Thanks to The Center for Michigan, Farmington and Farmington Hills residents (not nearly enough) were treated to a (slugfest) community forum at the Farmington Civic Theatre this evening.
About a minute into the event, I abandoned my brilliant, but clearly impractical debate scoring system. I couldn’t record the numbers fast enough and I really wanted to pay attention to what was being said. Besides, who won the debate ultimately depends on one’s point of view. I can say this much: We have a crystal clear choice November 4.
Repubican Paul Welday sees a place for cooperation, but said there comes a time when you have to stand up for principle. He’s not going to Lansing to make friends or “get along and go along”, but to “shake things up.” Welday said he’s the only candidate with a specific plan for reform. I found a Ten Point Plan for Change on his Web site, but couldn’t find specific detail about the $1.25 billion in spending cuts he mentioned. During the event, he expressed support for Governor Granholn’s prison reforms, a part-time legislature, eliminating Medicaid for 19 and 20 year olds, checking citizenship on Medicaid recipients, eliminating cost of living raises for state employees and an operational audit of state government. His solution for improving Michigan’s business climate centered around cutting business taxes. That’s an oversimplification, but by my count, he mentioned the Michigan Business Tax a dozen times, and not in a good way.
Barnett talked about doing the “people’s work,” rather than carrying on a partisan agenda. She mentioned two specific, cost-cutting reforms: eliminating life-time health benefits for legislators and releasing non-violent offenders, when it’s safe to do so. Rather than creating a list of cuts or slicing 10 percent across the board, she favors restructuring government on a large scale. Barnett said solutions can be found by conducting a careful examination of what goes on in Lansing, figuring out where things have gone wrong and then fixing or eliminating, depending on the circumstance. She would end incentives that encourage urban sprawl and expand broadband internet access.** Barnett said regional business leaders with whom she met earlier this year were more concerned about transportation than taxes, and she would make that a priority as well. She also proposes creating a venture capital fund that would invest .5% of the state’s pension funds in new business and technologies.
Anyone who attended is welcome (and encouraged) to provide additional information, corrections or comments, we all see things differently, and many points of view bring us closer to truth.
A few personal comments:
1. This is very picky, and the moderator covered good topics, but complex, multi-part questions were tough to answer in 3 minutes. With limited time, I would rather have seen shorter, more specific questions. Might have helped the candidates stay more on topic. (Hey, I can dream.)
2. Paul Welday greatly exceeded the limits of my tolerance for the “blame game,” pinning last year’s budget debacle, the Michigan Business Tax and pretty much everything wrong with Michigan on Governor Granholm, Democrats and – by association – Vicki Barnett. He had less than an hour to tell us about himself and his ideas, some of which are pretty good. I wish I’d have heard more of those, and less partisan whining.
3. Vicki Barnett egregiously exceeded her time limit on more than one question. Ultimately, that might be a good thing in Lansing, but for an hour-long debate, not so much. I also would have liked her to focus more on her ideas and specific answers to questions. Welday’s attacks didn’t deserve the attention she gave them.
4. Both candidates spent too much time on puffery and speeches. Seriously, CUT TO THE CHASE. Answer the question. And your answer should not include an accusation about your opponent that is completely unrelated to the subject. Paul.
5. At the beginning of the event, the moderator asked the audience to remain SILENT out of respect for the candidates. BARNETT encouraged the first round of applause, which came from WELDAY supporters. Once the cork left the bottle, people felt free to boo and grumble, mostly in response to Barnett’s comments. Both candidates and the moderator should have asked these rule breakers to knock it off.
—Joni Hubred-Golden
Enterprise Publisher
** You may be interested to know that Latvia has significantly lowered the price of broadband access, which five years ago was expensive enough to keep 60 percent of the population from having Internet service at home. It is now just 17 Euros, or about $24 per month. In Latvia. LATVIA. –JH-G
The Enterprise 