Legislative Update

from Government Relations

October 21, 2008

Chamber Hosted Candidate Forums a Success

Two chamber of commerce hosted candidate forums were held last week in Traverse City and Petoskey.  Taxation, government regulation, and the region’s business climate were among the business issues discussed at both forums.

In Traverse City, approximately 75 people turned out for the five chamber forum, hosted by the Benzie County, Elk Rapids Area, Kalkaska, Leelanau Peninsula, and Traverse City Area Chamber of Commerce – along with the Traverse City Business News.  The event was held at the Oleson Center on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College and broadcast on the radio by WIAA and WTCM-AM.

The forum hosted candidates from the 101^st District – Ray Franz and Dan Scripps, the 104^th District – Wayne Schmidt and Roman Grucz, and the 105^th District – Rep. Kevin Elsenheimber and Connie Saltonstall.

The Petoskey forum hosted around 45 people at North Central Michigan College, hosted by the Petoskey Regional Chamber of Commerce, the Petoskey News-Review, NCMC, and the Northwest Michigan Industrial Association.  The audience heard from candidates from the 107th State House race pitting incumbent Gary McDowell against his GOP Challenger Alex Strobehn.  Also participating were candidates for the 1st Congressional District of the U. S. House of Representatives of incumbent Rep. Bart Stupak and his challenger current State Representative Tom Casperson.

Members of Petoskey Chamber’s Government Relations Committee also held private interviews with the candidates.  The results of those interviews are available on their chamber website by clicking here.

Alliance Partners Meet to Set 2009 Legislative Agenda

Leaders from all six partners of the Northwest Michigan Regional Chamber Alliance met last week to start the process of setting the 2009 Legislative Agenda.  The Charlevoix Chamber hosted the event at the local public library for the chamber presidents and committee members from across the ten county region. The group used input from the different government relations committees and boards of directors while crafting the top priorities of the Alliance.  The document will be used as the guiding principles the Alliance will use to support and promote issues in the upcoming 2009 legislative session.  The final version of the agenda still needs to be adopted by each chamber of commerce. 

Stay tuned for future updates on the progress of the 2009 agenda.  The current year’s legislative agenda should be available either on the respective chamber websites or by contacting their office. 

The Northwest Michigan Regional Chamber Alliance is a partnership of six chambers of commerce across northwest Michigan with the objective of influencing public policy and acting as the voice of business in northwest Michigan to state and federal legislators.