100th House District – 9&10 News

As Nov. 5 quickly approaches, candidates from around the state are making their cases to voters and weighing in on Northern Michigan’s concerns.

Candidates in the 100th State House District shared their thoughts with 9&10 News — incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kunse is facing a challenge from Democrat Tracy Ruell, a former business manager.

The 100th District includes all of Osceola and Mecosta Counties, along with most of Clare County and part of Lake County. The District includes Big Rapids, Reed City, Evart, Harrison and most of Clare.

Kunse was first elected in 2022, defeating his Democratic opponent Nate Bailey 68%-32%.

Here are their responses to 9&10′s questionnaire on the issues most impacting Northern Michigan.

Stay tuned for coverage on other Northern Michigan races and interviews with the candidates.

Absentee ballots are currently available to voters, and in-person early voting will begin by Oct. 26, with some municipalities having expanded availability. For more information on voting options and election administration, visit the Michigan Secretary of State’s office.

1. Please provide a short personal background and your reasons for seeking office.

Ruell: I was raised on a third-generation dairy farm in Big Rapids, Michigan. I am a graduate of Ferris State University. Married for 28 years with two grown children. My husband owns a small commercial and industrial insulation company. I managed multiple McDonalds restaurants as an area manager and was the operations manager for customer contact at Meijer corporate offices. I am running because we need a representative that is going to focus on issues impacting our district. Republicans and Democrats need to throw their egos aside and work together to create policy.

Kunse: 53 years old and have been married for 26 years. My wife and I have two adult children.

Education: Undergraduate is in Mechanical Engineering from Michigan Tech. Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics from Central Michigan University. I’ve spent 30 years in the transportation industry; we sold our trucking company in January.

Top legislative priority: improving education, specifically Career Technical Education. The 100 District is the most economically depressed district in the State, and the way out is through education. We need to show our young adults the path out of poverty by the skilled trades.

2. What issues do you think are on the minds of Northern Michigan residents as they prepare to cast their votes?

Ruell: I have knocked on thousands of doors in this district to ask that same question. People from everywhere want politicians to work together! They are tired of hearing each side blame the other for their ineffective leadership. In order to continue to lower prices, solve the housing shortage and provide opportunities for people to lift themselves up, both sides of the aisle must roll up their sleeves and compromise.

Kunse: The economy is the top issue. People are moving away from Michigan for better economic opportunities; for the last two years Lansing has been trying to make us the next California. Burdensome regulations and government overreach is not the way to grow our economy or State.

Inflation – this is a federal issue, but it comes to fiscal responsibility. We can’t print money without repercussions. The Federal government should have a balanced budget and a plan to reduce the national debt.

Housing: The American dream is to own a home, and we need to make that a priority.

3. Do you think that short-term rentals in Northern Michigan are properly regulated, and do you think the state should be involved in those regulatory efforts?

Ruell: Local planning and zoning are critical. What I see is an educational gap as to how planning can impact the future of an area. This is where the state can assist local planning commissions. Communities with strict regulations on minimum home sizes and large setbacks prevent housing development that fit the needs of all citizens. Whereas communities with little zoning regulations can lose available family housing to short term rental sprawl.

Kunse: Short term rentals have not yet been fully absorbed. They are a new development and regulations are still evolving. No, the correct solution has not yet been found.

I do not believe the State should be involved in regulation. Government should be small, local and transparent. What works in Lansing may not be a good solution in Luthur. Land use decisions (including wind and solar zoning) should be made at the local level.

4. What, if anything, should the Legislature should do in response to the 2018 ballot initiative/recent Supreme Court ruling that will raise Michigan’s minimum wage and eliminate the tipped wage next year?

Ruell: The bottom line is this, the citizens of Michigan followed the process for this ballot initiative. Both the house and senate voted overwhelmingly to support the initiative. It was signed by Governor Snyder, and the court has concluded that republicans intend to amend this initiative after supporting it is a violation of Michigan’s State Constitution. I believe our working citizens deserve to earn at least $12 per hour. The wage increase does not stop customers from tipping. I personally will continue to tip service workers.

Kunse: Increase the minimum wage to $15/hour.

Remove the taxes on tips.

Let servers chose if they want to work at a place where tips are part of their income. Overwhelmingly, they choose to do so – and we should respect that choice.

The ballot initiative is bad policy and is terrible for both the servers and restaurants.

5. What is your stance on the operation of Line Five? If the pipeline were to continue to operate, do you support the construction of a protective tunnel?

Ruell: Line Five should not operate without a protective tunnel, minimally. This line uses pressure to push a half million barrels of crude oil and gas from Wisconsin to Canada per day. This isn’t ocean water; the Great Lakes hold 20% of the planet’s fresh water. The water flow patterns at the straights are unique. The NOAA discovered that the currents are extremely fast at this location and any materials dispersed here would move quickly into the great lakes. Is this the best location? Or can we use ingenuity to find a better pipeline pathway? Let’s roll up our sleeves.

Kunse: Enbridge should be allowed to build the tunnel and continue to pay property taxes. They are going to use 100% private money – no taxpayer funding. The pipeline is the safest way to transport propane and oil across the straits. It would be logistically impossible to replace the pipeline with trucking or rail.

I am not willing to abandon the UP by removing their source of heating fuel.

6. What is your stance on the set of gun control bills signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2023? If elected, would you support any proposals to impose further gun restrictions or roll back existing restrictions?

Ruell: I am a handgun owner who believes in responsible gun ownership. I have a lock box that is easily accessible and opens quicker than a drawer of my dresser without a key. The greatest tragedy is when a child has access to guns from their relative’s home and insults themselves or another child. I support the governor’s common sense protective gun bills. I have no intention of taking guns away from law abiding citizens.

Kunse: I voted against all the gun control laws the Governor signed. We need to enforce the existing laws and prosecute criminals without “plea deals”. This will reduce crime.

When re-elected, I will not support any law that infringes on those rights.

We should teach firearm safety in schools.

7. What is your stance on Michigan’s environmental policies, including the requirement that the state be carbon-neutral by 2050?

Ruell: There are huge benefits to becoming carbon-neutral but first we need to discuss what that means. Carbon-neutral means reducing carbon emissions and offsetting emissions. It doesn’t mean that people are going to be forced to give up their gas vehicles. Reducing emissions by including wind, solar and EV. You can offset emissions by planting trees.

The state intends to power all state-owned buildings with 100% renewable energy, reduce energy usage in state-owned buildings by 40%, require state-owned facilities to offer recycling and use state owned electrified vehicles.

I support these moves.

Kunse: All coal fired plants in Michigan are currently scheduled to be closed before 2035.

The 2050 policies were made by people who are bad at math. They set the deadline far enough in the future, they will not be here to deal with the issue of insufficient base load energy supply.

If people choose to source their energy from interruptible sources (wind and solar) they should be willing to go dark when the wind doesn’t blow.

We should re-start the Palisades nuclear plant to allow for a sustainable base load energy generator.

8. Are there any other Northern Michigan concerns that you feel legislators in Lansing should be more aware of?

Ruell: Ruell’s response was not available at the time of publication.

Kunse: Accesses to medical facilities and health care funding is different north of Clare.

Broadband infrastructure is widely lacking in parts of rural Michigan.

We have areas in the 100 District that deal with Appalachian levels of poverty.

Most people in Northern Michigan, regardless of their political views, believe that our State Government is severely lacking in transparency. Freedom of Information requests, budget getting passed in the middle of the night, dark money in campaigns, etc – these all need to be corrected.