Republicans seeking Michigan House seat discuss issues

ADRIAN — Candidates for the new 34th District in the Michigan House of Representatives answered questions Thursday during a forum in Adrian. 

Republicans Julie Moore of Adrian Township, Ryan Rank of Madison Township and state Sen. Dale Zorn of Onsted are seeking their party’s nomination in the Aug. 2 primary election. They participated in the forum hosted by the Lenawee County branch of the NAACP at Adrian High Schools Julianne and George Argyros Performing Arts Center. 

The winner of the Republican primary will face Democrat John Dahlgren of Clinton, who is unopposed in the Democratic primary and was not at Thursday’s forum. 

Moore is a nurse, Rank is the recently retired fire chief of Madison Township, and Zorn is finishing his tenure in the Michigan Senate. He cannot run for reelection to the Senate because of term limits. He still has one possible term remaining in the House. 

Dale Gaertner of radio station WLEN in Adrian was the forum’s moderator. 

Candidates for Lenawee County district judge, the new 5th U.S. House District and the new 16th Michigan Senate District also took part in the forum. A story on the judge candidates will be published at a later date. Only one candidate appeared for the other two races. The Daily Telegram will publish profiles of those candidates separately. 

The 34th District covers most of Lenawee County. Some other districts cross into neighboring counties.

Legislative priorities 

Economic development and education are Zorn’s top legislative priority, he said. 

“The two work together,” he said. “Neither one is a priority without the other. It’s so very important to all of us in this community to provide our children with a good education, when they’re young, so that they can find their pathway for their future.” 

Moore said education is her top priority. 

“Children in Lenawee County really aren’t getting to those great reading levels that we need them to achieve,” she said. “There’s definitely a gap in what they know and what they can do in the workforce.” 

Rank said he wants to bring family values back and protect individual rights along with focusing on education, mental health and public safety services. 

He said education needs to emphasize developing more skilled trades workers. 

Education 

Regarding the education system specifically, Moore said school board members have told her parental participation is part of the gap between students who do well and those who struggle. She said more money for schools is not the answer. 

“We have to work together within the community to make sure that our students get that kind of assistance that they’re going to need, whether it be from their family members, whether it’s going to be from people that volunteer in the school systems, but finding ways to get that tutoring and get our children up to the kind of learning that they need to be,” Moore said. 

Rank said he would look into abolishing the Michigan Board of Education and let local superintendents and school districts have control with parental involvement. 

“What works here doesn’t necessarily work in Detroit. What works in Monroe doesn’t necessarily work here,” he said. “So to try to put a one size fits all on it is not the idea.” 

"The state has to provide the tools for education in our school systems,” Zorn said. “We must provide those tools to our students so that they can find that pathway.” 

He said his communicating with local school administrators helped him “raise the bar for STEM and also for career technologies.” That also includes redirecting funds to school districts so they can acquire the kind of equipment that students will be using in their careers. 

Mental health 

Rank said he would meet with Kathryn Szewczuk, executive director of the Lenawee Community Mental Health Authority, to find out what mental health services are needed in Lenawee County. He acknowledged recent legislation to increase access to mental health services, but he said services need to be built locally, rather than trying to apply a one-size-fits-all solution. 

Zorn said while working on that recent legislation, which included almost $1 billion in spending, he was in contact with local mental health officials. He said he wants local officials to know what the state lawmakers are working on, what the state is working with and what might be coming. He said he also wants to know what the local needs are. 

Moore said there is a lack of professionals who can work with students. She said the legislature should work with the local mental health authority to make things better for students. 

Gun safety 

When asked their thoughts on potential legislation about guns and gun safety, all three candidates said they are strong supporters of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. 

Zorn said there are already laws in place to address violations. 

Moore said addressing the “mental health crisis” would help address gun violence along with enforcing existing laws. 

Rank said he would eliminate gun-free zones, address mental health and ensure current laws are enforced. 

Abortion 

All three candidates said they oppose abortion. Rank said he is a “no exceptions” candidate. Zorn said he is a “very strong Right to Life person.” Moore said he believes in protecting life “from conception until natural death.” 

LGBTQ+ rights 

To a question regarding protecting the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals, Rank said he believes everyone is created equally, people should not be labeled and there are policies in place protecting individual rights. 

“We can’t legislate society, but we should all love each other,” Zorn said. “If we can stop racism by loving one another and helping one another we will be able to all have a better life.” 

“Equality is on the books,” Moore said. “… We cannot legislate social change. What we really need to do is model social change by loving other people, getting into the community, chatting with neighbors, building bridges and healing relationships.” 

2020 election 

Zorn said the 2020 election had fraud, such as with absentee ballot drop boxes. However, he said people need to move on because other states would also have to change their votes to change the outcome in the presidential election. He said he asked for a forensic audit of Michigan's election, but didn’t get one. 

“Most of the rigorous debate over additional audits comes from fears surrounding the technology used and its vulnerabilities as allegedly demonstrated in Antrim County. Without any evidence to validate those fears, another audit, a so-called forensic audit, is not justifiable,” wrote state Sen. Ed McBroom, a Republican from Vulcan in the Upper Peninsula and chairman of the Senate Oversite Committee that investigated the election, in the committee’s report. 

Zorn said he wanted a forensic audit to identify problems and fix them for the next election. The oversight committee's report identifies strengths and weaknesses in Michigan's election system.

“I really do believe that with the multitude of absentee voter ballots that were placed in the last election that there was more fraud than has been ever in the past,” Moore said. “I really can’t speculate on whether that would have changed the results of the election.” 

She said a forensic audit could have identified discrepancies to be fixed. 

Rank also said there was fraud in the election. He said the absentee voting system should be tightened, giving a personal anecdote from the 2020 election cycle. He said his sister died in 2018 and he was the executor of her estate. “I received no less than five requests for an absentee ballot for her,” he said. 

He also said voter identification should be ensured, including having the state provide IDs. 

Economic development 

Encouraging economic development in Lenawee County involved ensuring the county is a place where people want to live and has good schools, Moore said. She said she is encouraged by the conversations and work she has seen among different groups to make things work together better and the county look better. 

Rank said legislators should work with experts such as chambers of commerce and the tourism bureau and talking with business owners to find out what they need. He said something he’s heard are complaints from business owners about the unemployment system, where people apply for jobs and are offered jobs only to turn them down because they simply wanted to check off a requirement in the unemployment process that they show they are seeking work. 

Zorn said the problem with the unemployment agency is a matter of attracting and keeping businesses in Lenawee County. He said there has been progress in creating and keeping work in the county over the past eight years. He would work to continue to bring funding to attract and keep jobs to the county.