Well he was a long way from Ottawa County and the 30th State Senate District but it's never too early to start campaigning for Rep. Pete Hoekstra's Second Congressional District seat in Washington. In all actuality, he's probably been groomed for the seat by his good friend Pete:
"I have had a long friendship with Pete (Hoekstra) over the years. He has represented the district well, but he is moving on to different things," Kuipers said. "You will see a lot of me over the next couple years, as well as the other candidates."
-Cadillac News
I know we've all gotten pretty used to that up here, something I like to call cronyism. Going to the polls to vote is more of a habit than any real statement. Remember last November? There were an awful lot of unopposed seats on my ballot. Competition is good. Competition makes people do a better job.
Anyway, one of the highlights of Sen. Kuipers' visit was his appearance at the Cadillac Area Chamber of Commerce Lecture Luncheon held at Baker College last Friday where he discussed "The Three E’s - Energy, Education and Economy." Three extremely vital topics for the Cadillac area and it seems to me that more emphasis on education could help out with the other two, but I digress, I really want to mention the bad guys; the Department of Environmental Quality.
Here's what Sen. Kuipers had to say:
"Why wouldn’t the DEQ want to work with businesses rather than intimidate them and get them to leave? Until we change that, if businesses have options (to leave the state), they will take them"
-Cadillac News
It's not intimidation to be expected to follow the law. For example, when I'm speeding and a cop pulls me over, I cannot use as my defense, "the police intimidated me, now I'm going to move someplace else (and spend my money there)." That's just ridiculous but apparently not taking responsibility is the way to go these days. Every state has an environmental agency and every state is required to have particular plans and programs under Federal regulations. I'm sure this quote was in reference to the bench trial currently underway between AAR Manufacturing and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. It doesn't look like either side is backing down on this one but that doesn't make anyone a bully either.
If you're interested the trial is scheduled to reconvene January 27th in the 28th Circuit Courtroom.
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