Q&A with RNC chair Michael Steele

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele was in Grand Rapids Friday to talk with local business leaders after a town hall earlier in the day in Detroit.

He sat down with 24 Hour News 8's Tony Tagliavia to discuss the state and national economy, health care, General Motors, the party's future and the scandal surrounding South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.

On Michigan's economy and General Motors:

Steele: "Our concern is not so much that the government is helping, it's how the government is helping."

24 Hour News 8: "You did touch on the bondholder issue (how they were treated). Are the other specific things that are happening at the federal level right now that are the wrong decisions in terms of how GM is being handled?

Steele: "Where do I begin? I mean I think when you look at the bondholder aspect of it, you look at the fact that the federal government has now decided it knows best who is suited to run GM or Ford or Chrysler, that they are the ones to decide what is enough profit or too much profit for a company to make what are the best ranges of salaries that incentivizes someone to take the risk to run a company like GM. That's not the role of the federal government ... As we look at the recovery for Michigan the renaissance that I think can happen in this state we've got to look at it in a way that empowers individual risk-takers the entrpreneurs, the small business owners."

24 Hour News 8: "What do you say to someone in 2010, what do you say to a voter, as a Republican that not only in this state but in this country, Republicans are the party to turn the economy around?"

Steele: "I think because we can say first and foremost we've learned from our boneheaded mistakes you know we've made the mistakes in the past where we stepped away from our principles
and now it's time for us first of all to own up to that we know of what we speak when we talk about the impact of growing the size of government we know of what we speak when we talk about
spending money that the American people can't afford for us to spend so having learned from those lessons and relying on those principles that have defined us a party we can now look
to the future and look america in the eye and say no 1 we get it no 2 we're prepared to lead in an honest fashion

On the future of the party:

Steele: "I'm a chairman who believes in multiplication and addition not division and subtraction. So I'm looking to expand and grow the party. I want Americans and certainly the folks in Michigan to know that this is a party that recognizes the importance and the value-added of individual initiative and ingenuity. This party wants those who can bring new, exciting ideas to the table. Yes we have some core principles and values that we have adhered to and supported that have branded us if you will as the Republican Party that are still important to us, but that doesn't mean that I can't reach across the table and talk to you and take in your ideas and welcome you to our table with those ideas to help us reflect more appropriately the changing demographics and dynamics of our country. We cannot stay static. I'm not afraid of expanding the party because I know I don't lose the value of my ideas and those values that I hold on to just by asking someone else to be a part of this."

24 Hour News 8: "The 2010 election is going to be pivotal for the party in terms of whether it can bounce back from where it's been. With all this discussion going on about the party's identity can there be answer on that in time to really have a brand before these 2010 elections come up?

Steele: "I think so and certainly I'm working towards that goal everyday of identifying the Republican Party as the party that's ready to fight for individual freedoms and liberties, whether it's owning a small business, educating your kids, getting the kind of healthcare that's important for you and right for your family, living in an environment that's clean and safe, living in a community that's clean and safe -- all those things matter and all those things feed into the brand of who we are as Republicans."

On health care:

24 Hour News 8: "You said, 'We don't want government bureaucrats in the way of people and their doctors and we also don't want insurance bureaucrats,' so what is the answer then?"

Steele: The answer is the doctor-patient relationship is sacrosanct and you can design a system -- and we currently have it large measure -- a system in which we can allow that relationship to continue without interfering with it. Again I get back to the core issue here is not accessibility, it's not quality, it's cost: I cannot afford what I currently have."

On South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and the scandal involving his affair:

24 Hour News 8: "You must have interacted with him given your history in Maryland (where he was lieutenant governor) and now in your position -- were you surprised by this?"

Steele: "I