Four GOP gov. candidates debate in GR

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - The four Republicans at Thursday night's WOOD TV8 gubernatorial debate said the way to create jobs and avert another Michigan budget crisis is to cut spending.

But they offered different specific solutions.

Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said he would cut the state's business tax "in half, on the way to eliminating it."

State Sen. Tom George, R-Kalamazoo, called the tax cut promises "fiscal fantasies," arguing Cox's plan doesn't include enough spending cuts to balance the budget.

Pressed to respond after the debate, Cox pointed to cuts he offered during it: cheaper health care for state employees, mandating savings in government contracts and eliminating the state's Earned Income Tax Credit.

George, a practicing doctor, said the real spending problem is state entitlement programs. They're broken, he said.

"You can't make the public healthy by giving them a government card," the state senator said. Michigan needs to require more of the people receiving state benefits. Speaking to 24 Hour News 8 after the debate, he used the example of the health screenings happening now at private employers.

George repeatedly advocated for the passage of a constitutional convention, saying it is a necessary step in the effort to revamp state government.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, a former state lawmaker and small business owner, touted his work history.

"I'm the only candidate who has the experience to know what to do on the first day," Bouchard said. The state could save money by privatizing the non-educational functions schools undertake, he said. And the sheriff said he saved money in his county by privatizing jail food, something he said the state could do at its prisons.

Congressman Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, said Michigan needs to look at what neighboring states have done with corrections. They spend less per prisoner, he said.

Fewer levels of government would be better, Hoekstra said, and public sector benefits need to be more in line with private sector ones. To create jobs, the congressman said, government needs to get out of the way.

"Michigan's future doesn't begin with the next governor, it doesn't begin in Lansing and it doesn't begin in Washington," he said.

None of the candidates expressed support for an Arizona-style immigration law. Cox, George and Hoekstra said the federal government needs to fulfill its responsibility to act on the issue. Bouchard complained of a relative lack of agents on the country's northern border as opposed to its south, and after the debate, said he would support a state law giving local law enforcement the option of arresting illegal immigrants.

And on the day when an effort to extend unemployment benefits failed in Washington, none of the candidates endorsed such an extension.

On education, the candidates talked about parent choice. Cox said the time has come to use an international standard to test the state's students, rather than simply comparing scores from one part of the state with the other. After the debate, Hoekstra said he was willing to reopen Proposal A, the current state school funding formula.

On the Asian carp threat, Cox pointed to his own legal efforts to force federal action and George advocated amending the international Great Lakes Basin Compact to combat invasive species.

Bouchard said there were steps the state could take itself, including creating "dead zones" that would prevent fish from passing through a given area and banning the possession of live carp. Hoekstra said he did not expect significant federal action, saying he would develop a plan detailing the specific steps the state would take if the carp were to enter Michigan waters.

Ann Arbor businessman Rick Snyder declined to participate in Thursday's debate, citing too many requests and saying he prefers a different type of forum.

"We think there are plenty of opportunities for what I call sound bites and sound bite fireworks, because the preferred method I have, Rick, in terms of looking at this, are these town halls," Snyder told 24 Hour News 8. "No disrespect to debates, but they do tend be very quick answers and short subject matter, where an event like (a town hall), real people come and it's open to the public."

Earlier in the week, the Snyder campaign released a statement emphasizing his lack of interest in debates.

"While career politicians will be bickering at the debate, Rick will have a meaningful conversation directly with Michiganders at a town hall," it said.

Snyder was at a town hall in Sterling Heights on Thursday.