House District 41, Ed Spillers

Ed Spillers
Democratic Party
State Representative (Clawson-Troy)
Oakland County
District 41

Why are you running for office?

I am a small business owner, not a career politician, who has the tools and the passion to do my part to bring stability to a Lansing government under scrutiny. I want to broaden our job market, reform Lansing's budget and tax infrastructure to be 21st Century ready and return solvency through shared revenue to local governments as protected by the constitution.

What is the biggest problem facing Michigan residents today and how would you solve it?

Michigan's budget and tax infrastructure is the biggest problem. It is important to reform both and control spending. Yet, we must also realize we absolutely cannot afford more reform without seriously working on ways to pay for vital services we need. Soon, our tax cutting and budget cutting will not out last rising costs and we could face bankruptcy.

What's a better solution: finding revenue or cutting costs to meet Michigan's public education budget? How would you do it?

Finding revenue is the solution and the reasoning is simple. If Michigan is near or at the bottom with investing in Education and our performance reflects as such, than we have NO business cutting education. It's not the fault of Teachers, Administrators, support staff, Parents or children. Lansing must leave education budgets alone. So one, I will work on a bi-partisan basis to do the neccesary structural reforms but, I will work hard to block ANY budget cuts to education.

Then I will work steadily to re-invest in K-12 and higher education once sensible and fair reforms are in place.

What's the best way to create jobs for Michigan residents?

When you speak of job creation there are two important factors in bringing jobs to Michigan.
1. We must broaden our job markets by not only attracting new business to Michigan but, developing better opportunities for Michigan's existing business sector. It starts by eliminating the unfair taxes on small businesses. I will work hard to do so and develop opportunities for tax breaks to small businesses who do certain things like offer health care benefits to their employees that will attract the best talent. I will also look to end the Business Surcharge and look to work collabratively with companies to find new ways to push open credit markets again.

Then, their is access. When potential employees look for a job in Michigan or companies look to move to Michigan they look at accessibility. Detroit Metro Area is the last major meto area without a Mass Transit system. This cuts us off from potential new businesses and workers moving to the tri-county region and really Michigan as a whole. This is our number one opportunity for job creation and economic growth and the best opportunity to reverse our economic problems. I have shown leadership in Mass Transit and I will look to do so in Lansing.

After you leave this earth, what will they say about you?

I pray they will say that Ed Spillers did a good job. I hope people will feel like I worked hard for my community and I stood for something other than just myself. That Ed Spillers really cared and he was tireless in the pursuit that everyone has a better opportunity to get access to the resources to do better for themselves. I pray they see me as a good family man and loved by his fellow man. I believe I get along with everyone and I don't leave people thinking they never got a straight answer or couldn't get along with me at the very least professionally.