Republican Nominee Pat Somerville On Public School Funding, Other Issues Facing Trenton

After final unofficial results trickled in throughout the night Tuesday, Pat for the coming 23rd District State Representative race in November.

Trenton Patch caught up with Somerville the afternoon following his victory over Republican Jeremy Cady to ask questions about his positions on issues that affect Trenton including funding for public schools and the personal property tax.

Here are the questions followed by Somerville's answers:

What do you offer the 23rd District that is unique?

"In a lot of former instances after trying to contact politicians it felt like a lot of them were out of touch and hard to reach. They didn't make an effort to get to town hall meetings. They weren't making an effort to reach out to their constituencies.

"I don't do that. I'm among the people. I let the constituents know that I'm out there and willing to listen."

As a Republican, what challenges will you have in November against Democrat Tom Boritzki?

"Each party has its own stigma. For too long people look at the title. People need to stop and take a look at the individual running. I'm a conservative first and a republican second."

If elected, what can people expect of you during your first year?

"One of the things we are working on is personal property tax. It’s a horrible tax that provides important services. I support the removal of it, but, at the same time, I want it to be a revenue neutral plan for the communities that would be hit the hardest.

"I also think we need to create jobs. We want businesses to choose Michigan and help us turn the economy around."

The Trenton Public School district has seen significant reductions in funding with Gov. Rick Snyder's plan to provide funding to small colleges and universities. What are your plans to get funding back into K-12 schools?

"That was one of the main reasons I voted against the original plan. Government should not play a big role in higher education. One way we can increase funding to K-12 is by prioritizing.

"We can save money in the corrections department. Michigan spends about $2.1 billion (on the corrections department) and surrounding states like Ohio and Illinois spend half that or less. Why the imbalance? 

"We need to look at the entitlement we dish out in this state. Do we want to have the priority roles of government or do we want to give hand outs? Public schools are an absolute necessity. We need to divert funding from higher education (to K-12). Let's fix the main problem first."