Bykowski, Kolb promise accessibility for 'U'

By Hanna LoPatin

Daily Staff Reporter

Two University alumni are seeking to represent the 53rd District, which includes most of the University's student population within its constituency.

Republican Bob Bykowski graduated from the University with a master's degree in public health care administration and worked extensively in mental health and social work before his current job in real estate.

A former lecturer at the University, Bykowski said he thinks he could easily keep in touch with the students that would make up part of his constituency.

"Just having an open door" is how he plans to be available, he told The Michigan Daily's editorial board.

Democrat Chris Kolb, who serves on the Ann Arbor City Council and as the city's mayor pro tem, graduated from the School of Natural Resources and the Environment and serves on the advisory board for the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Affairs. "I consider all the students at the University of Michigan as residents of Ann Arbor," he told the Daily's editorial board.

If he wins a seat in Lansing, Kolb said he wants to establish what he calls a "Campus Caucus."

"That will be for all communities that have a public university or college that impacts their community," he said.

Bykowski, a Pittsfield Township resident, said the most important issue facing Michigan is education.

"We have to put more money into education programs," he said. "I'd be more interested in putting a major effort into K-12 programs, providing it's literacy programs, helping single moms and families that are struggling ... to assist their kids in getting an education."

Calling himself "fiscally moderate," Bykowski, a former Democrat, said he has looked into the state budget and has found ways to redirect money towards education and other human rights issues rather than increasing taxes.

"One example is that we're spending approximately $18 million to advertise the lottery system while we've got kids and senior citizens going hungry and without medications, and to me that's just ridiculous," he said.

Kolb also puts a large emphasis on education, noting that higher education often seems to get lost in the political shuffle. "Lately the University of Michigan pretty much has had a hard time getting the necessary state funds up in Lansing," he said. "Part of it is because of its own reputation but also because a lot of people come from different schools up there. It's kind of interesting to watch, but it's not the way you like to have decision-making made."

Bykowski said he was not as concerned with higher education as with state appropriations for primary and secondary schools.

"I certainly wouldn't cut any funding to the universities, but if we had to prioritize I'd put more of my efforts into K-12, preparing kids to make it through the system," he said.

As a state representative, Bykowski said he would try "to work with the universities to take a look at their resources and how they're managing those resources and looking at ways to economize and redirect some of the dollars into the teaching part versus, well, putting up a new building or a halo around the football stadium."

Kolb's biggest issue is the environment. "It's not just about wilderness and the natural environment, it's about the urban environment," he said. "It's about understanding about the air - that we have to keep the air we breathe clean, the water we drink and the land that we raise our children and our families on."