By Dawn Wolfe Gutterman
FARMINGTON – Ask many politicians what they think about an issue and they'll get back to you – after their consultants and focus groups have told them to spin the issue. Not Jason Vorva. Whether it's his pro-gay stance, his desire to ban abortion or his displeasure with both of the larger political parties, Vorva is willing to say exactly what he thinks, exactly the way he thinks it.
Not that everyone is going to agree with Vorva, 31, who has decided to run in the Republican primary to serve Michigan's 20th State House District, which covers Northville Township, part of Northville, Plymouth Township, part of Plymouth and Wayne.
"Really what I'm providing the opportunity for is to talk about real things. Who else is going to talk about complete receivership for Detroit,?" Vorva asked BTL during a May 24 interview. "I'm not saying I'm right, but the same old things aren't going to work. That's why I'm running – to talk about these things."
Vorva said that, if elected, his first priority will be to reform state government.
"Not by saying who can and can't contribute money to you, or this campaign finance nonsense," Vorva said, and continued that he supports cutting both the hours that the Legislature works and the pay they receive for it.
"It's a part-time job," he said. "They don't need to be paid $80,000 a year plus pension plus perks. Cut their pay, their pension and the perks in half and cut their staff in half."
"Second, eliminate the primaries. The primaries are how the parties eliminate choice," Vorva added. "Because what do you have? If you have 15 percent turnout in the primary and there's three people running, 5 percent of the people on each side choose the candidates. Have a free-for-all. Let it be three Republicans, two Democrats, a Libertarian, a Green, a Communist and some crazy independent."
Vorva is not accepting campaign contributions, and he said that, if elected, he will give back one half of his pay in a lottery to constituents.
Asked why, as an openly gay man, Vorva considers himself a Republican despite that party's open hostility to gays, Vorva said "It's all grandstanding and pandering to get out their voters. And both parties do it. Unfortunately I think both parties are pretty disgusting, I think they're both self-serving – it doesn't matter what the issue is. If you're a Republican and you want to get out your vote you talk about gays and abortion and pay lip service to taxes and things like that. If you're a Democrat and you want to get your votes out you say that Republicans want to starve children and you, you know, talk about the environment and how we're all going to die in five years if we don't stop industry – they all have their issues that they talk about, that they really use to gear up emotions, which I find repugnant because I want to find the facts. I want to do things based on real information."
However, Vorva also said that he has been a Republican "my whole life."
"I'm just, in many ways, a very conservative guy," he said, while defining "conservative" as being a proponent of small government.
"Republicans have been in control in Lansing … in the legislature, and government's bigger than it's ever been. They've been in control in Washington, DC, and the government's way out of control – it's bigger than it's ever been. So I'm a very dissatisfied with Republicans in that they've been spending like liberals."
As for several issues that have recently been covered by BTl, Vorva took a decidedly pro-gay stance. (The district's incumbent, Republican John Stewart, was endorsed by BTL in 2004 with a 45% pro-gay voting record.)
Vorva supports second-parent adoption, equal marriage rights for same-sex couples, and the right of employees to not have employment decisions made based on their private, non-work conduct (though he is willing to make some limited exceptions for religious organizations).
As for the recently-introduced anti-bulling legislation, and hate crimes in general, Vorva said, "If there's a bully in school he needs to be stopped. I don't really care what it's for. To me crime is pretty hateful. I don't know that you need to separate it out, and I know some people in the gay community and minority communities get upset by that. But really – if I kill you, does it really matter why I killed you? You're still dead. I should be in prison. It's a way to get emotions riled up. If you're a criminal you need to be dealt with firmly regardless of what you're saying while you're doing it."
Vorva, who works with Keller Williams Realty in Livonia (a BTL advertiser), said he will return to his business in the event he's not elected. Vorva entered the field at the urging of this father, a former state representative himself.
"It's [real estate] kind of in the blood. I tried to get away and it got me," he said.
For more information on Jason Vorva's campaign to serve the 20th State House District visit http://www.fixmichigan.com.
