Dunigan For Senate Blog

There’s no way to sugarcoat it; these are difficult times for Michigan and Mecosta County.  Too many of us know family, friends and neighbors who have lost their jobs, healthcare, retirements, homes and hope. 

Last summer, 15% of the workforce in Mecosta was unemployed.  Today, employment is gradually improving but barely.  For the last quarter of 2008 (the last period for which we have data), Mecosta County lost 832 jobs.  A newly employed person earned, on average, $1,159, per month, during that period.  So even those lucky enough to find work didn’t earn enough to adequately support a family.  The safety nets that once existed are long gone.

I’m Roger Dunigan running for the State Senate here in District 35.  I’m not blaming one party or the other for this economic disaster – this is a truly bipartisan mess and there is plenty of blame to go around.  But focusing on blame won’t fix anything.  Despite all the dire news, I am incredibly optimistic about our future.  I am convinced we will join together to solve our problems and come out of this stronger than ever.  But we will not succeed with the old style of highly partisan and divisive politics that helped create this crisis in the first place.  The task will not be easy and the choices will be hard.  But I know we will do it.

So what do we need?  We need jobs that provide livable wages and can be sustained over time.  Those jobs are in new methods of building, in energy, in technology and in tourism.  We need incentives for industry to train people for these jobs.  In some cases, we need government to get out of the way so businesses can grow.   

We also need the excellent public education our children need and deserve.  It is an outrage that schools in this area receive only slightly more than half of the per pupil funding that metropolitan area schools receive.  Proposal A, designed to equalize funding, simply hasn’t worked and must be changed.  Our schools keep falling further behind because our current legislature has failed the test of putting schools, and our children, first.   

Despite the economy, we have to protect this beautiful area we call home.  We can protect our air, water, hunting and fishing without increased spending.  It simply requires the will to enforce and strengthen existing laws and the determination to stop those who would exploit our environment for their own gain.  Mecosta County residents know only too well the assaults being made on our natural resources, such as ground water. 

These are the main issues of my campaign.  I hope to hear from you regarding your concerns and how we can jointly address them.  This government doesn’t belong to the special interests or the lobbyists or the politicians.  It belongs to all of us.  We must work together, regardless of our political party or ideology, to rebuild our community and our state.  If you’d like to help, please visit www.Dunigan4Senate.com .