Meet Peters, Raczkowski This Sunday At Adat Shalom
hat You Need to Know at the Ballot Box is the focus of an
electoral forum 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 24, at Adat Shalom
Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills.
Channel 4 reporter Mara McDonald will moderate the forum, which will
inform voters about candidates for the 9th Congressional District seat
as well as the proposal for a Michigan constitutional convention and the
election of state Supreme Court justices.
The forum is sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council
in partnership with B'nai B'rith International, Ameinu Detroit, National
Council of Jewish Women/Greater Detroit Section, Zionist Organization of
W
lies will be irreversible.
I strongly object to the way in which the
president and his Democrat Congress have
expanded federal spending and increased
our national debt by passing a failed $800
billion stimulus package and a trillion dol-
lar Obamacare bill.
The debt burden and crushing taxa-
tion that these irresponsible bills place
on our children and grandchildren will
kill our economy and way of life. We were
promised unemployment no higher than
8 percent, but we are well above 10 percent
in many parts of Michigan as November
approaches.
President Obama has failed to restore
the health of our economy. This calls for
wholesale replacement of members of
Congress who aided and abetted him in
prolonging and exacerbating the crisis
now facing the country.
Peters: Economists from across the politi-
cal spectrum agree that the Recovery Act
and actions taken by the president halted
the economic nosedive and saved the
American auto industry. However, eco-
nomic recovery and job creation have not
come quickly enough for families here in
Oakland County.
Small businesses, which create two out
of every three new jobs, need support. I
was the driving force behind legislation to
increase lending to small businesses and
was pleased to have the president's sup-
port. However, this legislation should have
been a priority sooner. I also think the
president needs to act more aggressively
in addressing the nation's deficit.
I have formed a working group to iden-
tify specific areas where we can cut spend-
ing and am looking forward to analyzing
the report from the Deficit Commission
due out in December.
IN: How can the federal government
best encourage economic growth and
job creation for Michigan and particu-
larly for Oakland County and Detroit?
Peters: The best way that the federal gov-
ernment can help encourage economic
growth and job creation is to help small
businesses do what they do best — create
jobs.
I authored a section of the recently
passed small business legislation that will
leverage $870 million in private invest-
ment in Michigan small businesses and
manufacturers. This capital is especially
critical because declining property and
equipment values across all of Southeast
Michigan have made it difficult for firms
to get the loans they need to diversify,
grow and hire more workers. Even when
companies have orders in hand, banks are
refusing to provide them the loans they
need.
My provision will give the state a small
America, American Jewish Committee, Workmen's Circle and the Detroit
Jewish News.
Ninth District candidates Gary Peters and Rocky Raczkowski will par-
ticipate; candidates Douglas Campbell, Adam Goodman, Bob Gray and
Matthew Kuofie have been invited.
Justin Long, a professor at Wayne State University, will make a presen-
tation on the constitutional convention issue. Robert Sedler, a law profes-
sor at WSU, will discuss the importance of the state Supreme Court races.
The forum is free and open to all. For information, call the Jewish
Community Relations Council at (248) 642-5393. ❑
pool of funding with which they can
enhance the credit of prospective borrow-
ers, catalyzing the loan. I am also fighting
for greater support for research and devel-
opment into advanced vehicle and renew-
able energy technology. Oakland County
and Metro Detroit have the research and
engineering talent necessary to help
Michigan and America be a world leader
in these industries that will create the jobs
of the future.
Raczkowski: Businesses have to deal
with unprecedented uncertainty due to
Washington's inability to set a clear road-
map of future policy changes. A large part
of this uncertainty is about potential tax
increases and increased regulations.
Inside The 9th District
Voters in Michigan's 9th Congressional District will decide whether incum-
bent Democrat Gary Peters or chief challenger Republican Rocky Raczkowski
will represent them in the 112th Congress.
The district includes Farmington, Farmington Hills, West Bloomfield,
Orchard Lake, Keego Harbor, Sylvan Lake, Bloomfield Township, Bloomfield
Hills, Birmingham, Beverly Hills, Bingham Farms, Franklin, Berkley, Troy,
Rochester, Rochester Hills, Auburn Hills, Pontiac, Clawson, Lake Angelus,
Oakland and Orion Townships and parts of Waterford and Royal Oak.
Jewish Population Centers
The 9th District has the largest Jewish population of any congressional dis-
trict in Michigan. At the same time, it is the home of a diverse population of
which the Jewish community is a small, but active, minority.
The 9th District has been historically Republican with Peters upsetting
Rep. Joe Knollenberg in 2008 as part the Democratic wave that had Barack
Obama handily winning Michigan on his way to becoming president.
And Peters has shown himself as a man to be reckoned with in his own
right, challenging some of the new president's policies and building close ties
with the Jewish community.
Rocky Raczkowski is no stranger to area voters as he comes from
Farmington Hills and previously served as majority leader in the Michigan
House. He has also worked to build strong ties with the Jewish community,
particularly around Israel and the War on Terror.
Other Candidates On The Ballot
• Douglas Campbell, Green Party: www.gp.org .
• Adam Goodman, Libertarian Party: www.lpwm.org/AdamGoodman.
• Bob Gray, no party affiliation: www.bobgrayforcongress.com .
• Matthew Kuofie, no party affiliation: www.matthewkuofie.com .
Businesses are reluctant to hire when
they could be facing additional labor,
regulatory and tax costs due to govern-
ment policies. This, at a particularly vul-
nerable time due to the credit crunch and
financial crisis, spells a death sentence
for many small businesses and stunts the
growth of others. Uncertainty is one of the
key reasons the American economy can't
emerge from the recession.
Because of this insecurity, businesses
will simply remain on the sidelines, wait-
ing to expand their companies and hire
new workers. High productivity from the
critical workers who have not lost their
jobs means that businesses can delay hir-
ing with little consequences.
With the unemployment rate at about
10 percent nationally and more than 13
percent in Michigan, government must act
quickly to end the uncertainty and create
an economic environment that provides the
security employers need to create new jobs.
JN: What should the United States do
to promote and support a peace agree-
ment between Israel and the Palestinian
Authority? If negotiations fail should
the U.S. and Quartet impose an agree-
ment?
Raczkowski: In an effort to achieve a real
and durable peace that has eluded Israel
despite unprecedented sacrifice, the par-
ties to the conflict themselves must nego-
tiate, without the imposition of undue
external pressures, artificial timelines or
demands that compromise Israel's secu-
rity and national identity.
The predicate to peace and a sustainable
two-state solution must be Arab accep-
tance of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish
state.
The Palestinian people, and for that
matter, the entire citizenry of the Mideast,
must support leaders who reject ter-
ror and dismantle its infrastructure,
embrace the principles and institutions of
democracy and honor the rule of law. In
the event such negotiations were to fail,
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October 21 • 2010
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