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Truesdell also speaks at Dowagiac high school

By JOHN EBY / Niles Daily Star
Thursday, October 2, 2008 10:51 AM EDT

DOWAGIAC - Some potential first-time voters got a chance last week on Monday at Dowagiac Union High School to be on the giving end of a pop quiz, questioning Democratic state House candidate Judy Truesdell about her Lansing bid.

Her opponent, Republican Sharon Tyler, appeared at DUHS Sept. 30. Both Niles women Nov. 4 are seeking the two-year 78th District seat held by term-limited Republican incumbent Neal Nitz of Baroda. Truesdell lost to Nitz in 2006.

It takes about an hour to travel the length of the gerrymandered rural district, from Berrien County's New Buffalo to Cass County's Wayne Township.

Truesdell, who is campaigning door-to-door, spoke for a few minutes to the end of a mostly-female freshman economics class, promoting their involvement in government to keep democracy vibrant.

With juniors and seniors in Jodie Vandenheede's topics class, Truesdell delved more into specific issues.

"Democracy means participation," she said. "The founding fathers had a good plan. They decided everyone should participate in government and they did a good job of laying it out, although I will say it wouldn't have hurt to have a couple of women in there for the female point of view. That said, it's an outstanding form of government."

"My reason for running for this particular office is because I was approached about three years ago," said Truesdell, who is an elected Lake Michigan College trustee as well as a businesswoman for more than 30 years.

"Back in the '80s I had a company called Tree Play that manufactured redwood play structures for children. Every year I went to the high school and talked to career education students about being involved in manufacturing because I was one of the first females in the 78th District," she noted.

"I care about people. That's the key to being a good legislator - being a good listener. I'm concerned about the loss of the middle class. I believe there are good things coming just around the corner for the 78th District. Republicans have been in charge of the 78th District, with few exceptions, since the Great Depression back in the '30s. Let's change things and send somebody who cares about people. Let's try that for a change instead of people who care about special interests and big corporations. The most important thing is for you to get involved. Run for school board once you're an adult. Run for City Council, Southwestern Michigan College, City Council, county commission. Participate in this process. Without our involvement, it isn't going to work. If you can't vote, don't let your parents forget to vote. Go to the polls every single time there's an election."

Being a state-level candidate means familiarizing herself with every conceivable issue, from jobs and the economy to education, the environment and welfare.

"It's kind of like going back to school," Truesdell told the students.

Truesdell was accompanied by her campaign manager, Molly Mannon, a former lobbyist.

In the afternoon she spoke to Dan Vandenheede's U.S. history students.

Mannon lived and worked in Washington, D.C., for 25 years while running her own public relations firm. She also lobbied for an electronics trade association, which in those days involved taking members of Congress on Florida golf trips billed as educational excursions. "That's no longer legal."

Managing a campaign is a sleepless, multi-faceted job that changes from day to day. Volunteers must be recruited to spread the candidate's message. Where Barack Obama's and John McCain's White House runs have hundreds of salaried staffers, that is not an option for Truesdell.

"Raising money is critical to running a campaign to print literature and get your name out there," Mannon said. "It shouldn't necessarily be that way, but that's reality. You have to have a budget because Michigan law requires us to report our finances. All the people who give us money and what we spend it on. That's a major process. It's a very rewarding experience helping someone run for office. We always encourage young people to get involved early on. You're an important part of the population and our future."

Mannon explained that the 78th District is gerrymandered because of the way the Dowagiac area was fused to Berrien County after the census every 10 years to account for population shifts. "Typically the reason for it is to make sure one party that's strong remains that way."

"All of us have special interests," Mannon said. "Yours might be sports or music. There are people called lobbyists who try to influence legislators. The problem in recent years is that they've influenced more than they probably should. There are thousands of bills that pass across a legislator's desk every year, and it's virtually impossible for any one legislator to know all that they contain."

Lately, "Special interests have dominated where our government has gone more than they should," Mannon said. "The voters are finally saying, 'No more. You need to speak to us.' "

"What she's trying to get across," Mrs. Vandenheede said, "is there's so much information for lawmakers to understand that special interests and lobbyists can serve a good function. Think of CliffsNotes. The problem is when instead of 'here are the basic facts,' it becomes 'here are the facts as we see them.' Now we've moved from CliffsNotes to propaganda. You're not getting what the book said, but my opinion of what it said. It's not just legislators and senators. Doctors are met by pharmaceutical representatives in a similar (marketing) process."

Mannon detailed Truesdell's stance on accepting special interest money.

Unions, such as steelworkers, teachers, plumbers, police or firefighters "represent citizens," so she will take their donations, but rejects corporate contributions.

"I, like Judy, encourage you to take your role in democracy seriously. The problem is too many people over the last 25 years have become apathetic. Voting has dropped drastically. The fact is, (politics) does make a difference in your life. You need to have your voice heard, and voting is the best way."

Truesdell grew up in Pontiac and met her husband, Terry, in college. She attended Eastern Michigan University. He was a student at the University of Michigan. They married when she was 21 and he was 23 because he was about to be drafted for Vietnam.

Terry returned home from U of M to work at National-Standard, so Judy has lived in Niles for 40 years and raised their daughter there.

She commiserated with students about gas prices, recalling that thanks to gas wars in Pontiac, they filled up their tanks for 19 cents a gallon.

"We cruised every night." She thought they made 50 cents an hour at high school jobs, 75 cents in college.

Nearly all of the students had summer jobs, including working for Pizza Hut, doing lawn care or toiling in plant nurseries.

A student asked Truesdell how she proposes to make health care more affordable and accessible.

The candidate favors a universal health care system, "but I'm not sure what that looks like right now. It's the best answer for us across the board. We are in serious trouble. We have companies going bankrupt because they can't afford to pay health insurance for their employees. We have people going bankrupt because they don't have health insurance or lousy health insurance and they've lost all their money, which is owed to hospitals and doctors. I will say, on the other side, there's a school of thought that if we have universal health care, everybody's going to run to the doctor and use it and use it and it's not going to be an effective system."

Truesdell is skeptical about that. "People who have wonderful health policies still don't want to go to the doctor until they absolutely have to," she said. "What's important about universal health care, I think, is it begins to address the issues of taking care of people who are 'well' and encouraging them to lead healthier lifestyles."

She hopes vacant auto parts plants can be reutilized for "green" energy-related jobs.

On education funding, she said, "The government takes care of the salaries. The local citizens are in charge of funding the schools themselves - bricks, mortar and the technology that goes into them. In a state where people have lost their jobs and seniors who are on fixed incomes and gasoline at $4 a gallon, you don't have the excitement (to pass bond issues) you might have if everybody was working hard and bringing home good paychecks. People turn down school bond proposals and you guys (students) are the ones who suffer. We have to get our workforce educated to new levels and trained in welding, customer service, nuclear engineering and accounting and get better-paying jobs in this area. There are jobs in our region. The problem is our workforce" not being able to meet the demand.

Truesdell recalled working on Niles' last unsuccessful schools bond proposal.

"Touring the schools, sixth graders were one of 18 schools across the state given laptop computers through a grant. Students were engaged. Teachers were engaged. When the bond proposal didn't pass, I couldn't stop thinking about these kids. They go through this thrilled high all year, then hit seventh grade and boom! They don't have these laptops anymore. Cisco Systems, Apple Computers and our five foundations from Niles were brought together. They'd never sat at the same table before. In 20 minutes, they committed to $350,000 for new laptops. Even better, those same foundations are now going to look for money for the seventh and eighth grades as well."

"Another unusual approach" to collaboration Truesdell described was LMC's president meeting with building trades to teach apprenticeship programs at the college near Benton Harbor.

"Bringing all the players to the table to work for a common goal is critical," Mannon said.

"That's the role I see for a state representative," Truesdell said. "Bringing people together."

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