Granholm vs Devos Debate #3

I feel a little better after this debate. There was much less bickering and a lot more issue driven debate.

But, I must say that Granholm fights dirty. She reminds me of a boxer who likes to box cleanly most of the time but then throws in a few hits below the belt. Each debate she tries to bring up a zinger that is meant to catch Devos off guard and to make him look bad. Tonight she said that Devos incorporated subsidiary businesses of Amway in the Bahamas to avoid American taxes. He exclaimed that it wasn't true. As a voter, I'm left trying to figure out who's telling the truth.

I give Devos credit tonight for sticking to the issues and spending less time trying to counter her personal attacks. He actually spelled out a little bit more of his economic plan rather than just telling us to look at his 134 point plan online. For example he said that he would open 9 new trade offices around the world. Right now Michigan only has 1 office. He proposes not only eliminating the Single Business Tax but also the Personal Property Tax and replacing the taxes with a fairer system. He said that these things would create an environment to attract businesses to the state.

Those proposals sound great but then I scratch my head Mr. Devos and ask again how are you going to replace 3.7 billion dollars in government revenue? You said you'd only replace 1 billion of the 2 billion that the Single Business Tax brings in. Mr. Devos, you said we need to increase government spending to hire more police officers in Michigan. How do you propose to do that when you're also cutting 1 billion out of the general fund? How do you propose to increase revenue sharing to cities if you're going to be cutting so much of government revenue? How are you going to make higher education more affordable with that kind of a cut? You've failed to answer that basic question.

Governor, you've had 4 tough years. It'd be tough for any governor, Republican or Democrat. Even though I'm weary of hearing Devos saying it, you're not getting the job done. Your campaign seems to spend a lot of money criticizing your opponent because you don't have a lot to show for yourself. Your 2 billion dollar fund to create jobs is not enough to revolutionize the state's economy. Complaining about globalization won't change things either even if that's a big reason the auto industry is struggling. The health care initiative is a great idea and I hope it works out. But, if the state's economy continues to struggle there will be no money for that program.

I'm still undecided. I have a hard time voting for someone that plays dirty. It's been Granholm mostly that's played dirty in the debates. I wish I had other viable choices.

Granholm vs Devos Debate #2

Ok, now I'm really interested to see if there are any 3rd party candidates after this debate.

Child like behavior of he said, she said, is not what I want in a governor. How many times can we argue over whether Dick Devos cut jobs or created jobs as CEO of Amway? How many times do we have to go back and forth about whether Amway got a special federal tax break or not?

If Granholm brings up Devos's record as Amway CEO again, I'm going to scream. You've made your point, move on. Tell me more about what you're going to do for the state of Michigan. She did talk about this 2 billion dollar fund that will be used over several years to draw new business into Michigan. So far, she said it's created 3,000 jobs. That's great, but 3,000 jobs is not very many. How much did the state spend to get those 3,000 jobs?

Devos continues to have difficulty in the debate forum. He was a little better tonight but still not very articulate. He spends a lot of time saying we need new leadership in Michigan. He has yet to convince me why he would be any better. A vague promise of being able to bring new business to the state is not convincing. He talks of getting rid of the Single Business Tax and the personal property tax. Great, that might bring new business to the state. But, the state will be bankrupt because it can't pay its bills with all those tax cuts. Or, massive spending cuts will need to take place.

Do I even want to watch the 3rd debate?

Granholm vs Devos Debate #1

Is there anyone else I can vote for in the Michigan governors race? I was not very impressed by the debate last night.

I could tell Granholm is skilled in this kind of format and supported her positions forcefully. Dick Devos came across as a little nervous. This was a new forum for him I think and he was challenged by it. There were a few times he was caught with that deer in the headlights look.

Devos annoyed me by rarely answering a question directly. He tried to stay on his pre-arranged bullet points. He said that the Single Business Tax should be replaced by another business tax that brings in only 1 billion in revenues compared to the 2 billion in revenues the SBT currently collects. He said it would be easy to cut more fat out of government. So, another billion would be easy to cut? Doesn't' he know that the majority of the state budget is mandated spending? As a result, that billion has to come from the general fund that pays for schools, public safety and a lot of other things. I'd like to hear specifics of what he plans to cut.

Granholm lost my respect by her attempt to somehow link the Devos family to a scandal in a nursing home investment. The Devos family invested in common stock in a nursing home company. Later it was found out that there were a lot of problems with sexual abuse of patients. Why on earth would the Devos family knowingly invest in something like that? Even if you have no morals you know that would be a terrible investment because sooner or later that abuse would come out and sink the company. Granholm, you probably lost any chance of getting my vote with that attempt to smear your opponent.

Much of the debate sounded like two children arguing. You said this and it's not true. You said that and it's not true. Back and forth, back and forth. I didn't learn anything new last night.