We had our first large-scale neighborhood walk this past weekend. In all, we had 14 people walk on Saturday and Sunday. We hit nearly 1,000 households in the district. It has been my desire to balance the high voter concentration areas with the low ones. Just because people do not vote or do not plan to vote for me, they still are incredibly fascinating and have lots to share.

In talking with residents, the topic that came up again and again was education. It seems that with healthcare reform behind us and the economy picking up some steam—the topic on the minds of most voters seems to be on the potential cuts to education. Residents have the foresight to see education as the positive catalyst to our states economic and innovative future. I’m glad to be the only educator running locally for office. Too often, candidates make education one of their premier platform issues, yet their firsthand knowledge on the topic comes from their personal years in school. I remind people that I spend each day in the classroom. Second to education, the most talked about issue seemed to be the local economy. I find it striking how many homes are vacant as we go street to street.

We printed our first run of brochures that tell our story and summarize why we are in the race. We need your help to walk in the eight weeks to come. Any amount of time is greatly appreciated. I am so grateful to the dozen or so individuals that walked with us in the upper-80 degree heat. It is a testament of the passion our volunteers have and their commitment to reaching out to voters.

Chris has been walking the streets for the past couple months. With the weather warming up we’re gathering our volunteers to start walking the neighborhoods with him. We hope to catch you at your home to tell you a little more about Chris.

We also just picked up our first major printing of the campaign brochure. Just a little something we can leave in your hand to read more about Chris. If you’re already at the website though I bet you know a thing or two about why Chris is so great. Check out the video below for a sneak peak of the brochure.

May 11th represented the Michigan filing deadline for candidates to appear on the August 3rd primary ballot. This past weekend, we walked the hills of the Vine Neighborhood to help obtain signatures to get Don Cooney on the ballot. Cooney is the only Democrat appearing on the primary ballot.

In recently news, Alma Wheeler Smith dropped out as a candidate for Governor. After this development, it leaves two Democrats and five Republicans in the race for Governor. John Taylor opted out of the race for the 20th Senate seat, leaving two strong Democrats and three serious Republican challengers. Taylor plans to run again for his County Commission seat in lieu of that decision.

Meanwhile, there are sure to be some interesting races for County Commission, with several last minute filings. The County Commission seats with challengers include: 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, and 17. Six seats remain with no opposition: Urban-D (1), Alford-D (2), Taylor-D (4), Johnson-D (5), Zull-R (8), and Heppler-R (14). All six candidates are running unopposed are incumbents.

In our race for the 60th House seat, there are now three candidates running as Democrats (I am one of those three) and one Republican. This coming Tuesday May 18, we will be holding our first Open Forum debate with the candidates from the 60th and 61st District races. It will be held at the Fetzer Center on the campus of WMU from 7-9pm. Questions will be taken from the audience. The event will be moderated by Mr. Gordon Evans, Morning Edition anchor on WMUK, whom I listen to on my early morning drives each Monday morning until the 102.1 radio reception dissolves around St. Joseph.

I am thoroughly addicted to NPR and public radio: Kalamazoo’s WMUK and Chicago’s WBEZ. My frequent trips back and forth from Kalamazoo and Chicago until June have largely been sustained through copious amounts of coffee and the radio reporting sounds of NPR’s Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Fresh Air, and Talk of the Nation.

It is absolutely disgraceful that the proposed cuts in the state are coming from public education and higher learning institutions. Some schools districts will be faced with cuts of upwards of $433 per pupil because of the deferred cuts from the last budget settlement in Fall 2009.

The fifteen public universities in the state are now facing 3.1% cuts. In the early 80s, the state covered nearly 70% of public unversity costs, now the greatest burden is on students and families. Currently, in 2010, the state funds about 33% of the cost. The burden on families is simply too great to repeatedly face increased tuition bills each semester. This comes after earlier proposals to take away funds promised to students from the Michigan Promise program.

To me, one of the most disturbing figures comes from the amount of financial aid available to students this coming academic year. The amount available at WMU decreased from $5.7 million to $843,000. I largely depended on financial aid to get through college. This news assures that access to an affordable education to a person of low-income or poverty is nearly impossible.

My inspiration for this post is from a recent WMU News article posted on their website: http://www.wmich.edu/wmu/news/2010/05/008.shtml