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July 16, 2010

Bishop, Walker square off in primary

Tea Party candidate takes on former state representative

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Randy Bishop wants to be the next Tea Party candidate to pull an upset in a Republican primary.

The former mortgage broker turned truck driver will challenge former state Rep. Howard Walker, the party establishment's choice, in the Aug. 3 Primary for an open state Senate seat held by term-limited state Sen. Jason Allen.

The eight-county 37th Senate District stretches from Traverse City north to Sault Ste. Marie.

"I can't of course compete with his money and I don't have all of his endorsements," said Bishop, 52. "I think the people, and not just the Tea Party group, are fed up with politics being done the way where the winner is always the guy with the biggest ads and the most money.

"I think they want a common, hard-working guy that will do what's right by the people, not what's right by the party," he said.

Walker, 55, owned his own land surveying company before serving the maximum three terms in the state House through 2008. He's already run television and radio ads.

"I really do feel passionate about working hard on my campaign. I owe it to the people who supported me," Walker said.

Both candidates said they need to make Michigan a more attractive state for job creators, but they have differing takes on how to get there.

Bishop proposes making Michigan a tax haven for business by eliminating property taxes on equipment, the Michigan Business Tax, the personal income tax, and the 6 mill state school property tax for business.

He'd replace those taxes with a sales tax of 9.75 percent on all retail goods and services. Purchases or services between businesses would be exempt from the tax.

Michigan residents would get a monthly rebate of the sales tax based on what a family living at the poverty level could expect to spend on food and clothing. The current state sales tax of 6 percent doesn't apply to services, groceries, or prescription drugs.

Walker said he likes that such a tax would be simple, predictable, and lessons the burden on job creators, but he's concerned about a negative impact on tourism.

He supports elimination of the Michigan Business Tax, which he voted against as a state Representative.

"I voted against it because it picked winners and losers, and a lot of the winners were larger businesses downstate and smaller companies are picking up the burden," he said. "We need a new tax structure that's more predictable, more fair, and lower."

Bishop is an independent truck driver who owns his own rig. He moved to northern Michigan in 2005 and has not held elected office. He said while driving the country in his truck he's noticed that states with smaller governments and lower taxes thrived, while high-tax, highly regulated states were dotted with foreclosure and going-out-of business signs.

"We need to take a bulldozer to Lansing and rebuild it from the ground up," he said.

He'd limit state government to education, public safety, and infrastructure such as roads. He'd eliminate the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Michigan Economic Development Corp., and the state Liquor Control Commission, among others. He proposes to strip the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Environment of its regulatory enforcement branch, the former Department of Environmental Quality.

Bishop also said he'd privatize all state parks and wants the state legislature to become a part-time body.

"We have to get leaner at the state level," he said. "If we make Michigan a tax haven for business, it will take us from the 48th state to start a business to the top 5 within two years," he said.

Walker said Michigan is a tough place to do business because of difficulties in complying with various levels of bureaucracy at local, state and federal governments. He said the state needs to focus on reducing complexity, increasing streamlining, and create more coordination between governments.

"Even when we want the regulations it should be easy for people to comply and get an answer," he said. "The proposed coal plant in Rogers City took two years to get an answer on whether they could build that or not."

The primary winner will face Democrat Bob Carr of Mackinac Island in the November general election.

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