Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct statements made by candidate Rick Olson.

Candidates vying for the Republican nomination for the 55th District seat in the Michigan House of Representatives are focusing their campaigns on jobs and the economy.

Frank Chrzanowski, Rick Olson, Andrew Sosnoski and Mary Kay Thayer are all seeking the Republican nomination in Tuesday's primary election. The winner will face the sole Democratic candidate, Mike Smith, in the November general election. Incumbent Democrat Kathy Angerer cannot run again because of term limits. The district includes part of Pittsfield Township and Saline and York townships in Washtenaw County and several townships in Monroe County.

Olson, a 60-year-old Saline resident, said some people have the wrong idea about how to get the economy going by targeting certain segments with tax incentives.

“Bureaucrats think they are smarter than anyone else, that they can pick the winners and losers,” he said. “That's been a pattern throughout the state,” Olson said. “Usually those jobs come at substantial cost.”

Sosnoski, a 24-year-old York Township resident, and Thayer, a 63-year-old Lambertville resident, agreed.

“Quit focusing on short-term solutions to long-term problems,” Sosnoski said. “Offer that same incentive for all businesses across the board. … .”

All three pointed to the tax breaks the state has granted to the film industry as an example.

“We've got so many struggling businesses in the state of Michigan,” Thayer said. “This is cherry-picking.”

While Chrzanowski, a 43-year-old Dundee resident, doesn't like the Michigan film production tax credit, he did not share the other candidates' criticism about offering incentives to targeted industries.

“I'm quite all right with incentive programs,” Chrzanowski said. “But there has to be oversight. There needs to be follow-up on that. If those companies do not produce the jobs they promised then those incentives have to be removed.”

All the candidates said the Michigan Business Tax should be eliminated. They see it as inhibiting the growth of small businesses, which in turn limits the amount of jobs that can be created for workers.

Olson said the MBT can create a tax burden in the state that is more than the federal tax liability.

Chrzanowski said the tax is “extremely hostile” to local businesses and has forced some businesses in his district to move south to Ohio. He said if the tax is eliminated, attracting more businesses to the state could make up the revenue shortfall.

Sosnoski agreed. “By lowering taxes, we'll actually create more revenue because businesses will come in instead of leave,” Sosnoski said.

Sosnoski and Chrzanowski also said they want to eliminate unnoticed wasteful spending that plagues the state budget.

“The money for roads here I believe is being squandered,” Chrzanowski said.

Sosnoski suggests establishing a website were visitors can log on to view each line item in the budget and see each individual expenditure being made on the state's dime. “I think we need transparency and accountability,” Sosnoski said. “I think we should see every dollar the state spends.”

Chrzanowski suggested more cooperation between local governments, public school districts and state agencies to identify overlap and reduce costs.

“We have redundant systems in our state,” he said.

Thayer suggested setting up buyer a consortium for state agencies, local governments and school systems so that commonly used items could be purchased in large quantities at bulk prices.

“We would all save money,” Thayer said. “There are a lot of little things that add up to big dollars.”

Both Thayer and Sosnoski said costs could be lowered in the state's correctional budget, though they had two very different ideas about how to do it.

Sosnoski said he supports the legalization of recreational marijuana. He said it would save time and money for police officers, as well as the money spent to prosecute and incarcerate offenders. He said the marijuana could also be sold in stores and taxed.

“I think it's pretty mainstream,” Sosnoski said of the idea of legalizing marijuana. “We already spend way too money on our prison systems.”

Thayer doesn't like that idea.

“I don't think Michigan is ready for that right now,” she said. “Michigan is struggling enough with medical marijuana and setting up regulation on that.”

Instead, she suggested privatizing some of the services offered in jails and prisons. She said Michigan currently spends more per prisoner on its correctional system than the state of California.

The candidates also saw potential savings in the state's educational system.

Olson suggested cutting contributions to the benefits packages of both teachers and state employees. He said those cuts are commonplace in the private sector.

To gain pay concessions from teachers and state employees, Thayer suggested cutting the pay and operational budgets of the state's elected officials. She said employees might be more willing to accept cuts if they see representatives, senators and the governor taking cuts themselves.

“The legislature has to lead,” she said.

Chrzanowski said the funding for education is there; it's just being mismanaged.

He said districts should be focused on “not what an office looks like and more about what's getting to our children.”

Thayer suggested Michigan work to find ways to get more of the money going to the federal government. Unlike other “receiving states” in the country, she said Michigan receives less money in federal allocations than its taxpayers pay to the federal government each year.

“The state needs to keep that money,” she said.

Instead of devising a plan to identify a new source of income, Chrzanowski said he would prefer to just not make promises to his constituents when he doesn't know if he can keep them or not. For instance, he said he could not promise constituents that there would be no new taxes.

He said revenue shortfalls from repealing the Michigan Business Tax would have to be made up from somewhere. He said he could not rule out the possibility of some more equitable replacement tax in the future.

“That revenue has to come from somewhere,” Chrzanowski said.

Sosnoski, a project accountant at a construction company, said it's time for a "new generation of leadership," and says he's a good choice because he's someone outside of state politics.

On the other hand, Olson and Thayer are touting their experience to voters.

“I've got the experience to hit the ground running,” Olson said.

Olson started in politics in the state of Washington in 1980. He worked on campaigns and the Republican caucus. He came back to Michigan in 1989 and worked as a school administrator. He decided to get back into politics a year and a half ago.

“I didn't like the way things were going,” he said.

Thayer, owner of an engineering consulting firm, has been active in local politics since 1980, when she ran for a seat on her local park commission. She eventually worked herself up to a seat on the Monroe County Board of Commissioners and is a trustee for Monroe County Community College.

“I understand unfunded mandates and balancing a budget,” she said. “I talk about having a balanced budget and getting it there on time."

Chrzanowski is a political newcomer, but he touts his business experience in budgeting and management as experience that will serve him well in public office.