The Romeo Area Tea Party hosted a “Meet the Candidates” event for the 2012 Michigan U.S. Senator candidates yesterday moderated by local WJR radio personality Frank Beckmann. While all of the candidates running were invited, a total of five candidates attended the event including Scotty Boman (L), Clark Durant (R), Gary Glenn (R), Randy Hekman (R), and Peter Konetchy (R). Big name candidate Pete Hoekstra (R) cancelled at the last minute and incumbent Debbie Stabenow (D) did not respond to the invitation.
About 500 people attended the event
While the format wasn’t quite a debate, the moderator introduced each candidate individually and asked them a few questions while the spotlight was on each of them. From there, the floor was open to questions from the audience of about 500. Each candidate was given an adequate time to answer the questions before moving on to a final “lightning round.” Some of the responses were quite intriguing!
Scotty Boman
Scotty Boman (L)
Energy prices aren’t too high, the dollar is too cheap!
No one should be forced to do business with anyone nor should they be forced not to.
Clark Durant
Clark Durant (R)
If I’m good enough for Ronald Reagan, I hope I’m good enough for the people of Michigan!
Washington is broken. We need to fix it and restore constitutional government.
If we continue to raise our debt ceiling, it’s going to be worse than Greece in this country.
Gary Glenn
Gary Glenn (R)
I’m confident I can take votes out of Debbie Stabenow’s backyard.
We need to get out of and defund the United Nations!
‘Right to Work’ should be a universal, fundamental right… you should be able to get a job without being forced to join a union.
Special breaks in our tax code is the issue. (Glenn supports the “fair tax”)
No sharia or foreign law should ever be in the United States.
Randy Hekman
Randy Hekman (R)
We need leaders who are true leaders… we need to change the hearts of people – government can’t do that. That’s the role of family and churches.
I have a focus on social and fiscal issues… I’m a social, fiscal conservative and I’m a gutsy guy.
Strength of a nation is people, not government.
I am not taking corporate or association PAC money.
Peter Konetchy
Peter Konetchy (R)
We need to get the government out of every aspect of our lives.
Rush Limbaugh is to the far left of me!
I don’t want a ‘right to work’ amendment like Gary Glenn; I don’t want the government involved in labor at all.
The only solution is to get government out of our lives and that’s what every fiber of my body is fighting for.
One other highlight from the evening was an analogy Hekman gave while talking about PACs and lobbying. Being a judge for several years, Hekman pointed out that if the defendant in a case walked in and handed him $5,000 and then the plaintiff walked in and did the same exact thing, all he would have to do is decide who he liked better. While he acknowledged this is, of course, illegal, he compared it to what is going on with the lobbyists and lawmakers in Washington. Something to think about!
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Tagged with: Clark Durant, Gary Glenn, michigan, Peter Konetchy, Randy Hekman, Romeo Area Tea Party, Scotty Boman, US Senate
