Schuette and Whitmer exchange shots in ruling governor's debate

David Eggert, Associated Press

updated

19:14 PDT, Friday, October 12, 2018

GREAT RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) – Republican Bill Schuette on Friday criticized his rival governor as an "extreme" tax candidate, who has done nothing "as a legislator," while Democrat Gretchen Whitmer boasted his bipartisan work to expand Medicaid said the prosecutor general sued to withdraw health coverage to people.

The two men also exchanged fire on the lawsuits filed against sexual assailant Larry Nassar, on the Flint water crisis and on the ruined roads during their first face-to-face debate.

Schuette, who stayed in the polls, said it would eliminate an increase in income tax in 2007 backed by former governor Jennifer Granholm and Whitmer, who was then a senator, in order to To help balance the budget during a recession.

"When she says that she's going to fix the roads, she's going to raise your sacred taxes." She wants to raise taxes on gasoline. It's an extreme program that would take us backwards, "he said. Schuette.

Whitmer said that she had gone down the aisle to help GOP Governor Rick Snyder make 680,000 additional people eligible for public health insurance under the Federal Health Act. while Schuette sued him. She accused him of only addressing the problems of media attention and said that spending at least $ 2 billion more per year on road and road projects. decks would allow motorists to save hundreds of dollars a year in vehicle repairs caused by potholes.

"I have put a concrete plan on the table to repair these damn roads, and Bill Schuette's plan has two steps: to be elected and then to determine – we deserve better and can do better," Whitmer said.

Both aspire to succeed Snyder, who is limited in time, in a race of choice at the national level.

After making opening statements at the WOOD-TV studio in Grand Rapids, the contestants were first asked about a 1989 video clip – released this week – in which Schuette told a woman who had invited her to come closer to A lamp: Some things that I will not let you let the camera work. "

Schuette, who regretted the "embarrassing" and "mediocre attempts" of humor, said during the debate that the film had been "radically altered", calling his release a "project on democracy for family planning". He stated that he was focusing on reducing taxes and auto insurance premiums.

He said it's "shameful" that Garlin Gilchrist, Whitmer's second-in-command, did not take better care of his "run-down" Detroit building. Gilchrist acknowledged Friday that he was the owner of the property that has prompted complaints from locals and said he was struggling to find loans to renovate it.

Whitmer called Schuette's video "weird," but added, "The fact is, I do not care about this video, I want to talk about the issues that really matter to people in this state." She spoke about health care, women's reproductive rights and the restoration of a tax exemption for retirement income.

After the debate, Schuette's wife, Cynthia – they got married in 1991 – told reporters that he was a "good man" who was "naughty, stupid and stupid" in the video.

During the debate, Schuette repeatedly reiterated that three bills had been passed during his 14-year career in the Legislative Assembly.

"You did not do anything," he says.

Whitmer retorted that she was part of the minority caucus all the time and stated that she cared about legislative "results" without taking credit for it.

"The most striking difference between me and my opponent here is that I do the job when the cameras are not turned on," she said, blaming Schuette for attacking Granholm, who served as 2003 to 2010.

Candidates also continued to launch attacks on lead contamination in the Flint and Nassar cases. Schuette accused Whitmer, who was the Lansing area interim attorney in 2016, of failing to sue the former Michigan State University doctor and the USA Gymnastics for sexual assault before his office does take the case. She called the claim "nonsense".

Whitmer said Schuette had ignored Flint residents' complaints about water and that his office had signed an environmental order to facilitate the switching of water sources to disastrous consequences. Schuette, who initiated criminal proceedings against government officials – including in the Snyder administration – said he had "acted appropriately" and that any other suggestion is "simply absurd".

The candidates will meet for their second final debate on October 24 in Detroit.

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Follow David Eggert on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DavidEggert00. His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/David%20Eggert