BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY
TRAVERSE CITY -- Glen Lile wants voters to compare his record against that of state Rep. Wayne Schmidt when they weigh in at the August Republican primary.
Lile, East Bay Township's supervisor, said Thursday he's filed to run for the 104th state House district that includes Grand Traverse and Kalkaska counties. He'll face Schmidt, a former county commissioner and first-term legislator from Traverse City.
"Families are losing their jobs and homes," Lile said. "Last year Michigan lost 288,000 jobs. We can't keep doing things the same way, sending the same people to Lansing. What has Wayne Schmidt done? Nothing."
Schmidt said he's done plenty in his first 14 months in office. He said he's held the line on taxes and served on a task force that put out a jobs creation plan.
"I think I've done an excellent job," Schmidt said. "I've gotten a lot of support and on a variety of issues."
Lile, 58, said he's not a career politician and would like to break the template for selecting local Republican candidates for state office. Typically, Grand Traverse County commissioners line up to take turns.
Lile formerly worked for Pepsi Bottling Group and first ran for office in 2004 when he grew frustrated with East Bay's Board of Trustees. Voters elected him township supervisor, and he authorized a forensic audit that resulted in the prosecution and conviction of the township clerk on embezzlement charges. The audit also revealed a township deficit of more than $100,000.
"If you haven't got the money you have to make the cuts, and we made some tough cuts, including funding for the senior center," Lile said.
Now the township has a fund balance of almost $1 million and has restored services it cut.
"Last year (Schmidt) took $1 billion in federal stimulus money to balance the state budget instead of putting it into projects that would put people back to work," Lile said. "This year the state budget is $1.6 billion short. We have to cut government, but it has to be done equitably and with the least impact on residents."
Schmidt said the House Republican caucus is working on how it will balance the budget. He said that plan will be released soon.
Lile also criticized Schmidt for authoring a bill that would allow students to carry guns on college campuses and for his votes on bills affecting the insurance industry.
"When I look at anything that would help the consumer on insurance, he has opposed it," Lile said.
Schmidt said Republicans tried to negotiate a number of changes on many of the insurance bills, but without success.
"My one goal is to make sure the insurance rates for the people of northern Michigan don't go up, and I don't want the people of northern Michigan to be subsidizing motorists in Detroit," Schmidt said.
Lile will have his work cut out for him going up against an incumbent with a track record of successfully raising money from special interests in Lansing and party and community power brokers. Lile said he won't do television or radio advertising and doesn't expect to compete with Schmidt as a fundraiser.
"I'm kind of old fashioned. I'm just going to start going door to door," Lile said. "I'll hold some fundraisers and put in about $5,000 of my own money."
