LWVKA 2006 Primary Voter Guide

Candidates were asked to summarize their backgrounds in 75 words and were allotted 75 words to answer each question. If the candidate did not reply by the required date for publication, the words, “Did not respond in time for publication” appear under the candidate’s name.

Are you concerned about the size of the federal deficit?
Explain your answer.
What government measures would you propose to improve access to affordable health care?
The United States uses a great deal of fossil fuel for power generation and transportation. What measures would you support to tackle the ever increasing need for energy?

Michael Bouchard, Republican
From the many conversations I’ve had with Michigan citizens since entering the race for the U.S. Senate, one thing has become increasingly clear. We’re concerned that the American dream of a good job, affordable health care, secure retirement and most of all - a safe place to live - is less secure than it has been in the past. I’m running for the U.S. Senate because we owe it to our children and grandchildren to turn this around...

1. The government is running a deficit, not because it does not have enough revenue, but because it is spending too much. The level of federal spending has reached an absurdly high level and must be cut. I helped pass a balanced budget every year I was in the state legislature, and will do the same in the U.S. Senate. I also believe that every President should be granted line item veto authority to reduce spending...

2. The rising cost of health care has affected all Michigan businesses and our state is approaching crisis status. Yet universal healthcare is not the solution. I have yet to see an example where the government takes over a service from the private sector and delivers it more efficiently for less money. The government can help lower costs by passing medical malpractice reform, encouraging more consumer choice, and consumers to take greater responsibility for their health.

3. The energy problems we are facing are due, in large part, to Senate Democrats’ efforts to block the development of a comprehensive energy policy that encourages development of alternative energy sources. Energy independence is a homeland security issue, as we are currently dependent on volatile nations for many of our energy needs. By exploring and encouraging the development of new energy sources such as clean coal and ethanol through a comprehensive energy policy, we can...

Debbie Stabenow, Democrat
Senator Debbie Stabenow was born in Gladwin, Michigan and raised in Clare, she then attended Michigan State University. An acknowledged leader for many years, she has served in county government, the state legislature, the U.S. House and now as the first woman from Michigan ever elected to the U.S. Senate. Senator Stabenow’s home is in Lansing where she lives with her husband, Tom Athans. She has two grown children, Todd and Michelle, and one stepdaughter, Gina.

1. After the Clinton administration, we had the largest surplus in our history. Now, we face the largest deficit in our history. I opposed both the poorly planned economic policies and the war in Iraq that left us with this stunning deficit. We must return to sound economic policies that allow us to balance the budget while focusing on critical support for our troops and investments in education and innovation to grow the economy.

2. Skyrocketing health care costs are costing Michigan jobs and threatening Michigan families. I have authored real solutions to: a) Invest in new health technologies that experts say would reduce health care costs up to $300 billion while improving the quality of care. b) Reduce prescription drug prices by increasing competition, through greater access to generic drugs and safe re-importation from Canada. c) Help our automakers and manufacturers deal with huge “catastrophic” health care costs.

3. I fought for the Energy Act of 2005, which has jump-started the construction of ethanol and bio-diesel plants in Michigan, through tax incentives and a new renewable fuels standard. As a member of the Agriculture Committee, I helped author a new Energy Title to the Farm Bill that focuses on production of bio-fuels and creating new jobs in this emerging industry. I want Americans to buy fuel from “Middle America” instead of the Middle East.

David Sole, Green
Anti-war, anti-racist, union activist starting 1960’s. Ann Arbor SDS 1969-70. Venceremos Brigade to Cuba 1970. Arrested fighting KKK, 1972. Member UAW since 1971- co-chair Local 15’s Stop Plant Closings Committee. Marched for workers’, immigrants’, women’s, LGBT rights. Protested U.S. attacks on Grenada, Panama, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Iran. Defying sanctions, delivered antibiotics to Iraqi hospitals 1998. Opposes Israeli crimes against Lebanese, Palestinian people. Member MECAWI; IAC; Workers World Party; President UAW Local 2334.

1. End federal deficit by immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and ending U.S. wars and threats to keep economic control of the world for the profits of giant corporations. Take the hundreds of billions of dollars in military spending and use it for education, jobs, housing and healthcare. Tax corporate profits and the rich, cut taxes for working people, and eliminate interest payments to the banks on federal debt to fund human needs not war.

2. Slash the Pentagon and military budget, tax the corporations and rich, and eliminate interest payments to the banks on federal debt to pay for free national health care for all, including prescription drugs. Takeover the price gouging pharmaceutical industry and put it under public control. Guarantee reproductive rights including safe legal abortion for all women. Fund stem cell research. Eliminate role of greedy insurance companies in the healthcare system. Healthcare is a basic human right!

3. Dismantle the Pentagon war machine, the biggest guzzler of fossil fuels. Oil companies should use their record profits to roll back gas and fuel prices. No utility shut offs. Oil should belong to the people, not the corporations! For a massive jobs program to build fuel efficient mass transit systems in every city that lacks it. Make the corporations and Pentagon clean up and reverse the environmental destruction they have wreaked around the world.

W. Dennis FitzSimons, US Taxpayers
B.S. Electrical Engineering, Lawrence Technological University. Elected VP Freshman, President Sr/Jr. years. Member student council three years. Served on three Governor’s task force committees in Benton Harbor: Family/Parenting, Criminal Justice System, and Police/Community Relations. Spoke weekly to the city commissioners/Mayor four weeks before civil unrest and ten weeks after. Government’s a spiritual gift (1Corinthians 12:28 KJB.) Candidate for Congress 2004. Suggested the Brake Light in the Rear window 7/7/77. (PTL)

1. Eight trillion dollars of debt equals $100,000 for each of 80 million workers. The other workers are too near minimum wage to pay the debt. Our constitution was written to eliminate flat paper money. Used God’s money of silver/gold. Today use our coins - eliminate paper. Twenty seven hundred years ago Isaiah spoke of the dump dogs that can’t bark in the KJB. Could that be our Federal Reserve System? Not Federal/No Reserve!

2. When the extended family was intact, Grandmother was the herbalist/primary care giver. Today the parents may have three children in three different states. Divide/Conquer. The physicians desk reference (PDR) is 75% about the side effects of drugs, while God’s healing herbs are safe and effective without dangerous side effects. We should immediately train up an army of naturopathy doctors using God’s natural remedies including Colloidal Sliver which cured my Lyme disease.

3. Thirty years ago the energy problem became apparent and government, industry and oil companies did little to solve the problem. Twenty years ago, I drove East on a four lane freeway and there was just as much traffic going West. If the rich lived with the poor they created, then our communities would be more _(?)_ and travel greatly reduced. True brotherhood in America would pay fair livable wages and employ all Citizens!

Leonard Schwartz, Libertarian
Retired professor of law & economics. Born 1945 and raised in Detroit. BA in history and philosophy, U. of Chicago. MA in economics, Johns Hopkins U. JD, Wayne State U. Law School. See www.LeonardSchwartz.us/bio.html for more information.

1. I’m very concerned. Making future generations pay for excessive expenditures by this generation is immoral. To reduce the deficit, we should reduce expenditures, not increase taxes. Democratic & Republican politicians don’t respect you. They think they can spend your money and manage your life better than you can. Libertarians aren’t busybodies. Libertarians don’t want to spend your money or manage your life.

2. (1) End the prohibition of discounts to patients who pay doctors and hospitals directly, rather than use Medicare or insurance. (2) Reduce the cost of health care by ending the expensive war against herbal medicines. Because they can’t patent herbal medicines, drug companies make higher profits on synthetic drugs. The claim that synthetic drugs are safer than herbal medicines is ridiculous. The war is about money, not safety.

3. (1) Reduce the amount of fossil fuels used by government bureaucrats by reducing government expenditures. (2) End tariffs on imported ethanol (made mainly from sugar cane, which grows well in the tropics) and subsidies for domestic ethanol (made mainly from corn). Making ethanol from sugar cane, rather than corn, is more efficient and creates less pollution. We don’t need high taxes, subsidies and burdensome regulations to deal...