whitmer easily should win this election, Ballenger said.

“Whitmer is a strong incumbent and believe it or not, she will be … the senior-most legislator in the Senate,” Ballenger said. “She’s young and attractive and is considered to probably be the Senate Democratic leader.”

On funding higher education:

Although freezing tuition in exchange for freezing the budget is not practical, the state can increase funding to universities by scrutinizing $40 billion of unnecessary tax breaks that still are on the books, Whitmer said.

“(Freezing tuition and freezing appropriations) doesn’t make sense because you’ve frozen all of the ability of the school to run their budget,” she said. “We have to increase how much money comes from the state to universities.”

On the Michigan Promise Scholarship:

Whitmer said she supported the Promise Scholarship from its birth to death, but the partisan and idealistic makeup of the legislature postelection will determine if the money can be restored to students.

“I’d like to see it come back,” she said. “I voted for it. I voted against the cut. … (Whether the scholarship can be voted back in) all depends on how the chips fall after this election.”

On bringing more jobs to Michigan:

In addition to simplifying the state’s tax structure, the Legislature needs to invest in quality of life-type issues, such as education, to bring jobs to Michigan, Whitmer said.

“People talk about cutting education to pay for tax breaks that will bring jobs and that’s just the most backward way of doing business,” she said. “You have to invest in education in order to bring jobs to Michigan.”

On campaigning:

Because she has served East Lansing in the Legislature for the past 10 years, most constituents recognize Whitmer’s name and generally are pleased with her work, she said.

“Having grown up in East Lansing, I’m literally still knocking on doors I knocked on trick-or-treating,” she said. “There is a much higher level of angst in this election than I’ve seen in my time in the Legislature, but people feel like they’ve had good representation, and they know that I care about ensuring that their needs are fulfilled.”

On her idea of relaxation:

In addition to spending time with her two daughters, Whitmer said she enjoys walking each day with a friend.

“I walk every morning with a good neighbor friend of mine,” she said. “We get up at 5:30 (a.m.) and walk four miles every single morning. It’s great. We’re the only people in the neighborhood and we laugh.”

On her favorite undergraduate memory:

An MSU alumna for both her undergraduate and law degrees, Whitmer said she especially appreciated several of her professors.

“I had the best time at Michigan State, and undergrad was especially fun. I had some great teachers that really made an impact on me,” she said. “(They) really made me think about things in a different way and made me use my brain in a different way.”