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Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula residents will decide on the district’s representation in November. The Michigan first district in the United States Congress features a race between incumbent representative Jack Bergman and Traverse City attorney Callie Barr. Representative Bergman seeks a fifth term representing residents adding he still has much to accomplish in Washington.
To reduce and prevent improper payments and wasteful spending by the United States government, the bureaucracies within the government. And it’s, I mean, we’re talking hundreds of billions of dollars a year in improper, unauthorized wasteful spending by the government, says Representative Bergman. So you don’t just wake up one morning and say, well, I’m going to do this. And a week later, it’s all done. So I’m in the middle, of several issues, mainly the big one here that applies across all, you know, all of our citizens is wasteful, unnecessary federal government spending.
Callie Barr grew up in northern Michigan and attended Central Michigan University for her teaching degree. She then went on to earn her law degree from the University of Michigan. She says her driving motivation to re-enroll in school was a call to do more for her husband and other veterans. Not just as an advocate, but as someone that can make a difference.
I worked for several years as a litigation attorney and we were helping to build a program called VetLex to give veterans free legal services. And then during this time, we’ve just had this increasing gridlock in government, this polarization, this extremism, says Callie Barr. And in particular, our incumbent congressman here at home, Jack Bergman, you know, who pushed this extremist narrative and coming from a military family to me, that was just so wrong.
Both candidates seek support from residents in the western Upper Peninsula and spoke to several challenges that residents have faced over the last year. Both expressed disappointment in seeing the Aspirus Ontonagon hospital close.
Representative Bergman says he remains an avid supporter of the 340 b program that helps fund rural hospitals. Additionally, he wants to see the program continue. He also expressed advancements in telehealth have come a long year since the pandemic.
One of the positive things we saw out of the COVID, all the negative of the COVID shutdown, was we were able to, at the federal level, advance telehealth. So if you’re in a remote area and you don’t have, you can’t drive, there’s a snowstorm, whatever it happens to be, the advancement of telehealth has been a big plus for us. I’m continuing to push that, says Rep. Bergman. And part of the telehealth capability is directly related to the access to rural high-speed broadband. So all the fiber we’ve laid, especially in the UP over the last four years, has been a big deal in advancing that healthcare.
Barr shared her own hometown’s experience when Cheboygan’s hospital closed in 2012. Her mother was working as a registered nurse at the time and was laid off alongside hundreds of other staff. She went further sharing that lack of healthcare can make it difficult for regions to grow.
We lost so much because we also just lost jobs. And that’s what happened here too, right? So your economy takes a hit, and families who wanna come in and move there. It’s, there’s no, like if you want to have a baby or set other medical appointments, it makes it hard to want to come and live in a place where you don’t have access to medical care, says Barr. And so it’s this huge cycle of wanting to, have people come and move there, but they need to have healthcare. And so for me, it’s making sure that that we’re creating opportunities, that we’re looking at federal funding that can help support having access to medical treatment. It’s also having infrastructure in place that helps promote that.
Recent acts such as the American Rescue Plan and Infrastructure and Investment and Jobs Acts supported projects expanding broadband services in the Upper Peninsula. Barr noted that Representative Bergman’s votes against legislation hurt communities in his district. Representative Bergman voted alongside his party on both occasions.
To me, it’s really important again that you have a Congress person who’s showing up to help create connections and make sure that these opportunities are available to folks in our district. I think what’s, you know, part of this also is making sure we’re supporting infrastructure. The Infrastructure Act brought money to our district, not only to modernize the Soo locks but also to bring rural broadband internet here. Something, Jack Bergman voted against. And to me, let’s do good things for our district, says Barr.
Representative Bergman says he supports small business growth over large corporations entering rural communities. Adding that a large issue much of the country faces starts with workforce development. He wants to see targeted funding go to support technical career education, particularly at the high school level.
I believe there’s a role in the federal government to provide some, if you will, very targeted funding for those, especially high schools, to start with, and then what we call career technical centers, we used to call them trade schools. But to begin using advanced technologies that these young high schoolers can get their hands on, says Rep Bergman, like 14 or 15, and start to understand what they can do, let’s get them into some advanced technology manufacturing and let their creative juices flow, but start that in high school.
Following the 2020 election Representative Jack Bergman expressed similar concerns as other republican colleagues in Washington D.C.. In 2022 the Traverse City Record Eagle reported he supported the Antrim County lawsuit’s forensic team. When asked if he would support a peaceful transfer of power if re-elected Bergman said absolutely. Barr expressed she would as well. Additionally, she does not want someone who has previously supported a conspiracy undermining the American people given another opportunity to do it again.
Both candidates were asked about their knowledge of the Highland Copper Company’s Copperwood mine development. As well as experience hearing from grassroots groups and Native American tribes that have voiced environmental concerns. Candidate Barr says that environmental policies and regulations need to act in a way that balances economic opportunity and environmental hazards.
For us, it’s being very honest about saying like, hey, when we say just not in my backyard, but somewhere else where they don’t have protections for the environment, that’s, I don’t think, we gotta be honest about these conversations. And I think, right now we know it’s an underground mine, so it’s minimizing surface impact. It’s not an acid-generating mine. And from what I’ve read, there’s wetland preservation 10 times in excess of its intended impact, says Barr. So those are good things. And I think we always want people who are champions of the environment. That’s a good thing, right? And so to me, it’s making sure that we’re just thoughtful about striking this balance here.
An issue Representative Bergman holds close relates to protecting the country’s natural resources. He says he stays updated with environmental groups around the country and the issues each raises. He believes that the process to approve a mine development at the federal level requires the necessary checklist but takes too long to complete.
And the Democratic Party seems to think that more regulations and more government is better. And on our side of the aisle, we tend to think we need safety, we need security, but we need economic opportunity. But we need decisions made in the permitting process in a timely manner so that companies can invest get the mine rolling and hire the people. But at the same time, mining 100 years ago, says Rep. Bergman. You might have had 350 miners on a shift. You might have 50 on a shift now. So the number of jobs given the advance in technology of mining techniques and the machinery used, it’s not gonna be the number of workers that it used to be. But we still need to mine.
Both candidates will appear on ballots for residents living in Michigan’s first district, spanning the northern Lower Peninsula and Upper Peninsula. The district’s race also includes a candidate from the Libertarian, Andrew Gale, and Working Class Party, Liz Hakola. Those interested in learning more about either candidate can find both campaign websites linked below.
Those interested in reading a transcript of the full interviews can find more details here for Representative Jack Bergman, and candidate Callie Barr, here.
