Republican candidate Teri Aiuto recently stumped at the Dexter Forum. She is running for State Representative for the 52nd District which includes the Dexter area and most of Washtenaw County.
Candidates are given 5 minutes to present their case. Here is what Teri had to say:
“Regarding my background, I’m a small business owner. I own a real estate company. I’m a real estate broker. I have owned many businesses in the past – a landscape company, snow removal, tanning salon, and a property management company. I was the Sharon Township Clerk for 16 years and secretary of the Zoning Board of Appeals for 18 (years). I’ve sat on many nonprofit executive boards… I’m Guided by traditional values. I support the first amendment. I’m voting ‘no’ with the marijuana proposal.”
“I invite you to my website which is www.teri4rep.com. You can also Facebook Teri Auito for State Representative. I ask anybody that is interested in supporting me and my campaign, if they would like a sign, see me after or if you’d like a doorknob or make a campaign contribution. I look forward to your vote and support on November 6th. I will not disappoint you and I look forward to representing you in Lansing. Thank You.”
(The floor is then opened for questions from the Forum)
Question: “There are a lot of values in the 52nd District. What values of the 52nd District will you represent?
Teri: “I endorse Michigan Right to Life and the traditional values that our Constitution holds. I believe, for instance, what Bill (Gordon) was saying regarding the proposal for gerrymandering. I’m totally against that. I just believe that we need to stick to our traditional values. Regarding the issues that need addressing that I believe needed addressing, I’ve been confirmed by the thousands of doors I’ve knocked on – repairing our roads and infrastructure, improving K-12 education, also educating our skilled trades, and protecting our Great Lakes. It’s a precious commodity. All of those.”
Question: How would you propose improving our K-12 education?
Teri: Right now 40-cents on every taxpayer dollar goes to education. Where’s that money going to? It’s not going in the classrooms. It’s going to the bureaucracy, the special interest groups. We need to actually look at where’s all that money for education is going to.
Question: “And once you discover where that money is going to, how would you redeploy that money? What do you think are the key levers in improving student achievement?”
Teri: “First what we have to do is look and see where are we not meeting the grade with the different grades. From there we need to be able to take the money that we have and look at different programs. And to be honest with you, I would need to research that more.”
Question: Would you be in favor of enacting tougher laws to protect our water soil and air?
Teri: “Yes.”
Question: “So our roads and infrastructure are a mess. Could you address how you would to correct these issues?”
Teri: “We really need to see how much money is in the budget for that. And meeting with my constituents, we would all need to agree how to move forward with how are we going to fix those roads.”
Question: “So does that imply that the pie is never going to get larger? The money we spend is the money we currently have?”
Teri: “We just increased our registration fees, our gas tax for repairing roads and infrastructure. We can’t continue to increase taxes for everything because if we do, we have no money left to live on. We have to look at the budget and see where all the money is being spent, where it’s going to. Is it going to some crazy issue that we really don’t care about? And reallocate that money back to what’s important.”
