CADILLAC – As sheriff of Oakland County, there’s no surprise that Mike Bouchard says public safety is his number one issue as he seeks the governor’s office. Bouchard hopes to represent the Republican party in 2010.
“Michigan leads the Midwest in violent crime,” Bouchard said when he visited Cadillac Aug. 24.
Bouchard, who has three children with his wife, Pam, said he hopes to bring his experience as State Senate Majority Leader to bear as governor. He served in the senate from 1991 to 1999, an experience that he said gave him the knowledge needed to get things done.
“I don’t think we’ll get Michigan back to work until we fix Lansing,” Bouchard said
The fix, Bouchard said, won’t include raising taxes.
“That’s a bad message to send to business,” he said.
In response to declining state revenues, Bouchard said his approach would be more in line with what he did in Oakland County, where he said he saved the county $1.6 million a year by privatizing food service for jail inmates.
Bouchard said he would use similar tactics to keep Michigan prisoners locked up instead of closing facilities or bringing terrorist prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the Standish prison.
Bouchard also described the Michigan Business Tax as a failed policy that emerged from a broken system.
Part of the reason the state could be up to $2.8 billion in the hole, Bouchard said, is that the legislature bases its budget on wants, rather than needs.
“It’s based on the amount of money the state is spending, not on a tax model that will make the state more competitive,” he said.
He drew a comparison to the Ireland model, where a reinvention of the tax code became a magnet for business.
Bouchard said another change he would pursue as governor would be to implement a two-year rolling budget for the state, a move which would give cities and schools more predictability in setting their own budgets.
He decried that the legislature needs to have its budget in place by the end of September but has been in session only one day in six weeks this summer. Most other public bodies, Bouchard said, go on break after they have enacted their budgets.
Bouchard also pointed to his experience as Oakland County Sheriff, where he handles a $130 million budget as well as 1,200 employees.
“So I have the backbone and the experience in making tough decisions,” Bouchard said.
As for health care, Bouchard said he is not a candidate of big government. He pointed to the delays car dealers have faced in being reimbursed in the Cash for Clunkers program.
“Those aren’t the guys I want running health care,” Bouchard said, referring to the federal government.
Ultimately, Bouchard said Michigan has a lot going for it, such as water, the outdoors, natural resources and a hard-working labor force.
“I want to fix Lansing so all these things can work together again,” he said.
By Jeff Broddle The Cadillac News
