Ian Haight says he doesn’t have an agenda, or grand plans. The Democratic candidate for state Senate says he wants to listen to people and find out what their concerns are.
Haight is running in the 21st state Senate District. It includes St. Joseph, Cass and Berrien Counties. He was previously clerk in Hagar Township. Haight says as he talks to voters their top concerns are education, health care, road and water infrastructure and auto insurance rates.
Asked about education, Haight, who has a background in teaching, says the state is severely underfunding education, He says the state doesn’t have to raise taxes to provide more money for schools. Haight says the corporate tax cuts approved when Governor Rick Snyder took office can be rolled back to provide more education funding.
Haight says he supports the “infrastructure bank” plan proposed by Democratic gubernatorial Gretchen Whitmer. He says if voters approve the ballot proposal to legalize marijuana it would allow more people to work on infrastructure projects. Ian Haight says criminal records of people with convictions related to marijuana should be expunged. He supports proposal 1. Haight says the state needs to help municipalities where lead infrastructure is in place.
Asked about winning a district where the Republican won 64% of the vote in 2016, Haight says Democratic votes are there. He points to 2008 when Barack Obama won the vote of the three counties combined in the Presidential elections. Haight says he’s reaching out to everyone, even if they are strong Republicans.
