Michigan gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2018

Fix the Damn Roads
To get ahead, Michiganders need one good job and we need to be able to get to that job. But our roads are so bad they cost the average driver more than $540 a year, and none of that fixes a single pothole. We know that we’re not helpless because Michigan gets the same weather as our neighbors do.

While politicians in Lansing vote down road funding solutions for political gain, the dire state of our highways is endangering our people and getting in the way of our economic prosperity. Michigan deserves a governor who will fix the problem and knows how to bring people together to get it done.

More than 70 communities have drinking water systems with higher lead levels than Flint and billions of gallons of sewage currently contaminate our water ways. It’s time to fix it, and fix it right.

To grow our economy and make Michigan a state that businesses move to and can grow in, we must invest in our roads, bridges, water systems, broadband, and electrical grid. Good roads are good for Michigan families and businesses and infrastructure investment is economic development. We can attract the jobs of the future and help businesses grow right here in Michigan.

Now let’s get to work.

My plan would: Fix it and fix it right. Upgrade Michigan’s roads, bridges, and water systems. Invest in good infrastructure because it’s good for business. Make a bold investment in the Rebuild Michigan Bank, a state infrastructure bank that will pay for high quality upgrades and create thousands of good jobs. A strategic plan to dig less and build smarter. Make commutes safer and faster Ensure clean safe water Build a new Soo Lock Connect more Michiganders to high-speed broadband Internet

Make Health Care More Affordable
Everyone in Michigan has a right to quality health care they can afford, and that means expanding coverage and lowering costs. We are reaching a critical point where the cost of health care plans – with skyrocketing premiums and deductibles – is too high for most families, seniors, and hardworking Michiganders. While I’m proud of the work I did to expand health care in Michigan, we have a long way to go. No one should have to choose between paying the rent or filling a prescription. As Governor, I’ll stand up to Washington when politicians try to take health coverage away from people, and I’ll work with anyone who wants to expand coverage, and lower costs of health care, starting with prescription drugs.

Expanding Medicaid. As Senate Democratic Leader, I led negotiations to expand access to healthcare to more than 680,000 Michiganders through the state’s Medicaid expansion. Healthy Michigan added 30,000 jobs per year to our state and $2.3 billion to our economy.

Protecting our care. We fought too hard to let Washington raise costs on seniors, families, and hardworking Michiganders. As Governor, I will defend our health care from these attacks, but we must keep fighting to address the cost of health care and lower the cost of prescription drugs until everyone in Michigan has access to an affordable health plan and can afford their treatment.

Restoring funding to Planned Parenthood so that women and men in low income and rural areas have access to preventative care like screenings and checkups, contraception, and maternity care.

Access to care in rural Michigan by enlisting technology, bringing people together, and harnessing the incredible talent of our state to find solutions to the challenges faced by rural hospitals and care providers. I’m ready to bring people together to find solutions so that every Michigander, no matter where they live, gets the care they need.

Clean Up Our Drinking Water
The health of our communities and the strength of our economy depend on the fundamentals of clean air, safe water, and nutritious food. Every Michigander deserves the opportunity to be successful, starting with their health. That means protecting the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the soil in which we grow. But disparities in the quality of air and water based on where you live or on your income, have had a devastating impact on the health of our families and our kids. It is this very injustice that caused the Flint water crisis. Water is the lifeblood of our state, and the Great Lakes are at the center of it. Michigan will disproportionately suffer the impact of climate change, and rising temperatures have already done harm to our lakes, but we can change course.

For the sake of our health, our economy, and the nearly 1,000,000 jobs in fishing, farming, and tourism that are anchored on the Great Lakes, we must act now.

As Governor, I am committed to: Clean up our drinking water. As governor, I will fight to clean up Michigan’s drinking water, unlike the Snyder administration’s failures. My infrastructure plan will speed up the replacement of lead service lines across the state so every parent can turn on their tap, bathe their kids, and give them a glass at the dinner table.

Protect the Great Lakes Not just for our rich heritage, their pristine beauty, or the nearly one million jobs they help generate for our state, but because it is our responsibility as the stewards of over 20% of earth’s freshwater and the groundwater that goes with it. Some of my favorite memories include swimming in the Thornapple River, fishing off the dock in Onekama with my brother and sister, and climbing the dunes on Lake Michigan. Climate change has impacted our lakes by lowering water tables and stimulating massive algae blooms. We must also do more to prevent a more aggressive spread of invasive species like Asian carp and lampreys. We in Michigan are defined by our water, and it’s up to us to protect it.

Enter Michigan into the US Climate Alliance When the federal government withdrew the United States from the Climate Agreement, I called on Governor Snyder to join hundreds of mayors and a dozen governors across the nation in committing to lowering carbon emissions. He refused, but I won’t. I am committed to fighting for our air and water.

To lead the world in water policy We have research universities, we have midwestern grit, and we have water. As Governor, I will bring people together to make Michigan a world leader in water policy.

Relying on science, facts and truly independent studies to guide how we address the challenges of balancing our environmental impact, jobs, and the sanctity of our waterways. An oil spill in the Great Lakes would be absolutely devastating to our environment and our economy. We can’t afford to sit around and wait for disaster to strike, we need Governor Snyder and Bill Schuette to stop making excuses and announce an immediate plan to shut down Line 5. Enough is enough. If they don’t have the guts to do their jobs and take action, we’ll get it done when I’m governor. On the day I take office, I will immediately file to enjoin the easement and begin the legal process for shutting down Line 5 to protect the Great Lakes, protect our drinking water and protect Michigan jobs.

Hiring impartial experts To oversee and regulate our emissions standards will ensure that scientists, and not corporate interests, are making the decisions that impact our water and air.

Holding Government Accountable
Michigan’s next governor needs to be laser focused on getting things done that will actually make a difference in people’s lives right now, like fixing the damn roads, improving education and skills training, and making health care more affordable for families.

The problem is that Governor Snyder and Republicans in Lansing have spent the past eight years rigging the rules of Michigan’s economy to favor wealthy campaign donors like Education Secretary Betsy DeVos over regular Michigan families.

Since 2011, Republicans in Lansing have: passed the Emergency Manager law, which created the Flint Water Crisis; put the lives of Michigan veterans at risk by privatizing jobs at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans; doubled campaign contribution limits infusing even more money into state politics; and refused to extend the Freedom of Information Act to the governor’s office and the legislature.

As a result, Michigan’s lack of transparency and accountability earned us an F on a 2015 Center for Public Integrity’s survey. Michigan is now dead last in the nation for state ethics and transparency laws.

My Michigan Sunshine Plan will rewrite the rules in Lansing to work for regular families by making state government more open, transparent, and accountable to Michigan taxpayers. It’s time to get it done, so we can build a better Michigan for everyone to infuse integrity in Governance and earn back public confidence.

My Michigan Sunshine Plan Includes: Tough new lobbying rules including real-time expenditure reporting, and a 5-year “cooling off” period for former legislators, which will be the longest in the nation. Greater transparency requirements for the MEDC including stronger accountability measures for job creation. Repealing the 2012 Emergency Manager law restoring local elected government. Reversing the Citizens United on steroids legislation that allows unlimited campaign spending. Expanding the Freedom of Information Act to include the governor’s office and legislature. Strengthening the Open Meetings Act to provide for the live streaming of all state board and commission meetings. Ending partisan gerrymandering and creating an Independent Redistricting Commission. Vetoing all legislation that is designed to circumvent the public’s right to referendum and pursuing legislative change to prohibit future abuses. Passing personal financial disclosure and conflict of interest laws for political candidates and senior appointees. Requiring accountability for campaign robocalls.

Better Skills, Better Jobs
There was a time when people from all over the world moved their families to Michigan in search of economic opportunity. Michiganders created the middle-class and put the world on wheels. Michigan was synonymous with innovation. We built great things. We offered a quality of life that was second to none.

That’s not reality for a lot of Michiganders today. Many Michigan families are struggling to get by. We have an economy of Haves and Have-Nots. According to the United Way’s 2017 Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed (ALICE) Report, 40 percent of Michiganders struggle to pay for basic necessities. Things like housing, food, transportation and health care are should be guarantees to every Michigander across the state, but they aren’t. Parents tell me all the time about their kids who move out of state, looking for opportunity elsewhere. Michigan’s median income is more than $5,000 below the national average, our roads are crumbling, almost 100 communities lack access to clean, drinkable water, and nearly 40 percent of our population is not working.

Michigan’s “economic comeback” eludes a lot of small business owners, the working class, women, and people of color. At the same time, we are short on the skilled workforce that was once our hallmark. We must get more Michiganders on the path to high-wage skills, because a concentration of talent benefits us all. Michigan must target, grow, and recruit the strongest, fastest growing industries of the future and offer the talent, place, education and infrastructure necessary to compete with the world.

That’s why this jobs plan focuses on raising household incomes by expanding education and skills training, investing in our infrastructure, aggressively pursuing economic development and supporting small business growth so that everyone has a path to a good job and a secure future. It’s not a real comeback until everyone feels it. Every Michigander deserves a path to a high-wage skill, economic opportunity and an income that supports their family.

My plan for improving Michigan’s economy and creating high-paying jobs focuses on: High-Wage Skills Closing the Economic Inequity Gap Unleashing Michigan’s Economic Development Potential Helping Small Businesses Compete

Improve Education & Skills Training
A generation ago, Michigan led the world in public education. This was the state families packed up and moved to because parents knew their children could get a quality education and the skills they needed to get a good-paying job. As a mom with two daughters in high school, these are the same opportunities I want for my own kids.

But over the past eight years, Republicans in Lansing have sided with Betsy DeVos to push an education agenda that included slashing school funding, expanding unaccountable for-profit managed charter schools, over-emphasizing standardized tests, attacking hard-working educators and adopting a one-size fits all approach to education that has left our kids behind.

This agenda has resulted in Michigan being near the bottom of the country on almost every meaningful metric from student literacy to college preparedness. Our educational crisis affects urban, rural and suburban school systems alike, and it disproportionately affects kids who are at-risk or have special needs.

It doesn’t have to be like this.

Michigan needs a governor who knows how to get things done to fix our schools, so every student has the support, tools and skills they need to compete for high-wage jobs and have full and productive lives. Students are preparing for jobs that don’t even exist today, which means we must teach them how to think critically, to problem solve complex issues and to work as a team. That’s what this agenda is all about.

My plan focuses on the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. We will prioritize early childhood education funding and get Michigan on a path to universal preschool to ensure that when kids enter kindergarten, they are ready to learn.

When children enter school, they need safe classrooms with high quality teachers to meet them where they are and help them succeed. Michigan will respect our educators and treat them as professionals, instead of attacking them for Lansing’s policy failures. We will expand offerings that give every child – regardless of their zip code – exposure to a full curriculum of classes and opportunities to find the right path for their future.

Lastly, when a child reaches high school, we need to help them develop a plan so they leave prepared for further education – be it with a certificate in the skilled trades, technical apprenticeship or to pursue a college track career. We must provide pathways of equal rigor for all these options. We will expose students to a wider variety of jobs earlier, so they have time to pursue classes that prepare them for life in the workforce. If their path is college, we will help them select the best one for their needs and provide a two-year debt-free talent investment if they work hard.

Making these changes won’t be easy, but I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and work with anyone who is serious about finding solutions to improve our schools and help every student build a good life right here in Michigan.

My plan for improving public education focuses on: Quality Education from Cradle to Career Paths to Prosperity with a Highly Educated Workforce Respect for Educators Stabilizing School Funding and Improving Accountability

Fighting Urban Poverty
Michigan used to be the place people flocked to for opportunity. Our cities were bustling with jobs and growing rapidly. This was the state families of varying races, nationalities and religions packed up and moved to because they knew the jobs that were available paid fair wages – regardless of the color of your skin.

This was the place where automaking jobs provided a ladder up into the middle class for thousands of Michigan families, where you could earn enough to raise a family and buy the car you built at the factory. Michigan built the middle-class and created pathways to opportunity for people of all ethnicities who couldn’t find them elsewhere.

But today Michigan cities are struggling. Municipalities across the state have suffered from drastic population loss, severe cuts in state funding for essential services, economic development that fails to reach residential neighborhoods, and a state government that values profits over people – particularly in communities of color.

Many families living in Michigan cities today are struggling just to get by, much less get ahead.

In 2017, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans and I joined leaders from urban communities across the state in an Urban Listening Tour. Too many candidates talk about issues they don’t understand without taking the time to have meaningful conversations with real people.

After touring the state and hearing directly from people who face these challenges every day, I have a deeper understanding of the policies our state needs to revitalize our cities, embrace our diversity as a strength and get things done that will help fight urban poverty. Solving these problems will require a strong partnership with state, local and community leaders. As governor, I am committed to bringing people together to build strong, vibrant and healthy communities across the state, so we can build a better Michigan for everyone.

To accomplish this goal, my administration will pursue policies in the following areas: Pathways to Employment Closing the Economic Inequity Gap Safe Communities and Affordable Housing Ending Racial Disparities

Repeal the Retirement Tax
After a lifetime of hard work, we must honor the promises made to our seniors so that they can retire in dignity in the state that they love. But right now working families and seniors are paying higher taxes under Governor Snyder

As governor, I will protect our seniors and retirees by:

Getting rid of the Snyder Retirement Tax, which will put more money in the pockets of Michigan seniors to spend on things like gas, groceries, and prescription drugs – which will help our small businesses grow and create jobs.

Supporting options for independence at home, which should be a reality for more seniors who deserve financial and medical peace of mind. I will stand up to attacks on senior care, and will fight to improve coordinated medical benefits so that seniors can receive the healthcare they need in the comfort of their own homes for as long as they wish.

Working to end elder abuse. As Senate Democratic Leader, I championed laws to create serious legal consequences for elder abuse, and attempts to exploit, neglect, intimidate, harm, or steal from our seniors. As Governor, I will continue to honor, defend, and respect our seniors and their rights.

Women's Rights
When women thrive, we all thrive. However, women of Michigan have been held back by an economy and a state government that does not treat them as equals. Women still struggle with inequity in Michigan’s economy, earning just 74 cents for every dollar their male counterparts earn for the same work. When women fight for fairness, the legislature responds by passing anti-women laws. I will stand up for women and turn Michigan into a model state for equality.

As Governor I will continue to fiercely defend the rights of every Michigan woman, including for women’s access to all forms of reproductive care, contraception, and maternity care, paid family leave, and equal pay. The day after the inauguration, I rallied more than 9,000 people at the Capitol to fight back against Donald Trump’s attacks on women and families.

As Senate Democratic Leader I led the fight against Republican efforts to erect more barriers for women in their health care. On the floor of the state legislature, I shared my own story of surviving sexual assault to speak out for all the women they silenced by refusing to hold a single public hearing.

As Ingham County Prosecutor I implemented a new domestic violence unit, and am committed to bringing together university officials, law enforcement, students, and legislators to end sexual assaults on college campuses..

Our Freedoms
We in Michigan once had some of the strongest civil rights protections in the country in the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, but we’ve fallen behind. We’ve got to show up for each other’s fights so that every Michigander, no matter where they come from, who they love, how they identify, or what their faith is, has the same opportunities to be successful and we cannot stop until they do. That means ensuring equity in employment, opportunity, schools, and safety for all people. We are still fighting for fundamental rights when people in our state can be denied housing or terminated from employment for their sexual orientation or gender identity.

We will build justice in Michigan by: Expanding the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Year after year, in the Senate and as a private citizen, I pushed to expand our civil rights laws to include people of all genders, identities, and sexual orientations. We drew the line when lawmakers tried to exclude transgender people from our civil rights laws. And I fought for same-sex adoptions and domestic partner benefits.

Promoting universal voter access, because it is too hard to register and to vote in Michigan, and as a result, fewer people do it. Everyone who applies for a driver’s license or state ID should be automatically registered to vote, and any registered voters should be able to vote absentee or by mail. As a legislator, I fought to ensure valid ballots from our service members overseas were counted, to prevent voters from being turned away at the polls, and to allow same-day voter registration.

Level the playing field in our criminal justice system so that the amount of money in your bank account does not determine the level of justice you receive. As Ingham County Prosecutor, I prioritized rehabilitation programs for nonviolent, first-time offenders to save resources, reduce overcrowding in prisons, and most importantly, to give people a second chance.

Ban the box so that fair hiring practices prevent disparities in our criminal justice system from keeping people out of the labor pool. Ending this discriminatory practice will put thousands of women and men back into stable, good-paying jobs.

Refuse to allow bullying on the grounds of religion. It’s a false choice to say that we can’t have religious freedom while still respecting one another. I’m proud of the work I did to protect our kids in schools with Matt’s Safe Schools law, but we have much more work to do.

Making government smarter and more effective by empowering a diverse set of voices in the cabinet, appointments, and throughout state government. That means creating an Equity Officer in the Governor’s office and empowering the Department of Civil Rights and the Civil Rights Commission.

Serving Our Veterans
We should be ashamed when the men and women who stepped up to serve our nation are forced to wait months for the care they earned, or face homelessness when they return home. I have a long record fighting for Michigan’s 700,000 men and women in uniform whose sacrifices keep us safe, and I’ll hold government accountable for the lack of respect for our veterans that led to incompetence, neglect, and tragedy at the Grand Rapids Home for Veterans.

As governor, I will honor our men and women who served in uniform by: Engaging Valuable Veteran Experience. We must capitalize on the dedicated talent that our veterans have to offer and close the skills gap by working with the US Department of Labor to increase the number of occupations with eligible apprenticeships and leverage federal funding to do this through the GI Bill.

We will work with the National Guard to coordinate training to align with occupational skills and require every state agency to be a veteran friendly employer. We will help build careers for veterans and match qualified vets to many of Michigan’s need-to-fill positions.

Putting training to work because the men and women who bravely defend our country have every right to serve their families and communities with honor and earn a good living. We owe our veterans every opportunity, and must connect them to the paths that lead to good-paying jobs when they return home. Let’s get veterans back into the workforce, help them find jobs, fast-track certification programs, and reduce barriers to opening a business.

Improving care by putting our veterans ahead of politics to make sure they get the benefits and medical care they deserve, including mental health services, addiction care, and counseling. One veteran suicide is too many, and we must do better for our servicemen and women who face the difficult transition of returning home. Michigan has let our veterans down in Grand Rapids, where trained nurses were replaced by a private contractor, leading to the neglect and abuse of our veterans. As Governor, I’ll work across party lines to get more medical staff in veterans homes, increase oversight for service providers, and end the privatization of services for our veterans that led to tragedy.

Returning home should not mean housing uncertainty for our nation’s heroes. I will work with our state housing agency and Michigan banks to help veterans take maximum advantage of VA home mortgage loans, especially in our urban communities.

The Opioid Crisis
The opioid crisis attacking our communities is a tragedy and a disease. Overdose deaths in Michigan from opioid abuse jumped 54% in just one year from 2015 to 2016. We cannot blame the victims of this disease. We must put aside partisan differences to confront this crisis head on.

In Michigan, we must take action immediately to: Expand treatment and recovery services. that help our family members and neighbors who are suffering from addiction. I will bring together community partners, medical professionals, state leaders, the federal government, and health providers to increase inpatient treatment services.

Partner with law enforcement and pharmacies to continue building on and expanding permanent drug take-back programs to dispose of unneeded controlled substances.

Invest in treatment courts to ensure access to the resources we need to treat addiction, including diversion and alternative sentencing. As Ingham County Prosecutor, I established policies to make sure that people with addictions could get connected to treatment, instead of going to jail. As Governor, I will continue to fund and support treatment courts.

Hold physicians and drug companies accountable because Michigan has more annual opioid prescriptions than people, and we cannot allow pharmaceutical companies to continue perpetuating the crisis with immunity.

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Make Michigan the Jobs State:
Bill will cut taxes, regulations and wasteful spending to strengthen our economy and create better paying jobs because Michigan families deserve a pay raise. He will champion vocational education, so whether our high school graduates are college-ready or job-ready, they will be ready. He will prepare students for careers in the skilled trades, ensuring multiple pathways to progress in our 21st century economy and a secure place in America’s middle class. Bill will fight to make Michigan number one and a place where people come to raise their families.

Roll Back the Granholm Income Tax Hike:
Michigan taxpayers were told by former Gov. Jennifer Granholm that her income tax hike would be temporary. A decade later, she is gone but you are still paying. Bill will fight to roll back the Granholm income tax increase and give Michigan residents more money in their paychecks. A victory by Granholm’s lieutenants guarantees the roll back will never happen and taxes will only go higher.

Cut Auto Insurance Rates:
Bill will slash Michigan’s auto insurance rates, putting more money back in your wallet. He will work with all sides to get legislation passed to give Michigan families a pay raise by bringing rates down.

Provide Our Kids with World-Class Schools:
Michigan’s school test scores are among the worst in the nation. Bill will change this by giving parents and students more choices, and ensuring all kids can read by the third grade. When we give parents a choice, we give children a chance. Bill will provide transportation scholarships for families that can’t afford the transportation costs for their children to escape failing schools and gain access to special programs.

End the Opioid Crisis:
Michigan is gripped by an epidemic of opioid addictions that must be fought on all fronts. Bill works daily to slow the availability of opioids and heroin with a special criminal unit that targets the distribution of these drugs. However, we cannot arrest our way out of this problem, so Bill has supported legislation to limit prescriptions and the recent increased federal funding to create education and treatment programs at the state level that have been lacking. Ending the addiction crisis requires increased education before addiction starts and increased access to treatment programs.

Protecting Women and Children:
With Bill’s leadership, Michigan has made strides in protecting the victims of Human Trafficking and Sexual Assault. As governor, Bill will continue advancing programs to rescue and treat those who have become trapped in a life of sexual slavery and want to reclaim their lives. Michigan must continue to make the testing of sexual assault DNA evidence kits a priority to ensure the victims of these horrendous crimes receive justice and to get rapists off our streets.

Hold Lansing Accountable:
Bureaucrats and elected officials must work for taxpayers, not look out for themselves. Bill will bring the highest ethical standards to Lansing with his plan to require personal financial disclosure for elected officials, make our legislature part-time, mandate that top officials release their tax returns, and expand freedom of information laws to include the Governor and Lieutenant Governor’s offices.

Defending Your Rights:
Bill is a strong defender for the rights of the unborn and has been repeatedly supported by Michigan Right to Life. He is an avid hunter and protector of our 2nd Amendment rights. Bill has been repeatedly endorsed by the National Rifle Association and received an “A” rating.

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