Mike Bishop said “brain drain” is killing the state of Michigan.

The Senate Majority Leader and Attorney General candidate said Michigan’s government needs to stop losing college-age students from job loss because it is depleting the state’s tax-base and deterring economic growth.

“What I want to do is make sure we get everybody involved,” Bishop told a crowd of 40 people at the College Republicans’ meeting Tuesday night.

“Your generation especially has got to take the reins. If you don’t make the decisions, they will be made for you,” he said.

He advocates smaller government and the need to creatively generate revenue. Bishop spoke of the fate of Michigan’s future budget.

“There will be significant cuts in the budget ahead,” he said. “But we have also found ways to save money in government.”

Bishop said he and fellow Senate Republicans have identified 10 ways to save $2 billion in government spending.

One initiative, he said, is to require state elected officials to share in the cost of health care.

“We’re asking elected officials to step up and pay 20 percent of their health care,” he said.

He also suggested reducing public employee salaries by 5 percent.

The $2 billion saved, he said, would be “used to close the structural deficit” in Michigan’s budget and be pumped “back into priorities of government” including education, health and law enforcement.

“I’ve never seen the economy as fractured as it is right now,” Bishop said of the state of Michigan.

Last year, the government had to address a $1.4 billion shortfall, he said. There is a $1.6 billion shortfall this year.

“As a result of the economy, you’ve got less revenue in the state,” he said.

Bishop said he and fellow Senate Republicans are designing a budget without tax increases embedded in it.

He said they have funded priorities at the expense of others because there is simply not enough money to go around.

“We have gone through every surplus dollar we have,” Bishop said. “State government has got to learn to be more creative. You got to find ways to do better with less.”

John Porter, College Republicans vice chair, said he likes Bishop because he is an advocate for small, streamlined government.

“He thinks Michigan can cut out four to five billion dollars (from the budget) just by streamlining,” the Coleman sophomore said.

Pete Hoekstra, current U.S. House Representative and Republican candidate for governor, also spoke at the event and said Bishop’s idea to save money is “doable.”

“Michigan’s government is too big for what we can afford today,” he said. “It’s amazing what happens when we get government out of the way.”

Porter said Bishop, as the Senate Majority Leader, has consistently passed balanced budgets in the Senate on time and his legal background, experience and people skills would make him a great candidate for Attorney General.

College Democrat Karl Bouwhuis, a graduate student from Lowell, went to hear Bishop speak because he did not know much about his Attorney General candidacy.

He was not impressed.

“I honestly don’t think he’s a serious candidate for Attorney General,” Bouwhuis said.

He said Bishop focused on budget issues instead of talking about the position.

Isabella County Commissioner James Moreno said though it is nice to converse with candidates, he disliked Bishop’s presentation.

“I didn’t hear anything other than Republican talking points,” Moreno said.

E-mail the author: Carisa Seltz