CJ Q&A: Mark Schauer responds

State Senate Minority Leader Mark Schauer responded to your questions, saying he would hold President Bush accountable for "abuses" and work to change policy in Iraq. He even managed a kind word for U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg. That and more after the jump.

Schauer's answers are printed below. Questions are in bold, his responses in regular text.

Mark, As minority leader of the Senate, you have been involved in a legislative session in Michigan that could be described as one of the more partisan in recent memory. With standoffs such as the state shutdown of last summer, there is a real appearance of stubborn partisanship in Lansing. This attitude is rampant in Washington as well. What action will you take to correct this partisan problem, and will you be willing to work with the other side of the aisle if it is in the best interst of the district, even if it draws ire from your own party?

I have always been willing to work with members on the other side of the aisle. In fact my stock and trade has been working with other legislators in my own community.

As a Democrat I worked arm in arm with Joe Schwarz. We sort of made a pact that if it was good for our community, we'd be for it. I was a state senator, he was a member of congress, and we worked arm-in-arm to take the Battle Creek Air National Guard base off the base closure list. It's amazing what you can do when you don't care who gets the credit.

As a member of the legislature, I was actively working with Republican senators to find a solution to the problem, and it was incredibly frustrating, but at the end of the day we got a budget done.

Give us a good reason why anybody in your district should vote for you.

I think it's about results and the ability to solve problems.

The primary reason I'm running is that my state is in crisis and we need an all-hands-on-deck strategy. Washington is broken and I see Tim Walberg as part of the problem. He has marched hand-in-hand with George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Big Oil. I'm going to be working to turn our state around one job at a time, and I will be working as our representative in Congress to do just that.

What do you intend to do to get our troops out of Iraq? Do you think we need to set a timetable for pulling out our troops?

I think we need a change in policy. Tim Walberg has a record on the war in Iraq that goes further back than the start of the war in Iraq.

I will support our president, hopefully Barack Obama, in starting to withdraw our troops from Iraq. I will support our president in doing that in connection with our generals and leaders. That's in contrast to Tim Walberg who has been a reliable rubber stamp for our president on this war.

Mark, if elected, and there is an opportunity to hold President Bush and his administration accountable for the numerous crimes against the American people, will you vote on any and all measure that would hold Bush, Cheney, et al, accountable for their actions?

I will swear an oath to uphold our constitution and I am very concerned about the abuses of this administration. If it's been determined that the law has been broken, as in the case of Scooter Libby, then I will hold those people accountable.

But I want to be clear that my focus in Washington will be to create jobs and opportunity in this state.

My mother always told me, if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. Say something nice about Sharon Renier and Tim Walberg.

I know that Sharon Renier cares very deeply about the future of this country and I know that's why she's running for Congress. About Tim Walberg, I think I would generally say the same. Tim Walberg has a very different ideology and world view and I think that within that he envisions a stronger America. We just fundamentally disagree about how we get there.

Comments

[Michael Motta]

Walberg wants to get there via guns and God and without gays.

(I just realized that some will take that as a positive remark)