jews in the d continued from page 20 District 40 House Race The 40th District encompasses the cities of Bloomfield Hills and Birmingham, Bloomfield Township and a portion of West Bloomfield Township. The seat is held by Republican Rep. Michael McCready, who is term limited. REPUBLICAN NAME: David Wolkinson AGE: 38 CITY OF RESIDENCE: Birmingham SYNAGOGUE/ CHURCH (if any): Young Israel of Southfield David PROFESSIONAL Wolkinson BACKGROUND: B.A. and M.A. in economics and law degree from the University of Michigan. After graduation, I became an executive for America Works, placing over 400 welfare recipients back into the workforce. Later, I joined Rick Snyder’s gubernatorial team as policy director and helped create the solid framework that led to Michigan’s economic come- back. In 2013, I started my own business called Bentzion Properties. As president, I own and manage a portfolio of multi- family apartment buildings locally and throughout the state. WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE READERS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU? I am a businessman. I have built up a small but successful real estate management company in the last five years. I know how economies work and I have deep experience in public policy from my years of activism in the Republican Party and my service as Gov. Snyder’s policy director. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 PRIORITIES? Education, roads and regulatory reform. Education: There is no more import- ant function of state government than education. Too often in Lansing when we discuss education we talk about funding levels and tax regimes. We need to get back to the basic question of how we can provide the best education possible for our children. We need to be strategic in how we spend our tax dollars on public education. We need to adopt a P-20 model that focuses on a child’s edu- cational development from pre-school through graduate studies. Studies show that at-risk children particularly bene- 22 October 11 • 2018 jn fit from early childhood educational opportunities. Through public-private partnerships, we know that we can pro- vide these at-risk children with educa- tional opportunities at a very low cost. Roads: $175 million is not sufficient. While I would support legislation to use money from the rainy- day fund, my first priority would be to fight for our district’s fair share of the current road money being spent. We are the biggest donors to the state (as far as House Districts go). In Oakland County, we only get back some 70 cents on the dollar of what we send to Lansing. The bottom line is that Oakland County (and the 40th district in particular) do not get our fair share of road revenue based on the current formulas, and the next state representa- tive needs to fight for our fair share. Regulatory reform: The single big- gest obstacle business owners face is Michigan’s complex regulatory struc- ture. We need to reform or eliminate regulations that inhibit businesses from operating and investing in Michigan. Rather than adding more regulations, we need to look at the ones we have and to start aggressively eliminating those that no longer serve a purpose or inhibit economic development. DEMOCRAT NAME: Mari Manoogian AGE: 26 CITY OF RESIDENCE: Birmingham SYNAGOGUE/ CHURCH (if any): I attend St. Sarkis Mari Armenian Church in Manoogian Dearborn. PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: I am a foreign policy professional with career experience at the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Mission to the United Nations. I earned both my bachelor’s and master’s from the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. I began my career in the office of former Congressman John D. Dingell (D-Mich.). WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE READERS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU? It’s an honor to be a candidate for state representative in my home community. This is the community that I was born and raised in; I am a proud product of our public schools and enjoyed so many opportunities that prepared me for my career in public service. While public service has always been my passion, I didn’t always envision myself pursuing elected office. My great-grandparents escaped the Armenian genocide and came to Detroit with the hope of achieving the American Dream. Today, folks in Lansing are creating policies that are extinguishing that dream. As state representative, I will promote progres- sive values and policy solutions that benefit all residents in our community. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 PRIORITIES IF ELECTED? I’m focused on repairing our infra- structure, including having safe, clean drinking water, investing in public education and fostering a strong envi- ronment for small business growth. I’ll fight to make corporations pay their fair share and stop corporations from using overweight trucks that damage our roads. We can protect our lakes and rivers by making polluters pay steep fines when they pollute and ensure compa- nies like Nestle pay their fair share for bottling our fresh water by having laws that protect our watershed. Public schools in our district are among some of the best in the state; I support investment in education at all levels. Local business owners deserve to have the tools they need to create jobs with strong wages and good benefits for Michigan’s families in our district. Thus, I’d like to increase support for small businesses through the Office of Talent and Economic Development. This includes grants for entrepreneurs, help for startup companies and minority business development. District 39 House Race District 39 includes weste rn W est Bloomfield Township, Commer ce Township, the Village of Wolverine Lake and Wixom. The seat is cur- rently held by Republican Rep. Klint Kesto, who is term-limited. DEMOCRAT Jennifer Suidan Jennifer Suidan did not return a questionnaire to the Jewish News. Jennifer Suidan REPUBLICAN NAME: Ryan Berman AGE: 38 CITY OF RESIDENCE: Commerce Township (grew up in West Bloomfield) SYNAGOGUE/ Ryan Berman CHURCH (if any): Temple Israel (my great-grandparents were founding members) PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: Attorney and counselor at law, also a reserve police officer and active volun- teer for many organizations, such as the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces and the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. WHAT WOULD YOU MOST LIKE READERS TO KNOW ABOUT YOU? I’m very reasonable, responsible, family-oriented and honest. I’m a lifelong resident of the district with deep roots in this community. My wife, Stacie, is now the kinder- garten teacher at Temple Israel. A fun little story: My bar mitzvah service at Temple Israel was a b’nai mitzvah shared with Stacie’s best friend at the time. When I met Stacie at Michigan State University seven years later, we obviously played “Jewish geography” and quickly figured out the connec- tion and that, coincidentally, Stacie happened to be at my service! We’ve now been married for more than 13 years and have two beautiful daughters, Sloane, 11, and Morgan, 9. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 PRIORITIES IF ELECTED? • Prioritization of our state budget for proper funding and allocation toward the roads/infrastructure, educa- tion and public safety. • Lower car insurance rates by reforming our auto no-fault laws. • Bring more transparency to our government by expanding our Freedom of Information Act. ■ Compiled by Managing Editor Jackie Headapohl. METHODOLOGY Candidates were sent the emailed questionnaire on Sept. 13 with a deadline for response of Sept. 27. Those who did not respond by Sept. 27 were sent another email that day extending the deadline to Oct. 4.