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Looking To The Future
27th District state rep candidates examine the issues.
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10/29
2004
32
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
R
egardless of who wins the
two-year term for state rep-
resentative next week,
Michigan's 27th District will be rep-
resented by a man who cares about
its future.
Both incumbent Andrew Meisner,
D-Ferndale, and Republican chal-
lenger William Axtell, who is mak-
ing a run for his first political office,
have the community at heart.
The district includes Huntington
Woods, Oak Park, Berkley, Pleasant
Ridge, Ferndale and Hazel Park.
Although they disagree on some
issues, both are education advocates.
"There must be a better way for
people who are adamant about get-
ting their kids into better school dis-
tricts to be able to do it," said Axtell
of Ferndale, a former teacher who
now works as a communication and
marketing specialist.
Meisner sees the key to the issue as
the preservation of "investments in
early education, K-12 funding and
adult education."
Both candidates for the $79,650-
a-year job feel strongly about mak-
ing sure Americans are employed.
"In an effort to protect Michigan's
jobs, I introduced legislation to stop
Michigan from doing business with
companies that incorporate offshore
to avoid paying their fair share,"
Meisner said.
"Gov. Granholm used this legisla-
tion as a model for an executive
order she signed this year, so now
Michigan's government stands by
those companies that stand by us.
We have more work to do in pre-
serving overtime pay and expanding
unemployment benefits, which will
keep families afloat and pump
money into the economy."
Axtell said, "There is a realization
that this is not an ordinary recession
where the pendulum will swing
back, and it will all be back to nor-
mal. The manufacturing jobs we
relied on for so many years are not
coming back, and we have to take
stock of this situation in Michigan,"
he said.
He also feels that, although many
benefit from services pro-
vided by the state; "we
might have more downsiz-
ing to do there, and we
need to think in terms of
how we can provide servic-
es outside the public
realm."
More Issues
Commission on Disability
Concerns.
Some Opposition
Meisner
An advocate for Oakland
County families, Meisner
cites safe communities,
affordable health care and
making the tax system fair
at the top of his list of
important issues.
He was the first repre-
sentative to introduce leg-
islation to expand •
Michigan's drug treatment
courts and hold offenders
Axtell
accountable.
"I also promote commu-
nity-oriented policing and
work closely with law enforcement,
fire safety and first responders to
make sure they have the tools and
resources needed to make us safe,"
he said.
Meisner feels "Michigan needs to
improve health care through mental
health parity, by boosting accounta-
bility in the insurance industry and
by making prescription drugs more
affordable through bulk purchasing
agreements, like what is now avail-
able to consumers through the new
Michigan drug discount card."
Axtell sees a need to establish a
pool allowing uninsured workers to
gain access to basic health insurance
coverage.
He also hopes to work to reduce
workers compensation fraud and
toward providing adequate funding
for problems associated with mental
health needs.
Meisner is working to reform
Michigan's tax system by asking for a
full accounting of corporate give-
away dollars and tax loopholes in the
annual budget.
Axtell, who worked for United
Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit, is
an advocate for disability rights, hav-
ing held the gubernatorial appointed
position on the Michigan
An area where the two
strongly diSagree is on the
issue of stem-cell research.
"I am pro-life," Axtell
said. "So anything that
destroys human life, I
would have a hard time
with."
Meisner, on the other
hand, is ready to introduce
legislation to repeal
Michigan's ban on stem-
cell research and to
strengthen penalties on
human cloning. "The ban
is not only a barrier to
potentially life-saving -
breakthroughs in treatment
of diseases such as
Alzheimer's and spinal-
cord injuries, it is an
impediment to creating
high-paying jobs in the life sciences
field," he said.
During his first term in office,
Meisner was appointed to the
Mental Health Commission by Gov.
Granholm and served on the Adult
Education Task Force. He serves as
minority vice chair of the Criminal
Justice Committee and on the
Education and Regulatory Reform
committees sand is assistant minority
whip.
A longtime volunteer heavily
involved in community service work,
Axtell currently serves on the
Ferndale Memorial Association and
several agencies supporting public
schools and libraries, is a trustee of
the Ferndale Educational
Foundation and has served as a
Ferndale precinct delegate.
Also running for State
Representative in Michigan's 27th
District is Libertarian Lloyd W.
Sherman of Hazel Park. Sherman is
a machinist NC/CNC programmer
operator. He has served on Hazel
Park's Zoning Board of Appeals,
Charter and Code Commission,
General Building Authority,
Brownfield Redevelopment
Authority and the Fence Board of
Review. ❑