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Dianda, McBroom vie for Michigan Senate seat

Jordan Beck | Daily Press From left, political candidates Beau LaFave (R), Ed McBroom (R), Bob Romps (D), and Scott Dianda (D) take part in a candidate forum co-sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Regional Labor Federation and the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council at Bay College’s Besse Center Theater Wednesday evening. LaFave and Romps are running for the 108th District state House seat, while Dianda and McBroom are running for the 38th District state Senate seat.

ESCANABA — A forum held at Bay College’s Besse Center Theater Wednesday evening gave people in the area an opportunity to hear candidates running for positions in the state and federal government discuss a wide variety of issues. Among the candidates in attendance at this event were State Rep. Scott Dianda (D) and former State Rep. Ed McBroom (R), who are both running for the 38th District state Senate seat.

Dianda and McBroom appeared at the forum (which was co-sponsored by the Upper Peninsula Regional Labor Federation and the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council) alongside candidates Beau LaFave (R) and Bob Romps (D), who are running for the 108th District state House seat. (See related story.)

“The committee thought it made sense to have both the House and Senate candidates together to answer the same questions, since any legislation requires both houses,” moderator Fred Kotler said.

The first question posed to Dianda and McBroom asked what their top three priorities would be for the state’s budget. McBroom said his top priorities for the general fund would be corrections and infrastructure spending, as well as funding the state’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Department of Natural Resources, and Department of Environmental Quality.

“This always remains a priority, that we continue to make sure they have robust ability to protect the natural environment in Michigan,” he said of these departments.

According to Dianda, his top three budgetary priorities would be supporting free public education, fixing Michigan’s roads, and funding the state’s prison system.

“These are the things that we got to get back to, (because) our priorities are screwed up in this state and we have to change that,” he said.

Another question posed to the candidates asked what legislative action (if any) they favored for dealing with the “dark store” tax theory. Dianda said that, along with getting a legislative fix for this issue passed, he felt that issues with the Michigan Tax Tribunal should be addressed.

“We have people that are on that tax tribunal that should not be there, and when we get elected, we’re (going to) make sure that we have a governor that asks these cronies to resign,” he said.

McBroom said he agreed with much of what the other candidates participating in this part of the forum said about dark stores. He also voiced his gratitude to the City of Escanaba for their recent dark store-related legal efforts.

“With the dark stores, it’s really critical that we don’t back down, and Escanaba’s to be commended for the fact that it won’t back down on this,” he said.

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