Candidates for 11th Congressional District Speak in LWV Forum (video)
(Crystal A. Proxmire, July 17, 2014)
Candidates for the 11th Congressional District came together at Milford High School on Wednesday, with the exception of incumbent Kerry Bentivolio, for the League of Women Voters candidate forum.
Bentivolio’s opponent in the Aug. 5 primary, fellow Republican Dave Trott, criticized Bentivolio, stating that he does not return to the District or hold coffee hours to meet with the people he represents. He did not attend the forum because he was in Washington DC.
Trott is the only Republican challenger. On the Democratic side, voters will be able to choose between Anil Kumar,
Bobby McKenzie, Bill Roberts and Nancy Skinner.
The 11th Congressional District includes part of Clawson, corner of Rochester Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Troy, Auburn Hills, Lake Angelus, Walled Lake, Wixom, South Lyon, Northville and Farmington, and the villages of Milford and Wolverine Lake in Oakland County. Also, the Townships of Waterford, White Lake, Highland, Commerce, Milford, Lyon, Novi and part of West Bloomfield plus, in Wayne County, the cities of Livonia, Northville, and Plymouth and Townships of Canton, Northville and Plymouth.
Each candidate brings a different background and personality to the table.
Trott said that “the question of this election is pretty simple, it’s what should the role of the government be in our lives? I think it should be as little as possible. I think the government is too big and too inefficient to do much of anything.” In his opening 
remarks he criticized politicians who only focus on getting elected, and said that “politicians do not realize that it’s the private sector, not the government, that drives our economy.”
Kumar said he decided to run because “I found Washington DC totally dysfunctional and I thought ‘why can I not fix the problem myself?’ And I looked and I found myself a doctor, a businessman, a teacher, a technical person, and an immigrant knowing all of everything that Congress will need. So I decided to run and as a non-career politician I hope that I will serve you as well as I can.”
McKenzie, who has spent 18 years working in the CIA, said he is running because he wants to get away from the bi-partisan nature
of politics, though he is a Democrat. When asked what the Democratic Party means to him, he said “I’m a Democrat, but I’m an independent thinking. But I embrace the Democratic Party largely because it’s about people. It’s about us. It’s not about big business. It’s not about corporations. It’s about trying to help move people forward.
Roberts spoke on several topics, such as impeaching President Obama, promoting nuclear power, and changing the world’s financial systems. He said that “I think this right wing reaction largely has come from the failure of Democrats to oppose policies that Obama started his administration with.” He also said “I think the tendency in the [Democratic] Party has come much more under the influence of Wall Street and the global warming greenie hysteria which is not scientific.”
Skinner asked audience members to consider her record as a Progressive activist, and the lack of female 
representation in Congress. “I am a Democrat and I am proud to be a Democrat. I have a 21 year record being a Democrat whereas my Democratic opponents, as reported by MIRS News, did not even bother to vote in the last two elections, so they did not vote for President Obama,” she said. She also spoke about making green jobs a part of saving the economy and the environment.
Questions posed to candidates included how they would find money to repair roads, how they would address student loan debts, and what differentiates them from other opponents.
To hear more about what each candidate had to say, check out the video at http://youtu.be/-rfbzPlvgNI. For other election information see https://oaklandcounty115.com/category/election-information/. Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/oc115.
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