Michigan's 2010 Gubernatorial Race Is a Crucial Turning Point in State's History

Hit hardest are Detroit and parts of Michigan's governmental infrastructure. Once upon a time, the property bubble was producing record amounts of taxes for the state; unfortunately most of the money was squandered, mismanaged or embezzled.

When the bubble burst there were no reserves because cronyism caused municipalities' managers to entrust the state's assets to Wall Street firms. Unfortunately, those same Wall Street firms were selling these no-lose investments to our municipalities, but betting against them in dark pools that eventually left Michigan and Detroit broke. Detroit has become a shell of what it could be due to a lack of money, moral guidance and political leadership; and until we turn Detroit around, the entire state of Michigan will suffer the consequences.

Our gubernatorial race this November between Republican candidate Rick Snyder and Democratic candidate Virg Bernero is crucial in order to return some kind of forward-charting path for Detroit, Michigan and all the families living here. With the recent addition of Hollywood productions and big pharmaceutical companies to Michigan's repertoire of high-skilled industries, most people want to see more aggressive action toward raising the stagnant wages that have left so many in Michigan in debt while seizing on wind and solar energy.

Obama's administration made sure our auto industry focuses on green technology for its vehicles and a more competitive workforce, but it will be up to our next governor who will make sure the people of Michigan have more of a fighting chance to get ahead and build successful families and small businesses here in Michigan once again.

Michigan voters must realize their responsibility in sending folks to Washington and our state capital who will represent our wants and not the for-profit politicians already in the back pocket of big business and special interests. We must prepare to vote in a new governor to help pull Michigan out of its worse economic position in decades.

The dates for the gubernatorial debates, along with links to each candidate's website, are listed below. There could be additional debates if Bernero gets his way; he has invited Snyder to another five debates, but Snyder has not committed to any of them yet.

So far, Snyder, the Republican candidate running on a platform based off a 10-point plan, is the man to help us. He is up in the latest Rasmussen poll by at least 8 percent to 10 percent. Upon further inspection of his campaign, found in detail at his website, you get a sense that Snyder isn't your average Republican candidate. But I can't get over the feeling that he is speaking in ideas instead of actions. Whenever I hear politicians talking about ideas of improvement, rather than concrete actions toward improving society's ills, I become very hesitant to vote for such a candidate.

Snyder's strength lies in the fact that he is a business man first and foremost and this will be central to stewardship if voted in to serve come November. His other strengths center on building a slimmer, more transparent government while rebuilding our internal workforce to create decade's worth of quality workers and jobs for the area. Some of his weaker points are health care; nothing in his plan speaks of a single-payer option, which would stop the monetizing of health care and human life. His stance on reforming regulation is to not burden business. This sounds familiar and dangerous, though the need to reform Michigan's corporate tax structure is undeniable at this point. Snyder is Michigan's best Republican candidate in decades; my only concern is that Snyder may run the state like a business, only serving a bottom line and not the people that voted him into office.

On the other hand Bernero, the Democratic candidate who spent his life in local politics, is running a more populous campaign that isn't resonating loudly enough throughout the state. At this point, he has become the underdog in this competition. Bernero has a more populous and progressive approach on how to fix the business tax burden that centers the corrections around more exports and less outsourcing of jobs -- two key factors in Michigan's long term success. Bernero is also focusing on making Michigan a more green-energy state and wants to take advantage of alternative energy sources to bring down the artificially inflated gas and oil prices dictated to us by Detroit Edison and Wall Street.

Bernero favors the Obama health care plan which could or could not be a good thing. Because many provisions don't go into effect until after the election, I can only go on Bernero's past history on health care, and I like what I see. During his time in office he helped create the Ingham Health Plan, which allowed all citizens without insurance to receive basic health care, a fundamental right in any successful civilization.

Bernero also respects a woman's choice and has no interest in interfering in the private lives of same-sex couples, two areas government has no business in.

Michigan has a choice this November. I hope voters make the right choice, and I hope both of these candidates understand the exciting times we live in and are ready to seize the opportunities the people of Michigan have before them.

Michigan Gubernatorial Debate Schedule:

September 21^st in Grand Rapids

October 7^th possibly in Lansing

October 21^st in Southfield