the recent polls have hers the
Democratic frontrunner for governor but
can she stay ahead of two surprisingly
pesky opponents Gretchen Whitmer is here
and tomorrow
president Trump will name his pick to
replace Justice Kennedy High Court high
drama today is Sunday July 2018 and this
is flash morning all right welcome to
flashpoint we have a very big day ahead
tomorrow president Trump is going to
announce his choice to fill the vacancy
on the Supreme Court it is one of the
most profound and consequential duties
of an American president and here it is
fallen to president Trump twice in a
year and a half in our purest longings
for American justice we can hope for a
court that's free from politics free
from any kind of litmus test free from
any kind of preordained leanin and this
is where the cynics might yellow grow up
the you we all know exactly what this is
about
well Justice Kennedy had the reputation
of being the swing vote truth is he was
generally a conservative vote except
when it came to things like abortion and
gay marriage are those matters now truly
hanging in the balance
or does precedence that powerful notion
in the law hold sway we're gonna talk
about that a little later on this
morning but coming at first she's been a
fixture in Lansing for a long time
former minority leader in the Michigan
Senate among political watchers it's no
contest Gretchen Whitmer is a much
better known figure than schreeten
adorab dual el-sayed
so it came as a surprise to many when
she wasn't just running away with the
nomination in the polls but with her TV
ads now in full rotation she is back
where many expected but with a big
debate coming up here on local four
looming a week and a half hence how does
she answer the critics who say she is a
classic tax-and-spend Democrat Gretchen
Whitmer is up first this morning on
flashpoint
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a week from this coming Thursday it will
be the Democrats turn in this very
studio is will host the gubernatorial
debate among the Democrats we've already
sat down with schreeten Adar and Abdul
el Syed now our first chance to sit down
and discuss things with Gretchen Whitmer
good to have you it's not your first
time on flashpoint you've been here a
lot but first time since you've been
running as a candidate belts good to
have you here I'm gonna let's start
right out of the gate with your what has
become your signature line through this
which is we want to fix the roads though
you add an expletive it's not it's not
that death in fact people have written
whether it's that bad or not whether
that's what our children should be
hearing on television but it is the
biggest frustration among Michiganders
in poll after poll after poll the other
night when we had the Republicans here
not a one of them was willing to say
that it's going to take tax cuts they're
finding all kinds of different ways and
the way that they paint you is that
you're more than happy to raise taxes
for just about anything well you know
what I'm more than happy to do to work
with anyone who actually wants to solve
problems whether you're talking to
individuals in rural Michigan or in
downtown Detroit whether you're talking
to people that run businesses or our
entrepreneurs our roads are hurting our
ability to compete they're endangering
our families and they're telling the
world that we in Michigan can't get the
basics done you can't tell the whole
world we're going to be the center of
mobility and have roads that look like
that but let's get to the hard part
let's get to the hard part because of
the last package that Lansing put forth
was about the same amount that Mark
Hackel says he needs in Macomb County
alone how in the world do we pay for
this massive undertaking well that's
right so when I was in the legislature I
worked across the aisle to direct to try
to get something done
unfortunately governor Snyder couldn't
get the Republican House of
Representatives to do the same work that
we did in a bipartisan way in the Senate
that's why I'm running on a plan that
creates the Michigan infrastructure bank
so that taxpayers know every dollar is
actually going where it's supposed to be
going we're gonna tear up the roads and
rebuild them right with the right mix
the right materials and get smart about
by using this as an opportunity to lay
conduit and get everyone connected to
high-speed broadband to work with our
partners in the private sector and
upgrade the grid the electrical grid
underneath the ground and get serious
about starting the replacement of lead
water service line but let me I'm gonna
ask you to get serious though about
telling me where this is to be my third
time asking where does the money come
from how do we pay for my plan is paid
for two billion dollars state revenue
leverages another billion dollars from
the federal government I will write it
in my first budget as governor and if I
can't get the legislature if they're too
weak to go along with it I'm gonna go
straight to the people and pass a bond
no more kicking the can down the road
we're gonna get serious we're going to
get it done and we're going to do it
together the ads that have been running
against you describe someone who's voted
to raise the Michigan income tax you
voted to raise the gas tax that there
are very few people in Michigan that I
made who feel under taxed a lot of
people who believe it's time for tax
cuts not tax increases and you haven't
talked about cutting anybody's taxes
listen here's what the people in
Michigan want they want government to do
its job they want our leaders to be
honest with them about the magnitude of
the problem and put real solutions
forward and just get it done I've been
to all 83 counties I've spent the vast
majority of my time here in Detroit and
in metropolitan Detroit and I'll tell
you this is what I hear from people I'm
paying a road tax because I'm paying to
fix my car because government's not
fixing the roads I'm paying an education
tax because I have to get my child a
tutor because there's too many kids
crammed in the classroom and they're not
getting the support they need I have to
pay a water text because I have to buy
bottled water because government's
failed to protect the water coming out
of my tap we are all paying for bad
decisions and lack of leadership in
Lansing and that's going to change we
pay a price no matter what what I offer
is a way to do it smarter and that
solves problems the the anti gretchen
crowd would suggest that that bad
stretch of bad decisions that come out
of Lansing that you've been a part of
that you've been there for a long time
they of course they've tried quite often
to group you in with Jennifer Granholm
and what Republicans continually refer
to
as The Lost Decade so the failings in
Lansing are not necessarily recent are
they especially when it comes to
education we've been falling behind for
a long time while you were in Lansing so
I'm not smiling because I think it's
funny but I'm smiling because I
recognize how ridiculous that is when
Bill shooty tries to lay the last 8
years on me when he's been the number 2
person in the state government is
ridiculous he's our Attorney General and
you know what happened kids in Flint
drink water that had led in it for two
and a half years before he started doing
his job I was the leader of the
resistance yes but you know what I was
also able to cross the aisle to get
things done like Medicaid expansion I
worked with the governor that I didn't
agree with on a lot of issues but when
he said he was going to embrace Medicaid
expansion I didn't go off to my partisan
corner I didn't come out with a list of
demands I rolled up my sleeves and I
went to work and I negotiated with
Governor Snyder I put the votes together
and today 680 thousand people have
health care who didn't before if someone
like Bill Schuette he's the next
governor he's gonna rip that health care
away from people in the same way that I
see Bill Schuette wanting to skip parts
of this election process and run against
you I can see you talking now about him
but you've got a you've got to deal with
the two men that are your fellow
Democrats right now in the running for
the nomination and health care is a big
part of this race they both want to see
single-payer health care I want to see
us move to that as a state you don't why
not I've never said anything other than
if there's a way to get everyone health
care in Michigan I'm all for it sign me
up what I'm not going to do is just take
positions on something that may or may
not happen from the federal government
I'm not going to be lectured by any one
democrat or republican about health care
when I'm the only person running for
governor on either side of the aisle
who's actually delivered health care for
people six hundred and eighty thousand
people in our state got health care many
of whom saw a doctor for the first time
in their life because the work that I
did everyone else was taking positions
and having opinions but I'm the only one
that has a record of getting stuffy but
if the if those who are wanting to
contract
Obamacare are continuing increasingly
successful at doing that what do you do
then about the what what's your plan for
filling that gap here that was made up
by the Medicaid expansion well I was so
sad to see governor Snyder sign into law
the work requirements let's be very
clear the Republicans pushed this change
in Medicaid expansion simply to take
health care away from people they like
to pretend it's about getting people to
work but guess what if that's what it
was really about they would have made it
easier to get the skills to get in to
jobs that are in demand right now every
skills program is full in Michigan let's
open those paths up if it was really
about getting people to work they would
have leveled barriers like
transportation the RTA or childcare
making it affordable for parents these
guys are not really concerned with
getting people to work they just want to
rip health care away from families and
that's something that I have shown I've
got a backbone to hold them at bay but
I'm also going to use every power in
that governor's office to expand health
care in Michigan you just mentioned the
RTA I want to move to that for just a
second we've obviously struggled with
putting together a comprehensive transit
plan for southeast Michigan does the
governor does Lansing have any role in
that or is that a strictly a regional
issue
oh absolutely Lansing has a role when I
was in the legislature I voted for the
initial legislation to put it before the
people I've talked to mayor Duggan
County Executive Warren Evans quite a
bit about how do we use the power of the
governor's office to get behind really
solving this have you figured out what
the answer is
you know the power of the budget is
incredibly persuasive if I started
fixing the roads if I can get that road
plan passed
county executive Mark Hackel doesn't
have to spend so much energy fixing
mountain road maybe we can get to work
connecting everyone in Southeast
Michigan or it's been the last part of
our time talking about education as I
mentioned to the can that it's the end
the other night in the Republican debate
it's not just the Detroit schools that
they typically troubled schools that
have fallen behind all of Michigan has
now is really lagging the rest of the
country over this last 20 years we've
watched this terrible decay in our what
was at one time a pretty darn good state
system of schools
what's happened not only was a pretty
darn good system it was the best system
of public education in Detroit was the
finest of the best of a state full of
great schools we've seen a lack of
leadership we've seen you're going way
back for that first decades you know
what the kids of today deserve no less
than the education Michigan was known
for offering decades ago I've got two
kids in the public schools I am a proud
parent of public school students and
proud product of public schools my mom
taught in Lansing my grandma taught and
Waterford my grandfather was a
superintendent of Pontiac public schools
that's what levels the playing field we
can get everything else right but if we
don't do right by the children of this
state we're failing generations of
Michigan's leaving us at a competitive
how we do it what are we getting wrong
first and foremost we stopped the
legislature from raiding the school aid
fund to pay for other things in the
budget three-quarters of a billion
dollars is taken out of our schools
every single year right now to shore up
the rest of the budget our kids are
paying that price we have to support
people who go into education one of the
biggest crises looming is the fact that
there are fewer and fewer people going
into education and we have to get laser
focused on literacy you know up until
third grade you learn to read after
third grade you read to learn so if
you're not a reader you're not learning
that's where we gotta focus I imagine
some of these topics will be the very
ones we address again a week from this
coming Thursday night it'll be July 19th
you'll be back here along with mr. tan
Adar and mr. el sayed for the democratic
debate here on local 4 but thanks very
much for the time that's why
thanks Sam we'll be back with more this
is five part I looking for
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