Mike Lahti announces "ACT" plan to reform Lansing

HANCOCK -- Mike Lahti today announced his "ACT" plan to fix Lansing by enacting new reform -- including holding legislators accountable for their expense accounts, cutting legislators’ pay and ending lifetime health benefits, eliminating wasteful spending and posting all government budgets and spending online. Lahti is running for the 38th District State Senate seat covering the western Upper Peninsula.

"It’s time that legislators share in the sacrifices that working families have had to make over the past year and pass reforms that will hold politicians and state government more accountable," Lahti said. "As the state struggles to fund programs that families rely on and fund our schools that will educate our students for the jobs of tomorrow, it is just wrong for legislators to refuse to pass reforms that could make a difference in the state budget. It’s time to hold Lansing accountable and I will fight for these reforms and make the citizens of our great state our first priority."

The "ACT" Reform Plan would:

* Audit all state contracts top to bottom to eliminate wasteful spending.
* Post all state government spending and budgets online.
* Close the revolving door of legislators becoming lobbyists by instituting a two-year ban on former lawmakers being employed as lobbyists.
* Dock legislators’ pay for unexcused absences and for not balancing the budget on time.

"Our government needs to be transparent and accountable for its actions and not hide behind the bureaucracy," said Lahti. "If I am elected to the Senate I will fight for more openness and accountability so that the citizens know that their money is being spent wisely."

As a state representative, Mike Lahti has fought to make government more accountable and voted to cut legislators' pay, including his own, by 10 percent. That pay cut will take effect in January, 2011, when the new legislative session begins.

Mike Lahti is a small business owner and job creator in the U.P. As an insurance agent and real estate developer, he has worked in his community on projects that have built and restored buildings and created new businesses and jobs. Lahti is a lifelong resident of Hancock and currently serves in the Michigan House of Representatives.

For more information, visit www.LahtiForSenate.com.