Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer

Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer
Rick Coates 2/23/09


Representative Kevin Elsenheimer of Michigan’s 105th House District (Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Otsego Counties) learned the “art” of public service from his parents Art and Louise Elsenheimer.
“My father’s entire career was built around public service,” said Elsenheimer.
Art Elsenheimer served as a Grand Traverse County Commissioner for 12 years and also did stints as the executive director of the Boy Scouts and United Way. The senior Elsenheimer was known as an economic leader in the region, heading up the Traverse Area Industrial Fund and the Traverse Bay Growth Alliance, along with being instrumental in the development of several industrial parks in the area.
“When I was a kid I use to go to a lot of speaking engagements with my father, and I remember those days as being more civil in the world of politics,” said Elsenheimer. “Every night at the dinner table, politics and the issues of the day were topics of conversation. My parents emphasized the importance of solving problems in a creative way and the importance of seeing both sides of the issues.”
It is those lessons that have earned Elsenheimer great respect from his peers on both sides of the aisle. His colleagues have referred to him as a “hard-working legislator who has an excellent grasp of the issues, is innovative, fair and a leader.”
His fellow Republican house members voted him Republican House Leader thrusting him as a major player in the Lansing political scene.
Elsenheimer is completing his final two years as a State Representative. Term limits will force him to move on at the end of 2010. He has a lot on his plate, from various district issues to statewide economic challenges; to working to recapture the governor’s office for Republicans in 2010; to his own future of possibly running for 37th District Senate seat currently held by Jason Allen.
A lifelong resident of Northern Michigan, Elsenheimer attended Northwestern Michigan College before heading off to MSU and eventually Wayne State University. He worked in the Antrim County prosecutor’s office before starting his own firm: Young, Graham, Elsenheimer, PC. He lives in Bellaire with his wife Ann and their three children Emma, Noah and Jacob.

Northern Express: There is gridlock not only in Washington D.C. but in Lansing as well. It seems that for the past six years Granholm and the Republican leadership has spent a great deal of time bickering and little time working together to move the state forward. How do you hope to change this?
Elsenheimer: There was a time in Lansing when a lot more was accomplished because there was a sense of civility between parties. I think in those days members of opposing parties went into the chambers and debated and negotiated and evaluated ideas based on their merit. Also I think they knew each other better as people; they knew the names of each other’s spouses and kids. I think that made a difference.
My goal is to return to that. I want to take the approach that if something is a good idea, even if it comes from the Democrats, that we should embrace it -- maybe even look on how to improve on it. I believe we have to move past this whole notion of automatically saying no to the ideas of the opposition.
That said, I am not saying we should say yes to everything either. We have to stay true to our philosophies of less government and reducing taxes. My goal is for the Republican Party to once again be viewed as the party of ideas -- not the party of ‘no.’ If we can get to that point by 2010, I will feel we have been successful these past two years.

NE: Obviously, the economy is issue number one in Michigan; but there is no manual to fix the challenges we are faced with, so where do you begin?

Elsenheimer: There is no question that Michigan is far more challenged then the rest of the country from an economic perspective. Our state benefitted from its industrial roots for years and now as industry has changed and we have lost jobs and businesses to other states and other countries, we are feeling this recession much harder than the rest of the country.
As a result, our overcoming the economic challenges will also be greater than the rest of the country. The challenge for us is how and what policies do we implement to fix our economy?
First, I would like to say that the Governor has some good ideas. For example her focus on higher education is important, because in the long run, to be competitive and for us to prosper, we will need to be an educated society.
This is not always popular in Northern Michigan, but the reality is until we fix Detroit, we will never fully recover throughout the state. What is currently happening in Detroit should keep all of us up at night. The fact that so many kids in that city have no opportunities whatsoever because they won’t receive a proper eighth or ninth grade education is frightening and is going to plague us in the future.
Now, that being said, we in Northern Michigan often find ourselves as an afterthought. When you look at the elected officials, all but about 15 of them live within an hour and half of Lansing. We in Northern Michigan may have two-thirds of the land mass, but we have less than one-third of the representation in Lansing.
Part of the reason for us being an afterthought is a result of our own success. For example, Traverse City is viewed in Lansing as the poster child of success in the post-industrial era in Michigan. When you listen to communities downstate talk about their future, they say let’s try to become more like Traverse City. So there is this perception in Lansing that Northern Michigan can do it on our own, and for the most part we can.

NE: So, you are saying that there is a philosophical difference between the people of Northern Michigan and say those who live south of Clare?
Elsenheimer: Yes, I talk to my colleagues all the time about this frontier spirit that has carried down through the generations here in Northern Michigan. Our parents and their parents were lumberpersons and farmers and had to fend for themselves. I believe that it was instilled in us that we are to do for ourselves and that government is to provide the basics and then get out of our way. I believe that a lot of people, not all, but many downstate in metropolitan areas believe the opposite. They are looking for government for all the answers.

NE: The Governor’s budget for 2010 has called for a major reduction in state government. What is your perspective on this?
Elsenheimer: We have one of the largest state governments in the country. There is no question that we have to reduce the size of government. I think we are going to have to focus on a government of what we need versus what we want.

NE: Okay, we want to lock up criminals, but we also have one of the largest correction budgets of any state. So how do you balance that concept of need versus want with the corrections budget?
Elsenheimer: Let’s look at the facts first. Michigan spends almost more per prisoner than any other state. This is in part due to the fact that we have built several prisons, and when you compare what we pay our corrections staff versus neighboring states, we are much higher.
Now there are good reasons for this certainly, but the fact is our labor costs to run the prisons are higher.
One thing other states have done is privatization and certainly this is a dirty word in Michigan because we are a labor-oriented state, and that is our history. But the privatization of prison services is something that we are going to have to look at.
I hear often about alternatives to prison, but let me give this perspective:Getting into prison is not as easy as it appears. First of all, state prison is for any crime that the sentence is more than two years; anything under that is handled at the county or local level.
We did a study a year ago of the prison population and it breaks down this way with two-thirds being re-arrested after being let out on parole. So, someone judged them safe enough to go back out into society and they were let go only to end up back in prison. Most people see these two-thirds as belonging in prison, as these individuals are unable to behave in a way that allows them to be a part of society.
Now, the other one-third is where it gets interesting. There are some people in prison that are there for what we would consider non-violent crimes. But when we ran the numbers of the 50,000 of those in prison for their first offense, only 700 were in for non-violent crimes. Of those 700, half were convicted on the felony firearm charge that requires a two year minimum.
So the issue really comes down to how we pay for those prisons, where we spend the money within the prisons. That said, I am in favor of looking at those that we might be able to release early and get into treatment programs, the ones that most likely will conform to society upon their release. But that number is small and it will do little to reduce our budget problem.

NE: The Governor has also pointed to major cuts in education, your thoughts there?
Elsenheimer: There are few things that governments are supposed to do. One of them is to operate a prison system; another is to operate an educational system K-12. We have made it very clear in our constitution and it is why you hear every politician say they support education. I have never heard a politician say they don’t support education.
There are a couple of major perspectives when looking at education: funding and quality. From a Northern Michigan perspective, the biggest issue is the disparity of funding for our children versus other parts of the state. Some areas in this state enjoy a tremendous financial leg up versus Northern Lower Michigan and other rural parts of the state.
This is something I do not think is lawful or constitutional and there are several legislators looking to change this, while there are an equally number of very powerful legislators looking to maintain this disparity.
I want to level the playing field, when you have schools in Northern Michigan trying to offer the basics while school districts downstate are trying to see to it that all of their students are learning Cantonese. Leveling the playing field means eliminating pay-to-play sports that many schools up here have, while downstate schools are building a second Olympic size swimming pool. It is a disparity that makes no sense if we believe that we should be treating all Michigan kids equally.
We have a brain drain in this state. Last year we lost close to 25,000 school age students whose parents moved to other state for economic opportunities. Over the past three years we have lost close to 75,000 kids. So when you think about the future of our state, and the fact that these kids are supposed to be our future, and they are moving away.

NE: The headlines are constantly pointing to school districts in financial trouble. Are there short term solutions?
Elsenheimer: We have to start asking the question of reducing administrative costs. It may not be popular, but consolidation is going to have to be looked at. Antrim County has five school districts and Grand Traverse has Traverse City and Kingsley. Politically, it is a very hard thing to stand up and tell school districts they have to consolidate. Certainly neighboring communities who have been sports rivals are not interested in merging, but the reality is if we are going to get Michigan prepared for the next 20 years, we are going to have to consider consolidating school districts and reducing costs.

NE: You have been pushing for transparency in government spending by encouraging the Governor to put the budget and the spending of taxpayers’ dollars on a website for the public to view.
Elsenheimer: I have done this for my own office as well. I think as resources are become tighter we owe it to the taxpayers to show them how their dollars are being spent. I think we need to have a searchable website so that anyone may go online and see how and where their dollars are being spent. There are 16 other states doing this so there is no reason why we shouldn’t be doing this as well.

NE: How do you go about balancing your obligations as House Republican leader with those to the constituents in your district?
Elsenheimer: That is a good question. There is history that when someone has been named to a leadership position they basically leave their district behind and spend all their time in Lansing. This job does require more windshield time and more time in Lansing. My family is still here; I am home on the weekends and in the district when we are not in session. Also, I keep focused that I was elected to Lansing to serve the needs of my district, not be the Republican leader.

NE: Do you work seven days a week, or at least think about work all the time?
Elsenheimer: More or less. I try and make Sunday a family day. But my wife knows that if she sends me to the store to pick up a gallon of milk that it is going to take two hours.

NE: You are not on anyone’s short list for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in 2010…
Elsenheimer: (laughing) Thank God.

NE: But you are obviously going to play a pivotal role in helping that person get elected. Have you been approached by perspective candidates?
Elsenheimer: Yes, but I am not committing at this point. I think what I can best do for the Republican Party right now is help us get back to the party of ideas, the party of good ideas. Ultimately that is what is going to help us win the Governor’s seat in 2010.

NE: Certainly you would have to be considered a front runner for the 37th Senate seat currently held by Jason Allen. There is speculation that Gary McDowell, a popular legislator from Drummond Island would be the Democratic candidate. Are you considering running in 2010?
Elsenheimer: Yes, I am going to talk to my family about and some others in Lansing and make my decision in a couple of months.
The 2010 elections are going to be very important, because it will be those elected officials who be redistricting everything after the 2010 census for the 2012 and beyond elections. So a lot of money will be spent in this 2010 campaign. I have a lot of respect for Gary McDowell. We have worked well together in Lansing, we have differences on issues and if we are running against each other I would expect that the campaign would be about issues affecting the district and Michigan and not about personal attacks.

For additional information on Repub-lican House leader Kevin Elsenheimer or to contact him in Lansing or his district go to www.gophouse.com/welcome.asp?District=105

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