Pappageorge provides answers

As reported by the Observer & Eccentric:

By Greg Kowalski
ECCENTRIC STAFF WRITER

A stack of one billion $1 bills would stand taller than the Empire State Building. Michigan's budget deficit — at $1.7 billion — would rise almost twice as high.

State Sen. John Pappageorge (R-Troy) likes to use that analogy. It's a concept that is easy to visualize, yet makes a dramatic point. And it emphasizes just how serious Michigan's financial mess is.

“We have a big problem,” Pappageorge said. But unlike many of his colleagues in the state Legislature, Pappageorge doesn't deal just with abstract analogies. He looks for realistic solutions.

“The thing that separates us in Lansing is the issue of income redistribution,” Pappageorge said. Conservatives favor tax cuts, liberals tilt toward tax increases to deal with the budget shortfall. Pappageorge proposes an alternative. If every person who is paid by the state in any capacity, including college professors, took a 5-percent pay cut and paid 20 percent of their health care costs, which is comparable to the private sector, it would save the state about $1.7 billion.

At age 78, Pappageorge is energetic and looks toward the future. Although Michigan is in for a rough time as it works to balance the budget, there are bring spots on the horizon, if the state takes advantage of them.

New technologies, like the manufacturing of batteries for electric cars and other cutting edge industries, offer promise. “We still have more engineers than any other state,” he said. But new industries have to be nurtured for the state to prosper. Pappageorge puts the situation into a historical perspective.

There have been three fundamental revolutions in the development of human history. The first occurred thousands of years ago, when roaming humans settled down to a life of farming. The second took place about 175 years ago with the Industrial Revolution. And the third is happening now, as we settle into the computer age.

“Michigan stayed too long in the second revolution,” Pappageorge said. We're still caught in the gears of industry when we should be pioneering new technologies. “In government, people are always looking to see where the wind is hitting. I concentrate on where the boat ought to go.”

Pappageorge would also like to see a complete audit done of the entire government with an eye on improving the tax structure, budgeting process and regulatory system. But making changes in Lansing can be a painfully slow, politically tainted process, Pappageorge said.

Part of that is due to term limits, which keep the state Legislature in a constant state of flux. But Pappageorge even has proposed an answer to that by allowing legislators to serve a total of 14 years in the House and/or Senate. That will provide the leadership continuity that is now missing.

Pappageorge is no stranger to the Legislature. He served in the state House from 1998 to 2004 and prior to that was on the Oakland County Board of Commissioners. A resident of Troy, he spent 30 years in the military before retiring in 1984 with the rank of colonel.