Senate District 7, Patrick Colbeck

Patrick Colbeck
Republican
Michigan State Senate, 7th District

Why are you running for office?

I am running to restore the principles of limited government, honesty, fiscal responsibility, and personal freedom to the governance of our state. For far too long, Americans have leaned on the men and women in the armed services to defend our freedom abroad, while most of us have been lax in our defense of freedom at home. Our freedom at home has been incrementally eroded by excessive taxation, activist judges, voluminous legislation, and special interest-driven policies. This needs to stop. I am running in a spirit of service to express my gratitude for the blessing of living in a country founded on the principle of liberty and to help secure this liberty for future generations.

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

Jobs. Approximately 50% of the job losses in the U.S. since 2000 have been in Michigan. Less jobs = less tax payers = less taxes = less funding for government services. We need to make Michigan THE destination state for job providers. In this spirit, we need to start treating job providers as customers, not piggy banks. This means that we need to cut the red tape and lower taxes in a manner that brings back jobs to Michigan. We need to be competitive not only with other states in the U.S., but also competitive with global economic leaders such as China.

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

Cutting costs is the only viable approach to meeting Michigan’s public education budget. I would cut costs by promoting the sharing of administrative services such as HR, Information Technology, and Finance for school districts. In addition, I would promote the adoption of Health Savings Accounts for public school employees as a cost-effective health care option that does not sacrifice the quality of patient care.

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

The best way to create jobs for Michigan residents is to restore an appreciation for free market principles, free from the vices of political favoritism. The State of Michigan has seemingly been attempting to replicate the “central planning” approach to economic prosperity via targeted tax incentives to “green” and “film” industry businesses. Central planning of our state economy has not been successful in spurring economic growth for any but a privileged few, nor has it been shown to work anywhere else in the world. We need to restore free market principles that provide equal opportunity for all businesses to succeed. We need to reduce the cost of doing business in Michigan so that job providers can devote their financial resources to hiring more employees. One of the places to start is to repeal the Michigan Business Tax and cut expenses for state operations to balance the budget. Overall, we need to create a stable business environment free from volatile tax and regulatory policy. We also need to ensure that our educational institutions are preparing students with the skills needed to meet the needs of prospective employers and ensure that we have reliable access to inexpensive energy.

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

I hope that God and my fellow citizens will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant”.