Gubernatorial Candidates Outline Agendas

Running was a common theme for speakers at Wednesday’s Morning Edition, a breakfast meeting hosted by the Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce at Weber’s Inn.

Alma Wheeler Smith and Rick Snyder are both running for governor, in the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively. Michael Ford, the new CEO for the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority, keeps the buses running, while Keith Hafner runs a local karate business. And Kevin Borseth, the University of Michigan women’s basketball coach who makes his team run drills, almost ran for cover when Russ Collins, the event’s MC, brought up an infamous YouTube video that Borseth might well want to forget.

Collins, who’s also executive director of the Michigan Theater, kept the speakers running on schedule – after the jump, we’ll give a summary of their remarks, presented in the order in which they spoke.

Alma Wheeler Smith, candidate in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary

Smith currently serves as state representative for the 54th District, which includes the city of Ypsilanti, and Augusta, Salem, Superior and Ypsilanti townships. After serving three, two-year terms, she’s ineligible to run again because of term limits – she also previously served as a state senator from 1994-2002. This is Smith’s second run for governor: she campaigned in the 2001 primary, and the following year became the running mate of David Bonior, losing in the primary to Jennifer Granholm.

Smith said that one of her strengths is a bipartisan approach and willingness to work both sides of the aisle. She cited jobs as a priority, and emphasized the importance of small businesses.

Key initiatives would include restructuring government by looking at ways to consolidate or, if consolidation has occurred that isn’t effective, to reverse it. When a bureaucracy becomes too large, she said, it’s inefficient and ineffective. She plans to push for universal preschool and strengthen the K-12 system, citing the need for consolidation – in the area where she serves as state representative, there are at least two school districts that should consolidate, she said, without naming them.

Education needs to be considered from preschool through college, she said. The Kalamazoo Promise is a good model, Smith added – that privately funded initiative pays for college tuition to graduates of the Kalamazoo public schools. In general, tuition is out of control, she said, and all children need the opportunity that a quality education offers.

Smith also said she’s especially interested in initiatives that will support the state’s small businesses, which she noted have led the country out of every previous recession.

“Without small business being able to work and thrive,” Smith said, “we fail.”

Kevin Borseth, head coach of UM’s women’s basketball

Now in his third season coaching women’s basketball at Michigan, Borseth told the audience that he’d always dreamed of being head coach there. “Not many people get to live their dream,” he said. “I also learned be careful what you wish for.”

He said the team recently started practice for the season, which begins Nov. 13. Both the men’s and women’s teams kicked off the year on Friday, Oct. 16 with a Midnight Madness event for fans at Crisler Arena – Borseth said the staff made a YouTube video of the coaches dancing during the event. That reference caused Collins to quip that not everyone knew about Borseth’s YouTube fame, alluding to a clip of an explosive post-game press conference Borseth gave last year, which was followed by “Rate the Rant” commentary by ESPN2 sportscasters. Borseth acknowledged that he’d been pretty upset at the time. “I’m kind of a fiery coach,” he said.

Women’s basketball is a purer form of the game, with better shooting and crisper passing than on men’s teams, Borseth said. He urged everyone to come to the games, adding that he was embarrassed to say season tickets cost only $20.

Rick Snyder, candidate in the GOP gubernatorial primary

Snyder, an Ann Arbor venture capitalist, began by saying that the most frequent question he’s asked is “Why on earth do you want to be governor?” There are three reasons, he said: 1) Michigan is an economic disaster, 2) if Lansing lawmakers were a business, “we’d have fired them,” and 3) career politicians aren’t the answer.

But Snyder said he wants people to vote for him for positive reasons – a long-term vision that transitions the state to an era of innovation with a diverse economy, restores Michigan’s major cities, protects the environment and gives young people a reason to stay here after graduation.

Snyder also outlined his 10-point plan, noting that No. 1 on the list is creating more and better jobs. Government’s role is to create an environment in which business can thrive, but Michigan doesn’t have that, he said, calling the Michigan Business Tax “the dumbest tax in the United States.” The state also has a regulatory environment that assumes people are bad. Government is a bureaucracy, but should be a customer service organization, he said, with citizens as the customers.

“This is the time for the solve-it attitude,” he said.

Michael Ford, Ann Arbor Transportation Authority CEO

Hired as AATA’s new CEO this summer, Ford responded to a question from Russ Collins by saying that although he grew up in Seattle and was a Huskies fan, he’d been impressed by Michigan’s defeat of Notre Dame and was now a Wolverine.

There are many opportunities in the Ann Arbor region for improving its transportation, Ford said. Among them are the WALLY proposal connecting Washtenaw and Livingston counties by rail, and the Fuller Road transit station, a joint city/UM effort, and the Ann Arbor to Detroit rail project.

Doing nothing, Ford said, is not an option – all great cities have great transportation infrastructure. He asked for feedback from the audience on how they used AATA, saying that “transportation doesn’t do any good if it’s not meeting your needs.”

[The AATA is holding a special meeting of its board, also at Weber's Inn, on Thursday, October 29, 2009 5:00 p.m. in the Varsity Room.  The topic of the meeting will be the possibility of reorganizing as a regional authority under Act 196. ]

Keith Hafner, owner of Keith Hafner’s Karate

Russ Collins introduced Hafner and asked a series of questions, adding, “I ask you most sincerely not to kick my ass if you don’t like the questions.”

Hafner has owned Keith Hafner’s Karate for 30 years, and earlier this month became a grand master – a title conferred on him in a ceremony led by Ed Sell, Hafner’s former karate teacher and the previous owner of the local school.

Hafner noted that his business is one of the oldest on Main Street. In addition to karate classes for kids and adults, Hafner is a consultant and author of the book “How to Build Rock Solid Kids.”

There’s a crisis among kids today, he said, adding that they lack self-confidence and a positive attitude. Learning karate is a great way to build both of those characteristics, he said.