This Is What I'm Running On - And Why It Can't Wait

Michigan doesn't have a leadership shortage. It has an accountability shortage. Lansing has had decades to get this right. Instead, working families pay more, get less, and watch their tax dollars disappear into agencies that couldn't tell you what they actually produce. Roads stay broken. Schools stay underfunded. And the people responsible keep their jobs. I'm done talking about it. Here's what I'm running on. Pillar 1 - DOGE Lansing: Eliminate Waste, Unlock Progress Before we can talk about tax relief, we have to be honest about where the money goes. Michigan's state government is bloated with duplicative agencies, redundant programs, and consultant contracts that produce nothing but invoices. This isn't a theory - it's the operating reality that every small business owner and working family in this district already knows. I will conduct a zero-based audit of state spending. Every agency. Every program. Every contract. If it can't justify its existence, it gets cut. Not trimmed. Cut. This isn't punishment. It's math. And it's the only honest path to everything else on this list. Pillar 2 - Eliminate Michigan's Income Tax Michigan takes 4.25% of every dollar you earn. That's over $2,400 a year out of the average household - money that should be paying down debt, building savings, or growing a business. Instead it funds the waste we just talked about. Nine states already operate with zero income tax. They're not collapsing. They're competing - and winning talent, businesses, and families that Michigan is losing. Once we clean up Lansing, we phase out the income tax entirely. This isn't a campaign promise designed to sound good. It's the logical next step once government is actually living within its means. DOGE Lansing makes it possible. That's the sequence, and I won't reverse it. Pillar 3 - Return to Meritocracy This one is personal to me. I grew up watching my family build a business from the ground up. Hard work, long hours, and no shortcuts. My wife and I opened our home as foster parents because we believe that showing up for people - especially when it's hard - is what separates character from convenience. Michigan's institutions have drifted from those values. Schools, colleges, employers, and licensing boards have been pressured to prioritize everything except merit. That's not compassion. That's a system that punishes the hardest workers and rewards the most connected. I will fight to restore merit-based systems across education, workforce development, hiring, and business licensing. If you work hard, you should succeed. If you're the most qualified, you should get the job. That's not a radical position. That's the American Dream - and Michigan needs to wake it up. Why Now I'm not running because I want a title. I'm running because I've built something, lost something, fought through something, and never quit. I know what it costs to make payroll when the state makes it harder every year. I know what it means to invest in people who have nothing and watch them build something real. Michigan House District 89 deserves a representative who has actually lived the policies they're arguing about. Not a career politician. A builder. But I can't do this alone. I need neighbors knocking on doors. I need business leaders at the table. I need community leaders willing to make introductions. I need people who are done waiting for Lansing to fix itself. The American Dream isn't dead. It's waiting on us. Let's get to work. - Patrick Kapenga, Candidate, Michigan House District 89