To the Journal editor:

State Rep. John Kivela will be hard to replace. John helped to lead the effort to pass legislation in the state House to close the “dark store” tax loophole that has allowed local big corporations with big box stores to unfairly cut their property taxes — to the detriment of local cities, townships and counties.

John Kivela was upset that local small businesses had to pay the full fare of property taxes. And John was especially upset that downstate big corporations influenced Senate Republican leaders to block this legislation in the state Senate. So it never passed.

This is why we can trust Sara Cambensy, a Democrat who, like John Kivela, favors local small businesses over corporations, to continue this fight in Lansing. Sara Cambensy has shown intelligence, tough-mindedness, fiscal responsibility and dedication in her eight years of service for the city of Marquette — the city commission, the planning commission and the charter commission.

Contrary to false claims in mailings and on the telephone by her opponent’s campaign, Sara does support the Eagle Mine, Marquette County Road 595 and the Second Amendment. Sara does not want to take anyone’s guns away and she wants to do everything possible to create jobs around the central Upper Peninsula.

While her opponent’s campaign has used negative mailings and calls containing untrue statements, Sara’s campaign has taken a positive high road.