ROYAL OAK, MI – MLive’s final ballot bash concluded in Royal Oak on Tuesday, but not before two democratic candidates talked world peace and gun ownership.
U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters and Attorney General hopeful Mark Totten faced questions from MLive Director of news Marjory Raymer. Other statewide candidates were at previous forums in Grand Rapids and Lansing.
Close to 100 people attended Tuesday’s event, held in Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle.
Peters, currently serving in the U.S. House, reiterated his call for a debate with his Republican opponent, Terri Lynn Land. Recently negotiations on a debate fell apart over the format.
Watch full video interviews with Peters and Totten, as well as highlights.
But if Peters had his way it would be a town hall style, patterned after the forum Gov. Rick Snyder and Democratic challenger Mark Schauer participated in on Sunday.
“If it’s good enough for the two gubernatorial candidates it should be good enough for the senate. Let’s bring it on,” Peters said.
He also addressed issues such as the New International Trade Crossing planned to connect Detroit and Canada, Environmental Protection Agency rules and his moderate voting record.
Running out of time at the end, Raymer gave Peters a “lightning round,” asking him to do four questions in two minutes. Her first question was about how the nation should handle gun control.
“Is question number two world peace?” Peters asked, drawing laughter from the crowd.
Totten was up for the next round of questions, and addressed issues such as marijuana policy, consumer protections and the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Totten said he supports legislation on FOIA, currently in the legislature, that would standardize fees for processing FOIA requests. He also said some things would be within his power as Attorney General, such as issuing an opinion clarifying that state workers conducting government business on private email would still be subject to FOIA.
“Right now that is a loophole that you could drive a truck through,” Totten said.
He also said he’d like to measure his success on how he’d advocated for Michiganders in the AG position.
“I want to have the confidence that Michigan families think of me in a very real sense as being their lawyer, their advocate and their voice,” Totten said.
Both Peters and Totten also talked about gun issues. A fun fact? They’re both gun owners.
Totten has a concealed pistol license and said, as of right now, he doesn’t see a need for legislative change on the open carry issue. Peters spoke in favor of universal background checks.
The entire body of events served as MLive editorial board interviews, and statewide endorsements will be forthcoming.
Emily Lawler is a Capital/Lansing business reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.