Governor candidates Mike Cox, Pete Hoekstra say unionized state workers should take pay cut

Governor candidates Mike Cox, Pete Hoekstra say unionized state workers should take pay cut
"Two Republican candidates for governor -- state Attorney General Mike Cox and U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra -- said today that unionized state workers, rather than getting raises, should take pay cuts like many have in the private sector.
'There ought to be a sense of shared sacrifice,' Cox said.
The candidates also said the state's tax structures should be revised to attract businesses and jobs. Hoekstra said taxes and government policies 'stifle investment, stifle entrepreneurs.'
They spoke at a conference of Michigan Association of Insurance Agents at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel.
Hoekstra also criticized federal education reforms -- former President George Bush's 'No Child Left Behind and President Barack Obama's 'Race to the Top' -- as too costly, with local school districts essentially ceding control to Washington, D.C.
Cox said he disagreed with Hoekstra and other lawmakers who agreed to a federal bailout of financial institutions.
But Hoekstra said: 'Bottom line, we don't know what would've happened if we had not put that money into the financial sector.'"