Issues of Concern for District 104 Constituents

As I travel around the District and listen to constituent concerns, I will address them here.

Economic Security

Our District 104 is home to two types of residents. There are people who own property and live here seasonally and/or rent it out to visitors. For the most part, they enjoy economic security.

The other group are people who live here year-round, and do the heavy lifting to make sure their communities thrive. They are the ones most impacted by economic insecurity. Many work in the service industries, making it difficult to make ends meet when seasonal visitors go home.

As your representative, I will work to provide more opportunities and tools to increase economic security and quality of life for everyone. I am open to all ideas; here are some.

• Job-creating grants for small businesses, including incentives and technical support for employee-owned cooperative enterprises
• Reliable broadband and cell service for residents to work from a remote location
• Housing support
• High-quality, affordable childcare
• Fair wages, support for unions
• An engaging public-school education, for early childhood and post-secondary education
• Affordable and accessible quality health care, including mental health and family planning
• Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit
• Career/job counseling
• Reliable public transportation
• Unemployment benefits for those who work a seasonal job, if another job cannot be found
• Local food supports for farmers and ranchers, healthy food accessibility
• Assistance to find grant programs and help with application (such as home repair, down-payment for a home, etc.)
• Strengthen public-private partnerships, to work within communities
• Hold corporations responsible for price gouging, and enforce anti-trust laws

Health Care

Quality, affordable health care should include all who live in our state. It is still unattainable for some people, and they go into debt to get the care they need. Many people suffer needlessly when they wait too long to visit their doctor.

As your legislator, I will work on the MICare initiative, a study to determine the best strategies for creating a single-payer, Medicare for All, state-level option. Once the best solution is determined, we will act to implement it as one of the first states in the country to offer such a program.

I believe quality of life and money are wasted when we wait to treat an illness instead of preventing it. Health care should start with health!

Rural health care infrastructure must be strengthened with incentives for health care workers to come to the area, better emergency and non-emergency medical transportation, tele-health with reliable broadband, and reduction of “middlemen” profit through a single payer alternative.

Housing

Affordable, safe housing is scarce and often non-existent in District 104. This beautiful place is a destination for many seasonal and short-term visitors, but this has contributed to the current crisis in housing.

We owe the people who invest their skills and time to serve their communities the opportunity to live a good life. We must use all tools available to make that happen, including: Accountability and restrictions for short-term rentals, subsidies for repairing old structures and building new, making necessary zoning changes, and wages that match our cost of living.

Pro-life or Pro-choice?

One question I get asked often is “Are you pro-life or pro-choice?” That’s difficult to answer because I am both. I believe every born person deserves to live their best life. The decision to have a child is personal and should not involve government intervention, especially if we say we value freedom, which I do. People who become pregnant have the right to make this decision in their own lives.

I wholeheartedly support developmentally appropriate comprehensive sex education, starting in middle school. I also believe in the availability of contraception. Research shows that abortion rates go down when teens are given both.

Our reproductive freedom will continue to be challenged unless we put a stop to it now. A couple years ago, 195 Republican US House Representatives voted to give the states legal jurisdiction over contraception availability, instead of a national mandate. My mother was 31 when she finally was prescribed “the Pill”, after having 8 children and 2 miscarriages. Taking away our rights is a serious strategy to return women to their submissive status that I remember well from my childhood. I will fight with all my might to defend the rights women deserve to achieve gender equality in every part of our lives.

Public Education

We as taxpayers invest in public education because we understand the importance of an educated society. When children and adults are allowed to learn to their potential, there is a much greater return on investment. This increases their quality of life and contributes to healthy, thriving families, and the greater community.

When I began public school teaching in 1975, Michigan was ranked in the top 10 of public schools in the U.S. This year, Michigan is in the bottom 10, according to the Michigan League of Public Policy’s 2024 Kids Count Report.

This is unacceptable, and must be reversed by addressing root causes, including child well-being concerns. For years, Michigan legislatures and governors have defunded public education, I believe to intentionally weaken public education for their own self-serving reasons. Under Governor Whitmer, more financial investments have been appropriated, but there is still so much work to do.

I worked with public school teachers in low-wealth communities for twelve years. I was privileged to work with excellent teachers who put everything they had (including much of their own money) into their classrooms. I witnessed that the children who needed the most from public schools often got the least. The teachers and students helped me to see that a critical barrier to learning is living in poverty; not having basic needs met. We must once again respect our teachers.

ALL Michigan’s children and young adults must be at the top of our priorities for our communities and state to thrive. I support whatever it takes to reach top 10 status once again.

Early Childhood Education

I have a BS from MSU in child development, so I understand the importance of high-quality early childhood education for all children and their families. The accessibility for all children impacts all of society. I worked for the HighScope Educational Research Foundation who conducted the first longitudinal study of the effects of high-quality early childhood education (including a parent education component), the Perry Preschool Project. Since then, another study has concluded similarly…investing in high-quality early childhood education results in a substantial rate of return, not only in dollars, but in quality of life-including the next generation and to society.

The Effects of Two Influential Early Childhood Interventions on Health and Healthy Behaviour - PMC (nih.gov)
Perry and Abecedarian Projects FAQ - Center for the Economics of Human Development (uchicago.edu)

Prenatal and the first five years of life are critical to a person’s healthy well-being in their adult life. When children are nurtured, have consistent caregivers concerned with developing the “whole child” (physically, emotionally, and intellectually), we can expect healthier, more self-reliant, and greater contributors to society.

When our oldest daughter, Tiffany, was an infant, we couldn’t find great childcare. I decided to leave my teaching job, and opened an early childhood center. There was high demand, and it grew from serving 20 children to 150 within nine years. My staff and I also worked with two local businesses to open their own on-site centers for their employees and local communities. Our centers stood for exceptional quality with parents as our partners. We quickly realized that most families could not afford the high cost of teachers with degrees, small group sizes, safe and inviting environments, extended and flexible hours to match parents’ needs, and healthy fresh food. And yet, every child deserves this great start to a successful life.

The “free market” is unable to solve this critical need for high quality early childhood education so parents can work or go to school. Our economy and democratic society are the beneficiaries of our investment. I support high quality early childhood education for ALL children.

Our Environment

How grateful we are to live in a beautiful place! Our District 104 boasts pristine lakes, rivers, and Lake Michigan coastline in Benzie and Manistee counties. We enjoy rich agricultural land and forests for our food, our recreation, and our spiritual peace.

Clean Water – Michiganders in District 104 tell me that clean water and protected watersheds top their list of legislative priorities. Access to clean, safe drinking water is a human right that we must value and protect. Michigan is entrusted to defend and preserve the Great Lakes, accounting for about 20% of the world’s fresh water. Lake Michigan is our precious gem and important to our economy, tourism, recreation, and way of life. I will put clean water policy and environmental stewardship front and center as your representative.

Forests and Farmland – National Geographic named the northern part of the lower Michigan peninsula the most beautiful place to see changing colors in the fall. Our trees are awe-inspiring and draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, helping us address our changing climate. I will work to protect, maintain, and increase our forests and help foresters prosper. We are fortunate to live in a temperate climate with rich farmland and diverse agriculture. We value our farmers; they are active conservationists, affected daily by the weather. As your representative, I will work tirelessly to preserve agricultural land and farms, help farmers maintain stable, living incomes, and safeguard farms for generations. Investments in soil health translate directly to investments in nutritious food for our families, draught and flood resistant soil that requires less synthetic fertilizer, and pesticides which is good for us and our lakes and streams. We must plan now to ensure food security for our future.

Climate Change – Protecting our environment and providing a livable planet is our commitment and responsibility to the next generations. It’s also a tremendous economic opportunity. Investments in clean, renewable energy mean good paying jobs for Michigan families. Michigan will lead in production of electric vehicles, batteries, charging stations, and innovation increasing our prosperity and moving us toward carbon neutrality by 2040. As your representative I will support and work to implement the Healthy Michigan Climate Plan developed by Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. These are exciting times to be Michiganders!

Gun Violence Protection

Too many families suffer due to gun violence. Gun ownership is a right, but with rights come responsibilities. We have the right to exist protected from gun violence.

• Universal (nation-wide) background checks for all gun purchases and licensing to own, which includes safety training certification
• Law enforcement should pursue people who attempt to purchase illegally
• Pass extreme risk/red flag laws to allow law enforcement to intervene when someone is showing serious signs that they are at risk of harming themselves or someone else
• Work for better firearm security, like trigger locks and responsible gun storage
• Work for banning assault style firearms and reduce magazine size for existing guns

District 104 is home to or destination for hunters. These solutions will not infringe upon anyone’s right to be a responsible gun owner, or infringe on the 2nd Amendment.