Michigan Attorney General visits British Pantry for coffee hour

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette made a stop in Tecumseh on Wednesday, Oct. 3, joining State Rep. Nancy Jenkins (R-Clayton) for a coffee hour at the British Pantry and Tea Garden Café. Schuette’s visit was in support of Jenkins’ re-election campaign, and he had similar events on tap Wednesday in Owosso, Ann Arbor and Dearborn. He makes his home in Midland with his wife, Cynthia, a broadcaster, and two children.“I count myself as a charter member of the Nancy Jenkins fan club,” he said, citing Jenkins’ contributions to what’s been done in Lansing during her term and calling her a “strong advocate” as a leader in such areas as public safety.“My job description is to enforce the law and protect the Constitution,” said Schuette. “That’s what I do 24/7, 365. I am the chief law enforcement officer in the state of Michigan and being an advocate for public safety.” He said Jenkins put her support behind the Violent Offense — Fourth Felony Law (VO-4), through which a judge can put a criminal away for 25 years for the fourth commission of a dangerous crime.“It says there are consequences to breaking the law,” said Schuette. “There can never be full economic recovery until we have complete commitment to public safety, until we have safe streets, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces.” He said his office is also combating human trafficking which is modern day enslavement.Schuette said Michigan citizens all have one mission: to commit to rebuilding Michigan — one that is safer, has less taxes, less regulation, less spending, less government, more jobs and more paychecks. “At the very core, it means more freedom,” he said. “That’s the banner Nancy carries and why her election is so important.” He called the old mission, which he believes other candidates want to return to, “a dismal swamp with no jobs and too much government.” “It’s night and day, the old Michigan versus the new Michigan,” he adds. “I don’t want to go back; I want the new Michigan.”He also said he didn’t want to see the country follow the socialist European models that early immigrants wanted to get away from, and stated that he thinks President Obama may have a “limited scope and dim expectations” for the country. “Are dreams, hope and aspirations everything you want it to be?” he asked. “America should be a place where you say, ‘Atta girl! Or Atta boy!’ and you want to encourage work, reward, enterprise and risk.” He said he believed Mitt Romney can lead a country with the same type of values and dreams people came for, to get free of the European model.Schuette also responded to some questions posed by those in attendance, and touched on issues such as state ballot proposals and right to work. He is opposed to proposals that seek to change the Constitution through a ballot initiative.“To me, the Constitution ought to be stable and steady and only amended on very rare issues,” said Schuette, adding that where issues are in need of change, they should be brought before the legislature for debate, including energy policy.He is in favor of right to work, freedom to work, or opportunity to work policies which would mean more paychecks in Michigan.“If you look at where jobs are going across the country, where there is more opportunity for investment capital and jobs, it’s in the freedom to work and opportunity states,” he said. “I want to make sure Michigan is a good place to live and raise a family, buy a home and get a loan. I think that type of economic opportunity is important. I’ve been for that for a long time. I would probably call them Job Opportunity Zones, but I think we need to do everything we can to get more jobs and more paychecks back in Michigan.”Jenkins reviewed some of the accomplishments of what she called “a great team” in Lansing to include the Legislature, Attorney General and Gov. Rick Snyder.“We’ve been working well together to get a lot done,” she said. “Some of these are things people said couldn’t be done — things like passing the budget early and not only balancing it but also paying down $20 billion in debt and putting some money away for a rainy day fund. We’ve done some things that needed to be done to get Michigan stabilized so we can move forward as a state.”