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July 15, 2010

Lile wants Schmidt's position in Lansing

Grass-roots effort takes aim at well-funded incumbent

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE — Glen Lile and Wayne Schmidt used to work together.

Now Lile want's Schmidt's job as state Representative.

Schmidt, 43, worked as bellboy at the Grand Traverse Resort while Lile, 58, was the Resort's telecommunications manager and engineering supervisor.

Schmidt went on to manage a men's clothing store and serve on the Grand Traverse County commission before local voters sent him to the state House in 2008.

Lile worked for the local Pepsi distributor before being elected East Bay Township supervisor in 2004. He'll try to defeat the well-funded Schmidt with a low-budget, grass-roots effort in the Aug. 3 Republican primary.

Former Acme Township Supervisor Bill Kurtz, who's supporting Lile, said Lile could stand to work on his fundraising effort, but he still likes the challenger's chances.

"Door-to-door is key to any election and Glen is out there working hard," Kurtz said. "A lot of people know what he's done, leading the charge on the investigation at the septage plant, uncovering township embezzlement, and erasing a township's deficit that he inherited.

"These are the things I like to see in a candidate, a proven track record," Kurtz said, and pointed to Schmidt's tenure on the county board when he and fellow members approved septage plant funding.

County Commissioner Larry Inman contributed $500 to Schmidt's campaign and said his former county board cohort is doing a good job.

"I don't believe in the criticism from his opponent that the fault of Michigan's economy should lay on his shoulders as a first-term representative in the minority party," Inman said. "He's down there representing the district trying to keep taxes low and manage the budget and he's been responsive and accessible to the public."

Several months ago Lile accused Schmidt of doing nothing while the state lost 280,000 jobs, but he now declines to discuss Schmidt's record.

Lile said he'll spend about $10,000 on his campaign, most of it his own money, and dismisses those who doubt his chances.

"I ran against a three-term incumbent for supervisor, and if I had listened to everyone else I never would have ..., " Lile said. "Either people like it the way it is, or they want change."

Schmidt said he's not taking the race for granted and said he's also knocking on doors. He said the state balanced its current-year budget without new taxes and will do so again in the upcoming year.

He supports the budget put forward by the House Republican caucus, but couldn't name any programs it might eliminate or specific reductions.

"We'll do it mostly through cuts; government has to live within its means," he said. "We're looking at approximately $1.5 billion dollars ... so everyone is pretty much taking a hit."

Lile said the state needs to get back to basics and reduce both spending and taxes.

"We need to drastically reduce, if not eliminate business taxes, and give incentives for businesses to grow," Lile said. "In East Bay we created the tools to allow businesses to create and or retain 200 jobs through tax abatements, and if you can do it in East Bay Township you can do it statewide."

Lile said the state also needs to stop over-regulation, but couldn't name anything that's specifically overregulated.

"I'm not the guy in Lansing right now, but the first thing I would like to do is take a look at each individual area," he said. "Maybe things they are doing in Lansing we can bring back to the local level where it's less expensive and they can eliminate red tape."

Schmidt said he doesn't hear a lot of complaints about cutting regulation, though he said some processes need to be streamlined where state and federal regulations overlap.

"Tax policy and a more simplified tax code is what they are clamoring for," he said. "Certainly you can always say business wants lower taxes, but more importantly they want consistency and knowing what the tax structure is."

He favors eliminating the 22 percent "temporary" Michigan Business Tax surcharge.

"There's no one magic bullet, it's going to be a variety of things on many fronts that will change this state's economy," he said.

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