President of the United States |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| John McCain
| Republican
| McCain seems to be about 70 years out-of-touch with students’ needs. He voted AGAINST Pell Grant funding and an expansion of education benefits for soldiers. McCain voted FOR the Illegal Drug Amendment to suspend grants, loans and work assistance eligibility for people convicted of drug related offenses (…because kids do more drugs when they’re in school?), FOR No Child Left Behind, and has not said anything about taking on student loan companies. McCain also voted against SCHIP, the Unintended Pregnancy Amendment, the Teen Pregnancy Education Amendment, and has not put forth any policy that would ensure health coverage for college students. McCain supported a 2008 referendum to the Arizona Constitution banning affirmative action, similar to Michigan’s Proposal 2 in 2006.
| D+
|
| Barack Obama
| Democratic
| Obama plans to make higher education more affordable and attainable for all Americans through college readiness programs, a tax credit that would pay for 2/3 of the average college tuition, ending subsidies to private student loans companies, simplifying the financial aid process, and strengthening community colleges. Obama will expand Medicaid and SCHIP eligibility, end insurance discrimination against contraception, and would allow students to continue coverage through their parents’ health plans until age 25 — great news for poor college students! Obama supports affirmative action based on socio-economic status over race, and he opposed 2006’s Proposal 2 in Michigan, which ended affirmative action in the state and challenged diversity in higher education. Obama plans to establish harsh penalties for voter fraud and to make sure voters are fully informed and enfranchised. Obama will expand the use of drug courts, allowing first-time offenders to go to rehab rather than prison.
| A+
|
U.S. Senate |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| Scotty Boman
| Libertarian
| Boman does not support Federal funding for tuition, as it falls outsides of the Consitutional authority of the government. For the same reason, he also rejects government funding of healthcare. However, he is progressive on issues of sexual orientation (wishing to make it a protected class), and does not wish to regulate drug use.
| D+
|
| Jack Hoogendyk
| Republican
| Jack Hoogendyk opposes affirmative action, abortion, drug use, and government supported health care/insurance. During his time in the state legislature, he supported giving small college scholarships to high school students who enrolled full-time in college; however, this was motivated by a desire to reduce the amount of state aid given to secondary schools.
| F
|
| Carl Levin
| Democratic
| Carl Levin has supported the raising of amount of Pell grants awarded and the amounts of those grants, as well as reducing the interest rate on government-backed Stafford loans. He opposes any laws that require identification to be shown when voting or registering to vote. He advocates expanding health coverage, and hopes that the government can supply Americans with insurance against "major health catastrophes." He is also a supporter of reproductive health.
| A+
|
| Harley Mikkelson
| Green
| Harley Mikkelson generally supports peace and environmental protection. He is for affirmative action.
| C-
|
| Michael Nikitin
| U.S. Taxpayer's Party
| Mike Nikitn opposes federal funding for education because he beleives it to be unconstitutional. He opposes making voting easier for college students because he wants to surpress the "ignorant...Democrat vote." He does not support affirmative action because, in his words, "true Americans are diverse enough." He opposes gay rights. He is against the war on drugs.
| F
|
Congressional Representative, 15th District |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| John D. Dingell
| Democrat
| Dingell is the longest serving representative in Congress, and his experience is evident in his support of student issues. He advocates increased Pell Grant funding, decreased student loan interest rates and banning university financial aid officers from owning stock in or accepting gifts from loan lenders, and thinks that universities should be required to disclose their financial relationships with lenders. He supports legislation classifying crimes based on sexual orientation as hate crimes, affirmative action, greenhouse gas reduction through a cap and trade program, and is a career-long proponent of universal health care and expanding child healthcare programs. He supports protecting Michigan’s most valuable natural resources, the Great Lakes, through strengthening of the Clean Air Clean Water Act. To help Michigan’s economy, he wants to increase funding for national job training programs to keep workers’ skills relevant to today’s market.
| A
|
| John J. Lynch
| Republican
| A graduate of Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, he advocates off-shore drilling and nuclear power, but does not have a clear plan for alternative energy sources. His “hands-off” economic policy is wildly out of touch considering the current state of the economy, and he believes that deregulation and lower taxes will save Michigan. He is anti gay rights and would push to define marriage as between one man and one woman. He is also clearly anti public schools, advocating school vouchers rather than fix the education system. He supports your right to bare arms, but not a woman’s right to choose. Overall, he is scant on real ideas for real progress in Michigan.
| F
|
State Representative, 53rd District |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| Matt Erard
| Socialist Party/Green Party
| While Erard has some good positions on certain social issues (stricter pollution standards, legalizing gay marriage, increased emphasis on alternative energy to name a few), it would be impossible to put in place a majority of his ideas (free tuition to all public schools through post-graduate studies, equal public financing for all candidates, free internet and computers for all) without massive tax increases. Ultimately, his plans are overly idealistic and would further hurt Michigan's already ailing economy.
| C+
|
| Rebekah Warren
| Democratic Party
| A strong advocate of student issues, Warren has spent her time in the Michigan House of Representatives working to remove barriers to the ballot box and to repeal Rogers Law, the greatest barrier to student voting rights and reason why Michigan residents have to re-register each time they change their address. She has also worked to increase investment in higher education, expand eligibility for Michigan Promise Grant Awards, and created the Envision Michigan Fund to help families in the 53rd District by offering scholarships to students seeking higher education. She has supported legislation to make public schools safer by adopting policies that prohibit harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Warren has been working to implement a single-payer health care program in Michigan, hold HMOs and insurance carriers accountable for patients, and protect Medicaid funding. She also supports legislation that would require emergency room staff to inform sexual assault victims of emergency contraception.
| A+
|
Regents of the University of Michigan |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| Ellis Boal
| Green
| Ellis Boal regrets that the government does not spend enough on education. He supports affirmative action. He supports keeping tuition low by eliminating funds from tuition that support research done by the University in conjunction with corporations.
| C
|
| Susan Brown
| Republican
| Susan Brown plans to keep tuition low by exploring other methods of funding and by cutting unnecessary spending. One method of gaining funding is by creating partnerships with the private sector. Another, far less lucrative, source of income is using connections with successful alumni. This revenue stream seems unreliable and will probably not reduce tuition by any appreciable amounts. Also, Brown is vague as to what programs constitute unnecessary spending.
| B-
|
| Laurence Deitch
| Democratic
| Laurence Deitch supports lowering tuition and increasing financial aid. He supports methods to create a more diverse student body. He also aims to increase the University of Michigan's contributions in the field of life sciences research by sponsoring stem cell research. He is of the opinion that by producing high-quality graduates, the increase in talent will create a "renaissance" in Michigan.
| A
|
| Denise Ilitch
| Democratic
| Denise Ilitch supports making tuition more affordable for working-class families. She is also in favor of affirmative action. She will also support programs through the University to encourage graduates to stay in-state to to combat "brain drain."
| A+
|
| John LaFond
| Republican
| John LaFond wants to decrease tuition and the University's dependence on state funding by cutting wasteful spending (He does not define "wasteful spending"). He will encourage graduates to stay in-state by making the curriculum relevent to the economy.
| B
|
| Eric Larson
| Libertarian
| Eric Larson is of the opinion that tuition must be lowered by lowering administration costs and privatizing some services provided by the University. He opposes affirmative action.
| C
|
| Kerry Morgan
| Libertarian
| Kerry Morgan believes in breaking the stranglehold that the Democrats and Republicans have on this country.
| F
|
| Joe Sanger
| U.S. Taxpayer's Party
| Joe Sanger's plan to reduce tuition is by breaking the "higher education monopoly." He also believes it is unethical to force taxpayers who do not and have not attended college to subsidise those who do. He believes that affirmative action is discrimination. He believes that eliminating government support for healthcare will decrease costs.
| F
|
Trustees of Michigan State University |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| Lisa Bouchard
| Republican
| Bouchard has a noteworthy business background, as CEO of accounting firm Dickson Associates Group, member of the Board of Directors at the Bank of Bloomfield Hills, and was named one of the Top 25 Women Business Owners of Distinction by the National Association of Women Business Owners in 1997. Bouchard says experience she has gained in the business world will help her on the board, and “As a trustee, I would be looking for creative ways to cut expenses without affecting the quality of education and with that said, also searching for alternative sources of revenue;” affordable tuition via spending cuts.
| C
|
| Dianne Byrum
| Democrat
| Byrum wants to help college students deal with tough economic. As a state senator and representative from 1997 to 2006, she has taken efforts in the House to enhance education and keep tuition affordable; as far as health care, she supports providing adequate funding to health care providers, along with covering the uninsured and lowering the costs of prescription drugs through bulk purchasing. She also established a Task Force on Early Childhood Education and Care to develop recommendations for the MI legislature and governor and she supports affirmative action programs. Fun Fact: Dianne Byrum ran against Republican Mike Rogers ( aka Student Voter Enemy #1), the reason why Michigan residents have to re-register every time they change residencies.
| A-
|
| G. Scott Romney
| Republican
| Romney is an incumbent and a Detroit-area lawyer who has served as a missionary and bishop in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the Detroit area council of Boy Scouts of America. He was appointed to MSU Board of Trustees in 1999 by Governor Engler and does not comment to school newspapers or list positions on his campaign website; haughty much?
| XX
|
| Diann Woodward
| Democrat
| Diann Woodward is the executive vice president of the American Federation of School Administrators and looks to bring her knowledge of public education to the board. She believes children are not receiving education the way they should and wants to work on transitional resources at MSU into college life and expectations. She aims to lower cost of tuition.
| B+
|
Wayne State University Board of Governors |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| Torion Bridges
| Republican
| A full-time student as MSU, Bridges plans to increase appropriations, presumably with the hope of lowering tuition. She probably wants to lower taxes too…go figure. Given her age and scholarly obligations, Bridges is a relative unknown, and I think we’d all love to pay less…somehow.
| C-
|
| Danialle Karmanos
| Republican
| A community activist in the Detroit area and a budding fitness guru, Karmanos wants to build financial aid partnerships with the private sector and boost retention rates. She’s all about fiscal responsibility and accountability, and apparently she’s really fit, too.
| B-
|
| Paul Massaron
| Democrat
| The only incumbent in the race, Massaron emphasizes affordability via increased fund-raising and budgetary responsibility. Given that the other incumbent was booted in the Democratic primary, Massaron must be doing something right. At least he’s saying all the right things regarding affordability, and perhaps even more importantly, accessibility.
| A-
|
| Gary Pollard
| Democrat
| A veteran inside Michigan politics, this is presumably Pollard’s first election as a candidate. Another relative unknown, Pollard specifically cites the need university involvement in and around the Detroit area, and probably wants to keep WSU diverse and affordable, too.
| B+
|
Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice |
Candidate
| Party
| Issues
| Rating
|
| Diane Marie Hathaway
| Democratic Party
| Hathaway is widely known as fair and impartial, putting the needs of ordinary families over big corporations and special interests; the direct opposite of her opponent. She is currently a Wayne County Circuit Court Judge and has been endorsed by law enforcement and firefighters.
| A-
|
| Clifford W. Taylor
| Republican Party
| As Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, Taylor was rated lowest in preparedness, efficiency, thoroughness, and overall knowledge of the law by the Michigan Lawyers Weekly. He scored high among big business and insurance companies, has been accused of using bullying tactics and corruption, and is part of the reason why the Michigan Supreme Court is ranked last in judicial independence from political pressure. Taylor is unfriendly to voting rights and voted to require a picture ID, which would disenfranchise many, and he also voted to reinstate the early Presidential primary, which rendered many Michigan voters voiceless.
| D-
|