From left are state Rep. Parker Fairbairn, state Sen. Ed McBroom, state Rep. Dave Prestin, state Rep. Greg Markkanen and state Rep. Karl Bohnak. (Photo courtesy of Evan Reister)

MARQUETTE — On Friday evening at Northern Michigan University, the Turning Point USA club hosted Upper Peninsula state Reps. Parker Fairbairn, Dave Prestin, Karl Bohnak and Greg Markkanen, as well as state Sen. Ed McBroom, for a panel discussion and audience Q&A session.

According to NMU TPUSA president Evan Reister, 60-70 people were in attendance at the event, which lasted over two and a half hours. Reister had a prepared list of questions which were not provided to the legislators in advance, which focused on topics like energy, natural resource management, UP statehood and healthcare.

“Questions about education seemed to dominate the conversation,” said Reister, who cited Michigan’s recent 44th ranking position in fourth grade reading proficiency. “Both Sen. McBroom and Rep. Markkanen had different answers, but they are both prior teachers and agreed that something needs to happen. State legislators continue to throw money at education but nothing is changing. They agreed that something has to happen in classrooms with curriculum or resources for teachers.”

After the panel discussion, legislators took questions from the audience.

“I thought the event went really well,” said Reister. “I was happy to see public participation; there were challenging questions about mining, with environmental concerns and community impact, and the legislators did a great job. Twice they extended the Q&A section; when we came up on the 8:30 (p.m.) deadline there was still a line of people. These guys had to drive 3-4 hours home and they still took every single question, both friendly and not friendly.

“It’s really important to talk to representatives about what they’re working on in a respectful manner, outside of the social media echo. There’s a lot of crazy stuff online, so it’s important to hear from the source … (The event) encouraged the public to engage in a respectful way.”

State Reps. Parker Fairbairn, Karl Bohnak and Greg Markkanen are up for reelection in November. State Sen. Ed McBroom has reached his term limit, and state Rep. Dave Prestin is running for state senate.

Turning Point USA is a non-profit organization whose stated mission is “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and limited government,” with a goal “to build the most organized, active and powerful conservative grassroots activist network on high school and college campuses across the country.”

Annie Lippert can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 550. Her email address is alippert@miningjournal.net.