Moore Assistance: Michael Moore to Speak at Fundraiser for Local Dems

Sept. 22, 2004

With gray hair and spectacles, Jim McKimmy doesn’t look like a rebel or an unabashed optimist. In fact, he’s a retired school superintendent of 23 years who ought to know better. But McKimmy is running as a Democrat in the 105th District. He knows what he’s up against. He jokes that a Democrat hasn’t won the seat in at least 105 years.
McKimmy thinks he has a decent chance, though, given the changing demographics in the area.
“The national issues are causing people to reexamine their stances,“ he said. “Michigan is leaning toward John Kerry for president. And I’m a good candidate. I have 37 years in public education and have worked with multi-million dollar budgets.”
McKimmy’s campaign has recently jumped into the spotlight thanks to film director Michael Moore, who has volunteered to do a Sept. 26 fundraiser at the Elk Rapids High School for McKimmy and Gary Blair, a Democrat running for sheriff.
Moore and his wife, Kathleen Glynn, agreed to help out an Antrim County group called AllDems after learning that the candidates wouldn’t receive any money from the state Democratic Party. The party’s thinking, said Glynn, is that it’s futile to back Democrats up here. But Moore and Glynn, who live on Torch Lake, hope to break the Up North Republican gridlock by at least giving these two candidates a boost.
McKimmy points out that the AllDems group, which is sponsoring the fundraiser, does not mean all Democrats.
“It means all democracy. It’s a fun group. Their motto is ‘Democracy is not a spectator sport.’”

DUMPING GROUND
McKimmy’s number one priority is immediate passage of the Clean Water Legacy Act. This is a compact between the states bordering the Great Lakes and Canada that aims to protect the Great Lakes. Yet Michigan is the only state that has failed to qualify for participation. Republicans won’t pass the needed legislation, McKimmy said, because of pressure from business groups.
The issue is certainly timely. The Great Lakes “remains a dumping ground for pollution ranging from livestock waste to mercury emissions,” said an Associated Press report this week, citing findings from the International Joint Commission.
Threats to the Great Lakes come from all sides: exotic species, microbial pathogens that can cause gastrointestinal illnesses (comes from pet waste, livestock manure, and leaky septic tanks), and the side effects of urban sprawl—sewage overflows, storm water runoff, pesticides and fertilizers.
Then there’s the whole issue of whether to extract water from the Great Lakes for our parched dry states.
McKimmy said it’s important that Michigan sign on so that our governor gains a voice and veto power over decisions of how water is used in the Great Lakes basin.
“Secondly, we have seen efforts to commercialize the use of Great Lakes water and if we don’t get this legislation passed, we may face a situation where business interests get grandfathered in that are not consistent with the long-term protection of the Great Lakes,” he said. “Certainly the bill designed now is not perfect, but it’s at a threshold where it can work.”

REWARD BUSINESS
McKimmy is also concerned about the high rate of unemployment in his district, which covers Antrim, Charlevoix, Otsego and most of Cheboygan counties.
His idea: reward businesses for creating a net number of new jobs with tax credits. That compares with the Republican proposal to completely eliminate the single business tax. Both plans would spell tax relief, but McKimmy thinks his is better because it focuses on keeping jobs in Michigan.
Besides that, slowly reducing the single business tax over the last six years hasn’t worked, he said. During that time, Michigan exported more jobs out of state than any time in its history. New jobs would also help state coffers because employees pay state income tax. That’s in contrast to the huge deficit created by the reduction in the single business tax during Governor Engler’s reign.
His other ideas:
• Create a state policy that the state of Michigan only deal with companies that guarantee their goods and services will be produced in the United States.
• Require companies give their workers a 90-day notice before they lay them off and export their jobs to other countries.
• Require companies that do decide to export jobs to contribute to a retraining fund for displaced workers.
• Work with other states to buy prescription drugs for Medicaid patients in volume at a cheaper price.
• Continue to allow the importing of prescription drugs from Canada, which some politicians are now attempting to ban.
• Educate the residents of Michigan—who have the highest rate of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease in the nation—on the need for exercise and healthy diets.
• Advocate for wider health care coverage. Presently many uninsured go to the emergency room as a last resort, which is a very expensive way of getting care and causes any number of problems.
• Reinstate the level of dental services in the Medicaid program.
• Strengthen the public schools instead of building more charter schools. Surveys show that charter schools are not doing as good a job as public schools, he said.
McKimmy sticks to the issues and calls his opponent, attorney Kevin Elsenheimer, a “gentleman.”
“I like Kevin and we both recognize that the district has a choice between two competent people, but two very different people,” he said. “He advocates for a part-time Legislature and this way he can continue as a practicing attorney. The people of Michigan deserve full-time representation as we face crises in budgets and programs. We need competent people working on these problems.”

To order tickets for the September 26 fundraiser, see www.alldems.org, or call 231-331-4202.