Bolger(s) in MIRS

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MIRS Capitol Capsule, Wednesday, October 15, 2008

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"You would make one brother a very happy man."

-- Jase BOLGER, candidate in the 63rd House District, when asked what the stakes were in his friendly wager with brother Matt BOLGER of the Michigan State Police over who would get QOD first.

Bolger Plays To Win

Jase BOLGER and little brother, Matt BOLGER, have always been competitive growing up. Whether it was in sports or who would get the better seat at the Thanksgiving dinner table, the boys were boys.

Now, with Matt Bolger being the legislative liaison for the Michigan State Police (MSP) and Jase, 37, being the Republican nominee in the 63rd House District, they have a new friendly wager.

"It's to see who can get Quote of the Day first," Jase said.

"And what if you happened to get it?" he was asked.

"You would make one brother a very happy man," he responded.

So let's take care of the first question first. Big brother's first name is legally "James," a name passed down from his father, who went by Jim. To avoid confusion, the Bolgers used an abbreviated version of James and came up with Jase (rhymes with "ace").

Bolger has gone by Jase his whole life, but had trouble with the Secretary of the State's office when he tried to register for the ballot as "Jase," since it wasn't his legal name. After some back-and-forth, Bolger dropped the issue and is going by James. But like the first day of school, Bolger has repeated the "Jase" story dozens of times on the campaign trail.

After the name thing is cleared up, the next big issue brought up (no surprise) is jobs and the economy.

As the owner of Summit Credit Services, Bolger can relate. Summit is a 20-employee outfit that updates telephone records for major corporations. It's a niche market, but one that's not offered in many other locations. His clients are national and international. Technically, he could locate anywhere, but the Charlotte native loves Michigan and he isn't going to leave.

Opening up his new Michigan Business Tax (MBT) bill, however, and seeing a 30 percent increase from last year's Single Business Tax certainly wasn't the "thank you" present he was looking for.

"Who would have thought we'd be one of the fortunate ones?" Bolger said. "I'm talking to business owners who are paying more by multipliers -- two, three, four times more than what they were paying before."

The 12-year small business owner said he would remain as president of his company if elected, a status that term-limited Rep. Lorence WENKE (R-Richland) also decided to keep with his greenhouse business when he served.

Bolger did not run in a contested Republican primary and is facing Vicksburg Democrat Phyllis SMITH. The 63rd House District has a 55 percent Republican base, but in this economic climate, he said he's leaving nothing to chance.

His wife of 15 years, Molly, and his two children -- Nick, 14, and Megan, 12 -- have been knocking the doors with dad for months and they don't plan on stopping until Election Day.

Earlier this year, Bolger turned the family time into a (surprise) competition.

Who could get rid of the most lawn signs to willing homeowners. Megan and Jase both disposed of five a piece.

Jase could claim he won that friendly family game, too.