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Barbara Farrah
Position: State Representative
District: 13 (Southgate, Trenton, Riverview, Wyandotte)
Party: Democratic
Committees: Land Use and Environment (Vice Chair), Conservation
and Outdoor Recreation, Tax Policy. Democratic Caucus assistant minority
whip.
Background:
Barbara Farrah was elected on November 2 to a second term in the Michigan
House. She was first elected after serving on the Southgate City Council
for 11 years, the final four as council president. She also served as
chair of the Southgate Planning Commission and was vice chair of the city’s
Tax Increment Financing Authority Board.
A lifelong resident of Southgate, she earned a bachelor’s
degree in political science from the University of Michigan and has worked
at the Downriver Community Conference and as a community relations officer
for the Wayne County Department of Environment.
In Lansing, she sponsored successful legislation to close
tax loopholes used by out-of-state businesses and to extend unemployment
benefits by 13 weeks for unemployed workers who had exhausted their benefits.
She also introduced bills to increase small business access to the Michigan
Department of Environmental Quality pollution-prevention loan program
and to allow municipalities to use funds and assets seized under drug-forfeiture
laws for homeland security initiatives.
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Michigan Retailer: How did
you become involved in politics?
Rep. Farrah: I majored in political science in college. I actually
thought I was going to become a city administrator or pursue a career
in health administration. But I had interned in college with Joey Palamara,
when he was a freshman in the state House, and really liked it. My parents,
although they had never run for office, were very involved locally and
served on various commissions. When I got out of college I worked at the
Downriver Conference, which was a consortium of local governments. One
day when I was at my parents’ house, my mom and her girlfriends said,
“You know, you should run for City Council.”
MR: Is local government experience a plus?
Rep. Farrah: I was fortunate to have had the local experience as
an elected official and also to be involved with the Planning Commission
and TIFA board, where you really get involved in the projects. Then, working
for the county, I was able to see how you bring things together on a countywide
and regional basis and to learn what programs are available out there.
MR: What has been your biggest surprise?
Rep. Farrah: The biggest surprise has been how much I enjoy it.
I knew I would like it, but I really love the pace of it—there’s
always something going—and how many different things you get to work
on.
MR: What has been your biggest accomplishment in
your first term?
Rep. Farrah: We’ve done a lot for the four communities we
represent, aside from constituent services. We’ve also been able
to pass five pieces of legislation that were signed into law. That’s
been exciting. We’ve been able to work with both sides of the aisle,
which has been a real benefit for us and the district.
MR: What are your legislative priorities for the
second term?
Rep. Farrah: The issues are: doing something to make health care
more accessible and affordable; creating jobs and helping stop or slow
down the outsourcing of jobs; improving our education system; and addressing
environmental concerns—three of my communities sit on the Detroit
River. I think my priorities are the same as those of everybody across
the state. Hopefully, we can push for them together.
MR: There was talk before the election that you
might end up as House minority leader if the Democrats didn’t win
back some seats on November 2. Of course, your party did pick up five
seats and Diane Byrum was re-elected minority leader.
Rep. Farrah: We want to do what’s best for our caucus—whatever
role we can fit into to make it better for the Democratic Caucus. We were
really trying to keep the focus on winning back seats. I didn’t realize
until I got here what it meant to be in the minority and how important
those numbers are. You don’t realize it until you sit there and know
you have to go across the aisle to get the 10 votes you need to get something
passed. It is difficult. But that’s how the system works. I don’t
blame the Republicans.
MR: Is it more partisan than you expected?
Rep. Farrah: No, I don’t think so, that’s how it works.
I’ve spent time with a lot of my Republican colleagues. They want
the same thing that I want—they want what’s best for the state
of Michigan—they just have other ideas about how to get there or
what it should be.
MR: What do you see as the role of state government with regard to small
business?
Rep. Farrah: We shouldn’t be in the way. It’s part of the American
Dream for someone to own a business. I don’t know that we should
provide subsidies, but we shouldn’t hinder anyone who wants to become
a small business owner.
MR: Do you favor reforming Michigan’s item-pricing
law?
Rep. Farrah: That’s an issue that’s coming. I know the
retailers aren’t trying to pull something over on consumers, but
it’s something we need to look at to make sure we are protecting
consumers, so that when they pull something off the shelf they know what
they’re getting.
MR: How about so-called petroleum stabilization
legislation that seeks to protect small gas station owners by requiring
retailers to disclose private business information used in setting prices?
Rep. Farrah: That’s a hard one, because you want to look out
for the small business owner, but you don’t want the consumer to
get the short end of the deal. I’d have to take a closer look at
the details.
MR: In light of Michigan’s continual budget
deficits, do we need to restructure our tax system? Extend the sales tax
to services?
Rep. Farrah: I do think that there needs to be a restructuring
of our tax base—we obviously can’t keep going the way we’re
going. We haven’t seen anything yet on a possible restructuring plan,
but everyone can agree that it will not be an easy problem to fix. As
for taxing services, it depends on what services we would tax and what
tax we would cut to offset the new tax. It has to be fair.
MR: Has it been frustrating to come to Lansing
and face nothing but budget deficits?
Rep. Farrah: It has been hard because it has all been cuts. There
are things you want to do but can’t because of the budget. And it
is our responsibility at the state to make these hard decisions and not
put that burden back on local governments.
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