Tom Casperson, former state senator, speaks at Operation Action U.P.’s annual meeting Thursday morning at Northern Michigan University. The event included speakers and award presentations. (Journal photo by Christie Bleck)

MARQUETTE — Challenges facing business was one of the topics addressed on Thursday at the 55th annual meeting of Operation Action U.P. at the University Center on the Northern Michigan University campus.

One of the speakers was Tom Casperson, a former representative in the Michigan House of Representatives for District 108 and a former state senator in District 38.

He expressed particular concern about recent state ballot proposals.

“How does that affect us?” Casperson asked. “Is it a good thing? Is it a bad thing? I think the ballot proposals, depending on your perspective of what’s on the ballot, you would say they’re good or they’re bad.”

What concerns him is the way they’re being handled.

“Money can drive the ballot proposals, and the term you hear a lot is, ‘Well, the people spoke,’ and I would dispute that a little bit because when you look at what’s happening and how it unfolds and how you get signatures to do it, you can bring in outside money to do this,” Casperson said. “You got people on the outside of our state that actually are playing with our political world, if you will, or our philosophy, and through that they can get signatures.”

He acknowledged getting signatures is a good thing, but depending on their origin, they can be gathered all day in major cities, with a measure then being put on a ballot.

“Is that really reflective of the whole state?” Casperson asked

If one side doesn’t have the money to market its viewpoint, he said he understood why people would get the sense of getting only half the story.

“I don’t think it’s what we should really allow, quite frankly,” he said.

Instead, he prefers changes be implemented to create a consensus across the state, ensuring a percentage of signatures coming out of each congressional district.

Proposals on the 2018 ballot involved the legalization of marijuana, gerrymandering and voting procedures.

Casperson discussed other topics, including autonomous vehicles and the state’s permitting process — which he believes can be cumbersome — and the idea that businesses automatically are polluters, “dishonest and greedy,” without supporting evidence.

The business community, he said, has accepted that assumption for too long, and that political rhetoric should be balanced.

Former Lieutenant Gov. Brian Calley. who now is president of the Small Business Association of Michigan, was slated to speak at the meeting but was unable to travel to Marquette because of downstate weather conditions.

Speaking in his place was Rich Tegge, president and owner of the Marquette-based Wealth Strategy Group, who also is a board member of the association.

Tegge said an attempt is being made to drive business conversation toward the Upper Peninsula.

“We’ve got a lot of unique things that we do up here,” Tegge said. “We’ve also got a lot of unique challenges — that we don’t necessarily get the ear of the folks in Lansing on a regular basis.”

He encouraged members to become involved with the Small Business Association of Michigan, which has a leadership council and is an advocate for small businesses across Michigan.

OAUP’s 2018 Excellence Award winners were recognized on Thursday.

The recipients were the L.E. Jones Company, based in Menominee, which is the world’s largest manufacturer of medium- and heavy-duty valve seat inserts; Lake Shore Systems Inc., which has locations in Kingsford, Iron River and Ontonagon as well as Rhinelander, Wisconsin, a designer and manufacturer of equipment for the maritime and mining industries; the Keweenaw Brewing Company, based in Houghton; and Karl’s Cuisine, Winery and Brewery, located in Sault Ste. Marie.

Established in 1963, OAUP’s mission is to bring together a coalition of stakeholders representing industrial enterprises, utilities, financial institutions, institutions of higher learning, businesses and concerned citizens to create a favorable economic climate and strong employment base for the U.P.

Christie Bleck can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250.