The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
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Four challengers challenge Walberg
By Daniel Lai, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: October 16, 2008
As election days approaches, the battle for Michigan's 7th Congressional District is heating up. This year, four challengers will face incumbent U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg, R-Tipton, on the Nov. 4 ballot.
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State Sen. and Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer, D-19th District; Sharon Renier, an independent candidate from Munith; Ken Proctor, the Libertarian Party's candidate from Charlotte; and Lynn Meadows, a Green Party from Chelsea, are all vying for a chance to represent Michigan residents in Congress.
Until recently, the closely watched race appeared to be Walberg's to win. In May, several political polls had him ahead of the other candidates 51 percent to 40 percent.
Then came August.
It was in August that EPIC-MRA released new poll results showing Schauer in a statistical tie with Walberg, only three points down with a margin of error of 4.9 percent. As the summer drew to a close, Schauer found his party with a strong national candidate for president who was ahead in Michigan by double digits. Schauer's own recent internal polling now shows him with a 10-point lead.
"It's time for change in Washington and I think Michigan voters know it," Schauer said.
Schauer said if elected, he would like to see more focus on the state's economy and health care system.
"Tim Walberg is not doing the job," Schauer said. "He is serving a very narrow interest. He's really been a servant of the Bush-Cheney administration and the extreme special interests in Washington."
Schauer said if elected, he would push Congress to recognize and pass economic stimulus packages to help with the state's declining economy.
"Michigan is dealing with such severe economic challenges and (Tim) Walberg has not provided any assistance," he said. "Our state has been virtually ignored while we are represented by someone who has gone AWOL on matters that affect his constituents.
"Whether it be the outsourcing of jobs overseas, the healthcare crisis or mortgage foreclosures, we need significant change now."
Schauer said Congress' recent passage of a $700 billion financial bailout for Wall Street is just one example in poor leadership in Congress.
"We need to clean up what caused this economic crisis," Schauer said. "The permissiveness on Wall Street was appalling."
Walberg broke with his party leadership, including President Bush, by voting against the package passed by Congress. He said the measure does not hold the right people accountable for the failure and does nothing to prevent it from happening again.
"We need to sharpen our focus on how to succeed," he said. "I don't believe it was from a lack of regulation, it was a lack of implementing regulation. Some people were asleep at the switch."
Proctor, a Vietnam veteran and retired automobile engineer, said both the leadership in Lansing and Washington are major factors in the state's economic decline.
"The reason Michigan's economy is so bad is because of the corruption of government leadership in Lansing who place political gamesmanship and the desires of special interests above the interests of the people of this state," he said. "Michigan needs to reduce it's spending, and greatly reduce the tax and regulatory burden it places on business.
"Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans have a workable plan that will revitalize our economy. Trickle down will not work, nor will giving taxpayers back $500 of their own money. We have a serious need to jumpstart our economy."
Health care rising
As the economy founders, Michigan's senior citizens are cutting back wherever they can, and health care is high on the list of items being sacrificed. It's a dangerous choice for older people, who are vulnerable to illness by virtue of their age. Add anxiety about depleted savings or declining home values, and it's emotionally destabilizing, as well.
"We have millions of uninsured Americans. For one of the richest nations in the world, this is disgraceful," Meadows said. "If elected, I would advocate single-payer, publicly funded, universal health care to provide healthier Americans at far less cost.
"A system similar to Medicare should be available for every citizen. Other countries with similar systems have lower infant mortality and higher life expectancy than the United States. Health care and insurance should not be connected to employment status."
In 2007, 11 percent of Michigan residents had no health insurance, according to a census report released in August. That is up from 10.4 percent in 2006.
"The 'one-size-fits-all,' Washington-based approach to overhauling the U.S. health care system is wrong and, instead, reform should focus on providing a patient-centered health care system that gives consumers direct control and choice over their health care decisions," Walberg said.
Under Walberg's plan, an individual could receive a tax credit of up to $2,500 and a family of four could get a $6,000 tax credit to make health care more affordable and create a health savings account.
Schauer said he hopes to create a comprehensive, affordable health care system that sends people to a primary care physician before the emergency room.
But first, he said, he would meet with stakeholders such as healthcare providers, patients and hospital staff to gain input on a system that would cure insurance ills.
"This is a large, complex reform and this has to be done with all of the players at the table," Schauer said. "It has to be done in the light of day so the public and stakeholders know exactly what's going on so we can build a bipartisan solution."
He said Walberg's plan will only complicate the problem and result in more families without insurance.
"It starts with having access," Schauer said. "Just by having insurance doesn't necessarily mean health care is affordable."
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, health care has "crept up" as a priority among the key voting group of independents in recent months. The poll finds that one in four independents rank health care as one of the top issues they would "most like to hear Congressional candidates talk about." Health care's importance has risen among independents by eight percentage points since April.
"Roughly 50 percent of the cost of all areas of health care in this country is due to government micro-management and over-regulation of health care-related services, including the cost of prescription drugs," Proctor said. "This micro-management and over-regulation is usually done for the benefit of special interests, within the realm of health care and at the expense of the American consumer.
"There is much that needs to be done to make health care and healthcare insurance more affordable and available in this country. I believe the cost of all personal healthcare insurance should be 100 percent tax deductible. I also believe the cost of prescription drugs should be 100 percent tax deductible. This would not be the complete solution, but for a change, it is a step in the right direction."
War on terror
With the war in Iraq in its sixth year and 253,000 American active duty and reserve troops deployed there and in Afghanistan, issues of national security and the U.S. military touch a wider swath of voters than at any time in at least two generations.
Even beyond America's involvement in those conflicts, the strategy for protecting the nation and its citizens will weigh heavily on Congress' priorities.'
While their approaches to Iraq are starkly different, all of Michigan's 7th Congressional District candidates agree something must be done to protect the military and take better care of men and women in uniform.
"The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, fundamentally changed our world, and placed America in a global war against terrorists, which we are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan," Walberg said. "While our commitment in these countries is not endless, we cannot allow Iraq and Afghanistan to once again become training grounds for terrorist groups to plot and launch attacks. "
Walberg said he would not support a plan for troop withdrawal without proof the strategy would not jeopardize U.S. interests.
"The free world cannot allow a terrorist-sponsoring regime to control Iraq. Without a doubt, mistakes have been made in Iraq, and these mistakes are important to acknowledge, but America's soldiers are making progress and our troops are returning home as security is turned over to the forces of Iraq," he said. "I will continue to monitor the situation in these countries closely so that I am not relying on talking points or partisan accounts of what is actually happening."
In contrast to the Walberg plan, both Schauer and Renier said they would support a timetable withdrawal of troops.
"A timetable is necessary; otherwise, you don't have a plan," Renier said. "The war also continues to drain not only our economy, but our troops and equipment."
One way to facilitate the troop withdrawal would be training Iraqi troops in America, she said.
"Currently, if you are an Iraqi troop, you get to go home at night to your family. Bring them here and let's get them trained in eight weeks like we do our troops."
Schauer said he would support a withdrawal in favor of strengthening America's presence in Afghanistan.
"I do support a responsible, phased withdrawal of our forces from Iraq, as even the Bush administration recently admitted is necessary," he said. "My opponent (Tim Walberg) has consistently given President Bush a blank check for his failed approach and we are spending billions of dollars to rebuild roads and bridges in Iraq while they sit on a $79 billion oil revenue surplus."
Accountability
The American public's trust in the federal government has dropped to its lowest level since before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
In the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll, only 24 percent said the government in Washington could be trusted to do what was right just about always or most of the time; 75 percent said the government could be trusted only some of the time or never.
"This is the real beauty of my independent, write-in campaign — I'm not bought off," Renier said. "While others say that I can't raise money, I keep telling them that I don't take the money. That's a huge difference.
"If elected, my constituents will have someone in office who has been reading and writing law for over 30 years as has a clue as to the direct assaults that have been made by our most recent Congresses on our Constitution of the United States."
"I realized that Washington is broken and that it's the two-party system that is broken. I love my country more than the parties and that is why I am running."
The public's trust of the government has been steadily eroding after rising to a record high of 55 percent in a Times/CBS News Poll in October 2001, just after the terrorist attacks. Over the same period, Americans have become increasingly pessimistic about the direction of the country, and disapproval of both Congress and the president has also been at record lows.
"The national distain for our president and Congress is well deserved. The Democrats and Republicans share complicity in every problem facing America today," Proctor said. "As a Libertarian, I know that our government is corrupt and has been partnered with special interests in opposition to the interests of the American people.
"Even during this current national emergency, the recent near trillion-dollar bailout bill was loaded with over 130 billion dollars of pork barrel spending from both Democrats and Republicans.
"America will not find change for the better in the corrupt leadership of either the Democrats or the Republicans."
Schauer said if elected, he will continue meeting with local constituents to make sure issues in the district are addressed.
"My approach will be to roll up my sleeves and work on solutions that will turn our economy around, instead of doing the bidding of the special interests or pointing fingers and playing the blame game," he said. "I will always put Michigan's needs first and stand up to members of my party, the other party and the president to get results for south central Michigan."
Meeting with constituents also has been a priority for Walberg during his first term.
"I have demonstrated a new standard of accessibility by holding over 170 public meetings during my first term, so I can listen to the people I have the privilege to represent," he said. "I will continue to work on their behalf and stand up against the big-spending, status quo in Washington. The 7th District can count on me to be an independent voice that is willing to listen and learn from my constituents."
As their campaigns race to the finish line, each candidate knows Washtenaw County is critical to his or her success Nov. 4. With political bloggers calling it a toss-up, one thing is for certain, voters will face a broad political spectrum on the ballot.
Daniel Lai is an editor with Heritage Newspapers. He can be reached at 428-8173 or dlai@heritage.com.
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