Candidate for 108th District State Representative
By Carol Stiffler
Brimley resident Kurt Perron is one of four Republican candidates for Michigan 108th District Representative. Running a self-funded campaign, Perron said he would like to be a very accessible representative, available by phone call or text, and even in-home visits when requested.
Perron is a lifelong Yooper and a 1988 graduate of Brimley High School. He and his wife, a native of Engadine, have three children: two that are in college and one that just graduated from high school.
He is a veteran of the U.S. Navy, the only Republican candidate who has served in the military. After getting injured in training, Perron was granted an honorable, medical discharge from the Navy. He then earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Lake Superior State University in political science and public administration before completing one year of law at Western Michigan University’s Thomas Cooley Law school.
His career in public service began when he took a job as a police officer, and he remained in law enforcement for 20 years. Perron said he took a five-year break from law enforcement to experience other trades and professions, to essentially live in the shoes of other Yoopers. He worked briefly at the Mackinac Bridge Authority, was a service advisor at an auto mechanics garage, drove a truck transporting steel coils from Canada, and worked as a U.P.-wide veterans community coordinator.
“I learned many of the issues that affect our district’s veterans,” Perron said. “Our district has the highest percentage of military veterans in the entire state, and they are very underserved and are not receiving the benefits and services they worked, fought for and earned. I intend to change this.”
He returned to law enforcement after his five-year exploration period and remains an officer in the Kinross Police Department.
He has served in public offices in various capacities, including six years on the Chippewa County Economic Development Corporation, and six years on the Chippewa County International Airport Board. He ran for and was elected to the Brimley Area Schools Board of Education, where he served three terms as a board member and three more terms as school board president. He was later elected to the Eastern Upper Peninsula Intermediate School District, where he is currently serving his second year of a six-year term.
Perron is the only Republican candidate who has held other elected offices.
Perron is pro-life, says he has been endorsed by Michigan Right to Life. He is supportive of the second amendment and believes proposed Red Flag laws are unconstitutional. He supports Line 5 and building the tunnel around Line 5, and wants union workers to build it. He supports a regulated wolf hunt.
If elected, he plans to reach across the aisle for bi-partisan support only when it serves the best interests of the people in the 108th district, or acts for the greater good of the state or the country.
“I will not sell out my principles or betray my values just to win a few votes,” he said.
“My top priorities will be the issues of law and order, defending our police, corrections officers and all other first responders,” Perron said. “I will fight for our military veterans, as they have once fought for us and deserve better treatment by our government and bureaucracy down in Lansing.”
Perron, who took an oath to protect this country and its people when he joined the Navy, and again when he was sworn in as a police officer, said he would extend that oath to the 108th district if elected.
“I have lived a life of service to you, the people, and I wish to once again take an oath as your elected representative,” he said. “I will work to defend you and your families’ interests, to protect and preserve our communities and our country, and I will vow once again to give everything to defend you, our communities, our constitution and this Democratic Republic, even up to and including my own life.”
