Dan Benishek for Congress

Many voters in the U.P. and the northern third of the Lower Peninsula have their eyes on Michigan’s 1st Congressional District race.

Republican incumbent Dr. Dan Benishek of Crystal Falls is seeking a second term.

Based on what he sees and hears, he believes several things are making it harder for people to find work than it should be.

Those things are health care costs, tax rates and government regulations.

Benishek says at least one of those things is affecting the Rio Tinto Eagle Mine in Marquette County.

He says over-regulation is evident lately in the county with the Environmental Protection Agency halting construction of County Road 595 between the mine and the Humboldt Mill.

Congressman Benishek says the house addressed this in July by passing a bill which stops any new federal regulations on the private sector until national unemployment drops below 5%.

He says he speaks with small business owners from one end of the Congressional district to the other who tell him regulations from the EPA, OSHA and other organizations inhibit them from hiring.

Until he ran for Congress in 2010, Benishek was a political newcomer.

He had been a longtime surgeon at Dickinson County Memorial Hospital in Iron Mountain.