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LANSING -- An Atlantic Mine resident, married with two daughters, in his early thirties, and newly elected to state government.  Republican State Representative Matt Huuki came to Lansing to tackle one issue specifically:  jobs. 

He made it clear repeatedly:  supporting base industries is where he would like to start.

"Base industries are what create a base economy for an area which then supports service sector industries like myself that keep a healthy community," said Representative Huuki.

So how does he plan to do it?  Representative Huuki says he's starting with the mining industry.  As a son of mine worker, he saw the benefits the industry brought not only to his family but to the community.

He's currently working on shortening the permit process.  Representative Huuki says it takes too long after the mines submit their paperwork to receive a response from the D.E.Q. and the E.P.A. 

"They do the study beforehand, then they put in their permitting process, and the department has up to a year to ponder on whether or not they should allow the mining to take place at that point,” Representative Huuki said.  “That year is a time period where those are people not working."

And Representative Huuki has other passions.  As a member of the N.R.A., he enjoys hunting and supports taking wolves off of the endangered list. 

"Well, it's actually one of the number one calls I get to my office is pertaining to wolves.  I'm looking forward to the fact that wolves are being taken off the endangered species again, coming up in April,” Representative Huuki said.  “I hope it's not a big fight.  The key thing is I have no problem with wolves being in our area; when they become a problem, we have to have the resources and the ability to take care of those issues."

And he isn’t opposed to seeing a limited moose hunt either.

"I think it's a way of generating some revenue to help the department to take care of some issues it’s having," Representative Huuki said.

State Representative Matt Huuki is a ‘Yooper’, through and through, with classic ‘Yooper’ values.  He would like to see some of those values adopted by his fellow legislators in Lansing.